has been carried down through tradition into modern times and is customarily performed in Chinese Buddhist temples on the 9th day of the 1st month of the Chinese calendar. The sutra also gained esteem as a sutra for protecting the country in China, Korea and Japan, and often was read publicly to ward off threats. For example, its first reading in Japan was as a court ceremony during around 660 AD, when the Tang dynasty of China and Silla of Korea defeated the state of Baekje of Korea and were threatening Japan. In 741 Emperor Shōmu of Japan founded provincial monasteries for monks (国分寺) and nuns (国分尼寺) in each province. The official name of the monasteries was the Temple for Protection of the State by the Four Heavenly Kings Golden Light Sutra (). The 20 monks who lived there recited the Sovereign Kings Golden Light Sutra on a fixed schedule to protect the country. As Buddhism evolved in Japan, the practice gradually fell out of use, and is no longer continued today. Translations The Golden Light Sutra has been translated into Chinese, Saka ("Khotanese"), Old Turkic, Old Uyghur, Tangut, Classical Tibetan, Mongolian, Manchu, Korean and Japanese. Chinese Three canonical Chinese translations have survived: Jin guangming jin T663 translated by Dharmakṣema (385-433) the synoptic Hebu jin guangming T664, by Baogui, written in 597 Jin guangming zuisheng wang jin T665, by Yijing (635-713) An extracanonical version, ascribed to Paramārtha (499-569) is extant in a Japanese manuscript. Japanese One of the earliest Japanese annotations was an 8th century kunten translation of the Yijing Chinese translation housed in Saidaiji Temple. In 1933, Izumi published the first complete Japanese translation directly from Sanskrit, followed by another translation by Ama a year later. Western languages In 1958, Nobel published a German translation, based on Yijing´s Chinese text. In 1970, Emmerick produced an English translation of the short, condensed Sanskrit version of the Sutra of Golden Light into English. In Tibetan, there are three versions of the Sutra: the 21, 29, and 31 chapter versions. The 29 Chapter Version was probably the most popular in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhist regions. In 2007, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, Lama Zopa Rinpoche's Buddhist organization, produced a translation of the 21 chapter version of the Sutra, the most abbreviated and condensed version. See also Humane King Sutra Lotus Sutra References Bibliography Bagchi, S. ed. (1967). Suvarṇaprabhāsasūtram,