5. Completely Real Taoism became so influential in the twelfth and
thirteenth centuries that it attracted many opportunistic followers and
imitators. Later many practices originally abandoned by the school were
amalgamated with elements of Completely Real Taoism to produce
bastardized forms. At the time of the writing of our text, approximately 250
years ago, Completely Real Taoism was almost entirely a name without a
reality.
6. "Master Siu" seems to refer to Xu Jingyang (Hsu Ching-yang), a great
Taoist of the third and fourth centuries who is said to have foretold the
appearance of Lu Yah, to whom this text is attributed. He is also believed to
have said he would reappear in the world twelve centuries later, which
would have been shortly before The Secret of the Golden Flower is
supposed to have been received from Lu Yan. This text is said to be a
written form of a teaching that was originally wordless, an esoteric
component of the movement received during a period of special
concentration. The term special transmission outside of doctrine is a
byword of Chan Buddhism. The practice of contemplative vigils like the
one in which the golden flower teaching was revealed is also a standard
exercise of latter-day Chan Buddhism.
7. The foregoing passages on the lineage of the text were omitted in Richard
Wilhelm's translation. These passages are rather laconic, and someone with
Wilhelm's knowledge
