妙法蓮華經 1.2

1.2

In the past, on Mount Gṛdhrakūṭa, the Tathāgata, together with an immeasurable assembly including the great arhats Ājñātakauṇḍinya and Mahākāśyapa, expounded the true Mahāyāna sūtra entitled Innumerable Meanings. At that time, the heavens rained down precious flowers that showered and filled everywhere; the light of wisdom revealed auspicious signs, illuminating both the hidden and the manifest; and all the Buddha-worlds shook in six ways. All humans and gods attained what they had never had before, and they all rejoiced and praised it, considering that this sūtra is the secret treasury of the Buddhas, the Tathāgatas, divine and unfathomable, vast and difficult to name; whereby those submerged in stagnation are drawn forth, and the benighted who have lost their nature are rescued, its merit being so immense that it has no bounds. Tracing back its origin, it began in India and flowed to China. Starting from the Western Jin, the śramaṇa Dharmarakṣa first translated it, entitling it True Lotus; then, in the Eastern Jin, the Tripiṭaka Master Kumārajīva from Kucha retranslated it, entitling it Saddharmapuṇḍarīka; and coming to the Sui, the Indian śramaṇa Jñānagupta translated one that was also entitled Saddharma. Although the texts and principles of the three sūtras are repeated and present variations, the Tripiṭaka Master alone captured its essential meaning. However, as generations have long passed, corruptions were not absent; lacking collation and correction, doubts would gradually multiply. For this reason, it has been specially collated and ordered to be carved onto printing blocks to spread its transmission widely.