The compiler, Wuming, was a monk of the Yangqi branch 楊岐派 of the Linji school 臨濟宗, in the third generation after Dahui 大慧. The publication date is not mentioned in the work, but printing is believed to have followed soon after the compilation was completed. The work opens with a detailed table of contents, which lists the various masters under their names and lines of descent. Fascicles 1–29 of the text proper comprise accounts of the awakening experiences and other episodes in the lives of the old masters, together with the gong'ans 公案 that developed from them, and the important sermons, lectures, and talks of these men, some with short commentaries by masters of the Song. Fascicle 30 is devoted to fifteen short compositions by Chan writers of earlier periods.