This "Sutra of Forty-Two Sections" is said to be the first Buddhist scripture brought to China, but some scholars maintain that it is an apocryphal work produced in China. As the title suggests, it explains important tenets of Buddhist doctrine in 42 sections, thus serving as it were as an introduction to Buddhism. Basic Buddhist concepts such as suffering，impermanence and non-self as well as items relating to Buddhist practice, such as compassion and almsgiving, are elucidated by means of most apposite similes.
Owing to the fact that it is written in very simple language, this sutra was widely read in China, and there are as many as ten variant versions of the text.
