Preface to the Record of Master Nanming

The World-Honored One said to all beings: "Spiritual teachers are an immensely important condition for you. They can enable you to clearly see your Buddha-nature and be freed from suffering and liberated." Every being possesses Buddha-nature, but it is obscured by the conditions of their karma, causing them to drift in an ocean of suffering. Therefore, encountering a spiritual teacher with sharp insight and swift eloquence is like a great general taking the seal of command and ascending the altar—life and death are held or released as they see fit. A student who directly accepts this teaching and recognizes the meaning behind the master's stick is like a deaf person hearing thunder or a blind person seeing the sun. Transmission of the lamp must not be polluted by imitations that deceive like wild foxes.

Looking back at the Linji school, its branches have flourished immensely up to today. However, there are those who follow a deviant stream to gain fame, and others who hold the true transmission but remain hidden and silent. For instance, Chan Master Nanming personally received the robe and bowl from Chexi, and the origin and transmission of this lineage is very precise. All spiritual teachers, including Wengu and Xueting, showed him great respect. Master Nan did not wish that words and texts would create more complications in the world. Whenever he saw that someone had recorded his sayings, he would burn them. His insight far surpassed that of others. Yet, without the Venerable Xuanwei, who would later silently preserve the essence, keeping at least a fraction of it and propagating the genuine transmission of the lineage? Master Xuan not only did not betray the kindness of his teacher's dharma milk, but also fulfilled the meaning of beneficial conditions that can enable beings to be freed from suffering and liberated—this is no small contribution. That said, if there are no words or texts, what is this thing? Those with the eye of insight, please analyze this.

Written by Huang Chenghao, an Inspector tasked by imperial order to oversee maritime affairs and manage border supplies, and also the Judicial Commissioner of Fujian—a later-generation student from Zui Li.

Collection by Miaoyong, Dharma Heir of Puming Temple, Jianning