Jiāntuó guówáng jīng 犍陀國王經
Sūtra of the King of Gandhāra translated by 安世高 Ān Shìgāo (譯)
About the work
The Jiāntuó guówáng jīng (T506) is a one-fascicle short sūtra by 安世高 Ān Shìgāo. It opens the long sub-cycle of “kings” sūtras (KR6i0136–KR6i0154) — narratives about Indic kings (Bimbisāra, Ajātaśatru, Prasenajit, Vaidūrya, etc.) and their relations with the Buddha and the Saṅgha.
Prefaces
The text opens with the canonical formula.
Abstract
The text concerns a king of Jiāntuó (Gandhāra) — possibly historically allusive to the Gandhāran kings of the early Buddhist era. Ān Shìgāo’s translation is dated to his Luòyáng productive period (148–170 CE).
Translations and research
- Forte, Antonino. The Hostage An Shigao and His Offspring. 1995.
- Nattier, Jan. A Guide to the Earliest Chinese Buddhist Translations. 2008.