ABSTRACT
The crown prince of the State of Later Qin, lodged in his royal palace, was keen on studying foreign writings. He treasured the sutras and yearned for a fuller grasp of their meaning. His deep understanding of the Larger Division of the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra made him aware of how translators could make mistakes. Then he heard that the eminent Kumarajiva knew the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra as if by divine will and that the authentic text still existed. Thus in the tenth year of the Hongshi reign, on the sixth day of the second month, Kumarajiva, at the prince's request, began to bring forth. By the thirtieth day of the fourth month all the proofs and corrections had been completed. Compared to this new translation, the old translations were like a neglected field in which weeds need to be cleared from more than half of the crops.
