The Four Heavenly Kings — Guardians of the Four Directions
Tao Wessuwan does not guard the world alone. He is one of four great kings who together encircle the cosmos in all four directions. Let us meet the Four Heavenly Kings — which direction each rules, which beings each governs, and how they share their great task.
Imagine a great castle with sentries standing watch at all four corners.
The universe, in the Buddhist worldview, is just so: four mighty deities stand guard in all four directions, keeping the peace and warding off danger for the sake of the world. Together these four deities are called the Four Heavenly Kings, or "the Four Great Kings."
Tao Wessuwan is one of these four, and to understand him fully we should come to know all four together, for they carry out their duty as one team.
Coming to Know All Four
Each of the Four Heavenly Kings rules his own direction and holds sovereignty over a different class of non-human beings, as follows:
Dhataraṭṭha — Guardian of the East
He is lord of the gandhabba, the host of celestial musicians who play the heavenly orchestra. The gandhabba are non-human beings bound to song and to fragrance, and so the East, the direction of the dawn, belongs to him.
Virūḷhaka — Guardian of the South
He is lord of the kumbhaṇḍa, great-bodied non-human beings with distinctive features. He rules the South and carries out the duty of warding off danger in his direction.
Virūpakkha — Guardian of the West
He is lord of the nāga, the mighty celestial serpent-kings who dwell both in the netherworld and in the heavens. He rules the West, the direction of the setting sun.
Tao Wessuwan — Guardian of the North
He is lord of the yaksha, the most powerful and most awe-inspiring of the non-human beings. He rules the North — the very direction that is ours.
One sees that the four kings cover every direction and govern every principal class of non-human being — a beautifully balanced system.
A Great Duty Shared in Common
The Four Heavenly Kings are not merely deities of the directions who sit idle; they hold an important mission that binds them closely to the lives of human beings.
One of their important duties is to watch over the conduct of human beings. The suttas relate that on the holy days of religion, the Four Heavenly Kings, or their representatives, descend to survey the human world, to see who does good, keeps the precepts, gives in charity, supports their mother and father, and lives by the Dhamma.
A Tale from the Suttas
When the survey is finished, the Four Heavenly Kings bring the results of their inspection to report before the assembly of the gods of the Tāvatiṃsa heaven. If human beings have done much good, the gods rejoice together, for it means that the host of the gods will increase and the host of the asuras will dwindle. This reflects the belief that the goodness of human beings sends ripples all the way up to heaven.
Another important duty is to protect and safeguard Buddhism and those who keep the precepts. The Four Heavenly Kings are devoted to the Triple Gem, and they watch over and guard the Buddhist community who stand firm in the Dhamma, keeping them from the perils of malevolent non-human beings.
Those Who Stand at the Buddha's Side
In the life of the Buddha and in many suttas, the Four Heavenly Kings appear ever at the Buddha's side on every important occasion.
All four pay their respect and carry out the duty of guarding the Buddha, and in the Mahāsamaya Sutta, when the gods and brahmas from ten thousand world-systems came to attend upon the Buddha, the Four Heavenly Kings too came forth with their many attendants, taking their stations each in his own direction — an image that bespeaks the grandeur of the assembled host of the gods.
A Point of Interest
In the temples of Thailand, we often see images of the Four Heavenly Kings appearing in works of art, both in mural painting and in sculpture, especially upon the gateway arches or the door-panels of the ordination halls and shrines, in the role of gate-guardians watching over the entrance to the sacred Buddhist precinct.
So Why Do We Know Only Tao Wessuwan?
Having read this far, many may wonder: since the Four Heavenly Kings number four, why is it that most Thai people know and venerate chiefly Tao Wessuwan, while the other three are rarely spoken of?
This is a most interesting question, and the answer conceals several profound dimensions — the matter of the direction he rules, the non-human beings he governs, his special role in the Tipiṭaka, and the meaning that strikes a chord in people's hearts.
Before We Go On
We have now come to know all four of the Heavenly Kings, and have seen that Tao Wessuwan is but one of four guardians, equal in rank.
Yet in truth, Tao Wessuwan stands out conspicuously above the other three, both in the scriptures and in the hearts of the faithful. Why should this be so? Why is the North his direction? And what is it that has made him the Heavenly King whom people venerate the most?
The answer to this riddle awaits us in the next chapter.