Four Heavenly Kings
The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods, which originate from the Indian version of Lokapalas, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. In Chinese mythology, they are known collectively as the "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" or "Sì Dà Tiānwáng". In the ancient language Sanskrit they are called the "Chaturmahārāja", or "Chaturmahārājikādeva": "Four Great Heavenly Kings". The is a standard component of Chinese Buddhist temples.
Names
The Kings are collectively named as follows:| Language | Written form | Romanization | Translation |
| Sanskrit | चतुर्महाराज | Chaturmahārāja Chaturmahārājikā | Four Great Kings |
| Sanskrit | लोकपाल | Lokapāla | Guardians of the World |
| Sinhala | සතරවරම් දෙවිවරු | Satharawaram Dewi | Four Privileged/Bestowed Gods |
| Burmese | Loanword from catulokapāla loanword from catumahā + king nats | ||
| Chinese | 天王 | Tiānwáng | Heavenly Kings |
| Chinese | 四天王 | Sì Tiānwáng | Four Heavenly Kings |
| Chinese | 四大天王 | Sì Dà Tiānwáng | Four Great Heavenly Kings |
| Korean | 天王/천왕 | Cheonwang | Heavenly kings |
| Korean | 四天王/사천왕 | Sacheonwang | Four heavenly kings |
| Korean | 四大天王/사대천왕 | Sadae Cheonwang | Four great heavenly kings |
| Japanese | 四天王 | Shitennō | Four heavenly kings |
| Vietnamese | 四天王 | Tứ Thiên Vương | Four heavenly kings |
| Tibetan | རྒྱལ༌ཆེན༌བཞི༌ | rgyal chen bzhi | Four great kings |
| Mongolian | Тэнгэрийн дөрвөн хаан | Tengeriin dörwön xaan | Four kings of the sky |
| Thai | จาตุมหาราชา | Chatumaharacha | Four Great Kings, loan word from catumahārāja |
| Thai | จตุโลกบาล | Chatulokkaban | Four Guardians of the World, loan word from catulokapāla |
The Four Heavenly Kings are said to currently live in the Cāturmahārājika heaven on the lower slopes of Mount Sumeru, which is the lowest of the six worlds of the devas of the Kāmadhātu. They are the protectors of the world and fighters of evil, each able to command a legion of supernatural creatures to protect the Dharma.
| devanagari Sanskrit romanization | वैश्रवण | विरूढक | धृतराष्ट्र | विरूपाक्ष | - | - | - | - | - |
| Meaning | he who hears everything | he who causes to grow | he who upholds the realm | he who sees all | - | - | - | - | - |
| 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 Indian 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. 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. | - | - | - | - | - |
| Color | yellow or green | blue | white | red | - | - | - | - | - |
| Symbol | umbrella | sword | pipa | serpent | - | - | - | - | - |
| Symbol | mongoose | sword | pipa | stupa | - | - | - | - | - |
| Symbol | stupa | sword | pipa | pearl | - | - | - | - | - |
| Followers | Yaksha| | Kumbhanda| | gandharvas | nāgas | - | - | - | - | - |
| Direction | north | south | east | west | - | - | - | - | - |
| Traditional/Simplified Chinese Pinyin | 多聞天王 / 多闻天王 Duō Wén Tiānwáng | 增長天王 / 增长天王 Zēng Zhǎng Tiānwáng | 持國天王 / 持国天王 Chí Guó Tiānwáng | 廣目天王 / 广目天王 Guăng Mù Tiānwáng | - | - | - | - | - |
| Traditional/Simplified Chinese Pinyin | 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 Tamon-ten | 増長天 Zōchō-ten | 持国天 Jikoku-ten | 広目天 Kōmoku-ten | - | - | - | - | - |
| Kanji Hepburn romanization | 多聞天 Tamon-ten | 増長天 Zōchō-ten | 治国天 Jikoku-ten | 広目天 Kōmoku-ten | - | - | - | - | - |
| Hangul Hanja romanized Korean | 다문천왕 多聞天王 Damun-cheonwang | 증장천왕 增長天王 Jeungjang-cheonwang | 지국천왕 持國天王 Jiguk-cheonwang | 광목천왕 廣目天王 Gwangmok-cheonwang | - | - | - | - | - |
| Sino-Vietnamese | Đa Văn Thiên | Tăng Trưởng Thiên | Trì Quốc Thiên | Quảng Mục Thiên | - | - | - | - | - |
| Tibetan alphabet and romanization | རྣམ་ཐོས་སྲས་ | ཕགས་སྐྱེས་པོ་ | ཡུལ་འཁོར་སྲུང་ | སྤྱན་མི་བཟང་ | Mongolian Script and Mongolian Cyrillic and Mongolian Latin Alphabet | Olon ündestnii üzel | Tiyenii ösölt | ündesnii zasvar üilchilgee | syelyestiyel surtalchilgaa |
Mythology
All four Kings serve Śakra |, the lord of the devas of. 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 devas.On the orders of Śakra, the Kings and their retinues stand guard to protect 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.
According to Vasubandhu, devas born in the Cāturmahārājika heaven are 1/4 of a krośa in height. 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.
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, represented by a snake; the gandharvas are celestial musicians, led by, represented with a lute. The umbrella was a symbol of regal sovereignty in ancient India, and the sword is a symbol of martial prowess. 's mongoose, which ejects jewels from its mouth, is said to represent generosity in opposition to greed.