Book VII 501
28th Day (Kyŏngsin)
Censor Yi Ko and others submitted a memorial to the king: “It is absolutely
necessary for the king to seek the right words and accept them. Otherwise,
he cannot know the mistakes that he has made. Therefore, even a sage emperor
such as Yao gave up his opinion to follow the advice of his ministers, and
Great Shun, who surpassed in wisdom, paid careful attention to the words
of others, however trivial they were. Praising the virtue of King Cheng Tang
[of Shang], Yi Yin said that he was ‘never stingy in repairing his faults.’ Fu
Yue said to Emperor Gaozong, ‘If you accept remonstrance, you will become
a sage.’ Since the Three Dynasties, no monarchs have been better than
Emperor Wen of the Han dynasty and Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty
in their willingness to accept remonstrance from their ministers. Therefore,
their rule almost equaled the greatness of the Three Dynasties.
“Previously the Office of the Inspector-General requested that you refrain
from making frequent trips to go outside [the palace] and playing music in
the palace until late at night. You were gracious enough to grant our request
instantly, and all of us were so moved that we praised your virtue of toler-
ating our remonstrance. However, since Your Majesty has resumed playing
music as usual and making a trip to the falcon farm on the banks of the Han
River, your acceptance of our remonstrance exists only in name, and we
find little evidence of your sincere desire to follow our advice.
“The founder king of the new dynasty is the model for your royal descen-
dants, and the trust he displays is also the great treasure among the things
that the king has. Your Majesty already made a promise to follow our advice
and yet revoked it through your conduct. Where, then, should we find our
trust in you? We request that Your Majesty pay attention to our foolish
words and renew your promise to graciously follow them so that your vir-
tuous conduct may become the model for a thousand generations of your
descendants.
“We have observed that Your Majesty lets armored soldiers (kapsa) chant
Buddhist scriptures in the yard of the royal palace, making the sound of
bells and drums ring throughout the whole capital, but this is contrary to the
way of guarding the royal palace strictly. Even if Buddha is miraculous,
how can he be moved by their chanting of scriptures? We sincerely urge
Your Majesty to stop what they do at once and make the security of the
pal ace stricter by letting the royal guards concentrate only on their orig-
inal duty.”