The Humane King Sutra () is found in Taisho No. 245 and 246. Many scholars have suspected this sutra to be composed in China but not all scholars agree with this viewpoint.Yang 2016 There are two versions: the first is called the ''Humane King Perfection of Wisdom Sutra'' (仁王般若波羅蜜經), while the second is called the ''Humane King State-Protection Perfection of Wisdom Sutra'' (仁王護國般若波羅蜜經), more idiomatically the ''Prajnaparamita Scripture for Humane Kings Who Wish to Protect their States''. Both sutras are found in the prajnaparamita section of the Taisho Tripitaka. This sutra is unusual in the fact that its target audience, rather than being either lay practitioners or the community of monks and nuns, is the rulership (i.e. monarchs, presidents, prime ministers, etc.). Thus, for example, where the interlocutors in most scriptures are ''

arhat In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

''s or

bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva ( ; sa, 𑀩𑁄𑀥𑀺𑀲𑀢𑁆𑀢𑁆𑀯 (Brahmī), translit=bodhisattva, label=Sanskrit) or bodhisatva is a person who is on the path towards bodhi ('awakening') or Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools ...

s, the discussants in this text are the kings of the sixteen ancient regions of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. The foregrounded teachings, rather than being meditation and wisdom, are " humaneness" and "forbearance" or "

ksanti Kshanti (Sanskrit ') or khanti (Pāli) is patience, forbearance and forgiveness. It is one of the pāramitās in both Theravāda and Mahāyāna Buddhism. Canonical sources Examples in the Pāli canon identify using forbearance in response to ot ...

", these being the most applicable religious values for the governance of a Buddhist state. Hence today in some Chinese temples, the sutra is used during prayers on behalf of the government and the country. A second translation from a Sanskrit text was carried out a few centuries after the appearance of the original version, by the monk

Amoghavajra Amoghavajra ( sa, अमोघवज्र ; , 705–774) was a prolific translator who became one of the most politically powerful Buddhist monks in Chinese history and is acknowledged as one of the Eight Patriarchs of the Doctrine in Shingo ...

(Bukong 不空), one of the most important figures in the Chinese Esoteric tradition, as well as a patriarch in the Shingon school of Japan. This second version of the text (仁王護國般若波羅蜜經, T 246.8.834-845) is similar to the original version (仁王般若波羅蜜經, T 245.8.825-834), the translation of which was attributed to Kumārajīva, but it contains new sections that include teachings on mandala, mantra, and ''dhāraṇī''.

Themes

One theme of the sutra is

impermanence Impermanence, also known as the philosophical problem of change, is a philosophical concept addressed in a variety of religions and philosophies. In Eastern philosophy it is notable for its role in the Buddhist three marks of existence. It ...

. A passage which is popular in Japan is the , which in full reads , and is analogous to '' sic transit gloria mundi'' in the West. This is famously quoted in the first line of '' The Tale of the Heike'', whose latter half reads: .

Translations

There are two classical Chinese translations extant: *the 仁王護國般若波羅蜜經 Renwang Huguo Bore Boluomi Jing (trans. by

Kumārajīva Kumārajīva ( Sanskrit: कुमारजीव; , 344–413 CE) was a Buddhist monk, scholar, missionary and translator from the Kingdom of Kucha (present-day Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China). Kumārajīva is seen as one of the greates ...

in 410-412). *the 仁王護國般若波羅蜜多經 Renwang Huguo Bore Boluomiduo Jing (trans. by

in 765-766). Amogavajra translated the

mantras A mantra (Pali: ''manta'') or mantram (मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words in Sanskrit, Pali and other languages believed by practitioners to have religious, ma ...

. The discovery of the Old Translated Inwanggyeong (구역인왕경;舊譯仁王經) in

Gugyeol Gugyeol, also ''kwukyel'', is a system for rendering texts written in Classical Chinese into understandable Korean. It was chiefly used during the Joseon Dynasty, when readings of the Chinese classics were of paramount social importance. Thus ...

in the mid-1970s contributed to

Middle Korean Middle Korean is the period in the history of the Korean language succeeding Old Korean and yielding in 1600 to the Modern period. The boundary between the Old and Middle periods is traditionally identified with the establishment of Goryeo in 9 ...

studies.On the Chinese Transcriptions of Northeastern Eurasian Languages
/ref>

Notes

References

External links

Digital Dictionary of Buddhism
(log in with userID "guest") {{Authority control Vajrayana Mahayana sutras Religion and politics Post-canonical Buddhist texts Chinese Buddhist texts Japanese Imperial Rituals

Themes

Translations

See Also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links