Do you know whether the four heavenly kings are Buddhist or Taoist? I don’t know. It’s OK. I’ll tell you.
Friends who have been to the temple know that you can see the four heavenly kings when you go in. Each one is very powerful and has quite a shocking effect. People have to be awed. However, those who are familiar with Chinese mythology also know that there are four heavenly kings in the Chinese mythology system. Moreover, the four heavenly kings in China and the four heavenly kings in Buddhism basically have the same mana, and even use the same weapons. So, why did this strange phenomenon happen?
The four heavenly kings first originated in India. We know that Buddhism was passed from India, so the four heavenly kings are also factors in Indian Buddhism. The four heavenly kings come from the twenty heavenly kings of Brahmanism, that is, Hindu mythology. They are: the king of holding the Kingdom, the king of growing the Kingdom, the king of wide eyes, and the king of hearing. The four heavenly kings are the Dharma protectors of Buddhism. The four heavenly kings, also known as the four heavenly kings of protecting the world, are the four gods in the thirty-three days of Buddhism, located in the first heaven. The first heaven is also called the four days King heaven, which is usually arranged on both sides of the first Hall of the pure land Buddhist temple, hence the name of the heaven king hall. In the field of Buddhism, the four heavenly kings are the guardians of Dongsheng Shenzhou, xiniuhezhou, Nanzhan Buzhou and beijulu. It can be said that they are the patron saint of one side. Of course, some of these are in the journey to the West.
Let’s take another look at how the four heavenly kings became immortals in the Taoist system. In fact, it is mainly related to a novel, that is, the romance of Fengshen. In this novel, it is said that there are four brothers of jiamengguan magic family: magic gift green, magic gift red, magic gift sea and magic gift life. One holds a lute, one holds a treasure umbrella, one holds a snake, and one holds a sword. The images of these four are exactly the same as those of the four heavenly kings in Buddhism. Moreover, in this novel, the four people were all deified, and their names were also called the four heavenly kings. After a long time, the imagination of these four people is basically the same as that of the four heavenly kings in Buddhism.
In fact, the reason for this situation is that after Buddhism was introduced into China, localization became more and more serious. After Buddhism was introduced into our country, many sects appeared in our country, and these sects gradually localized and absorbed many domestic cultures. In the later development, Buddhism and Taoism also began to blend and learn from each other. The journey to the West and the romance of Fengshen are the results of their blending. In particular, in the romance of deities, many Taoist immortals finally went to the west to become Buddhas. This phenomenon is quite common. Disclaimer: the above content is from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author. If your original copyright is infringed, please inform us, and we will delete the relevant content as soon as possible.