Preface to the Heart of the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wondrous Law (妙法蓮華經心) and the Encomia on the Thirty-Seven Divisions妙法蓮華經心幷三十七品讚頌序
妙法蓮華經心四句偈者。文簡旨備。含一部之義。雖衰耄多忘及女人不識文字者。亦易誦持。與讀大本同其利。則實可謂用力少而見功多者也。其所謂三十七品讚頌者。不知誰所撰歟。愚竊疑後之若沙門法師者。其意豈以爲向所謂老忘與女人。其根器不同。有止讀經心者。有欲讀一部則不及。而讀經心四句則有餘者。故於三十七品。各著讚頌。置於不及有餘之間。引而進之。輒欲勸之者歟。侍郞金元瑜得唐本。切欲摹印廣施於人。其爲利可涯哉。旣募工彫鏤。因乞予冠之以序云。
The four-line gatha of the Heart of the Sutra of the Lotus of the Wondrous Law (妙法蓮華經心) is brief in its words and complete in its sense, and holds within it the meaning of the whole work. Even one grown old and forgetful, or a woman who does not know the characters, can easily recite it and keep it, and its benefit is the same as reading the great text. So it may truly be called a thing in which little strength is spent and much merit is seen.
As for what is called the Encomia on the Thirty-Seven Divisions, I do not know who composed them. Foolish as I am, I privately guess that it may have been some sramana (沙門) or master of the Law of a later day. Their purpose, I suppose, was this: those spoken of above, the aged and forgetful and the women, are not alike in their capacity; there are those who stop at reading the Heart of the Sutra, and there are those for whom reading the whole work would be beyond their reach but who have something left over when they read the four lines of the Heart of the Sutra; and so he made an encomium for each of the thirty-seven divisions and set them between the falling short and the having something over, to draw them on and lead them forward and so at a stroke to urge them on.
The Vice Minister (侍郞) Kim Wonyu (金元瑜) got hold of a Tang edition (唐本) and earnestly wished to have it printed and bestowed widely upon men; and can there be any bound to its benefit? He has already gathered craftsmen and had it cut, and thereupon asked me to set a preface at its head.