Orthodox Lineage of Chan (禪宗正脈)

Zen Lineage: A True Guide

In the year Gengwu of the Jingtai era (1450), I went to study under Master Konggu (Empty Valley) at Xiuqi Mountain, which is located beside West Lake in Hangzhou. Before this, the master had spent many years spreading the teachings in my prefecture. One night, while conversing in his mountain hut and personally receiving his guidance, I asked, "What is a pillar?" The master paused and replied, "This cannot be expressed in words. You must realize it yourself."

Later, in the year Gengyin of the Chenghua era (1470), the master passed away. At that time, I was forty-six years old and also gravely ill, but I regained consciousness after being on the verge of death. Feeling like I had lost my father, I then focused my mind exclusively on Pure Land practice, encouraging others to recite the Buddha's name. I would count each recitation with a single grain of rice, accumulating two hundred bushels of rice to offer to the monastic community for three years. I also printed countless images of the Buddha, continuing this practice for fifteen years, which has extended to the present day.

Recently, while in Hangzhou, I attempted to read the *Record of the Five Lamps* (*Wudeng Huiyuan*), but I could not finish the entire text. Now, by chance, I have come across a copy that I recognize was personally punctuated by my late master Konggu. How fortunate I am to encounter this treasure! My emotions are a mix of gratitude and awe. However, this book presents profound and perilous gateways of enlightenment, and its scope is vast. For those of superior capacity, understanding comes forthrightly—like ten suns shining simultaneously, like a high light projecting into a deep valley, or like a long wind roaming through the great void. But for those of medium or lower capacity, the teachings can appear as impenetrable as silver mountains and iron walls, where a single misstep can lead to a distance of ten thousand miles. This can cause great weariness and give rise to the false belief that they have understood.

With this in mind, I made a determined effort to take up my brush. Some might say that my hand has been too shaky to write for the past forty years, and that I am now too old and frail to handle brush and ink. I paid no attention to these doubts. Beginning on the first day of the winter month of the Bingwu year (1486), I copied the text by day and examined it by night. It was not until I reached the passage about Tang Dynasty official Du Hong asking Master Wuzhu about the crows cawing in the courtyard tree that I experienced a breakthrough. This was merely an initial opening, not full enlightenment. Yet, this strengthened my resolve all the more. I said to myself, "If my late master had not guided and inspired me during his lifetime, how could I have reached this point today?"

Then I wondered, "If this simplified collection truly accords with the Buddha’s intention, what should it be called?" That night, I seemed to hear a divine voice saying: "The True Lineage of Chan." Waking up, I was astonished by this. The Buddha once said, "If you listen to the Dharma with a conditioned mind, the Dharma itself becomes conditioned." From this perspective, the divine presence was me, and I was that presence. The dream and the waking state were not separate. Moreover, the *Record of the Five Lamps* is the very lifeblood of the Buddhas and patriarchs. Naming it *The True Lineage of Chan* is indeed fitting.

I have thus humbly recorded the entire sequence of my thought and effort. Someone then remarked, "If this simplified collection is not transmitted, it is no different from having no collection at all." So I immediately asked my fellow practitioner Xingdehai to make a fair copy of it. We then sought donations to fund the printing of the text using precious woodblocks, so that it may be widely disseminated.

At that time,

Recorded by Jiahe Ruru, on the first day of the eleventh month of winter, in the year Jiyou during the Hongzhi reign of the Great Ming Dynasty.