Of all the symbols in the Huang Po texts, and all the issues of concern there, “mind” is clearly primary. Mind is the matter of the text – the “Great Matter” (ta-shih) to which all other concerns are subordinated. Therefore, in his Preface, P'ei-hsiu wrote that Huang Po “transmitted only ‘One Mind’ (I-hsin), aside from which, there is no other dharma.” Given the frequency of the topic, and the extent to which it encompasses all other concerns in the Huang Po literature, we can easily concur with P'ei-hsiu's observation. We can also see why some Zen editor rather early in the history of this text named the first collection of these Huang Po materials The Essential Teachings of Mind Transmission (Ch'uan-hsinfa-yao). If these are indeed the “essential teachings,” our meditations must focus here.

The text begins with the following lines: “The Master said to me [P'eihsiu]: All Buddhas and all sentient beings are only ‘One Mind.’ There is nothing else … Right before you, that's it!” If, as P'ei-hsiu's Preface claims, Huang Po's only teaching was the doctrine of the “One Mind,” we can now see why that is the case – “There is nothing else.” The “One Mind” “exceeds all boundaries” and therefore encompasses everything.