The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters is problematic in the light of textual criticism but highly estimated in the history of the spreading of Buddhism. Intended to discuss the themes of this text, this paper first explains the history of its editions, based on the related academic research in the past, and then discusses the Buddhist knowledge of The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters according to the needs of Buddhist research. Regarding the history of its editions and translations, the surviving editions of the work are respectively the ancient edition translated in the Jin Dynasty and the new edition made by the Zen school in the late Tang Dynasty. Regarding its Buddhist knowledge, though The Sutra of Forty-two Chapters is said to be the first Buddhist scripture in China, it is an abridgement consisting of the practical concepts and pedagogic functions drawn from other translated scriptures. The renouncement of desires is considered in this text the major idea of practice. In this paper, we discuss the new edition from the late Tang Dynasty as a whole and interpret the text through the cosmological approach, the ontological approach, the approach of moral cultivation, and the approach of perfect personality.
