84000 Glossary of Terms

Our trilingual glossary combining entries from all of our publications into one useful resource, giving translations and definitions of thousands of terms, people, places, and texts from the Buddhist canon.

རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞིའི་རིས། | Glossary of Terms

    རྒྱལ་པོ་ཆེན་པོ་བཞིའི་རིས།

    rgyal po chen po bzhi’i ris

    Cāturmahā­rāja­kāyika

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Publications: 27

One of the heavens of Buddhist cosmology, lowest among the six heavens of the desire realm (kāmadhātu, ’dod khams). Dwelling place of the Four Great Kings (Caturmahārāja, rgyal chen bzhi), traditionally located on a terrace of Sumeru, just below the Heaven of the Thirty-Three. Each cardinal direction is ruled by one of the Four Great Kings and inhabited by a different class of nonhuman beings as their subjects: in the east, Dhṛtarāṣṭra rules the gandharvas; in the south, Virūḍhaka rules the kumbhāṇḍas; in the west, Virūpākṣa rules the nāgas; and in the north, Vaiśravaṇa rules the yakṣas.