The publication of the Daitō kokushi goroku was undertaken in the past, but the woodblocks were burned to ashes during the Ōnin War 應仁之亂. Therefore I, Sōgan, of the twelfth generation in the Masterʼs line, one hundred and fifty years after their destruction, hereby venture out of my own purse to publish the work again in three fascicles. This Record isn't worth half a penny, and those who read it will surely say that I have exposed the unsightly inside of my house to the eyes of the world. Now, in the seventh month and seventh year of Genna [1621], I humbly contribute this work to the revered temple Ummon-an 雲門菴 of the Daitokuji 大德寺.1

Fascicle one of the work, recorded by Shōchi 性智 (d. 1439), contains the first part of the Daitoku goroku 大德語錄, which consists of formal sermons and informal talks given by the Master at the Daitokuji from the opening ceremony on February 9, 1327, until the spring of 1331.

Fascicle two comprises the Sūfuku goroku 崇福語錄, recorded by Sōtei 宗貞 (1677–1747), and the second part of the Daitoku goroku, recorded by Kanzan Egen 關山慧玄 (1266–1360). The Sūfuku goroku contains a serious of sermons and talks delivered by Myōchō at Sūfukuji 崇福寺 (Fukuoka prefecture), during his stay there in the summer of 1331. The second part of the Daitoku goroku consists of sermons and talks given at the Daitokuji from the autumn of 1331 until Myōchōʼs death in 1338. As well as a selection of eleven ancient precedents 拈古 from the records of the Chinese masters to each of which the Myōchō attached a comment in prose and a collection of forty-eight old kōans accompanied by his comment in verse 頌古.

Fascicle three bears the general title Daitō kokushi sanshō goyō 大燈國師參詳語要 (Daitō Kokushiʼs Essential Words for Careful Study), and consists of the masterʼs lectures and commentary on the Xuedou yulu, 雪竇錄, the record of Xuedou Zhongxian 雪竇重顯 (980–1052) of the Yunmen 雲門宗 school of Chinese Chan, which is followed by the Daitō kokushi gyōjō 大燈國師行狀 (Biography of Daitō Kokushi) written in 1426 by Zenkō 禪興　(n. d.) of the Tokuzenji 德禪寺, the most important of the sub-temples within the Daitokuji compound. Finally, the short colophon translated above concludes the work. The sequence of the items in fascicle two and three of the Taishō text will be found to differ somewhat from that in the original woodblock text of the second edition, which latter has been followed in this analysis of the work. In the Taishō reprint, the 頌古 precedes the 拈古 section in fascicle two, and the 行狀 and the colophon have been removed from fascicle three and inserted after the 拈古 section in fascicle two.

The Daitō roku is the most important of all the early Japanese Zen goroku 語錄. Its position in Japanese Rinzai Zen literature has been enhanced by the fact that fascicle one and two were used by Hakuin Ekaku 白隱慧鶴 (1686–1769) as the primary text for the series of lectures which comprise his notable work Kai ankoku go 槐安國語.

[Chinese Buddhist Canonical Attributions Database]