Across the centuries, a handful of commentarial traditions have grown up around the Sutra of Forty-Two Sections—each one peeling back layers of meaning like petals on a lotus.

1. Sengyou’s Annotation (6th century)
   • Often hailed as the founding gloss, this early commentary appeared in the Liudu Jijing Baozang (Collection of the Six Paramitas).
   • It weaves together translation notes, parallel quotes from other sūtras, and interpretive asides, setting the stage for all later readings.

2. Daoxuan’s Supplement (7th century)
   • The Tang scholar–monk Daoxuan added his own marginalia, clarifying key doctrinal terms and offering stories about how early Chinese monastics put these forty-two teachings into practice.
   • His work survives in Dunhuang manuscripts and remains a touchstone for those tracing the text’s transmission.

3. Ennin’s Tendai Gloss (9th century)
   • On a pilgrimage to India and back, the Japanese Tendai master Ennin jotted down reflections on each section, drawing connections to the Lotus Sūtra and Mahāvairocana teachings.
   • Those notes later formed the core of a Japanese-line commentary that still circulates in Tendai circles today.

4. Ouyi Zhixu’s Wider Lens (17th century)
   • Ming-period luminary Ouyi Zhixu approached the Forty-Two Sections with a blend of Pure Land devotion and Chan insight.
   • His commentary highlights how each aphorism can serve both reciter and meditator, showcasing a bridge between devotional liturgy and sudden-awakening flair.

5. Nichiren’s Applied Notes (13th century)
   • While best known for championing the Lotus Sūtra, Nichiren borrowed heavily from the Forty-Two Sections in his early writings (Gosho).
   • His sub-commentaries turn aphorisms into calls to action—“have faith, act boldly”—reflecting the political turbulence of Kamakura Japan.

Modern sub-commentaries have leapt on fresh Dunhuang finds (2019’s digitized fragments, for instance), while Western scholars now produce bilingual editions with historical footnotes, cross-referencing parallels in Pali and Sanskrit. Even today, as interest in early Mahayana anthologies surges—fueled by online manuscript databases and Sinology conferences—new voices continue to unpack those forty-two lines, proving that a text this compact still packs a punch.