TY - JOUR SN - 1012-4195 T1 - The Concept of Cakravartirājan and its Influence on Medieval Chinese Kingship AU - Kang Le Y1 - 1996/03/01 PY - 1996 DA - 1996/03/01 T2 - Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica JF - Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica JO - Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica JA - Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica VL - 67 IS - 1 SP - 109 EP - 143 Y2 - 1996/03/01 N2 - Cakravartirājan is the title given to the ancient India’s legendary sage kings, a concept later adapted by Buddhists. After Buddhism’s successful conquest of China during the medieval period, Chinese rulers unhesitatedly utilized Buddhism as a resource for claiming legitimacy. The concept of Cakravartirājan was one of their major appeals to this end. By analyzing the transformation of the original Indian model of “one Budda-one Cakravartirājan” into the Chinese model of “Cakravartirājan is Budda himself”, this essay provides a case study for the understanding of the “sinicization” of Buddhism in medieval China. ER -