Sūtra in Forty-Two Sections 

A scripture in the Chinese Buddhist canon (Taishō 784) that purports to date from the mid- Han dynasty. According to legend, Chinese envoys sent to Scythia in search of Buddhism after the Emperor Ming had a dream (around 67 ce) brought the text back to China (see Ming-ti). In other versions, Indian monks residing in China translated it. It appears to be a compendium of essential passages from various Hīnayāna scriptures, intended as an introduction to Buddhism for Chinese inquirers. Although there is some question that the version presently preserved in the Taishō canon may not be the same as the version originally circulated during the Han, it is fairly certain that a scripture by that name, and of the nature of a summa, did exist at that time.

A Dictionary of Buddhism, Oxford University Press, 2003, 2004 (which is available in electronic version from answer.com)