Sovereign Kings of the Golden Light Sutra
Sovereign Kings of the Golden Light Sutra; 金光明最勝王経; (Skt Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra; or Suvarnaprabhasottama-sutra; Chin Chin-kuang-ming-tsui-sheng-wang-ching; Jpn Konkomyo-saisho’o-kyo )
Abbreviated as the Sovereign Kings Sutra. A sutra in ten volumes and thirty-one chapters, translated in 703 by the Chinese priest Iching. According to the sutra, it was preached by Shakyamuni Buddha on Eagle Peak northeast of Rajagriha, the capital of the Magadha kingdom. The sutra dwells on the protection of the four heavenly kings and other benevolent deities. It says that the benevolent deities will protect the country of a ruler who upholds and protects the correct teaching, but will abandon the country of a ruler who does not; as a result, numerous disasters such as pestilence, earthquake, storm, and invasion from other countries will occur.
In Japan, this sutra was counted as one of the three scriptures for the protection of the nation, the other two being the Lotus Sutra and the Benevolent Kings Sutra. When separate provincial temples for priests and temples for nuns were established by Emperor Shomu in the mid-eighth century, the Sovereign Kings of the Golden Light Sutra was recited at the temples for priests to ensure the peace and prosperity of the country. The sutra contains a well-known story of two excellent physicians, Water Holder and his son Water Carrier, and the story of Prince Mahasattva, who sacrificed himself to save a starving tigress.
See also; Golden Light Sutra.
