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The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods or devas, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings is a standard component of Chinese Buddhist temples.
The Kings are collectively named as follows:
| Language | Written form | Romanization | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sanskrit | चतुर्महाराज | Chaturmahārāja Chaturmahārājikā | Four Great Kings |
| लोकपाल | Lokapāla | Guardians of the World | |
| Sinhala | සතරවරම් දෙවිවරු | Satharawaram Dewi | Four Privileged/Bestowed Gods |
| Burmese | စတုလောကပါလ စတုမဟာရာဇ်နတ် | IPA: [sətṵlɔ́ka̰pàla̰] IPA: [sətṵməhàɹɪʔnaʔ] | Loanword from catulokapāla loanword from catumahā + king nats |
| Chinese | 天王 | Tiānwáng | Heavenly Kings |
| 四天王 | Sìtiānwáng | Four Heavenly Kings | |
| 四大天王 | Sìdà Tiānwáng | Four Great Heavenly Kings | |
| 风调雨顺/風調雨順 | Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn | Good, rainy weather for growing crops | |
| Japanese | 四天王 | Shi Tennō | Four Heavenly Kings |
| 四大天王 | Shidai Tennō | Four Great Heavenly Kings | |
| Korean | 四天王/사천왕 | Sa-cheonwang | Four heavenly kings |
| Vietnamese | 四天王 | Tứ Thiên Vương | Four heavenly kings |
| 四大天王 | Tứ Đại Thiên Vương | Four great heavenly kings | |
| Tagalog | ᜀᜉᜆ᜔ᜈᜑᜇᜒ ᜐᜎᜅᜒᜆ᜔ | Apat na Hari sa Langit | Four heavenly kings |
| Tibetan | རྒྱལ༌ཆེན༌བཞི༌ | rgyal chen bzhi | Four great kings |
| Mongolian | ᠢᠵᠠᠭᠤᠷ ᠤ᠋ᠨ ᠳᠤᠷᠪᠠᠨ ᠶᠡᠬᠡ ᠬᠠᠭᠠᠨ Язгуурун дөрвөн их хаан | Yazguurun dörwön ix xaan (Ijaɣur-un dörben yeke qaɣan) | Four great kings of the root |
| ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠨ ᠮᠠᠬᠠᠷᠠᠨᠽᠠ Дөрвөн махранз | Dörwön maxranz (Dörben maqaranza) | Four great kings, loan word from mahārāja (Sanskrit)/mahārājan (Pali) | |
| ᠣᠷᠴᠢᠯᠠᠩ ᠢ ᠬᠠᠮᠠᠭᠠᠯᠠᠬᠤ ᠳᠥᠷᠪᠡᠨ ᠮᠠᠬᠠᠷᠠᠨᠽᠠ Орчлоныг хамгаалах дөрвөн махранз | Orchlonig xamgaalax dörwön maxranz (Orčilang-i qamaɣalaqu dörben maqaranza) | World-protecting four great kings | |
| Thai | จาตุมหาราชา | Chatumaharacha | Four Great Kings, loan word from catumahārāja (Pali) |
| จตุโลกบาล | Chatulokkaban | Four Guardians of the World, loan word from catulokapāla (Pali) | |
| Pali | Catu-Mahārāja | Catu-Mahārāja | The Four Great Kings |
Individually, they have different names and features.
| Pali name | Vessavana | Virūlhaka | Dhatarattha | Virūpakkha |
| Devanagari Sanskrit romanization | वैश्रवण (कुबेर) Vaiśravaṇa (Kubera) | विरूढक Virūḍhaka | धृतराष्ट्र Dhṛtarāṣṭra | विरूपाक्ष Virūpākṣa |
| Meaning | He who hears everything | He who causes to grow | He who upholds the realm | He who sees all |
| Control | yakkhas | kumbhandas | gandhabbas | nagas |
| Description | This is the chief of the four kings and protector of the north. He is the ruler of rain. His symbolic weapons are the umbrella or pagoda. Wearing heavy armor and carrying the umbrella in his right hand, he is often associated with the ancient Hindu god of wealth, Kubera. Associated with the color yellow or green. | King of the south and one who causes good growth of roots. He is the ruler of the wind. His symbolic weapon is the sword which he carries in his right hand to protect the Dharma and the southern continent. Associated with the color blue. | King of the east and god of music. His symbolic weapon is the pipa (stringed instrument). He is harmonious and compassionate and protects all beings. Uses his music to convert others to Buddhism. Associated with the color white. | King of the west and one who sees all. His symbolic weapon is a snake or red cord that is representative of a dragon. As the eye in the sky, he sees people who do not believe in Buddhism and converts them. His ancient name means "he who has broad objectives". Associated with the color red |
| Image |  |  |  |  |
| Color | yellow or green | blue | white | red |
| Symbol | umbrella | sword | pipa | serpent |
| mongoose | stupa | |||
| stupa | pearl | |||
| Followers | yakṣas | kumbhāṇḍas | gandharvas | nāgas |
| Direction | north | south | east | west |
| Traditional/Simplified Chinese Pinyin | 多聞天王 / 多闻天王 Duōwén Tiānwáng | 增長天王 / 增长天王 Zēngzhǎng Tiānwáng | 持國天王 / 持国天王 Chíguó Tiānwáng | 廣目天王 / 广目天王 Guăngmù Tiānwáng |
| 毗沙門天 / 毗沙门天 | 留博叉天 / 留博叉天 | 多羅吒天 / 多罗吒天 | 毗琉璃天 / 毗琉璃天 | |
| Kanji Hepburn romanization | 多聞天 (毘沙門天) Tamon-ten (Bishamon-ten) | 増長天 Zōchō-ten | 持国天 Jikoku-ten | 広目天 Kōmoku-ten |
| 治国天 Jikoku-ten | ||||
| Hangul romanized Korean | 다문천왕 Damun-cheonwang | 증장천왕 增長天王 Jeungjang-cheonwang | 지국천왕 持國天王 Jiguk-cheonwang | 광목천왕 廣目天王 Gwangmok-cheonwang |
| Vietnamese alphabet Chữ Hán | Đa Văn Thiên Vương 多聞天王 | Tăng Trưởng Thiên Vương 增長天王 | Trì Quốc Thiên Vương 持國天王 | Quảng Mục Thiên Vương 廣目天王 |
| Filipino alphabet Baybayin | Bisrabana ᜊᜀᜒᜐᜀᜊᜀᜈᜀ | Birudhaka ᜊᜒᜓᜇᜑᜀᜃᜀ | Dhltalastla ᜇᜑᜎᜆᜑᜀᜎᜀᜐᜆᜎᜀ | Bilupaksa ᜊᜒᜎᜓᜉᜀᜃᜐᜀ |
| Burmese Script | ဝေဿဝဏ္ဏနတ်မင်း (Waithawun Nat Min) ကုဝေရနတ်မင်း (Kuwaira Nat Min) | ဝိရူဠကနတ်မင်း (Wirulakka Nat Min) | ဓတရဋ္ဌနတ်မင်း (Datarattha Nat Min) | ဝိရူပက္ခနတ်မင်း (Wirupakkha Nat Min) |
| Tibetan alphabet and romanization | རྣམ་ཐོས་སྲས་ (Namthöse) | ཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ་ (Phakyepo) | ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་ (Yülkhorsung) | སྤྱན་མི་བཟང་ (Chenmizang) |
| Mongolian Script and Mongolian Cyrillic and Mongolian Latin alphabet | ᠲᠡᠢᠨ ᠰᠣᠨᠣᠰᠤᠭᠴᠢ (Тийн сонсогч) Tiin sonsogch/tein sonosuɣči | ᠦᠯᠡᠮᠵᠢ ᠪᠡᠶᠡᠲᠦ (Үлэмж биет) Ülemzh biyet/Ülemji beyetü | ᠣᠷᠣᠨ ᠣᠷᠴᠢᠨ ᠢ ᠰᠠᠬᠢᠭᠴᠢ (Орон орчиниг сахигч) Oron orchinig saxigch/Oron orčin-i sakiɣči | ᠡᠭᠡᠨᠡᠭᠲᠡ ᠦᠵᠡᠭᠴᠢ (Эгнэгт үзэгч) Egnegt üzegch/Egenegte üjegči |
| (Намсрай) Namsrai | (Пагжийбуу) Pagzhiibuu | (Ёлхорсүрэн) Yolxorsüren | (Жамийсан) Zhamiisan | |
| ᠥᠯᠥᠨ ᠦᠨᠳᠡᠰᠲᠨᠢᠢ ᠦᠽᠡᠯ (Олон үндэстний үзэл) Olon ündestnii üzel | ᠲᠢᠶᠡᠨᠢ ᠥᠰᠥᠯᠲ (Тиений өсөлт) Tiyenii ösölt | ᠦᠨᠳᠡᠰᠲᠨᠢᠢ ᠽᠠᠰᠤᠠᠷ ᠦᠯᠢᠴᠬᠢᠯᠭᠡᠡ (үндэсний засвар үйлчилгээ) ündesnii zasvar üilchilgee | ᠰᠶᠡᠯᠶᠡᠰᠲᠢᠶᠡᠯ ᠰᠦᠷᠲᠠᠯᠴᠬᠢᠯᠭᠠᠠ (селестиел сурталчилгаа) syelyestiyel surtalchilgaa | |
| Thai script romanization | ท้าวเวสวัณ (Thao Wetsawan) ท้าวเวสสุวรรณ (Thao Wetsuwan) ท้าวกุเวร (Thao Kuwen) | ท้าววิรุฬหก (Thao Wirunhok) | ท้าวธตรฐ (Thao Thatarot) | ท้าววิรูปักษ์ (Thao Wirupak) |
All four Kings serve Śakra, the lord of the devas of Trāyastriṃśa . On the 8th, 14th and 15th days of each lunar month, the Kings either send out emissaries or go themselves to inspect the state of virtue and morality in the world of men. Then they report their findings to the assembly of the Trāyastriṃśa devas.
On the orders of Śakra, the Kings and their retinues stand guard to protect Trāyastriṃśa from another attack by the Asuras, which once threatened to destroy the realm of the devas. They also vowed to protect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Buddha's followers from danger. In Chinese Buddhism, all four of the heavenly kings are regarded as four of the Twenty Devas (二十諸天 Èrshí Zhūtiān) or the Twenty-Four Devas (二十四諸天 Èrshísì zhūtiān), a group of Buddhist dharmapalas who manifest to protect the Dharma. [1]
According to Vasubandhu, devas born in the Cāturmahārājika heaven are 1/4 of a krośa in height (about 750 feet tall). They have a five-hundred-year lifespan, of which each day is equivalent to 50 years in our world; thus their total lifespan amounts to about nine million years (other sources say 90,000 years).
The attributes borne by each King also link them to their followers; for instance, the nāgas, magical creatures who can change form between human and serpent, are led by Virūpākṣa, represented by a snake; the gandharvas are celestial musicians, led by Dhṛtarāṣṭra, represented with a lute. The umbrella was a symbol of regal sovereignty in ancient India, and the sword is a symbol of martial prowess. Vaiśravaṇa's mongoose, which ejects jewels from its mouth, is said to represent generosity in opposition to greed.
| Vaiśravaṇa (north) | ||
| Virūpākṣa (west) | Heavenly Kings | Dhṛtarāṣṭra (east) |
| Virūḍhaka (south) |
A gandharva is a member of a class of celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are regarded to be the celestial demigods who serve as the musicians of the devas.
In Buddhism, wrathful deities or fierce deities are the fierce, wrathful or forceful forms of enlightened Buddhas, Bodhisattvas or Devas ; normally the same figure has other, peaceful, aspects as well. Because of their power to destroy the obstacles to enlightenment, they are also termed krodha-vighnantaka, "Wrathful onlookers on destroying obstacles". Wrathful deities are a notable feature of the iconography of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, especially in Tibetan art. These types of deities first appeared in India during the late 6th century, with its main source being the Yaksha imagery, and became a central feature of Indian Tantric Buddhism by the late 10th or early 11th century.
A dharmapāla is a type of wrathful god in Buddhism. The name means "dharma protector" in Sanskrit, and the dharmapālas are also known as the Defenders of the Justice (Dharma), or the Guardians of the Law. There are two kinds of dharmapala, Worldly Guardians (lokapala) and Wisdom Protectors (jnanapala). Only Wisdom Protectors are enlightened beings.
Vaiśravaṇa or Vessavaṇa, is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and is considered an important figure in Buddhism. He is the god of warfare and usually portrayed as a warrior-king.
Buddhism includes a wide array of divine beings that are venerated in various ritual and popular contexts. Initially they included mainly Indian figures such as devas, asuras and yakshas, but later came to include other Asian spirits and local gods. They range from enlightened Buddhas to regional spirits adopted by Buddhists or practiced on the margins of the religion.
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Heavenly King or Tian Wang, also translated as Heavenly Prince, is a Chinese title for various religious deities and divine leaders throughout history, as well as an alternate form of the term Son of Heaven, referring to the emperor. The Chinese term for Heavenly King consists of two Chinese characters: 天 (tiān), meaning "heaven" or "sky", and 王 (wáng), which could mean either "king" or "prince" depending on the context. The term was most notably used in its most recent sense as the title of the kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, but is also used in religious contexts as well.
Śakra is the ruler of the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven according to Buddhist cosmology. He is also referred to by the title "Śakra, Lord of the Devas". The name Śakra ("powerful") as an epithet of Indra is found in several verses of the Rigveda.
The Trāyastriṃśa heaven is an important world of the devas in the Buddhist cosmology. The word trāyastriṃśa is an adjective formed from the numeral trayastriṃśat, "33" and can be translated in English as "belonging to the thirty-three [devas]". It is primarily the name of the second in the six heavens of the desire realm in Buddhist cosmology, and secondarily used of the devas who dwell there. Trāyastriṃśa is ruled by Śakra, also known as Indra.
A Deva in Buddhism is a type of celestial being or god who shares the god-like characteristics of being more powerful, longer-lived, and, in general, much happier than humans, although the same level of veneration is not paid to them as to Buddhas.
Shitennōji University is a private university in Habikino, Osaka, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1922, and it was chartered as a junior women's college in 1957. The school became a four-year college in 1967, and it became coeducational in 1981, adopting the present name at the same time. The school is also known as International Buddhist University, or IBU.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra is a major deity in Buddhism and one of the Four Heavenly Kings. His name means "Upholder of the Nation."
Virūḍhaka is a major deity in Buddhism. He is one of the Four Heavenly Kings and a dharmapala.
Virūpākṣa is a major deity in Buddhism. He is one of the Four Heavenly Kings and a dharmapala.
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The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings or Four Heavenly Kings Hall, referred to as Hall of Heavenly Kings, is the first important hall inside a shanmen in Chinese Buddhist temples and is named due to the Four Heavenly Kings statues enshrined in the hall.
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Cāturmahārājakāyika heaven is the first world of the devas in Buddhist cosmology. The word Cāturmahārājakāyika refers to the Four Heavenly Kings (Cāturmahārāja) who rule over this world along with the assemblage or multitude (kāyika) of beings that dwell there.
The Twenty-Four Protective Deities or the Twenty-Four Devas, sometimes reduced to the Twenty Protective Deities or the Twenty Devas, are a group of dharmapalas in Chinese Buddhism who are venerated as defenders of the Buddhist dharma. The group consists of devas, naga kings, vajra-holders and other beings, mostly borrowed from Hinduism with some borrowed from Taoism.
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