If I Want to Get the Right Answer (問) for My Life (道), what shall I Do? I had Better Get up Early in the Morning (朝), and I Sit Down (坐) in Order to Do Something, for Example, the Study for My Life! (Tcheonzamun 097th - 112nd)
Authors: Kim Sangdeog Augustin 
Published: January 2023

Dallet (1874) wrote in his book that Korean culture is different from Chinese culture, and Chinese language is different from Korean language. Between Korean and Chinese, there is only a little difference on their visage. But the language itself is truly different each other. Korean language is S+O+V type, while Chinese language is S+V+O type. Here, S is subject, V is verb, O is object. In this work, the present researcher is going to take 16 Chinese letters from ‘The thousand character essay’ (in Korea, it is called as ‘Tcheonzamun’. There is no other reason for taking 16 letters. It was convenient for Park et al., (2021a; 2021b) to consider those 16 Chinese letters as a poem. And it is for the present researcher to translate the 16 letter poem. ‘The thousand character essay’ is called ‘Tcheonzamun’ in Korea. The present researcher used the somewhat old Tcheonzamun book (Han, 1583). The range of this work is (Tcheonzamun 097th - 112nd). There are two translating methods on this study. The first method is through Korean pronunciation of Chinese character (Park et al., 2021b). And the second method is through the meaning of Chinese character (Park et al., 2021a). In the present work, both the first method and the second one are used. ‘The thousand character essay’ is called as ‘Tcheonzamun’ in Korea. This study concerns the poem of (Tcheonzamun 097th - 112nd). And the result is described as follows. The title of this work is ‘If I want to get the right answer (問) for my life (道), what shall I do? I had better get up early in the morning (朝), and I sit down (坐) in order to do something, for example, the study for my life! (Tcheonzamun 097th - 112nd)’. The first translation is through Korean pronunciation of this poem. <Number in Tcheonzamun Chinese characters (the pronunciation on Korean language and written in English alphabet) Modified pronunciation of Chinese characters> 097-100 弔(Zo) 民(Min) 伐(Beol) 罪(Zoe) Zu-myeon, Beol-zi. My Darling husband! If you give me (Zu-myeon) to your wife, you will gain (Beol-zi) from me! 101-104 周(Zu) 發(Bal) 殷(Eun) 湯(Tang) Zwo-boa, On-da. My husband! Give (Zwo-boa) me to your wife, and something will come to you (On-da) from me! 105-108 坐(Zwa) 朝(Zo) 問(Mun) 道(Do) Zoa-do, Mut-eo-dwo. My Darling, my husband! When you feel good (Zoa-do) about me your wife, you may hide (Mut-eo-dwo) your glad feeling for me! 109-112 垂(Su) 拱(Gong) 平(Pyeong) 章(Zang) Sil-go-do, Pyeo-za. My loving husband! But even when you have the unpleasant sentiment (Sil-go- do) for me your wife, please make your expression good and soft (Pyeo-za) for me your wife! The second translation is through the meaning of Chinese characters. <Number in Tcheonzamun Chinese characters (the pronunciation on Korean language and written in English alphabet)> 097-100 弔(Zo) 民(Min) 伐(Beol) 罪(Zoe). In order to give the consolation (弔) to the people (民), you are going to give the penalty (伐) to somebody who is guilty (罪). Is it true? It might be true on the viewpoint of common sense. But the present researcher thinks that it is not viewpoint of Tcheonzamun author. By the translation by the present researcher, the Tcheonzamun author wrote this poem as follows. It is somewhat difficult for the present researcher to explain and translate well the meaning of this poem. But the present researcher will try to do it. The next is the content of this line of this poem. 101-104 周(Zu) 發(Bal) 殷(Eun) 湯(Tang). In my case, I will do my best (殷) to make myself to be in the stable state. I was boiling with a lot of thoughts, and then, I was in the exciting state (湯). But I will not express (發) my rude and rough attitude to the people. On the contrary, I am going to look after the other people (周) with my tender and soft mind. And I will spread my calm mind to many other persons. 105-108 坐(Zwa) 朝(Zo) 問(Mun) 道(Do). If I want to get the right answer (問) for my life (道) and if I want to live a life as shown in the second line (101-104), what shall I do? I had better get up early in the morning (朝), and I sit down (坐) in order to do something, for example, the study for my life! 109-112 垂(Su) 拱(Gong) 平(Pyeong) 章(Zang). Yes, there is another method. The objective of this behavior is in order to do the thing on the second line (101-104) of this poem. Please, collect both your hands (拱), and open (平) one’s writing (章) in order to read the sentence and another sentence! Please, do these readings at a street corner (垂) where there are few people. In Kangxizidian (1716), there is a description about ‘Maeg’ tribe. On the book (Kangxizidian, 1716), the Chinese people considered the ‘Maeg’ people very good. From this poem of (Tcheonzamun 097th - 112nd), the reader might observe the good behavior or thought of Maeg people. In other words, at first the person oneself thinks deeply. And the thought of the person will become deeper and deeper. Then, this good behavior from this consideration might spread to the mind of other persons. The author of Tcheonzamun..........