The Record Without a Sutra was not the work of one person or one era. It is a record of the original mind, founded by Huicheng of Mount Song and developed, verified, and completed by successive inheritors over seven generations.
The founding patriarch, Huicheng, was born Chen Guang. He was born in the third year of Xian Kang of the Eastern Jin dynasty (337 CE) and died in the first year of Tai Yuan (376 CE). His birthplace was Chen Family Village at the foot of Mount Song, in what is now Dengfeng, Henan. Known as Master Heartlamp, he founded The Record Without a Sutra, laid the foundations for the study of the original mind during the Eastern Jin, and served as the temple's chief cantor at Mount Song's Fawang Temple.
