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The Zen Teaching of Huang Po

On the Transmission of Mind

The Chung-Ling Record & The Wan-Ling Record

Translated by John Blofeld

Publishing Notes

Esta página en español: ../notas-de-publicacion.htm

Contains fragments A and B: HUANG-PO CH'UAN-HSIN FA-YAO (Japanese, Obaku den-shin hoyo) and the HUANG-PO TUAN-CHI CH'AN-SHIH WAN-LING LU (Japanese, Obaku Dansai zenji enryo roku), Taisho No. 2012, A and B (Vol. XLVIII, pp. 379b.25-387b.14). The teachings of the Zen master Huang-po Hsi-yun (Japanese, Obaku Kiun) (?-850) as recorded by his disciple, the official, P'ei Hsiu (Japanese, Haikyū), with a preface by the author, dated 857. Though both texts are short, they are important because they contain ideas that were later more fully developed by Huang-po's famous disciple, Lin-chi (Japanese, Rinzai).

P'ei Hsiu, who transcribed his master's teachings from notes he had taken of discourses and personal interviews, was a famous and eccentric official of great learning. The two works are usually presented together in Chinese texts.

1. The Huang Po Doctrine of Universal Mind, translated by Chu Ch'an (London: The Buddhist Society, 1947), 52 pages. A translation of text "A" by John Blofeld, published under his pseudonym, Chu Ch'an. A straightforward, literal translation. [Google Books]

The next link is to a Sufi site that has some information on the translation. (It used to have a pdf but it was removed.)

https://www.ruhaniat.org/index.php/other-writing/other-papers/2371-the-huang-po-doctrine-of-universal-mind

2. The Zen Teaching of Huang Po on the Transmission of Mind, translated by John Blofeld (London: Rider & Company, 1958), 136 pages. [The document presented here.] A complete translation of both the "A" and "B" texts. In this latest work, the translator tends to be more interpretive in his rendering of the Chinese than in his two earlier works, with the result that the power and directness of the original are somewhat obscured.

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