[1] The quotations and aphorisms in the book appear to be from scholarly writings of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism,[2] with "a great many of the quotations... taken from Taoist writings",[2] suggesting to a few researchers like Wang Chonmin that the author was a follower of Taoism, while most of the text comes from the Confucian School.
[1] "The Ming-hsin pao-chien seems to have widely circulated among the people in Fukien in the late Ming period.
[2] Circa 1590, it was translated into Spanish by a Dominican friar named Juan Cobo who arrived in the Philippines in 1588.
[1] In 1595, the Dominicans presented this translation, along with a copy of the original, to Philip III of Spain, then Crown Prince.
[2] Juan Cobo´s manuscript is bilingual, and contains comment in the margins, and a introductory letter by Miguel de Benavides y Añoza.