For a specimen of devotional literature about the heart see the little tract translated in China Branch, R.A.S. XXIII. pp. 9-22.
For text translation and commentary, see De Groot, Code du Mahâyâna en Chine, 1893, see also Nanjio, No. 1087.
[857] De Groot, p. 81.
[858] The identity of name seems due to a similarity of metaphor. The Brahmajâla sutta is a net of many meshes to catch all forms of error. The Fan-wang-ching compares the varieties of Buddhist opinion to the meshes of a net (De Groot, l.c. p. 26), but the net is the all-inclusive common body of truth.
[859] See, however, sections 20 and 39.
[860] See especially De Groot, l.c. p. 58, where the reading of the Abhidharma is forbidden. Though this name is not confined to the Hînayâna, A-pi-t'an in Chinese seems to be rarely used as a title of Mahayanist books.
[861] The Indian words are transliterated in the Chinese text.
[862] More accurately reading the sûtras on their behalf, but this exercise is practically equivalent to intercessory prayer.