Four Heavenly Kings

This article is about Buddhist gods. For other uses, see Four Heavenly Kings (disambiguation).

Korean statue of Gwangmok Cheonwang (Virūpākṣa)

In the Buddhist faith, the Four Heavenly Kings are four gods, each of whom watches over one cardinal direction of the world.

The Four Guardian Kings in Burmese depiction.

The Kings are collectively named as follows:

Language	Written form	Romanization	Translation
Sanskrit	चतुर्महाराज	caturmahārāja	Four Kings
		Lokapāla	Guardians of the world
Burmese	စတုလောကပါလ စတုမဟာရာဇ်နတ်	IPA: [sətṵ lɔ́ka̰ pàla̰] IPA: [sətṵ məhà ɹɪʔ naʔ]	Four worldly guardians Four Great King Nats
Chinese	天王	Tiānwáng	Heavenly kings
	四天王	Sì Tiānwáng	Four heavenly kings
	四大天王	Sì Da Tiānwáng	Four great heavenly kings
Korean	천왕	Cheonwang	Heavenly kings
	사천왕	Sacheonwang	Four heavenly kings
Japanese	四天王	Shitennō	Four heavenly kings
Vietnamese	四天王	Tứ Thiên Vương	Four heavenly kings
Tibetan		rgyal chen bzhi	Four great kings
Mongolian	Махаранз	maharanja	(Four) Great kings
Thai	จาตุมหาราชา	chatumaharaja	Four great kings
	จาตุโลกบาล	chatulokkaban	Four Guardians of the world

They currently live in the Cāturmahārājika heaven (Pāli Cātummahārājika, "Of the Four Great Kings") 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. They are:

Sanskrit romanization	Vaiśravaṇa (Kubera)	Virūḍhaka	Dhṛtarāṣṭra	Virūpākṣa
Sanskrit Devanagari	वैश्रवण (कुबेर)	विरूढक	धृतराष्ट्र	विरूपाक्ष
Pāli romanization	Vessavaṇa (Kuvera)	Virūḷhaka	Dhataraṭṭha	Virūpakkha
Pāli Devanagari	वेस्सवण (कुवेर)	विरूळ्हक	धतरट्ठ	विरूपक्ख
Meaning	He who hears everything	He who enlarges	He who maintains the state	He who sees all
		Patron of Growth	Watcher of the Lands
Burmese	ကုဝေရ	ဝိရဠက	ဓတရဌ	ဝိရုပက္ခ
Traditional Chinese	多聞天王	增長天王	持國天王	廣目天王
	毗沙門天	留博叉天	多羅吒天	毗琉璃天
Simplified Chinese	多闻天王	增长天王	持国天王	广目天王
	毗沙门天	留博叉天	多罗吒天	毗琉璃天
Hanyu Pinyin	Duō Wén Tiānwáng	Zēng Zhǎng Tiānwáng	Chí Guó Tiānwáng	Guăng Mù Tiānwáng
hangul	다문천왕	증장천왕	지국천왕	광목천왕
Romanized Korean	Damun-cheonwang	Jeungjang-cheonwang	Jiguk-cheonwang	Gwangmok-cheonwang
kanji	多聞天 (毘沙門天)	増長天	持国天	広目天
			治国天
Hepburn romanization	Tamon-ten (Bishamon-ten)	Zōjō-ten	Jikoku-ten	Kōmoku-ten
		Zōchō-ten
Sino-Vietnamese	Đa Văn Thiên	Tăng Trưởng Thiên	Trì Quốc Thiên	Quảng Mộc Thiên
Tibetan romanization	rnam.thos.sras (Namthöse)	'phags.skyes.po (Phakyepo)	yul.'khor.srung (Yülkhorsung)	spyan.mi.bzang (Chenmizang)
Thai	ท้าวกุเวร	ท้าววิรุฬหก	ท้าวธตรัฐ	ท้าววิรูปักษ์
	เวสวัณ,เวสสุวัณ,เวสสุวรรณ
Thai romanization	Thao Kuwen	Thao Virunhok	Thao Thatarot	Thao Virupak
	Vessavan
Color	Yellow	Red	Green	White
Symbol	Umbrella	Sword	Pipa	Serpent
	Mongoose			pagoda
	stupa			pearl
Followers	Yakṣas	Kumbhāṇḍas	Gandharvas	Nāgas
Direction	North	South	East	West

Further associations between the four directions and elements, seasons, planets, animals, internal organs, etc. can be found at Five elements (Chinese philosophy). Note, however, that the colors assigned to the Four Heavenly Kings represent an independent tradition and do not correspond to the traditional Chinese association of colors and directions.

All four serve Śakra, the lord of the devas of Trāyastriṃśa. On the 8th, 14th and 15th days of each lunar month, the Four Heavenly Kings either send out messengers or go themselves to see how virtue and morality are faring in the world of men. Then they report upon the state of affairs to the assembly of the Trāyastriṃśa devas.

On the orders of Śakra, the four kings and their retinues stand guard to protect Trāyastriṃśa from another attack by the Asuras, which once threatened to destroy the kingdom of the devas. They are also vowed to protect the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Buddha's followers from danger.

Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings. From left to right: Vaiśravaṇa, Virūḍhaka, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and Virūpākṣa.

According to Vasubandhu, devas born in the Cāturmahārājika heaven are 1/4 of a krośa in height (about 750 feet tall). They also 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).

Painting of Kōmokuten (Virūpākṣa), the Guardian of the West (one of the Four Guardian Kings). 13th century.

In Chinese they are known collectively as "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" (風調雨順 / 风调雨顺), which translates into "Good Climate". This mnemonic reminds one of the symbols the Heavenly Kings carry. For instance, "Fēng" sounds like the Chinese word for "edge" (鋒 / 锋), hence the corresponding symbol is a sword. "Tiáo" sounds like "Tune", hence the corresponding symbol is a musical instrument. "Yǔ" means "rain", hence the corresponding symbol is an umbrella. "Shùn" refers to the symbol of a crimson dragon (赤龍 / 赤龙).

These symbols also link the deities 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.

	Tamon-ten (north)
Kōmoku-ten (west)	Heavenly Kings (Japanese)	Jikoku-ten (east)
	Zōjō-ten (south)

• Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings of Jikō-ji, Takasago, Hyōgo, Japan.
• 

  Jikoku-ten (east)

• 

  Zōjō-ten (south)

• 

  Kōmoku-ten (west)

• 

  Tamon-ten (north)

See also

• Guardians of the directions

References

• Chaudhuri, Saroj Kumar. Hindu Gods and Goddesses in Japan. New Delhi: Vedams eBooks (P) Ltd., 2003. ISBN 8179360091.
• Nakamura, Hajime. Japan and Indian Asia: Their Cultural Relations in the Past and Present. Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1961. Pp. 1–31.
• Potter, Karl H., ed. The Encyclopedia of Indian Philosophies, volume 9. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1970–. ISBN 8120819683, ISBN 8120803078 (set).
• Thakur, Upendra. India and Japan: A Study in Interaction During 5th cent.–14th cent. A.D.. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1992. ISBN 8170172896. Pp. 27–41.