Mount Sumeru and the Cāturmahārājika Heaven
To understand where Tao Wessuwan dwells, we must step back and see the larger picture of the cosmos as Buddhism describes it — beginning at the center of all things, Mount Sumeru, and the first heaven that encircles its foot, the abode of the guardian devas.
Imagine the layout of the entire cosmos.
In Buddhist thought, our cosmos is not a vast, formless expanse; rather, it has a clear structure, and at the very center of all things stands a sacred mountain towering as the axis of the worlds and the heavens. That mountain bears the name Mount Sumeru (in Pali, Sineru).
Once we understand this layout, we see at once where Tao Wessuwan abides, and why his station is so important.
The Axis of the Cosmos
Mount Sumeru is a celestial mountain, vaster and higher than the human imagination can grasp. According to ancient teaching, it rises into the sky for 84,000 yojana and sinks down beneath the ocean for another 84,000 yojana, a great pillar upholding the order of all three worlds.
Around Mount Sumeru, ranges of attendant mountains encircle it in seven concentric layers, called the Sattaparibhaṇḍa, separated by oceans called the Sīdantara; and beyond them, at the outermost rim, lies the vast ocean that embraces the four continents in the four directions.
The Four Continents
To the south — Jambudīpa, the land where humans such as ourselves dwell, and where the Buddha came to arise.
To the north — Uttarakuru, the land where the people are long-lived and happy.
To the east — Pubbavideha
To the west — Aparagoyāna
This whole structure makes Mount Sumeru as it were the center around which all things revolve: the sun, the moon, and the stars all orbit around Mount Sumeru, according to ancient teaching.
The Heavens Stacked upon the Summit
Above the foot of the mountain, up to its summit, and rising higher still into the sky, lie the six heavens of the sense-sphere, stacked one upon another in order.
These six heavens, listed from the lowest upward, are: Cāturmahārājika, Tāvatiṃsa, Yāma, Tusita, Nimmānaratī, and Paranimmitavasavattī; the higher one ascends, the more refined and celestial each becomes in turn.
And the lowest of these heavens, the one closest to the human world, is the Cāturmahārājika, which is the very abode of Tao Wessuwan.
Cāturmahārājika — The Heaven of the Guardian Gods
The name "Cāturmahārājika" means literally "belonging to the Four Great Kings" — for it is a heaven ruled by four mighty deities, the Four Heavenly Kings, the guardians of the four directions of the cosmos.
This heaven is situated about the slopes and the foot of Mount Sumeru, where each of the Great Kings governs the domain of his own direction, together with celestial palaces and a great host of attendant deities.
Did You Know?
Though the Cāturmahārājika is the lowest of the six heavens, it is still a "heaven" overflowing with celestial splendor beyond anything the human world can compare to. It is said that a single day in this heaven is as long as fifty years in the realm of humans, and that its deities have a lifespan reaching five hundred celestial years.
Besides the deities, the foot of Mount Sumeru and the domains of this heaven are also home to a host of non-human beings — yakshas, gandhabbas, kumbhaṇḍas, and nāgas — all of whom dwell under the governance and care of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Closest to Humankind
What is most striking about the Cāturmahārājika heaven is that it lies "closest" to the human world of all the six heavens.
This closeness is not merely a matter of distance, but of its involvement with human life as well; for the Four Heavenly Kings and their attendants have duties directly bound up with the human world, watching over the affairs of humankind, as we shall recount in the next chapter.
This, then, is one reason why Tao Wessuwan, abiding in the heaven closest to humans, feels "accessible" in the hearts of the faithful, more so than the deities of the higher heavens far removed.
A Reflection
That the guardian deities abide closest to the human world carries a beautiful symbolic meaning — those whose duty is to protect must surely stay near those they protect, like a watchman guarding the gate, who must stand before the house rather than hide away in the innermost upper chamber.
A Clearer Picture
Once we behold the layout of the whole cosmos, the station of Tao Wessuwan becomes clear at once.
He is no deity drifting aimlessly without a place; rather, he holds a fixed and most important station — abiding in the Cāturmahārājika heaven, at the northern foot of Mount Sumeru, as one of the four guardians who embrace the axis of the cosmos, watching closely over the human world.
Before We Go On
Yet Tao Wessuwan does not carry out this duty alone.
He is one of four, and the three others are likewise mighty deities, each ruling his own direction, each governing different kinds of non-human beings, and together fulfilling the duty of guarding the cosmos at his side.
Who are they? Which direction does each rule, and whom does each govern? In the next chapter, we shall come to know the Four Heavenly Kings, the guardians of the four directions of the cosmos, each and every one in full.