The Date and Viewpoint of An Advisory Letter to a Friend by Xuanjue
玄觉《劝友人书》的成书时间及其禅观

Before he went to visit Hui Neng, Xuan Jue had already finished his book The Collected Works of Yong Jia. The book shows clearly that his ideas originated from Tiantai School. His another book Song of Verifying Buddhist Doctrinewas written after the visit when he had a leap in his comprehension of Buddhism. But Chapter Nine of the former, An Advisory Letter to a Friend, was finished after the visit. It was compiled into the book by later generations in order to make up the number of ten chapters. In this paper the author gave a profound analysis of the positive attitude toward life inAn Advisory Letter to a Friend.