I arrived in the city of Huang-mei around eight or nine and crossed the obscure and silent city guided by large stones on the main street. Here and there I could see a light in the dark homes and on occasion a passerby broke the spell of darkness with the arabesques of his lighted and circling sticks.
It must be due to my good karma in past lives that I heard about this, and that I was given ten taels for the maintenance of my mother by a man who advised me to go to Huang-mei to interview the fifth patriarch. After arrangements had been made for her, I left for Huang-mei.
At the age of forty Tao-hsin moved to Shuang-feng Mountain in the district of Huang-mei, present-day Hupeh province. There he attracted a large following; it is said that he had five hundred students studying under him.
