Preface
Great Master Bodhidharma came across the sea without establishing words or letters, directly pointing to the mind, enabling people to see their true nature and attain Buddhahood. After a single flower bloomed, five petals spread their fragrance, each establishing its own school. Some entered the hall and ascended the seat, revealing the subtle and illuminating the profound—all using words to manifest the wondrous path, weaving plain cloth into perfect literature. This allows people a thousand years later to shatter their doubts and abruptly enter inconceivable realms. They can turn a blade of grass into a golden body, or transform a golden body into a blade of grass, freely unrolling and rolling up, fully revealing the power to kill or give life, compelling a snake to become a dragon—none is as exhilarating as the Linji school.
Master Yunfu, a native of Sichuan, is a descendant of Poshan and a disciple of Xiangya, reviving the source of the Caodong lineage and raising the banner of the Hutu River. For decades, he was a dragon and elephant of the Dharma. Though he did not use words to dazzle the world's eyes and ears, he also did not rely on silence to conceal the true transmission of the great Dharma. Thus, when he taught in Sichuan and Guizhou, he used harsh tongs and hammers and simple materials—free from extraneous branches—to lead beings to the unsurpassable. Later, he sailed a raft across Lake Chu, and monastics and laypeople lined the path as if they had lost their parents. Such was the profound impact of his virtue and Dharma.
In the summer of 1680, his Dharma heir, Ven. Wozheng, brought the master's recorded sayings from Tanzhou to Zui Li for printing, to be included in the Shurangama collection for circulation, and asked me for a preface. Although I have never personally met the master, I have close ties with my fellow townsman, Venerable Qingbai of Gu Xin Temple. Venerable Qingbai and Master Yunfu are both Sichuanese. He often spoke of the master's genuine character and practice. When I read his recorded sayings and biography, I found the teachings naturally flowing with penetrating insight, striking from the front and charging from the side. He taught where speech fails and acted where action falters. The wind in the sky and the falling leaves, flowing clouds and drifting water—all these are expressions of the ultimate teaching. Raising the great Dharma in a single shout and revealing the essence under a fierce staff, he truly brought both monastics and laity to the ancestral realm. Thus, I have written this preface.
During the Kangxi reign, on the Buddha's Birthday, this text was respectfully composed by Cao Rong of He Commandery, who held the titles of Presented Scholar, Grand Master of Central Consultation, Commissioner of the Yanghe Circuit, Vice Surveillance Commissioner of Shanxi Province (twice promoted), former Left Administration Commissioner of Guangdong Province, Vice Minister of the Right at the Ministry of Revenue, Left Vice Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, Left Communication Commissioner of the Office of Transmission, Senior Director of the Court of Imperial Entertainment for the Directorate of Education, Chief Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, Chief Minister of the Court of the Imperial Stud, Investigating Censor of the Henan Circuit, and Provincial Education Commissioner for Shuntian and surrounding areas.
Volume One of Master Yunfu Zhi's Recorded Sayings
Attendant: Yu Xian, Lian Sheng (Recorders)