Английская Википедия:Four Heavenly Kings

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Файл:Todaiji05s3200.jpg

Tamon-ten (Vaiśravaṇa) at Tōdai-ji, Japan

Файл:Four Guardian Kings in Burmese art.jpg

The Four Guardian Kings in Burmese depiction.

The Four Heavenly Kings are four Buddhist gods or devas, each of whom is believed to watch over one cardinal direction of the world. In the Sanskrit language of India, they are called the "Caturmahārāja" (चतुर्महाराज) or "Caturmahārājikādeva": "Four Great Kings". In Chinese mythology, they are known as "Sì Dàtiānwáng" (Шаблон:Zh) or collectively as "Fēng Tiáo Yǔ Shùn" (Шаблон:Zh). The Hall of Four Heavenly Kings 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
	लोकपाल	Lokapāla	Guardians of the World
Sinhala	Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Transliteration	Four Privileged/Bestowed Gods
Burmese	Шаблон:My Шаблон:My	Шаблон:IPA-my Шаблон:IPA-my	Loanword from catulokapāla loanword from catumahā + king nats
Chinese	Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Transliteration	Heavenly Kings
	Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Transliteration	Four Heavenly Kings
	Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Transliteration	Four Great Heavenly Kings
Japanese	Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Transliteration	Four Heavenly Kings
	Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Transliteration	Four Great Heavenly Kings
Korean	Шаблон:Lang/사천왕	Шаблон:Transliteration	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	ᜀᜉᜀᜆ ᜈᜀ ᜑᜀᜒ ᜐᜀ ᜎᜀᜈᜄᜒᜆ	Apat na Hari sa Langit	Four heavenly kings
Tibetan	རྒྱལ༌ཆེན༌བཞི༌	rgyal chen bzhi	Four great kings
Mongolian	Шаблон:MongolUnicode Тэнгэрийн дөрвөн хаан	Tengeriin dörwön xaan	Four kings of the sky
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

The Four Heavenly Kings are said to currently live in the Cāturmahārājika heaven (Pali: 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.

Pali	Vessavana	Virūlhaka	Dhatarattha	Virūpakkha
devanagari Sanskrit romanization	[[Vaiśravaṇa|वैश्रवण (कुबेर) Шаблон:IAST]] (Kubera)	[[Virūḍhaka (Heavenly King)|विरूढक Шаблон:IAST]]	[[Dhṛtarāṣṭra|धृतराष्ट्र Шаблон:IAST]]	[[Virūpākṣa|विरूपाक्ष Шаблон:IAST]]
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 Sri Lankan 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	Chief of the four kings and protector of the north Chief of the four kings and protector of the north	King of the south and one who causes good growth of roots King of the south and one who causes good growth of roots	King of the east and god of music King of the east and god of music	King of the west and one who sees all King of the west and one who sees all
Color	yellow or green	blue	white	red
Symbol	umbrella	sword	pipa	serpent
	mongoose			stupa
	stupa			pearl
Followers	[[Yaksha|Шаблон:IAST]]	[[Kumbhanda|Шаблон:IAST]]	gandharvas	nāgas
Direction	north	south	east	west
Traditional/Simplified Chinese Pinyin	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang
	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang / Шаблон:Lang
Kanji Hepburn romanization	Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang) Шаблон:Lang (Шаблон:Lang)	Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang
			Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang
Hangul romanized Korean	Шаблон:Lang Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang 增長天王 Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang 持國天王 Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:Lang 廣目天王 Шаблон:Lang
Vietnamese alphabet Chữ Hán	Шаблон:Lang 多聞天王	Шаблон:Lang 增長天王	Шаблон:Lang 持國天王	Шаблон:Lang 廣目天王
Filipino alphabet Baybayin	Шаблон:Lang ᜊᜀᜒᜐᜀᜊᜀᜈᜀ	Шаблон:Lang ᜊᜒᜓᜇᜑᜀᜃᜀ	Шаблон:Lang ᜇᜑᜎᜆᜑᜀᜎᜀᜐᜆᜎᜀ	Шаблон:Lang 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	Шаблон:MongolUnicode (Олон үндэстний үзэл) Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:MongolUnicode (Тиений өсөлт) Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:MongolUnicode (үндэсний засвар үйлчилгээ) Шаблон:Lang	Шаблон:MongolUnicode (селестиел сурталчилгаа) Шаблон:Lang
Thai script romanization	ท้าวเวสวัณ (Thao Wetsawan) ท้าวเวสสุวรรณ (Thao Wetsuwan) ท้าวกุเวร (Thao Kuwen)	ท้าววิรุฬหก (Thao Wirunhok)	ท้าวธตรฐ (Thao Thatarot)	ท้าววิรูปักษ์ (Thao Wirupak)

• Four Heavenly Kings statues at the royal crematorium of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand
• Vaiśravaṇa of the north direction, king of yakṣas.

  Vaiśravaṇa of the north direction, king of yakṣas.

• Virūḍhaka of the south direction, king of kumbhāṇḍas.

  Virūḍhaka of the south direction, king of kumbhāṇḍas.

• Dhṛtarāṣṭra of the east direction, king of gandharvas.

  Dhṛtarāṣṭra of the east direction, king of gandharvas.

• Virūpākṣa of the west direction, king of nāgas.

  Virūpākṣa of the west direction, king of nāgas.

Mythology

All four Kings serve [[Śakra (Buddhism)|Шаблон:IAST]], the lord of the devas of Шаблон:IAST. 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 Шаблон:IAST devas.

On the orders of Śakra, the Kings and their retinues stand guard to protect Шаблон:IAST 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.

Файл:Fourheavenlykings4096x1360.jpg

Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings. From left to right: Шаблон:IAST, Шаблон:IAST, Шаблон:IAST, and Шаблон:IAST in Beihai Park in Beijing, China.

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).

Файл:Chomyo Komokuten.jpg

Painting of Kōmokuten (Шаблон:IAST), the Guardian of the West (one of the Four Guardian Kings). 13th century, Japan.

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 Шаблон:IAST, represented by a snake; the gandharvas are celestial musicians, led by Шаблон:IAST, represented with a lute. The umbrella was a symbol of regal sovereignty in ancient India, and the sword is a symbol of martial prowess. Шаблон:IAST'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)

• Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings of Lingyin Temple, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China.
• Duōwén Tiānwáng (North)

  Duōwén Tiānwáng (North)

• Zēngzhǎng Tiānwáng (South)

  Zēngzhǎng Tiānwáng (South)

• Chíguó Tiānwáng (East)

  Chíguó Tiānwáng (East)

• Guăngmù Tiānwáng (West)

  Guăngmù Tiānwáng (West)

• Statues of the Four Heavenly Kings of Jikō-ji, Takasago, Hyōgo, Japan.
• Jikoku-ten (east)

  Jikoku-ten (east)

• Zōjō-ten (south)

  Zōjō-ten (south)

• Kōmoku-ten (west)

  Kōmoku-ten (west)

• Tamon-ten (north)

  Tamon-ten (north)

Popular culture

• In the Hong Kong entertainment industry, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, Leon Lai, Aaron Kwok are known as the Four Heavenly Kings.
• In first seasons of Sailor Moon, and Sailor Moon Crystal, the Four Heavenly Kings were the four loyal and faithfully devoted generals and bodyguards of Prince Endymion.
• In MegaBeast Investigator Juspion, starting in episode 13, the main villain Mad Gallant employs a quartet of assassins called the Four Evil Heavenly Kings (悪の四天王, Aku no Shitennō).
• The third movie of Detective Dee, by Tsui Hark, "Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings" (2018) (traditional Chinese: 狄仁傑之四大天王; simplified Chinese: 狄仁杰之四大天王).
• In Pokémon, the group of Pokémon trainers known as the Elite Four in English are called the Four Heavenly Kings (四天王) in Japanese.

In Street Fighter, the leading members of Shadaloo known as the Grand Masters in English are known as the Four Heavenly Kings (四天王). They consist of M. Bison (Vega in Japanese), Vega (Balrog in Japanese), Balrog (M. Bison in Japanese), Sagat (formerly), and F.A.N.G.

See also

• Anemoi
• Bacab
• Four Dwarves (Norse mythology)
• Four Holy Beasts
• Four Living Creatures
• Four sons of Horus
• Four Stags (Norse mythology)
• Four Symbols
• Four temperaments
• Guardians of the directions
• Lokapala
• Royal stars
• Svetovid
• Tetramorph
• Watchtower

References

• Chaudhuri, Saroj Kumar. Hindu Gods and Goddesses in Japan. New Delhi: Vedams eBooks (P) Ltd., 2003. Шаблон:ISBN.
• 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–. Шаблон:ISBN, Шаблон:ISBN (set).
• Thakur, Upendra. India and Japan: A Study in Interaction During 5th cent.–14th cent. A.D.. New Delhi: Abhinav Publications, 1992. Шаблон:ISBN. Pp. 27–41.

External links

• Schumacher, Mark. "Shitenno - Four Heavenly Kings (Deva) of Buddhism, Guarding Four Cardinal Directions". Digital Dictionary of Buddhism in Japan.