Preface

When I look up, the empty space was three feet wide,
and when I looked down, the earth was ten thousand fathoms.
In the three-foot empty space, endless potential concealed,
and in the ten thousand fathoms of earth, infinite forms revealed.

Is this reality, or is it an illusion?
Is it not a matter beyond the estimations of ordinary worldlings?

Upon reaching this point,
I quench my thirst with the waters of Heaven Lake on Baekdu Mountain,
have the white deer of Mount Halla pull my carriage,
and take my seat upon the summit of Mount Sumeru.

Look, look!
Over there, an enormous pillar of fire supports the ten directions and pierces the three periods of time!

What is this?
It is a pillar of fire spewing from the tongues of past zen patriarch and master.
It is a pillar of fire that rolls goodness into evil, using that evil to teach the sages of the past and present,
and rolls evil into goodness, using that goodness to save all sentinent beings of the ten directions.

Do you understand?
The name of this pillar of fire is Seonmun Yeomsong (禪門拈頌 ; The collection of zen precedents).

What kind of karmic connection is there for me, staring blankly at the empty sky?
I am delighted to have dared to take up my pen for this zen precedents,
and as the main character of this world, I, being prepared to face the consequences,
erect my own pillar of fire in this limitless world.