Traditionally, the original meaning attributed to the difficult expression “The Sequence of Death and Life is Orderly” found in The Record of Linji (“Instructions to the Assembly”) was “a phrase which describes the activity of somebody who acts properly according to circumstances and without hindrances, in any daily situation he/she would encounter, one after another.” In such an orderly sequence of death and life, the “four interactions between host and guest” are shown as skillful means.
Later, the comprehension and the interpretation of this expression have been influenced, from the point of view of the history of thought, mainly by the 41st case of the Blue Cliff Records (a work produced during the Song dynasty) and especially by Mujaku.
Dōchū’s The Dragnet of the Record of Zen master Rinzai Eshō, although generally relying on the views expressed in the “old commentaries,” nonetheless adds its own personal considerations.
