title: Hope chest

text: The typical hope chest is of lidded blanket chest form. In some traditions, there may also be one or two side-by-side drawers beneath. As with blanket chests, a small till may also be found inside for small items. As the contents of such a chest would primarily be linens, construction in moth-repellent cedar, or at least a cedar lining, was popular, leading to the name "cedar chest". The Eastern Redcedar ("Juniperus virginiana") is the "cedar" typically used.


title: Hope chest

text: The Lane Company of Altavista, Virginia (active 1912-2001) was a notable maker of cedar chests. After developing production-line techniques for making ammunition boxes during World War I, they turned these production techniques (and a patented locking-mitre corner joint) into vast numbers of chests. This was aided by strong advertising, using a teenaged Shirley Temple as a model, in a campaign targeted at GIs and absentee sweethearts of World War II. They were particularly well known for their practice (since 1930) of distributing miniature (9" long) cedar chests to girls graduating from high-school as advertising gifts.


title: Hope chest

text: "Glory Box" is also the title of a song from the band Portishead. The song is about a woman who is giving up her time as a temptress to commit to a settled life with a man, asking him to take a look from her side every now and then.


title: Hope chest

text: In the 1985 movie "Back to the Future", the 1955 version of the character Lorraine McFly (maiden name Baines) refers to having placed Marty McFly's pants "over there...on my hope chest" after he had been knocked unconscious. The joke implies her romantic interest in Marty when, unbeknownst to Lorraine, Marty is her son from the future.


title: Hope chest

text: In "Glee", Kurt Hummel has claimed to own a hope chest. This is an ironic inversion of the hope chest's usual role for a prospective bride, as Kurt is a gay teenage boy.


title: Hope chest

text: In the 2012 film "", Bilbo Baggins asks Kili to "please not do that" on his mother's glory box, when the dwarf cleans his boots on the chest. This suggests that in Middle Earth women (possibly from the high society) also used hope chests, at least in Hobbiton.


title: Hope chest

text: In "Me and You and Everyone We Know", Peter and Robbies' neighbor has a hope chest, which is a part of the climax of the film.


title: Hope chest

text: In "The New Yankee Workshop", Norm Abram demonstrates how to build and paint a Pennsylvania Dutch-style hope chest (called a dower chest in the episode) modeled on one on display at the Winterthur Museum in Delaware.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Pepin, or Pippin the Hunchback (French: Pépin le Bossu, German: Pippin der Buckelige; c. 768 / 769 – 811) was a Frankish prince. He was the eldest son of Charlemagne and noblewoman Himiltrude. He developed a humped back after birth, leading early medieval historians to give him the epithet "hunchback". He lived with his father's court after Charlemagne dismissed his mother and took another wife, Hildegard. Around 781, Pepin's half brother Carloman was rechristened as "Pepin of Italy"—a step that may have signaled Charlemagne's decision to disinherit the elder Pepin, for a variety of possible reasons. In 792, Pepin the Hunchback revolted against his father with a group of leading Frankish nobles, but the plot was discovered and put down before the conspiracy could put it into action. Charlemagne commuted Pepin's death sentence, having him tonsured and exiled to the monastery of Prüm instead. Since his death in 811, Pepin has been the subject of numerous works of historical fiction.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The circumstances of Pepin's birth remain unclear to modern scholars, especially regarding the legitimacy of his mother's union to Charles. Most Carolingian-era sources dismiss Charles' first union as illegitimate. The contemporary historian Einhard writes merely that Pepin was born to a "concubine", and he does not list him among Charlemagne's legitimate offspring. Although it is possible that Pepin was born to a now-forgotten concubine, Einhard is probably referring to Himiltrude—the first child-bearing partner of Charlemagne, about whom little is now known. However, Einhard and most other Carolingian historians worked in the courts of Charlemagne's successors, and had a vested interest in undermining the legitimacy of the claims of other potential royal lines. These writers may have maligned Charles' union to Himiltrude after the fact, in order to lend a "post facto" justification to Pepin's later disinheritance.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: It is possible that the union of Charlemagne and Himiltrude was a Germanic form of marriage with fewer obligations than the sacramental marriage of the Church—what some medievalists have called "Friedelehe"—although the concept is controversial. Paul the Deacon writes in his "Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium" that Pepin was born "ante legale connubium" or "before legal marriage", but his precise meaning is unclear: he does not specify as to whether Charles and Himiltrude were not fully, legally married by the church, or if they simply got married after Pepin was born. In a letter to Charlemagne, Pope Stephen III described the relationship as a legitimate marriage, but he had a vested interest in preventing Charlemagne from taking a new wife—the daughter of the Lombard king Desiderius, who was a major political enemy of the papacy.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: After Charles ignored Stephen's advice and married the Lombard princess Desiderata, the story of Himiltrude might have been altered and forgotten. Or, perhaps, Charles' resentment over a deformed son led him to divorce Himiltrude once an opportune and advantageous time arrived. Yet another possibility is that, when Pepin's hunchback became evident, stories needed to change to accommodate a different heir. At any rate, concepts like legitimacy and rightful inheritance were very likely more fluid for the Carolingians than they were for later monarchies—an ambiguity that continues to provoke debate about Pepin's disinheritance. What is known fairly certainly is that Charles fathered a son with a woman named Himiltrude, with whom he may or may not have been married.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The nature of Pepin's birth is further illuminated by an understanding of his name and the customs of naming present during this time. Carolingian aristocrats frequently named newborn children after successful ancestors. This tradition was more than a mere homage to dead relatives—it seems that the Carolingians saw naming customs as a way to help children assume the historical roles of their eponymous ancestors.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Charlemagne's dynasty was dominated by the name "Pepin": it had been Charles' father's name, as well as that of several other members of the royal line. In fact, Charles' brother and political rival Carloman named his firstborn Pepin before Charles was even married. Charles, then, was naturally inclined to name his first son "Pepin"—announcing his own dynastic ambitions, clearing the ground for the eventual recognition of his son as emperor. However, Notker the Stammerer, writing long after Pepin's death, suggests that it was Himiltrude (Pepin's mother), and not Charles, who gave Pepin his name.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Pepin apparently continued to live at his father's court even after Charlemagne dismissed Pepin's mother Himiltrude to marry Desiderata, the daughter of the Lombard king, around 770. Only after Charlemagne's marriage to Hildegard, and the birth of new male heirs like Charles the Younger (772) and Carloman (773), did Pepin's position seem to become more precarious. In either 780 or 781, Charles had the young Carloman baptized by Pope Hadrian in Rome, renaming him Pepin. The "Poeta Saxo", a 9th-century Latin poet who records the events of Charlemagne's reign, tells us that while Charlemagne "attended the solemnties of Easter the venerable Pope administered soul-saving baptism to Charles' son Pepin [formerly Carloman]." Charles had added another, more fit Pepin to his lineage—an apparent snub that many historians have interpreted as the beginning of Pepin the Hunchback's disinheritance. However, a dearth of documents and credible contemporary historians leaves the question up for debate, and some have even argued that Pepin retained a full stake in the inheritance of the kingdom right up until his rebellion in 792.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Charlemagne was extremely conscious of the notions of succession and inheritance during his lifetime, even refusing to marry off his daughters to the Frankish nobility. This quirk scandalized later contemporary historians ("Strange to say," Einhard writes, "he never wanted to give any one of them in marriage to anybody") and probably reflects Charles' reluctance to leave problematic heirs that could interfere with a peaceful succession after his death. But in spite of all the potential difficulties that Pepin presented for the succession—particularly his dubious birth and problematic deformity—sources suggest that Charlemagne treated him with affection and even respect. Even after Carloman was rechristened "Pepin", Charlemagne maintained the older Pepin at his court, right alongside Charles the Younger, one of Charlemagne's sons by Hildegard. Charlemagne named Charles the Younger "King of the Franks" when he divided his kingdom in 806, and to some historians this suggests that Pepin the Hunchback was also being groomed for future kingship, perhaps for the "lion's share" of Francia, before his rebellion in 792. According to historian Janet Nelson, the rechristening of Carloman probably had more to do with satisfying "political interests outside [Charlemagne's] family," than it did with disinheriting the original Pepin. Particularly, the christening of an Italian king named Pepin reaffirmed the Franks' historical commitment to the papacy: it was probably meant to evoke the pro-papal policies of Charles' father Pepin the Short.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Other historians see the baptism of Carloman as a repudiation of Pepin, and trace the systematic rejection of Pepin's claims to the throne in the subsequent actions of Charlemagne and his court. Walter Goffart argues that the "Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium", written by Paul the Deacon in the mid 780s before Pepin's revolt, reveals the "succession plan" of Charlemagne and his court—a plan that left no room for a hunchbacked king. According to Goffart, Paul uses his history of the ancestry of Charlemagne as an allegory for the current succession by depicting the Frankish kingship as a "birthright" handed down from a father to only one son, like those passed down among Biblical patriarchs. Like Esau, Pepin was rejected in favor of his younger brothers: Charlemagne, "like Isaac in the Bible, had no more than one blessing to bestow." Goffart and like-minded historians even speculate that Charlemagne and his court offered Pepin a sort of "quid pro quo": in return for surrendering his claim to the throne, "the Hunchback may have been promised that he would become bishop of Metz."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: There are also more concrete reasons for believing that Pepin was passed over for the succession. While he apparently remained at court with Charlemagne's third wife and new Queen Fastrada, his half-brother Charles the Younger joined his father on important campaigns, and even led large detachments of troops. As Goffart puts it, Charlemagne increasingly tasked "Charles the Younger to responsible commands, while leaving Pepin in the shade."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Finally, changing standards of marriage might have undermined Pepin's claims to the throne. Charlemagne's intimate relationships, with both wives and concubines, drew much criticism from his contemporaries—a monk from "Reichenau" even reported a "vision" he had in which he saw Charlemagne being gruesomely punished in purgatory for his marital sins. Indeed, the medieval historians who dismissed Pepin's mother as a concubine were often the same intellectuals and religious reformers who pushed for the imposition of orthodox Catholic practices throughout the Frankish domains, and the abandonment of old pre-Christian customs. Such reformers would have rejected the morality of "friedelehe" outright, even if Himiltrude was technically Charlemagne's legal wife under old Germanic law. Some historians have argued that this morality shift—a move to more orthodox Catholic definitions of marriage—helped push Pepin into the background. If Charles wanted to impose Catholic notions of orthodoxy on his domains, then he needed to abandon Pepin—the incarnate symbol of what was at best a pre-Christian variety of marriage and at worst, an un-Christian concubinage. Moreover, the notoriously "uxorious" Charles might have bowed to pressure from his new wife Hildegard, who wanted her own son to enjoy the most legitimate claim to the throne.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: In 792, Pepin the Hunchback attempted to overthrow his father with the help of a faction of discontented Frankish nobles. The plan however was discovered and thwarted before it could be put into action.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The historical context of the rebellion deserves explanation, as Pepin's plot seems to be more than a mere dynastic struggle. To begin with, a poor harvest caused a famine in 792—often an omen of political strife in medieval Europe. Nor was Pepin's revolt an isolated political event; the Saxons also revolted in 793, and Grimoald III, the Duke of Benevento incited acts of hostility in Italy. Although it seems likely that the famine contributed to the general strife in the Carolingian domains around 792, a single bad harvest does not make a revolt. The local nobility had recently been the target of new royal measures handed down by Charles in order to consolidate power and "check the abuses of local counts." He instructed the nobility to take a new oath of loyalty to him as king: "I, [the oath-taker], promise that in relation to my lord King Charles and his sons I am faithful and I shall be so for all of my life without treachery or evil intentions." This increased presence of central authority might have chafed the aristocracy, opening the door for a palace coup directed against Charlemagne.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Additionally, both the Royal Frankish Annals and Einhard cite Charles' then-current wife Fastrada, who seems to have been poorly received by many members of court, as a factor in the rebellion. Both of the major uprisings against the throne during Charles' reign—Hardrad's in 786 and Pepin's in 792—occurred during Fastrada's tenure as his wife and queen. As cited in the year 792 of the Royal Frankish Annals, "A conspiracy was made against him [Charles] by his oldest son Pepin and some Franks, who claimed that they were unable to bear the cruelty of Queen Fastrada and therefore conspired against the king's life." We can find confirmation of this in Einhard's "Vita Karoli Magni": "It is supposed that the cruelty of Queen Fastrada was the primary cause of these plots, and they were both due to Charles' apparent acquiescence in his wife's cruel conduct, and deviation from the usual kindness and gentleness of his disposition." Historian Carl Hammer paraphrases Einhard's position, suggesting the revolt was caused by ""crudelitas", the extraordinary harshness, of Charlemagne's wife, Fastrada, which had subverted the normal clemency of the king's rule."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Exactly what acts of cruelty were perpetrated by Fastrada against Pepin (or, more likely, against the nobles who encouraged Pepin) is unclear; but she seems to have exacerbated existing tensions between Charlemagne and the aristocracy.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Finally, Charles was away from his central kingdom during the year of 792, residing in Bavaria (at Regensburg) in order to better manage his campaign against the Avars. According to Einhard's account, instead of accompanying his father, Pepin the Hunchback faked sickness. Einhard explains: "When Charles was at war with the Huns, and was wintering in Bavaria, this Pepin shammed sickness, and plotted against his father in company with some of the leading Franks, who seduced him with vain promises of the royal authority." We must keep in mind Einhard's partisan bias to Charles in this account: he was a member of the royal court, and his description of Pepin's motivation should be taken with a grain of salt.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: With Charles away, Pepin and his fellow discontented nobles plotted his assassination. The "Poeta Saxo" offers a particularly damning account of Pepin and the other rebels, reporting:


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: However, a Lombard named Fardulf exposed the plot and reported it to Charles. He was later made abbot of the Abbey at St. Denis in thanks for his service to the throne in this event. When the co-conspirators were captured and accused of breaking their holy oaths (i.e. as mentioned above), they professed a technical innocence against the charge of oath-breaking, claiming they had never actually taken the oath in question (a claim that seems unlikely). This is a rather weak defense, as it doesn't actually do anything to mitigate the charge of attempted regicide.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The court and king found all of the conspirators guilty, confiscated their lands and condemned them to death as punishment. However, some of the conspirators walked away with their lives, Pepin included. Charles was likely unwilling to put to death his first-born son, who still seemed to hold some of his father's affection. As historian Pierre Riché suggests, "The revolt in 792 of his bastard son Pippin the Hunchback especially distressed him," no doubt as a result of their kinship. Nonetheless, punishment was still necessary, so Pepin was tonsured and took up the habit of monkhood. As Einhard describes, "When his [Pepin's] deceit was discovered and the conspirators were punished, his head was shaved, and he was suffered, in accordance with his wishes, to devote himself to a religious life in the monastery of Prüm."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: In Joanna Story's book "Charlemagne: Empire and Society", historian Stewart Airlie points out a possible upshot of Pepin's revolt (from Charles' point of view). He suggests that "Pippin's conspiracy was the last rising against Charlemagne and its suppression permitted the king to slim the royal family down further: only the sons of Hildegard were to inherit..." However, Airlie also points out that the cost of the revolt to Charles was more expansive than the mere insult and threat of death. The Lorsch Annals' entry for 793, the year after the revolt, writes that Charlemagne's loyal retainers were "rewarded abundantly." Charles could not merely punish the members of his court who had been conspirators, "but he also had to reward those who had taken no part in it with gold, silver and silks. Their loyalty could not be taken for granted."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Pepin became a monk, and settled at the abbey of Prüm. Located near the confluence of the Rhine and Moselle rivers, just north of modern-day Luxembourg, Prüm was far from the heart of Charles' empire, and therefore a fitting site for exile. Pepin spent his remaining years there, sheltered from political intrigues and upheavals.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: In 806, Charles, careful to ensure a smooth transition of power upon his death, issued the "divisio regnorum", a royal decree that divided the lands of his kingdom into three separate territories, which would be divided among his three "remaining" sons (though Pepin the Hunchback was still alive at the time): Charles the Younger, Pepin (Carloman), and Louis. There is some ambivalence as to whether Pepin the Hunchback's exclusion from the "divisio" was a result of the Revolt of 792 or due to the supposed and aforementioned illegitimate nature of his birth.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Sometime around 811, Pepin died while at Prüm, likely from plague. Historians dispute the actual date, but evidence seem to suggest it ranged from 810 to 811, with the Royal Frankish Annals recording his death as 8 July 810.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Pepin's physical deformation clearly complicated his succession to the throne, but it is unclear exactly how his hunchback would have been perceived by his contemporaries. Many medieval people probably believed that physical deformation or disability was an outward manifestation of spiritual corruption, a position that was partially informed by passages from the Bible:


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: In spite of this isolated part of the Old Testament's association of deformity with uncleanliness, Christian writers like Isidore of Seville and Augustine of Hippo who followed Jesus maintained that the physically disabled were not inhuman or demonic. St. Augustine, who exercised a considerable intellectual influence on Carolingian thinkers, wrote in his treatise "City of God" that "the desserts of souls are not to be estimated by the qualities of bodies." As one historian puts it, Augustine and his disciples believed that the role of individual deformities was "hidden from human understanding, but had significance in God's divine plan of creation." Pepin's life demonstrates this ambiguous position of the deformed and the disabled in Carolingian society—individuals who traveled through life apparently cursed by God, but for reasons incomprehensible to humans. Einhard calls Pepin "handsome of face, but hunchbacked," and dissociates him completely from Charlemagne's other progeny. Notker the Stammerer, however, treats Pepin's disability as more of a mundane inconvenience than a sign from God: he writes, with a hint of droll humor, that "all deformed people tend to be more irritable than those who are properly proportioned." Significantly, no early medieval record of Pepin directly links his deformity to his treason against Charlemagne. Although some of his contemporaries might have read spiritual implications into his hunchback, Pepin's disability seemed to cause more political than moral problems for the Carolingian succession. Apprehension about the fitness of a disabled leader hurt his chances of attaining power, just as they might for a modern head of state.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Like many figures of the time period, few of the historical facts about Pepin have been fixed with certainty. Most of what is known about him comes from just a handful of early medieval annals and histories. Understanding the context of these sources, as well as their built-in biases and shortcomings, is essential to understanding Pepin himself.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: One of the earliest, most contemporary descriptions of Pepin is found in the "Gesta Episcoporum Mettensium", an ecclesiastical history of the see of Metz written by Paul the Deacon around 785. Paul often digresses into broader themes of Carolingian history, and some historians (like Walter Goffart) read a great deal about the plight of Pepin into the supposedly allegorical histories that Paul provides of Charlemagne's ancestors. Paul also touches on Pepin directly, at least occasionally:


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Historical appraisal of the "Gesta" has varied widely over time, however, and many historians see it as more of a "literary curiosity" with only an incidental or inadvertent historical value. Even Goffart admits that historians value much of Paul's work only as a mere "repository of legends."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Another nearly contemporary source for the life of Pepin are the Lorsch Annals, a series of historical entries compiled by Frankish monks during the life of Charlemagne. The annals provide one of the best early accounts of Pepin's revolt:


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The Royal Frankish Annals (Latin: "Annales regni Francorum") provide another foundational annalistic source for the study of Pepin. Although they were probably compiled in Charlemagne's court, a later writer revised them after the emperor's death, which might impact the way in which the annals cover Pepin.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Einhard, a scholar at Charlemagne's court and one of the king's most important early biographers, provides only a glancing mention of Pepin. Initially, he makes no mention of Pepin or Himilitrude in his list of Charlemagne's legitimate offspring and spouses in his "Vita Karoli Magni":


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: But Einhard knew that Pepin was Charlemagne's son—although he does not mention that Pepin was the first born. Only a few pages later, Einhard acknowledges Pepin's birth, saying, "By one of his concubines he had a son, handsome in face, but hunchbacked, named Pepin, whom I omitted to mention in the list of his children." Apparently, Pepin was already in a sort of historical exile by the time of Einhard's writing: he is not portrayed as part of the legitimate lineage and does not enjoy the place of honor enjoyed by Charlemagne's other offspring.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: This is explained by Einhard's subsequent account of Pepin's revolt. Pepin feigned illness as he plotted with "certain leading Franks" to overthrow his father. When the plot was discovered, Einhard writes that Pepin was tonsured and sent directly to the monastery of Prüm. In his paper "Pipinus Rex" historian Carl Hammer points out the disparate attention Einhard gives to Pepin's revolt, arguing, "he gives it priority over his account of the evidently more widespread and possibly more dangerous rebellion of 785/6." Hammer also points out that Einhard describes Pepin as a "hapless pawn of the real conspirators" and so hopes to maintain the cohesion of the family unit in his portrayal of Charlemagne and his offspring. Finally, Hammer points out that no historian we have record of prior to Einhard called Pepin "the Hunchback"—Presumably, this slander was another aspect of Einhard's attempt to spare the family."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: A third, and differing account of Pepin's life comes from Notker the Stammerer, a Benedictine monk writing during the reign of Charles the Fat, the great-grandson of Charlemagne. Notker's account, referred to by modern scholars as the "Gesta Caroli Magni" ("The Deeds of Charles the Great") or "De Carolo Magno" ("Concerning Charles the Great") provides much more detail about Pepin's plot than earlier sources, although some of the story seems heavily inspired by classical sources. According to Notker, Pepin and his co-conspirators meet in the church of St. Peter in Regensburg to discuss their plot, where a cleric hiding under the altar overhears them. After the deacon reveals the conspiracy to Charlemagne, the plotters are captured, and Pepin is "cruelly scourged" and banished to a poor monastery—Notker claims that it was the monastery of St. Gall, although Pepin was almost certainly sent to the monastery of Prüm.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Notker, however, adds another element to the story, possibly borrowed from the Roman historian Livy's account of Tarquin's poppies. Some time later, when faced with another revolt, Charlemagne sends messengers to Pepin to ask his advice. The king's men find Pepin weeding nestles in the garden, where he refuses to offer Charles any advice, saying "I will send him no message except—what I am doing! I am digging up the useless weeds in order that the valuable vegetables may be able to develop more freely." When the messengers relate the story back to Charlemagne, he manages to "divine the real meaning of the words" and puts the rebellious nobles to death. As a reward for his good counsel, Charles allows Pepin to choose "the manner of life that most pleased him" and Pepin asks to move to the monastery of Prüm.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The "Poeta Saxo", an anonymous Saxon poet who composed the "Annales de gestis Caroli magni imperatoris libri quinque" ("Annals of the Deeds of Emperor Charlemagne in Five Books") near the end of the 9th century, relies heavily on classical models and existing sources like Einhard and the Royal Frankish Annals. Generally, he offers an interesting literary restatement of the older vitae and annals, but little new history.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Not surprisingly, many modern historians dismiss the historical accuracy of Notker the Stammerer's account. However, some recent scholars argue that Notker offers a valuable early "literary" account of Pepin. Historian David Ganz suggests in his Introduction to Notker's work that De Carolo Magno "can be seen as an attempt to provide a revision of Einhard's text, with a proper emphasis, lacking in Einhard, on Charlemagne as Christian ruler and a part of the divine plan for salvation". Professor Lewis Thorpe suggests, "the Charlemagne of the Monk of Saint Gall seems to live before our eyes and to be a little nearer to the real man whom we find portrayed elsewhere." Like his portrayal of Charlemagne, Notker's depiction of the hunchback inaugurated a long tradition of fictionalizing Pepin as a literary character, with an emphasis on the complex relationship he maintained with his father.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The 1972 Broadway musical hit, "Pippin", by Stephen Schwartz and Roger O. Hirson, is loosely based on the Pippin the Hunchback of history. In this work, Pippin, who is not a hunchback, has graduated from university and is trying to decide what his life should be about. He eventually decides to go off to war in his father's army, but quickly changes his mind. By the end of the first act, having found no meaning in women and sex, Pippin decides to revolt. In a glaring breach with history, the revolt succeeds, Charles is assassinated, and Pippin finds himself king. But again, he finds no meaning in this calling and so, through magic and song, resurrects Charles. He toys with suicide, but ultimately chooses the love of a woman over killing himself. The musical was well-received; its original New York production ran for almost five years and won multiple Tony awards: Best Direction of a Musical (Bob Fosse), Best Choreography (Bob Fosse), Best Leading Actor in a Musical (Ben Vereen), among others. In 2013, it returned to Broadway in a major well-acclaimed revival, which also won many Tonys, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Direction of a Musical (Diane Paulus), Best Performance by a Leading Actress (Patina Miller, playing the role previously played by Tony Award winner Ben Vereen) and Best Performance by a Featured Actress (Andrea Martin).


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: In her 1959 children's novel "Son of Charlemagne", author Barbara Willard tells the story of Charlemagne's family in a historical-fictional style, fleshing out the details of more historical accounts (likely Einhard was a major source here). In such scenes as Carloman's baptism, "Carl" expresses distress as he realizes that he has been renamed Pepin, taking his older half-brother's place. Willard adds special tension to the scene: "Carl had caught Bertha by the wrist and she had answered by putting her other hand as tightly on his. Pepin? But Gobbo was Pepin..."


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: Such a detailed account does not exist, of course. The name "Gobbo" is an interesting, and sensible choice since it means "hunchback" in Italian. The character Charlemagne explains its etymology in harsh terms: "Gobbo means hunchback... The men picked the word up in Italy, when we fought the Lombards the year you were born. When I heard my son called Gobbo I knew he must not succeed me. No king must be mocked. Besides... I fear that Gobbo is not entirely to be trusted." This, then, is yet another possibility (and, though it is founded in little historical evidence, it makes intuitive sense) for Charlemagne's changing his heir. However, it seems that the king's prophetic concerns about Pepin's trustworthiness are little more than a literary device. Pepin's relationship with his father was probably fairly strong in his early years, according to most of the available sources.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The short story by Alexandre Dumas, "Episodes from Pepin et Charlemagne" has been incorrectly cited as being about Pepin the Hunchback. In fact, the story is about his namesake and grandfather, Charles' father Pepin. The story tells how Pepin met his bride Berthe (which was the name of the wife of Pepin of Italy, so it is possible Dumas was slightly confused by the redundant names in the history) and is not about the hunchbacked prince.


title: Pepin the Hunchback

text: The DC comic "Arak, Son of Thunder" (1981–85) was set in the time of Charlemagne and featured Pepin (as Pip) in its contemporaneous backup strip, "Valda the Iron Maiden".


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The United States has since 1979 applied various economic, trade, scientific and military sanctions against Iran. United States economic sanctions are administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), an agency of the United States Department of the Treasury. Currently, United States sanctions against Iran include an embargo on dealings with the country by the United States, and a ban on selling aircraft and repair parts to Iranian aviation companies.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The United States has imposed sanctions against Iran in response to the Iranian nuclear program and Iranian support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad, that are considered terrorist organizations by the United States. Iranian support for the Shia militias in Iraq and the Houthis in the Yemen civil war are also in contention.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 17 May 2018, the European Commission announced its intention to implement the blocking statute of 1996 to declare United States sanctions against Iran null and void in Europe and ban European citizens and companies from complying with them. The EC also instructed the European Investment Bank to facilitate European companies' investment in Iran.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: United States sanctions can be imposed under the National Emergencies Act (NEA) of 1976, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977 and the Iran and Libya Sanctions Act of 1996 (ILSA, later renamed to Iran Sanctions Act (ISA)). Declarations under NEA and IEEPA must be renewed annually to remain in effect. Another sanctions law is the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: United States President Carter imposed sanctions against Iran in November 1979 after radical students seized the United States Embassy in Tehran and took hostages, after the United States permitted the exiled Shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment. froze about US$8.1 billion in Iranian assets, including bank deposits, gold and other properties. It also imposed a trade embargo. The sanctions were lifted in January 1981 as part of the Algiers Accords, which was a negotiated settlement of the hostages’ release.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: United States President Ronald Reagan imposed an arms embargo in 1983 on Iran, including United States military spare parts to the military during the Iran–Iraq War (1981–1988).


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: An embargo on Iranian goods and services was imposed in 1987 in response to Iran's actions from 1981 to 1987 against the United States and other vessels in the Persian Gulf and because of Iran's support for terrorism.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: United States President Bill Clinton imposed some of the toughest sanctions against Iran in March 1995, during the presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, in response to the Iranian nuclear program and Iranian support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestine Islamic Jihad, that are considered terrorist organizations by the United States under , to prohibit the United States from trading in Iran's oil industry. In May 1995 Clinton also issued to prohibit the United States from trading with Iran. Trade with the United States, which had been growing since the end of the Iran–Iraq War, ended abruptly.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The Iran and Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) was signed into law on 5 August 1996 by President Clinton. ISA (the renamed ILSA in 2006) targets both American and non-American businesses that make investments over $20 million in Iran for the development of petroleum resources in Iran. They face having imposed against them two out of seven possible penalties by the United States:


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: ISA was extended several times under the presidency of George W. Bush, and on December 1, 2016, it was extended under President Barack Obama, before vacating office, for a further ten years.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: After the election of Iranian reformist President Mohammad Khatami in 1997, President Clinton eased sanctions on Iran. In 2000 the sanctions for items such as pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, caviar and Persian rugs were reduced.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In February 2004, during the final year of Khatami's presidency, the United States Department of the Treasury in the presidency of George W. Bush ruled against editing or publishing scientific manuscripts from Iran, and stated that the American scientists collaborating with Iranians could be prosecuted. As a consequence, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) temporarily stopped editing manuscripts from Iranian researchers and took steps to clarify the OFAC guidelines concerning its publishing and editing activities. In April 2004 IEEE received a response from OFAC which fully resolved that no licenses were needed for publishing works from Iran and that the entire IEEE publication process including peer review and editing was exempt from restrictions. On the other hand, the American Institute of Physics (AIP), the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which publishes "Science", refused to comply, saying that the prohibition on publishing goes against freedom of speech.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: After being elected president in 2005, President Ahmadinejad lifted the suspension of uranium enrichment that had been agreed with the EU3, and the International Atomic Energy Agency reported Iran's non-compliance with its safeguards agreement to the UN Security Council. The United States government then began pushing for UN sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In June 2005, President George W. Bush issued freezing the assets of individuals connected with Iran's nuclear program. In June 2007, the U.S. state of Florida enacted a boycott on companies trading with Iran and Sudan, while New Jersey's state legislature was considering similar action.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) adopted Resolution 1737 in December 2006, Resolution 1747 in March 2007, Resolution 1803 in March 2008, and Resolution 1929 in June 2010.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: Iranian financial institutions are barred from directly accessing the U.S. financial system, but they are permitted to do so indirectly through banks in other countries. In September 2006, the United States government imposed sanctions on Bank Saderat Iran, barring it from dealing with U.S. financial institutions, even indirectly. The move was announced by Stuart Levey, the undersecretary for treasury, who accused the major state-owned bank in Iran of transferring funds for certain groups, including Hezbollah. Levey said that since 2001 a Hezbollah-controlled organization had received $50 million directly from Iran through Bank Saderat. He said the United States government will also persuade European banks and financial institutions not to deal with Iran. As of November 2007, the following Iranian banks were prohibited from transferring money to or from United States banks:


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In other words, these banks were placed on the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN List). The SDN List is a directory of entities and individuals who have been prohibited from accessing the U.S. financial system. Although difficult there are ways to carry out an OFAC SDN List removal.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: As of early 2008, the targeted banks, such as Bank Mellat, had been able to replace banking relationships with a few large sanction-compliant banks with relationships with a larger number of smaller non-compliant banks. In 2008, the United States Department of the Treasury ordered Citigroup Inc. to freeze over $2 billion held for Iran in Citigroup accounts.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: For individuals and small businesses, these banking restrictions have created a large opportunity for the hawala market, which allows Iranians to transfer money to and from foreign countries using an underground unregulated exchange system. In June 2010, in the case "United States v. Banki", the use of the hawala method of currency transfer led to a criminal conviction against a U.S. citizen of Iranian origin. Banki was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison; however, on the sentencing guidelines, this type of offense could result in imprisonment of up to 20 years.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On June 24, 2010, the United States Senate and House of Representatives passed the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010 (CISADA), signed into law by President Obama on July 1, 2010. The CISADA greatly enhanced restrictions on Iran, including the rescission of the authorization for Iranian-origin imports for articles such as rugs, pistachios, and caviar. In response, President Obama issued in September 2010 and in May 2011, and in November 2011.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The sanctions imposed on Iran at the beginning of 2012 "had persistent and significant effects on the Iranian economy. The cost reached its maximum of 19.1% of real gross domestic product 4 years after the application of the sanctions, and the economy has not fully recovered after their removal."


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 31 July 2013, members of the United States House of Representatives voted 400 to 20 in favor of toughened sanctions.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The United States imposed additional financial sanctions against Iran, effective 1 July 2013. An administration official explained that according to the new Executive Order "significant transactions in the rial will expose anyone to sanctions," and predicted “it should cause banks and exchanges to dump their rial holdings.” This took place as Iran's president-elect Hassan Rouhani was scheduled to take office on August 3, 2013.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In 2014, U.S. authorities put a $5 million bounty on Chinese businessman Li Fangwei, whom they alleged to have been instrumental in evading sanctions against Iran's missile programs.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In 2014, French bank BNP Paribas agreed to pay an $8.9 billion fine, the largest ever, for violating United States sanctions. Germany's Commerzbank, France's Credit Agricole and Swiss UBS have also been fined. French President François Hollande said: "When the (European) Commission goes after Google or digital giants which do not pay the taxes they should in Europe, America takes offence. And yet, they quite shamelessly demand 8 billion from BNP or 5 billion from Deutsche Bank."


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In 2015, Germany's largest bank Deutsche Bank was fined $258 million for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran, Libya and Syria.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal), signed in July 2015, the United States agreed to cancel most of the U.S. sanctions against Iran, with some safeguard provisions, in return for limitations on Iran's nuclear program.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In April 2018, the United States Department of Justice joined the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and the Department of Commerce to investigate possible violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran by China's Huawei. The U.S. inquiry stemmed from an earlier sanctions-violation probe that ultimately led to penalties against another Chinese technology company, ZTE Corporation. Huawei's deputy chair and CFO Meng Wanzhou, daughter of the company's founder Ren Zhengfei, was arrested in Vancouver, Canada on December 1, 2018, under an extradition request by United States authorities for allegedly putting HSBC bank at risk of violating U.S. sanctions on Iran.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In May 2019, the United States warned banks, investors, traders, and companies of the United Kingdom which trade with Iran through the Instrument in Support of Trade Exchanges (Instex) special purpose vehicle, that they will be punished somehow by Washington.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The Trump administration imposed sanctions on two UAE based aviation companies, Parthia Cargo and Delta Parts Supply, that violated U.S. sanctions on Iran's Mahan Air by providing them logistics services and supplying parts to the Iranian airline. Federal prosecutors also filed criminal charges against one of the companies under violation of United States export control regulations.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) was enacted in August 2017 and imposed sanctions against Iran, as well as against Russia and North Korea. CAATSA requires the President to impose sanctions against: (1) Iran's ballistic missile or weapons of mass destruction programs, (2) the sale or transfer to Iran of military equipment or the provision of related technical or financial assistance, and (3) Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated foreign persons. The President may also impose sanctions against persons responsible for violations of internationally recognized human rights committed against individuals in Iran, and can waive the imposition or continuation of sanctions.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In May 2018, the United States President Donald Trump announced an intention to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA or Iran nuclear deal), and subsequently imposed several new non-nuclear sanctions against Iran, some of which were condemned by Iran as a violation of the deal.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: These treasury and other arms of the government, both under Obama and Trump, have basically weakened the JCPOA extensively, which has kept a lot of the sanctions regime intact. In August 2018, the Trump administration reimposed sanctions and warned that anyone doing business with Iran will not be able to do business with the United States. However, the United States will be granting waivers to certain countries. For example, Iraq was granted a waiver that would allow the country to continue purchasing gas, energy and food products from Iran on the condition that the purchases were not paid for in United States dollars.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In 2018, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) "ordered" the United States government to revoke the sanctions on the basis of the 1955 United States-Iran "Friendship Treaty", that had been signed with the government that had been overthrown by the 1979 Islamic Revolution. In response, the United States withdrew from two international agreements with Iran.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In October 2018, Reuters reported that JPMorgan Chase bank had "agreed to pay $5.3 million to settle allegations it violated Cuban Assets Control Regulations, Iranian sanctions and Weapons of Mass Destruction sanctions 87 times, the United States Treasury said".


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: British bank Standard Chartered faced a $1.5 billion fine by the U.S. agencies for violating Iran sanctions.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In November 2018, the United States officially reinstated all sanctions against Iran that had been lifted before the United States withdrew from the JCPOA.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In April 2019, the United States threatened to sanction countries continuing to buy oil from Iran after an initial six-month waiver announced in November expired.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In June 2019, Trump imposed sanctions on Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei, his office and those closely affiliated with his access to key financial resources.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 31 July 2019, the United States placed sanctions on Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In August 2018, Total S.A. officially withdrew from the Iranian South Pars gas field because of sanctions pressure from the United States, leaving CNPC to take up their 50.1% stake in the natural gas field, of which it had already 30%. It held this 80.1% share until it withdrew its investment in October 2019 due once again to the U.S. sanctions, according to Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh and the SHANA news agency.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 19 May 2020, the United States sanctions targeted Shanghai Saint Logistics Limited, a PRC-based company that provides general sales agent services for Mahan Air. The United States claimed that Iran used Mahan Air to carry gold of fuel sales of Venezuela. Also, Iran denied the allegation.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 8 June 2020, the United States imposed new sanctions of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) and its Shanghai-based subsidiary, E-Sail Shipping Company Ltd (E-Sail).


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 8 May 2019, according to article 36 of the JCPOA agreement, Iran was allowed to reply in case of non-compliance by other signatories. President Rouhani announced that Iran was acting in reply to "the European countries' failure" and held on to stockpiles of excess uranium and heavy water used in nuclear reactors. Rouhani said that Iran gave a 60-day deadline to remaining signatories of the JCPOA to protect it from U.S. sanctions and provide additional economic support. Otherwise, at the end of that deadline, Iran would exceed the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium. In September 2019, as a third major step to scale down commitments to the 2015 nuclear accord, after another 60-day deadline, Iran nullified all limits on nuclear research and development.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 25 October 2007, the United States designated the Quds Force, a part of IRGC, a terrorist organization under Executive Order 13224, for providing material support to U.S.-designated terrorist organizations, prohibiting transactions between the group and U.S. citizens, and freezing any assets under United States jurisdiction.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 18 May 2011, the United States imposed sanctions on Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force, along with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and other senior Syrian officials, due to Soleimani's alleged involvement in providing material support to the Syrian government. He was listed as a known terrorist, which forbade U.S. citizens from doing business with him.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 8 April 2019, the United States imposed economic and travel sanctions on the IRGC and organizations, companies and individuals affiliated with it. Hossein Salami was one of the individuals listed.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 15 April 2019, the United States designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization. The designation is still in force.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 21 April 2019, a few days before United States sanctions were due to take effect, Iran Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei appointed Hossein Salami as the new commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 7 June 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on some of the petroleum industry in Iran because they were owned by the IRGC.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 24 June 2019, the US imposed sanctions on eight senior commanders of the navy, aerospace and ground forces components of IRGC.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In May 2020 the United States charged Iranian-Iraqi Amir Dianat and his Iranian business partner with money-laundering on behalf of the Quds Force and with violating sanctions.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 3 September 2019, Trump added the Iran Space Agency, the Iranian Astronautics Research Institute and the Iranian Space Research Center to its sanctions list.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 20 September 2019, the United States imposed sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), the National Development Fund of Iran (NDF) and Etemad Tejarate Pars Co., an Iranian company that was used to transfer money to the Ministry of Defence and Armed Forces Logistics.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In October 2019, the US imposed sanctions on some of the Iranian construction sector which is owned by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which it regards as a foreign terrorist organization. The US State Department also identified four “strategic materials” being used in connection with military, nuclear, or ballistic missile programs, making trade in them subject to sanctions. However, the department extended nuclear-cooperation waivers on Iran's civil nuclear program, renewing them for 90 days.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 4 November 2019, the United States imposed new sanctions on the core inner circle of advisers to the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The new sanctions included one of his sons, Mojtaba Khamenei, the newly appointed head of Iran's judiciary, Ebrahim Raisi, the supreme leader's chief of staff, Mohammad Mohammadi Golpayegani, and others. The Trump administration also issued $20 million to a reward for information about a former FBI agent who disappeared in Iran 12 years previously.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 8 October 2020, the United States imposed further sanctions on Iran's financial sector, targeting 18 Iranian banks. The banks targeted are Amin Investment Bank, Bank Keshavarzi Iran, Bank Maskan, Bank Refah Kargaran, Bank-e Shahr, Eghtesad Novin Bank, Gharzolhasaneh Resalat Bank, Hekmat Iranian Bank, Iran Zamin Bank, Karafarin Bank, Khavarmianeh Bank, Mehr Iran Credit Union Bank, Pasargad Bank, Saman Bank, Sarmayeh Bank, Tosee Taavon Bank, Tourism Bank and Islamic Regional Cooperation Bank.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In September 2020, the United States said that it imposed sanctions on Judge Seyyed Mahmoud Sadati, Judge Mohammad Soltani, Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court of Shiraz, and Adel Abad, Orumiyeh, and Vakilabad Prisons. Elliott Abrams said "the sanctions targeted a judge who sentenced Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari to death," who was convicted of murdering a security guard during the 2018 Iranian protests.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: United States President Joe Biden said on February 8, 2021, that he would not lift economic sanctions against Iran until Iran complies with the terms of the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal. Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei had previously said that Tehran would only return to compliance if the United States first lifted all economic sanctions. On the other hand, Iran said that it would suspend the implementation of the Additional Protocol, if the other parties to the 2015 nuclear pact do not fulfill their obligations by February 21, 2021.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On September 22, 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury announced sanctions against the Iran Morality Police as well as seven senior leaders of Iran's various security organizations, "for violence against protestors and the death of Mahsa Amini". These include Mohammad Rostami Cheshmeh Gachi, chief of Iran’s Morality Police, and Kioumars Heidari, commander of the Iranian army's ground force, in addition to the Iranian Minister of Intelligence Esmail Khatib, Haj Ahmad Mirzaei, head of the Tehran division of the Morality Police, Salar Abnoush, deputy commander of the Basij militia, and two law enforcement commanders, Manouchehr Amanollahi and Qasem Rezaei of the LEF in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province of Iran. The sanctions would involve blocking any properties or interests in property within the jurisdiction of the US, and reporting them to the US Treasury. Penalties would be imposed on any parties that facilitate transactions or services to the sanctioned entities.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: According to an Iranian journalist, the effects of sanctions in Iran include expensive basic goods and an aging and increasingly unsafe aircraft fleet. "According to reports from Iranian news agencies, 17 planes have crashed over the past 25 years, killing approximately 1,500 people."


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The United States forbids aircraft manufacturer Boeing to sell aircraft to Iranian aviation companies. However, there are some authorizations for the export of civil aviation parts to Iran when those items are required for the safety of commercial aircraft. An analysis by "The Jerusalem Post" found that a third of the 117 Iranian planes designated by the U.S. had experienced accidents or crashes.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: A 2005 report, presented at the 36th session of the International Civil Aviation Organization, reported that the U.S. sanctions had endangered the safety of civil aviation in Iran because it prevented Iran from acquiring parts and support essential for aviation safety. It also stated that the sanctions were contrary to article 44 of the Chicago Convention (to which the U.S. is a member). The ICAO report said aviation safety affects human lives and human rights, stands above political differences, and that the assembly should bring international public pressure on the United States to lift the sanctions against Iran.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The European Union was critical of most of the U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. Some EU member states criticized ILSA as a "double standard" in U.S. foreign policy, in which the United States vigorously worked against the Arab League boycott of Israel while at the same time promoted a worldwide boycott of Iran. The EU member states threatened formal counter-action in the World Trade Organization.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: According to a study by Akbar E. Torbat, "overall, the sanctions' economic effect" on Iran "has been significant, while its political effect has been minimal."


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: According to the United States National Foreign Trade Council, in the medium-term, lifting U.S. sanctions and liberalizing Iran's economic regime would increase Iran's total trade annually by as much as $61 billion (at the 2005 world oil price of $50/bbl), adding 32 percent to Iran's GDP. In the oil-and-gas sector, output and exports would expand by 25-to-50 percent (adding 3 percent to world crude oil production).


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: Iran could reduce the world price of crude petroleum by 10 percent, saving the United States annually between $38 billion (at the 2005 world oil price of $50/bbl) and $76 billion (at the proximate 2008 world oil price of $100/bbl). Opening Iran’s market place to foreign investment could also be a boon to competitive US multinational firms operating in a variety of manufacturing and service sectors.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In 2009, there was discussion in the United States of implementing "crippling sanctions" against Iran, such as the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions Act of 2009, "if diplomatic overture did not show signs of success by the autumn". Professor Hamid Dabashi, of Columbia University, said in August 2009 that this was likely to bring "catastrophic humanitarian consequences", while enriching and strengthening the "security and military apparatus" of "the Pasdaran and the Basij," and having absolutely no support from "any major or even minor opposition leader" in Iran. According to Bloomberg News, Boeing and Exxon have said that new Iran sanctions would cost $25 billion in U.S. exports.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: It has also been argued the sanctions have had the counter effect of protecting Iran in some ways, for example the 2007 imposition of U.S. sanctions against Iranian financial institutions to a high degree made Iran immune to the then emerging global recession. Iranian officials argued that the sanctions created new business opportunities for Iranian companies to develop in order to fill the gap left by foreign contractors. According to U.S. officials, Iran may lose up to $60 billion in energy investments due to global sanctions.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 18 January 2012 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned that sanctions are aimed at strangling the economy of Iran and would create much discontent toward Western nations, and potentially provoke a negative recourse.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 13 August 2018 Iran Supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that "mismanagement" harmed Iran more than U.S. sanctions did. "More than the sanctions, economic mismanagement (by the government) is putting pressure on ordinary Iranians ... I do not call it betrayal but a huge mistake in management," Khamenei was quoted as saying.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 22 August 2018, United Nations Special Rapporteur Idriss Jazairy described the sanctions against Iran as "unjust and harmful". "The reimposition of sanctions against Iran after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the Iran nuclear deal, which had been unanimously adopted by the Security Council with the support of the United States itself, lays bare the illegitimacy of this action," said Jazairy. According to Jazairy, "chilling effect" caused by the "ambiguity" of recently reimposed sanctions, would lead to "silent deaths in hospitals".


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: According to Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan, United States sanctions against Iran are affecting neighboring Pakistan. He stated that "The last thing the Muslim World needs is another conflict. The Trump administration is moving towards that direction."


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 5 May 2019, White House announced the United States has stationed an aircraft carrier strike group and Air Force bombers to the Middle East for “troubling and escalatory signs and warnings” connected to Iran. Mr. Bolton said the purpose of the action is sending a message to the Iranian regime that any attack on U.S. interests or on those of our allies by Iran will be faced with our unremitting response. Also, he declared in the statement, we are not looking for war with Iran but ready to repel to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps or regular Iranian forces.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 19 May 2019, Trump threatened Iran and said in his Twitter post "If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!"


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: According to a 2019 AlJazeera report, some tech companies like as GitHub, Google and Apple and Microsoft began limiting users linked to Iran, and several other countries under U.S. sanctions, access to its services.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: On 27 September 2019, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that it is "impossible" for his country to stop buying oil and natural gas from Iran, despite U.S. sanctions against the latter. Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif repeatedly condemned the American sanctions against Iran as "economic terrorism."


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In June 2022, Iran claimed that despite changes imposed on by the continuance of U.S. sanctions, oil sales have remained at relatively high levels. According to figures from the petroleum ministry, Iran is currently exporting more than a million barrels of crude oil and gas condensate daily.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, health workers and sanctions experts said U.S. sanctions, including financial sanctions and lost oil revenues, were preventing the import of medicine and medical supplies including raw materials and equipment needed to manufacture medicines domestically.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: The United States has ostensibly exempted humanitarian items from sanctions, but in practice the prohibition against business with Iranian banks and the reduction in issuance of certain medical export licenses by the United States Treasury Department enforcement agency have caused difficulties in Iran. For example, Iran faces a critical shortage of spare parts that are needed to repair dual-use equipment used to produce medicine. Sanctions have also prevented Iran from procuring active ingredients necessary to manufacture locally produced medicine to treat asthma, cancer, and multiple sclerosis.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In December 2020, according to the central bank chief of Iran, Iran could not pay for a COVID-19 vaccine because of U.S. sanctions against Iranian banks. In March 2020, during the first wave of the pandemic, the United States blocked Iran's request for an emergency $5 billion IMF loan.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: After the United States withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, many banks and businesses worldwide, including pharmaceutical and medical companies, decided not to conduct any business with Iran due to U.S. sanctions.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: As of December 2018, United States sanctions were reportedly affecting hundreds of Iranian university students in the United Kingdom, preventing them from being able to readily pay their tuition fees and forcing them to choose between abandoning their studies or using dangerous means to transfer funds.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: In December 2010 it was reported that the United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control had approved nearly 10,000 exceptions to U.S. sanctions rules worldwide over the preceding decade by issuing special licenses for American companies.


title: United States sanctions against Iran

text: European and United States sanctions do not affect Iran's electricity exports, which creates a loophole for Iran's natural gas reserves.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The Mahāyāna sūtras are a broad genre of Buddhist scriptures ("sūtra") that are accepted as canonical and as "buddhavacana" ("Buddha word") in Mahāyāna Buddhism. They are largely preserved in the Chinese Buddhist canon, the Tibetan Buddhist canon, and in extant Sanskrit manuscripts. Several hundred Mahāyāna sūtras survive in Sanskrit, or in Chinese and Tibetan translations. They are also sometimes called "Vaipulya" ("extensive") sūtras by earlier sources. The Buddhist scholar Asaṅga classified the Mahāyāna sūtras as part of the "Bodhisattvapiṭaka", a collection of texts meant for bodhisattvas.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Modern scholars of Buddhist studies generally hold that these sūtras first began to appear between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. They continued being composed, compiled, and edited until the decline of Buddhism in ancient India. Some of them may have also been composed outside of India, such as in Central Asia and in East Asia.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Mahāyāna Buddhists typically consider several major Mahāyāna sūtras to have been taught by Shakyamuni Buddha, committed to memory and recited by his disciples, in particular Ananda. However, other Mahāyāna sūtras are presented as being taught by other figures, such as bodhisattvas like Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara. There are various reasons that Indian Mahāyāna Buddhists gave to explain the fact that they only appeared at a later time. One such reason was that they had been hidden away in the land of the Nāgas (snake deities, dragons) until the proper time for their dissemination arrived.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The Mahāyāna sūtras were not accepted by all Buddhists in ancient India, and the various Indian Buddhist schools disagreed on their status as "word of the Buddha". They are generally not accepted as the Buddha's word by the school of Theravāda Buddhism.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The origins of the Mahāyāna and their sūtras are not completely understood. Modern scholars have proposed numerous theories about the origins of Mahāyāna and the Mahāyāna texts.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: According to David Drewes, none of these theories have been satisfactorily proven and they lack sufficient evidence. Drewes writes that the most likely origin of Mahāyāna is that it was "primarily a textual movement, focused on the revelation, preaching, and dissemination of Mahāyāna sūtras, that developed within, and never really departed from, traditional Buddhist social and institutional structures." The figures of this movement probably saw themselves as bodhisattvas entrusted with teaching and preserving the Mahāyāna sūtras.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Scholars like Joseph Walser have also noted how Mahāyāna sūtras are heterogenous and seem to have been composed in different communities with varying ideas. Walser writes that "Mahāyāna was probably never unitary, but differed from region to region.". Likewise, Hajime Nakamura states:Unlike the various recensions of the Hīnayāna canon, which were virtually closed by the early centuries of the common era and which shared, at least ideally, a common structure . . . the Mahāyāna scriptures were composed in a variety of disparate social and religious environments over the course of several centuries, diverge widely from each other in content and outlook, and were in many cases meant to stand as individual works representing (it has been conjectured) rivals to the entire Hīnayāna corpus.There is also no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, but rather that it existed within the early Buddhist schools as a certain set of ideals, texts and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas. Mahāyānists also never had a separate Vinaya (monastic rule) from the early Buddhist schools. The Chinese monk Yijing who visited India in the seventh century, writes about how Mahāyāna monastics and non-Mahāyāna monastics lived together under the same Vinaya. The only difference among them was that Mahāyāna monks venerated the bodhisattvas and read the Mahāyāna sūtras.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Some scholars like Richard Gombrich think that Mahāyāna Sūtras only arose after the practice of writing down religious texts became widespread in India and thus that they were always written documents. However, James Apple and David Drewes have drawn attention to these oral features of the early Mahāyāna texts, which were not written documents but orally preserved teachings. Drewes writes, that Mahāyāna sūtras advocate mnemic/oral/aural practices more frequently than they do written ones, make reference to people who have memorized or are in the process of memorizing them, and consistently attach higher prestige to mnemic/oral practices than to ones involving written texts. Study of differences in various versions of sutras translated into Chinese has directly shown that these texts were often transmitted orally. Mahāyāna sūtras were committed to memory and recited by important learned monks called "Dharma reciters" ("dharmabhāṇakas"), who were viewed as the substitute for the actual speaking presence of the Buddha.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts. These Mahāyāna teachings were first propagated into China by Lokakṣema, the first translator of Mahāyāna Sūtras into Chinese during the second century.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The Mahāyāna movement remained quite small until the fifth century, with very few manuscripts having been found before then (the exceptions are from Bamiyan). According to Joseph Walser, the fifth and sixth centuries saw a great increase in their production. By this time, Chinese pilgrims, such as Faxian, Yijing, and Xuanzang were traveling to India, and their writings describe monasteries which they label 'Mahāyāna' as well as monasteries where both Mahāyāna monks and non-Mahāyāna monks lived together.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Dating the Mahāyāna sūtras is quite difficult; and many can only be dated firmly to when they were translated into another language.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Andrew Skilton summarizes a common prevailing view of the Mahāyāna sūtras among modern Buddhist studies scholars as follows:


title: Mahayana sutras

text: A. K. Warder notes that the Mahāyāna Sūtras are highly unlikely to have come from the teachings of the historical Buddha, since the language and style of every extant Mahāyāna Sūtra is comparable more to later Indian texts than to texts that could have circulated in the Buddha's putative lifetime. Warder also notes that the Tibetan historian Tāranātha (1575–1634) proclaimed that after the Buddha taught the sutras, they disappeared from the human world and circulated only in the world of the nagas. In Warder's view, "this is as good as an admission that no such texts existed until the 2nd century A.D."


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Paul Williams writes that while Mahāyāna tradition believes that the Mahāyāna sūtras were taught by the Buddha, "source-critical and historical awareness has made it impossible for the modern scholar to accept this traditional account." However, Williams further writes thatNevertheless, it is not always absurd to suggest that a Mahāyāna sūtra or teaching may contain elements of a tradition which goes back to the Buddha himself, which was played down or just possibly excluded from the canonical formulations of the early schools. We have seen that even at the First Council there is evidence of disagreement as regards the details of the Buddha's teaching.John W. Pettit writes that "Mahāyāna has not got a strong historical claim for representing the explicit teachings of the historical Buddha". However, he also argues that basic Mahāyāna concepts such as "the bodhisattva ethic, emptiness (sunyata), and the recognition of a distinction between buddhahood and arhatship as spiritual ideals," can be seen in the Pāli Canon. According to Pettit, this suggests that Mahāyāna is "not simply an accretion of fabricated doctrines" but "has a strong connection with the teachings of Buddha himself".


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Mahāyāna sūtras are generally regarded by Mahāyānists as being more profound than the śrāvaka texts as well as generating more spiritual merit and benefit. Thus, they are seen as superior and more virtuous to non-Mahāyāna sūtras.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The study of Mahāyāna sūtras is central to East Asian Buddhism, where they are widely read and studied. In Tibetan Buddhism meanwhile, there is a greater emphasis on the study of Mahāyāna śāstras (philosophical treatises), which are seen as more systematic ways of studying the content found in the sūtras.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The Mahāyāna sūtras were not recognized as being Buddha word ("buddhavacana") by various groups of Indian Buddhists and there was lively debate over their authenticity throughout the Buddhist world. Buddhist communities such as the Mahāsāṃghika school and the Theravada tradition of Sri Lanka became divided into groups which accepted or did not accept these texts. Theravāda commentaries of the Mahavihara sub-school mention these texts (which they call "Vedalla/Vetulla") as not being the Buddha word and being counterfeit scriptures. The Saṃmitīya school was also known as being strongly opposed to the Mahayana sutras as noted by the Tibetan historian Tāranātha. Xuanzang reports that a Saṃmitīya known as Prajñāgupta composed a treatise which argued against the Mahāyāna.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Various Mahāyāna sūtras warn against the charge that they are not word of the Buddha and defend their authenticity in different ways. Some Mahāyāna sūtras like as the "Gaṇḍavyūha" often criticize early Buddhist figures, such as Sariputra for lacking knowledge and goodness, and thus, these elders or śrāvaka are seen as not intelligent enough to receive the Mahāyāna teachings.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The reason these accounts give for the historically late disclosure of the Mahāyāna teachings is that most people were initially unable to understand the Mahāyāna sūtras at the time of the Buddha (500 BCE) and suitable recipients for these teachings had not yet arisen. Some traditional accounts of the transmission of the "Prajñāpāramitā" "sūtras" claim that they were originally stored or hidden in the realm of the "nāgas" (serpent-like supernatural beings). Later, these sūtras were retrieved by Nāgārjuna. Other Mahāyāna sources state that they were preached or preserved by bodhisattvas like Mañjuśrī or Buddhas like Vajradhāra.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Another Mahāyāna explanation for the later appearance of the Mahāyāna sūtras in the historical record is the idea that they are the revelations of certain Buddhas and bodhisattvas, transmitted through visions and meditative experiences to a select few individuals. The practice of visualization of Buddhas (in texts like the "Sukhāvatīvyūha") has been seen by some scholars as a possible explanation for the source of certain Mahāyāna sūtras which were seen as revelations from Buddha in other heavenly worlds. Williams also notes that there are other Mahāyāna texts which speak of sūtras being revealed or entrusted to forest dwelling monks by devas (deities). Paul Harrison notes that the idea that devas may preach the Buddha word is also present in non-Mahāyāna texts. Paul Harrison has also noted the importance of dream revelations in certain texts such as the "Arya-svapna-nirdesa" which lists and interprets 108 dream signs.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: A different Mahāyāna justification for the authenticity of the Mahāyāna sūtras is that they are in accord with the truth, with the Buddha's Dharma and therefore they lead to awakening. This is based on the idea that "Whatever is well spoken ["subhasita"], all that is the word of the Buddha ["buddhabhasita"]." As such, this idea holds that Mahāyāna is the "word of the Buddha" because it leads to awakening ("bodhi"), not because it was spoken by a specific individual with the title "Buddha". According to Venerable Hsuan Hua, there are five types of beings who may speak "Buddha word": a Buddha, a disciple of a Buddha, a deva (heavenly being), a ṛṣi (a sage), or an emanation of one of these beings; however, they must first receive certification from a Buddha that its contents are true Dharma.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The Indian Mahāyāna scholar Shantideva (8th century) states:Through four factors is an inspired utterance ["pratibhana"] the word of the Buddhas. What four? (i)...the inspired utterance is connected with truth, not untruth; (ii) it is connected with the Dharma, not that which is not the Dharma; (iii) it brings about the renunciation of moral taints ["klesa"] not their increase; and (iv) it shows the laudable qualities of nirvana, not those of the cycle of rebirth [samsara].Williams writes that similar ideas can be found in the Pali Canon, though it is interpreted in a more open ended way in the Mahāyāna in order to include a larger set of teachings that were seen as spiritually useful.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The modern Japanese Zen Buddhist scholar D. T. Suzuki similarly argued that while the Mahāyāna sūtras may not have been directly taught by the historical Buddha, the "spirit and central ideas" of Mahāyāna "are those of its founder". Thus, Suzuki admits (and celebrates) how the Mahāyāna evolved and adapted itself to suit the times by developing new teachings and texts, while at the same time maintaining the core "spirit" of the Buddha.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The teachings as contained in the Mahāyāna sūtras as a whole have been described as a loosely bound bundle of many teachings, which was able to contain the various contradictions. Because of these contradictory elements, there are "very few things that can be said with certainty about Mahāyāna Buddhism".


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Central to the Mahāyāna sūtras is the ideal of the Bodhisattva path, something which is not unique to them, however, as such a path is also taught in non-Mahayana texts which also required prediction of future Buddhahood in the presence of a living Buddha. What is unique to Mahāyāna sūtras is the idea that the term bodhisattva is applicable to any person from the moment they intend to become a Buddha (i.e. the arising of bodhicitta) and without the requirement of a living Buddha. They also claim that any person who accepts and uses Mahāyāna sūtras either had already received or will soon receive such a prediction from a Buddha, establishing their position as an irreversible bodhisattva. Some Mahāyāna sūtras promote it as a universal path for everyone, while others like the "Ugraparipṛcchā" see it as something for a small elite of hardcore ascetics.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: While some Mahāyāna sūtras like the Vimalakirti sūtra and the White Lotus sūtra criticize arhats and sravakas (referring to non-Mahāyānists) as lacking wisdom, and reject their path as a lower vehicle, i.e. 'hīnayāna' (the 'inferior way'), earlier Mahāyāna sūtras do not do this. As noted by David Drewes "early Mahāyāna sūtras often present their teachings as useful not only to people who wish to become Buddhas, but to those who wish to attain arhatship or pratyekabuddhahood as well. The old idea that the Mahāyāna began with the rejection of the arhat ideal in favor of that of the bodhisattva is thus clearly incorrect." Paul Williams also writes that earlier Mahāyāna sūtras like the "Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra" and the "Ajitasena sutra" do not present any antagonism towards the hearers or the ideal of arhatship like later sutras.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: According to David Drewes, Mahāyāna sūtras contain several elements besides the promotion of the bodhisattva ideal, including "expanded cosmologies and mythical histories, ideas of purelands and great, 'celestial' Buddhas and bodhisattvas, descriptions of powerful new religious practices, new ideas on the nature of the Buddha, and a range of new philosophical perspectives."


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Several Mahāyāna sūtras depict Buddhas or Bodhisattvas not found in earlier texts, such as the Buddhas Amitabha, Akshobhya and Vairocana, and the bodhisattvas Maitreya, Mañjusri, Ksitigarbha, and Avalokiteshvara. An important feature of Mahāyāna is the way that it understands the nature of Buddhahood. Mahāyāna texts see Buddhas (and to a lesser extent, certain bodhisattvas as well) as transcendental or supramundane ("lokuttara") beings, who live for eons constantly helping others through their activity.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: According to Paul Williams, in Mahāyāna, a Buddha is often seen as "a spiritual king, relating to and caring for the world", rather than simply a teacher who after his death "has completely 'gone beyond' the world and its cares". Buddha Sakyamuni's life and death on earth is then usually understood docetically, as a "mere appearance", his death was an unreal show (which was done in order to teach others), while in reality he continues to live in a transcendent realm in order to help all beings.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Mahāyāna sūtras, especially those of the "Prajñāpāramitā" genre, teach the importance of the practice of the six perfections ("pāramitā") as part of the path to Buddhahood, and special attention is given to the perfection of wisdom ("prajñāpāramitā") which is seen as primary. The importance of developing "bodhicitta", which refers to a mind that is aimed at full awakening (i.e. Buddhahood) is also stressed.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Another central practice advocated by the Mahāyāna sūtras is focused around "the acquisition of merit, the universal currency of the Buddhist world, a vast quantity of which was believed to be necessary for the attainment of Buddhahood".


title: Mahayana sutras

text: According to David Drewes, Mahāyāna sūtras include new religious practices that are supposed to make Buddhahood easy to achieve. Some of the most widely taught practices taught in Mahāyāna sūtras include:


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Another innovative "shortcut" to Buddhahood in Mahāyāna sutras are what are often called Pure Land practices. These involve the invocation of Buddhas such as Amitabha and Aksobhya, who are said to have created "Buddha fields" or "pure lands" especially so that those beings who wish to be reborn there can easily and quickly become Buddhas. Reciting the Mahāyāna sūtras and also simply the names of these Buddhas can allow one to be reborn in these places.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Some Buddhist Schools in India had collections of Mahāyāna Sūtras which were part of their scriptural canon, sometimes in their own textual collection referred to as "Bodhisattva Piṭaka". Jan Nattier notes that the "Ugraparipṛcchā Sūtra" mentions a "Bodhisattva Piṭaka" (as part of a four part canon that also includes the Sutra Piṭaka, the Vinaya Piṭaka, and the Abhidharma Piṭaka). According to Nattier, schools which maintained a "Bodhisattva Piṭaka" include the Dharmaguptaka and perhaps the Bahuśrutīya (or whoever authored the "Tattvasiddhi-Śāstra"). Some sutras translated by Lokaksema (c. 147-189 CE) also mention a ""Bodhisattva Piṭaka"."


title: Mahayana sutras

text: In the 4th century Mahāyāna abhidharma work "Abhidharmasamuccaya", Asaṅga refers to the collection which contains the āgamas as the "Śrāvakapiṭaka", and associates it with the śrāvakas and pratyekabuddhas. Asaṅga classifies the Mahāyāna Sūtras as belonging to the "Bodhisattvapiṭaka", which is designated as the collection of teachings for bodhisattvas.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The Mahāyāna Sūtras survive predominantly in "Buddhist Chinese" ("fójiào hànyǔ" 佛教漢語, a variety of written ancient Chinese) and Classical Tibetan translations. The source texts were probably in Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit or various Prakrit languages such as Gandhari. The main collections are found in the Tibetan Kangyur and the Chinese Tripiṭaka. There are also numerous Sanskrit manuscripts of individual texts from various finds like Dunhuang, and Sanskrit collections from Nepal. Many parallel translations of certain Sūtras exist. A handful of them, such as the "Prajñāpāramitā" sutras like the "Heart Sutra" and the "Diamond Sutra", are considered fundamental by most modern Mahāyāna traditions.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Some scholars have traditionally considered the earliest Mahāyāna Sūtras to include the very first versions of the "Prajñāpāramitā" series, along with texts concerning Akshobhya, which were probably composed in the 1st century BCE in the south of India. According to A.K. Warder, some scholars think that the earliest Mahāyāna Sūtras were mainly composed in the south of India, and later the activity of writing additional scriptures was continued in the north.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Some of the earliest Mahāyāna Sūtras were translated by the Kushan monk Lokakṣema, who came to China from the kingdom of Gandhāra. His first translations to Chinese were made in the Eastern Han capital of Luoyang between 178 and 189 CE. The editors of the Taishō Tripiṭaka attribute twelve texts to Lokakṣema. These attributions have been studied in detail by Erik Zürcher, Paul Harrison and Jan Nattier, and some have been called into question. Zürcher considers it reasonably certain that Lokakṣema translated the following:


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Harrison is doubtful about T626, and considers that T418 is the product of revision and does not date from Lokakṣema's time. Conversely, Harrison considers that T624 "Druma-kinnara-rāja-paripṛcchā-sūtra" (伅真陀羅所問如來三昧經) ought to be considered genuine.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Another set of Mahayana sutras, which gives an indication of which Mahayana sources were widespread in Central Asia, are those translated by the Indian-Kuchan translator Kumārajīva (344–413 CE) and his team (probably from Kuchan target sources) in Chang'an. The main sutras they translated are:


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The "Sūtrasamuccaya" is a compendium of sūtra quotations which survives in Tibetan and Chinese translation. It is sometimes attributed to Nagarjuna, but is likely to be from a later period (possibly 4th century CE or later). This anthology gives us an idea of some of the important Mahāyāna Sūtras that were being studied and quoted in Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism at this time. The "Sūtrasamuccaya" quotes from some early Buddhist texts, but mainly focuses on Mahāyāna Sūtras.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: According to David Seyfort Ruegg, the main sutra sources of the madhyamaka tradition are the "Prajñāpāramitā", "Ratnakūṭa" and "Avataṃsaka" sutras. Other sutras which were widely cited by Indian madhamika philosophers are: "Vimalakīrtinirdeṣa", the "Śuraṃgamasamādhi," the "Saddharmapuṇḍarīka", the "Daśabhūmika", the "Akṣayamatinirdeśa", the "Tathāgataguhyaka", and the "Kāśyapaparivarta".


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Ruegg also notes that the later madhyamaka Candrakīrti (c. 600 – c. 650) cites the "Prajñāpāramitā sutras" as well as: the "Akṣayamatinirdeśa, Anavataptahradāpasaṃkramaṇa, Upāliparipṛcchā, Kāśyapaparivarta, Gaganagañja, Tathāgataguhya, Daśabhūmika, Dṛḍhādhyāśaya, Dhāraṇīśvararāja, Pitāputrasamāgama, Mañjuśrīparipṛcchā, Ratnakūṭa, Ratnacūḍaparipṛcchā, Ratnamegha, Ratnākara, Laṅkāvatāra, Lalitavistara, Vimalakirtinirdesa, Śālistamba, Satyadvayāvatāra", "Saddharmapuṇḍarīka", "Samādhirāja" ("Candrapradīpa"), and "Hastikakṣya".


title: Mahayana sutras

text: "The Compendium of Training" ("Śikṣāsamuccaya") by the eighth-century madhyamaka scholar Śāntideva, cites a total of ninety-seven Mahāyāna sūtras, some of which are now lost. According to Donald Lopez:Śāntideva cites three passages from the "Lotus Sūtra", compared, for example, with two from the "Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitā" and two from the "Laṅkāvatārasūtra". Among the most cited sūtras are the "Akṣayamatinirdeśa" (eighteen citations), the "Ugraparipṛcchā" (twenty citations), the "Dharmasaṃgīti" (eighteen citations), and the "Ratnamegha" (twenty-four citations).


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Though there are various editions of the Chinese Buddhist canon (大藏經; pinyin: "Dàzàngjīng"), one of the most widespread modern editions is the Japanese Taisho Tripitaka, redacted during the 1920s. It consists of eighty-five volumes.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: In the Tibetan Buddhist Canon, Mahāyāna Sūtra translations are found in the Kangyur (Wylie: "bka'-'gyur"). They are traditionally divided into four divisions:


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Newar Buddhism has a group of nine Sanskrit Mahayana sutras that are considered the key texts of the tradition. They are:


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The "Ajitasena Sūtra" has been called "Proto-Mahāyāna" by Paul Williams. While it promotes Buddhahood for all, the text lacks the usual antagonism towards the "śravakas" and "arhats", as is typical of later Mahāyāna texts like the "Vimalakīrti-nirdeśa Sūtra". It also lacks any self-awareness of itself as being part of "Mahāyāna." It promotes giving to monks like any non-Mahāyāna text, but also includes the depiction of a prince who has visions of many Buddhafields (including Sukhavati and Abhirati) on becoming an arhat.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The "Salistamba Sūtra" (rice stalk or rice sapling sūtra) has been considered one of the first Mahayana sutras. According to N. Ross Reat, this sutra has many parallels with the material in the Pali suttas (especially the "Mahatanha-sahkhaya sutta", M1:256-71), and could date as far back as 200 BCE. It is possible that this sutra represents a period of Buddhist literature before Mahāyāna doctrine had diverged significantly from the doctrines of the early Buddhist texts.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Some of the "Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras" are considered to be some of the earliest Mahāyāna Sūtras. Various Western scholars generally hold that the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra" is one of the earliest of these texts (c. 1st century BCE). The "Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra" is also seen by scholars like Schopen and numerous Japanese scholars as being very early.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Paul Williams also notes that in Lewis Lancaster's analysis of the earliest Chinese versions of the "Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra" "a number of key Mahayana concepts are missing from the earliest versions although present in later versions. The world of the earliest Aṣṭasāhasrika is reasonably close to that of the pre-Mahayana traditions."


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The main topics of these Sūtras are the path of the bodhisattva, the six transcendent virtues and, in particular, transcendent wisdom ("prajñāpāramitā") the most important of these. The bodhisattva "mahasattva" (great being) is a being who is training towards full Buddhahood for the benefit of all. "Transcendent Wisdom" (also: the "Perfection of Wisdom") meanwhile, means the ability to see reality as it truly is, a deep and liberating spiritual knowledge that is the source of all virtues. "Prajñāpāramitā" is thus "a state of consciousness which understands emptiness ("shunyata"), the absence of 'self' or intrinsic nature even in dharmas." Since all phenomena (even Nirvana) lack any essence, unchanging core or independence, they are merely conceptual constructs and as such, they are like magical illusions ("maya").


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Many of these sutras are known by the number of lines, or "ślokas", that they contain, such as the "Pañcaviṃśatisāhasrikā" (25,000 line) PP Sūtra, the "Aṣṭadaśasāhasrikā" (18,000 lines), and the "Śatasāhasrikā" (100,000 lines) etc.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The "Saddharma-pundarīka-sūtra" ("True Dharma White Lotus Sūtra)" is a very influential Sūtra, especially in East Asian Buddhism, where it is considered the supreme Sūtra by many East Asian Buddhists (especially in the Tiantai and Nichiren schools).


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Probably written down between 100 BCE –150 CE, the "Lotus Sūtra" states that the three "yānas" ("śrāvakayāna", "pratyekabuddhayāna" and "bodhisattvayāna") are not real paths leading to different goals, there is in fact only one path (ekayāna), with one goal - Buddhahood. The sutra predicts that all those who hear the Dharma will eventually achieve this goal. The earlier teachings are said to be skilful means to teach beings according to their capacities.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: The sutra is notable for the idea that a Buddha is not inaccessible after his "parinirvāṇa" since a Buddha's life-span is incalculably long. Instead of passing into a totally transcendent state, a Buddha remains to help all sentient beings in countless ways, like a great spiritual father that has been around for eons and will continue to teach for many more eons to come.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: In some East Asian traditions, the Lotus Sūtra has been compiled together with two other sutras which serve as a prologue and epilogue, respectively the "Innumerable Meanings Sutra" and the "Samantabhadra Meditation Sutra". This composite sutra is often called the "Threefold Lotus Sūtra" or "Three-Part Dharma Flower Sutra".


title: Mahayana sutras

text: A large number of Sūtras focus on the nature, teachings and virtues of a particular Buddha or bodhisattva. Some of them also include teachings on how to enter the "buddha-field" ("buddhakṣetra", a.k.a. pure land) of a particular Buddha.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: Amongst the earliest Mahāyāna texts, the "Samādhi" "Sūtras" are a small group of sutras that focus on the attainment of profound states of consciousness reached in meditation, perhaps suggesting that meditation played an important role in the development of early Mahāyāna. These include the "Pratyutpanna-sūtra", "Samādhirāja-sūtra", and the "Śūraṅgama-samādhi-sūtra."


title: Mahayana sutras

text: There is also another genre of Mahāyāna meditation texts called Visualization Sutras (Chinese: 觀經, "guan jing").


title: Mahayana sutras

text: There are also some meditation focused texts called "Dhyāna Sūtras" (禪経) translated by figures like Kumarajiva. Some of these Sūtras contain Mahāyāna meditation teachings.


title: Mahayana sutras

text: These sutras primarily teach the doctrine of "vijñapti-mātra" (ideas-only, impressions-only etc.), associated with the Yogācāra school, which states that there can only ever be awareness of mental images or impressions which manifest themselves as external objects, but are not actually external to the mind. There are many modern interpretations of this doctrine, some which are idealistic, and some which reject the idealist interpretations in favor of phenomenology or representationalism.