The Sūtra in Forty-Two Sections

Taishō no. 784

Translated into Chinese by the Śramaṇa Kāśyapa Mātaṅga of the Western Regions,
together with Dharmarakṣa (Dharmaratna),
during the Later Han dynasty (67 CE)

Translated into English by Shaku Shingan (2026)

Preface 

In the past, Emperor Xiaoming of the Han dynasty dreamt at night of a spirit man; his body was golden, and at the nape of his neck, there was the light of the sun, flying before the hall; in his mind, he was joyful and deeply pleased by it. The next day, he asked his ministers, "What spirit is this?"

There was a knowledgeable man, Fu Yi, who said, "Your subject has heard that in India there is one who has attained the Path, whose title is the Buddha; he can levitate and fly, and it is likely this spirit."

Thereupon, the Emperor was awakened, and immediately dispatched the envoy Zhang Qian, the Captain of the Feathered Forest Guard Qin Jing, the Erudite's disciple Wang Zun, and others, twelve people in total, to the Great Yuezhi country to copy and obtain the Sūtra of Forty-two Sections. In the fourteenth stone casing, they ascended and erected a stupa and monastery, whereupon the Path and the Dharma were propagated and distributed, and everywhere Buddhist monasteries were established. Those people from afar who submitted to the transformation and wished to become subjects could not be counted; the country was peaceful and tranquil, and beings endowed with consciousness received grace and relied on it without interruption up to the present.

Section 1

The Buddha said, "Taking leave of one's parents and leaving home to practice the Path, one is named a śramaṇa; constantly practicing the two hundred and fifty precepts, entering the practice of the four true Paths, one advances one's resolve in purity, and becomes an arhat. An arhat is able to fly and transform, extend his lifespan, and move heaven and earth; the next is the anāgāmin, and the anāgāmin is one whose soul after the end of life ascends to the nineteenth heaven, and there attains arhatship; the next is the sakṛdāgāmin, and the sakṛdāgāmin is one who ascends once and returns once, and then attains arhatship; the next is the srotaāpanna, and the srotaāpanna is one who dies seven times and is born seven times, and then attains arhatship; one whose attachments and desires are severed is like one whose four limbs are severed, and cannot use them again."

Note: The Ming edition provides a much longer introduction, translating as: "At that time, the Bhagavān, having attained the Path, had this thought: 'Departing from desire and being tranquil is the most supreme.' He dwelt in great meditation, subdued the various ways of Māra, and then turned the wheel of the Dharma to deliver sentient beings. In the Deer Park, for the five men including Kauṇḍinya, he turned the wheel of the Dharma of the Four Truths, and they realised the fruit of the Path. At that time, there were also śramaṇas who spoke of various doubts, presenting them to the Buddha for his instruction. The Bhagavān taught and instructed them, and one by one they were awakened, joined their palms in respectful assent, and obeyed the Bhagavān's commands. At that time, the Bhagavān spoke the true Sūtra of Forty-two Sections for them."

Section 2

The Buddha said, "Shaving the beard and hair, one becomes a śramaṇa, receives the Dharma of the Path, discards worldly wealth, begs for what is sufficient, eats one meal at noon, lodges for one night under a tree, and is careful not to do it again! That which causes people to be foolish and base is attachment and desire."

Section 3

The Buddha said, "Sentient beings take ten things to be wholesome, and also take ten things to be unwholesome. They are three of the body, four of the mouth, and three of the mind. The three of the body are: killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct; the four of the mouth are: double-tongue, unwholesome cursing, false speech, and frivolous words; the three of the mind are: jealousy, anger, and ignorance, not believing in the Three Honoured Ones, and taking the heterodox as true. An upāsaka who practices the five things without slacking or retreating, and arrives at the ten things, will surely attain the Path."

Section 4

The Buddha said, "If a person has many faults, and does not repent of them himself, immediately stopping his mind, the offences will come and return to his body, just as water returns to the sea, naturally becoming deep and broad; if one has unwholesomeness and knows it is wrong, changes one's faults and attains what is wholesome, the offences will daily be extinguished, and later one will certainly attain the Path."

Section 5

The Buddha said, "If a person is foolish and I am treated with what is unwholesome, I will protect and rescue him with the four immeasurable states of compassion; the heavier he comes with unwholesomeness, the heavier I go with wholesomeness; the aura of merit and virtue is constantly here; the aura of harm and heavy misfortune conversely lies with him."

Section 6

There was a person who heard that the Buddha's Path observes great benevolence and compassion, that when one comes with unwholesomeness, one responds with wholesomeness, and therefore came to curse him. The Buddha was silent and did not reply, pitying that his dark ignorance and mad foolishness caused this. When the cursing stopped, he asked, "If you follow a person with propriety, and that person does not accept it, regarding this actual propriety, what happens to it?" He replied, "I take it back." "Now you curse me, and I also do not accept it; you yourself take it back, bringing disaster upon your own body! It is like an echo answering a sound, or a shadow following a form; in the end, there is no avoiding or leaving it. Be careful not to do what is unwholesome."

Section 7

The Buddha said, "An unwholesome person harming a sage is like looking up at the sky and spitting; the spit does not soil the sky, but returns to soil one's own body; or throwing dust at a person against the wind; the dust does not soil them, but returns to dust one's own body. A sage cannot be ruined, and the disaster will certainly destroy oneself."

Section 8

The Buddha said, "A person who practices the Path must broadly love, and broadly sympathising and bestowing virtue is the greatest bestowing. Observing one's resolve and practicing the Path, the merit is very great; seeing a person practicing the Path and joyfully assisting them, one will also attain a reward of merit."

A questioner asked, "Will that merit not be diminished?"

The Buddha said, "It is like a torch; several thousands and hundreds of people each come with a torch, take its fire away, cook their food, and dispel the darkness; that fire remains as before, and merit is also like this."

Section 9

The Buddha said, "Feeding a hundred ordinary people is not as good as feeding one wholesome person; feeding a thousand wholesome people is not as good as feeding one person who upholds the five precepts; feeding ten thousand people who uphold the five precepts is not as good as feeding one srotaāpanna; feeding a million srotaāpannas is not as good as feeding one sakṛdāgāmin; feeding ten million sakṛdāgāmins is not as good as feeding one anāgāmin; feeding a hundred million anāgāmins is not as good as feeding one arhat; feeding a billion arhats is not as good as feeding one pratyekabuddha; feeding ten billion pratyekabuddhas is not as good as using the teachings of the Three Honoured Ones to deliver one's parents in this life; teaching one's parents a hundred billion times is not as good as feeding one buddha—learning and vowing to seek buddhahood, wishing to rescue sentient beings. The merit of feeding a wholesome person is most profound and heavy; an ordinary person serving heaven, earth, ghosts, and spirits is not as good as being filial to his parents, for one's parents are the most divine."

Section 10

The Buddha said, "In the world there are five difficulties: poverty making bestowing difficult, wealth and nobility making learning the Path difficult, controlling life and not dying being difficult, attaining the sight of a Buddhist sutra being difficult, and being born to encounter a buddha's world being difficult."

Note: The Ming edition expands on the difficulties after "being born to encounter a buddha's world being difficult...": "...difficult, to endure form and detach from desire is difficult, to see what is fine and not seek it is difficult, to have power and not abuse it is difficult, to be insulted and not be angry is difficult, to encounter matters and have no mind is difficult, to broadly learn and extensively investigate is difficult, to not despise the unlearned is difficult, to eradicate and extinguish self-arrogance is difficult, to meet a wholesome spiritual friend is difficult, to see one's nature and learn the Path is difficult, to face objects and remain unmoved is difficult, to harmonise and deliver people is difficult, to have a mind and actions that are equal is difficult, to not speak of right and wrong is difficult."

Section 11

A śramaṇa asked the Buddha, "By what conditions does one attain the Path? How does one know past lives?"

The Buddha said, "The Path is without form; knowing it is of no benefit, but one must simply preserve one's resolve and practice; it is like polishing a mirror, when the dirt is removed the brightness remains, and one immediately sees one's form oneself; severing desires and observing emptiness, one will immediately see the truth of the Path and know past lives."

Section 12

The Buddha said, "What is wholesome? Only practicing the Path is wholesome. What is the greatest? The resolve harmonising with the Path is great. What has much strength? Endurance of humiliation is most robust; one who endures is without resentment, and will certainly be honoured by people. What is the brightest? When the mind's dirt is removed and unwholesome practices are extinguished, internally one is pure and without flaw; from before there was heaven and earth, reaching up to today, of all that exists in the ten directions, even the beginnings of what is not yet seen, there is nothing not known, nothing not seen, and nothing not heard; attaining all knowledge, this can be called bright."

Section 13

The Buddha said, "A person harbouring attachment and desire does not see the Path, like turbid water into which the five colours are thrown, and one exerts strength to stir it; if the masses together look down upon the water, there is no one able to see their reflection; attachments and desires intertwine, the mind within becomes turbid, and therefore one does not see the Path; when the water settles and the filth is removed, being pure and without dirt, one immediately sees one's form oneself. If a fierce fire burns beneath a cauldron, the water within boils and leaps, and if one covers it with a cloth, sentient beings shining upon it will also not have anyone seeing their reflection; the mind fundamentally has the three poisons bubbling and boiling on the inside, and the five hindrances covering the outside, so in the end one does not see the Path; only when the mind's dirt is exhausted does one know where the soul came from, where birth and death are heading, and where the buddhas' lands and the Path and its virtue are located."

Section 14

The Buddha said, "Those who practice the Path are like one holding a torch and entering a dark room; the darkness is immediately extinguished and the brightness still remains; learning the Path and seeing the truth, foolishness is entirely extinguished, and there is nothing not seen."

Section 15

The Buddha said, "What thought do I think? I think of the Path. What practice do I practice? I practice the Path. What words do I speak? I speak of the Path. I think of the true Path, and do not neglect it for an instant."

Section 16

The Buddha said, "Seeing heaven and earth, consider them impermanent; seeing mountains and rivers, consider them impermanent; seeing the forms and bodies of the myriad things being abundant and flourishing, consider them impermanent; holding the mind like this, one attains the Path swiftly."

Section 17

The Buddha said, "Practicing for a single day, constantly thinking of the Path and practicing the Path, one subsequently attains the root of faith; its merit is measureless."

Section 18

The Buddha said, "Carefully consider for yourself the four great elements within the body; the names have their existence, but in everything they are non-existent; the self is a parasitic existence, and existence is also not for long; these matters are like an illusion."

Section 19

The Buddha said, "A person following feelings and desires to seek flowery fame is like burning incense; the masses smell its fragrance, yet the incense burns itself to produce the scent; a foolish person is greedy for the fame and reputation of worldly customs, and does not observe the truth of the Path; flowery fame is a disaster that endangers oneself, and regret comes afterwards."

Section 20

The Buddha said, "Wealth and form to a person are like a small child greedy for honey on the blade of a knife; the sweetness is not enough for the deliciousness of a single meal, yet there is the disaster of cutting the tongue."

Section 21

The Buddha said, "The disaster of a person being bound to his wife, children, and jewelled residence is greater than a prison, fetters, and chains. A prison has pardons, but although the feelings and desires of wife and children possess the disaster of a tiger's mouth, one still willingly casts oneself into it, and for this offence there is no pardon."

Section 22

The Buddha said, "Of attachments and desires there is none greater than form; form as a desire, its greatness has nothing outside it. Fortunately there is only one of it; if there were two, among the people of universal heaven, there would be none able to practice the Path."

Section 23

The Buddha said, "Attachments and desires to a person are like holding a torch and walking against the wind. If a foolish person does not release the torch, there will certainly be the disaster of burning his hands. The poisons of greedy lust, anger, and foolishness dwell in the human body, and if one does not early on use the Path to remove these disasters, there will certainly be perilous misfortunes, just like the foolish and greedy holding a torch, burning their own hands themselves."

Section 24

A deva presented jade maidens to the Buddha, wishing to use them to test the Buddha's mind and observe the Buddha's Path. The Buddha said, "Leather bags of gathered filth, why do you come? You may trick the worldly, but it is hard to move the six supernormal powers. Go! I have no use for you." The deva further revered the Buddha, and therefore asked the meaning of the Path; the Buddha explained it to him, and he immediately became a srotaāpanna.

Section 25

The Buddha said, "Those who practice the Path are like a piece of wood in the water, traveling along the current; it does not touch the left bank, nor does it touch the right bank; it is not taken by people, it is not blocked by ghosts and spirits, it is not stopped by whirlpools, nor does it rot; I guarantee it will enter the sea. If a person practicing the Path is not confused by feelings and desires, and is not deceived by numerous heterodoxies, being diligent and without doubt, I guarantee they will attain the Path."

Section 26

The Buddha addressed the śramaṇas: "Be careful not to trust your minds, for the mind in the end cannot be trusted. Be careful not to meet with form, for meeting with form immediately gives rise to disaster. When one attains the Path of an arhat, only then can one trust one's mind."

Section 27

The Buddha addressed all the śramaṇas: "Be careful not to look at women, and if you see them do not look at them. Be careful not to speak with them, and if you speak with them, discipline your minds and rectify your conduct, saying: 'I am a śramaṇa, dwelling in a turbid world; I should be like a lotus flower, not soiled by the mud. The old I take as mothers, the elders I take as elder sisters, the young as younger sisters, and the toddlers as children, respecting them with propriety.' If thoughts differ, one should carefully reflect and observe, looking within oneself from head to foot: what does that body possess? It only contains unwholesome discharges and various impure seeds, and by this one releases one's thoughts."

Section 28

The Buddha said, "A person practicing the Path and removing feelings and desires should be like grass seeing a fire, retreating when the fire comes. When a person of the Path sees attachment and desire, they must distance themselves from it."

Section 29

The Buddha said, "There was a person who suffered from lust, and his passions would not stop, so he sat upon the blade of an axe in order to sever his own private parts. The Buddha addressed him, saying: 'If you sever your private parts it is not as good as severing your mind; the mind is the commanding officer, and if you stop the commanding officer, the followers all cease; if the heterodox mind does not stop, what is the benefit of severing your private parts? You will die in an instant!' " The Buddha said, "Worldly and inverted views are like this foolish person."

Section 30

There was a lustful girl who made an oath with a boy, and when the appointed time came and he did not appear, she repented to herself, saying:

Desire, I know your root and origin,

Intentions are produced through human thought,

If I will not produce a thought of you,

Then you will not be born or come to be.

The Buddha was walking on the Path and heard this, and addressed the śramaṇas, saying, "Record this! This is a verse of Kāśyapa Buddha, circulating in the worldly realm."

Section 31

The Buddha said, "A person from attachment and desire produces sorrow, and from sorrow produces fear. Without attachment there is no sorrow, and without sorrow there is no fear."

Section 32

The Buddha said, "A person practicing the Path is like one person battling ten thousand people; donning armour, holding weapons, exiting the gate wishing to battle, if one's intent is cowardly and one's courage is weak, one retreats and runs away oneself, or returns halfway, or fights and dies, or attains a great victory, returning to the country and being promoted high. If a person is able to firmly hold their mind, advancing with keen diligence, not confused by the words of worldly customs and mad foolishness, destroying desires until unwholesomeness is exhausted, they will certainly attain the Path."

Section 33

There was a śramaṇa chanting a sutra at night very sorrowfully, his mind having regret and doubt, wishing to produce thoughts of returning. The Buddha called the śramaṇa and asked him, "When you dwelt at home, what did you practice and do?"

He replied, "I constantly played the lute." The Buddha said, "If the strings were loose, what was it like?" He said, "They would not sound." "If the strings were tight, what was it like?" He said, "The sound would break." "If the tightness and looseness were balanced in the middle, what was it like?" "All the sounds would be universally sorrowful." The Buddha addressed the śramaṇa: "Learning the Path is also like this; if you hold your mind in harmony and moderation, the Path can be attained."

Section 34

The Buddha said, "A person practicing the Path is like forging iron gradually deeper, discarding the impurities, so the completed vessel will certainly be wholesome. Learning the Path must be gradually deep, removing the mind's impurities, and diligently progressing towards the Path. If one is sudden and violent, the body immediately becomes exhausted; if the body is exhausted, the mind immediately becomes afflicted; if the mind becomes afflicted, one's practices immediately retreat; if one's practices retreat, one immediately cultivates offences."

Section 35

The Buddha said, "A person practicing the Path also suffers, and not practicing the Path also suffers. Considering a person from birth to old age, from old age to sickness, and from sickness to death, their suffering is measureless. The mind's afflictions accumulate offences, and birth and death do not cease; that suffering is hard to speak of."

Section 36

The Buddha said, "For a person to leave the three unwholesome destinies and attain being a human is difficult; having already attained being a human, to leave being a woman and be a man is difficult; having already attained being a man, for the six senses to be complete is difficult; the six senses already being complete, to be born in the central country is difficult; having already dwelled in the central country, to encounter and uphold the Buddha's Path is difficult; having already upheld the Buddha's Path, to encounter a ruler who possesses the Path is difficult, and to be born into the family of a bodhisattva is difficult; having already been born into the family of a bodhisattva, to believe in the Three Honoured Ones with one's mind and encounter a buddha's world is difficult."

Section 37

The Buddha asked the śramaṇas, "Within what span does human life lie?" They replied, "It lies within the span of several days." The Buddha said, "You are not yet able to practice the Path."

He again asked a śramaṇa, "Within what span does human life lie?" He replied, "It lies within the span of eating a meal." The Buddha said, "You are not yet able to practice the Path."

He again asked a śramaṇa, "Within what span does human life lie?" He replied, "It lies within the span of a breath." The Buddha said, "Sādhu! You can be said to be one who practices the Path."

Section 38

The Buddha said, "If a disciple departs, leaving me by several thousands of miles, but remembers my precepts in his mind, he will certainly attain the Path. If he is by my left side, but his mind is on the heterodox, in the end he will not attain the Path. The truth lies in practice; if one is close but does not practice, what benefit is there in ten thousand shares!"

Section 39

The Buddha said, "A person practicing the Path is like eating honey, where the middle and the edges are all sweet. My sutras are also like this, their meanings are all joyful, and practitioners will attain the Path."

Section 40

The Buddha said, "A person practicing the Path being able to pull out the roots of attachment and desire is like plucking suspended beads; plucking them one by one, there will certainly be a time when they are exhausted. When unwholesomeness is exhausted, one attains the Path."

Section 41

The Buddha said, "All śramaṇas practicing the Path should be like an ox carrying a burden; walking in deep mud, exhausted to the extreme, it does not dare to look left or right, heading forward wishing to leave the mud, in order to revive and rest itself. A śramaṇa should view feelings and desires as worse than that mud, and straightforwardly thinking of the Path in his mind, he can avoid the multitudes of suffering."

Section 42

The Buddha said, "I view the positions of princes and lords like passing guests, I view the treasures of gold and jade like gravel and stones, and I view the finery of white cotton like ruined silk."

Note: The Ming edition concludes the sūtra as follows, continuing after "ruined silk...": "I view a cosmos of a great thousand worlds like a single harītakī seed, I view the four types of water like oil for anointing the feet, I view expedient means like a raft and a heap of jewels, I view the supreme vehicle like gold and silk in a dream, I view seeking the Buddha's Path like flowers before the eyes, I view seeking meditative concentration like the pillar of Sumeru, I view seeking nirvāṇa like waking day and night, I view the inverted and the upright like the dance of six dragons, I view those of equality like the single true ground, and I view those who propagate transformations like trees of the four seasons." 

All the great bhikṣus, hearing what the Buddha said, joyfully accepted and carried it out.