Four Great Kings

I have added a page for the Four Great Kings after finding some mantras for them in the reference book Bonji Taikan. Because I don't read Japanese I can't say what the source of these mantras is, but it won't be the Mahāvairocana Sūtra where the mantras do not begin with oṃ, but with namaḥ samanta buddhānaṃ.

I have been interested in the Kings -Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Virūḍhaka, Virūpākṣa, and Vaiśravaṇa - since my ordination retreat when we carried out rituals involving them. The kings are not originally Buddhist and still show signs of their origins in Indian folk religion, as well as influences from Brahminism. However they must has been widely popular even at the time of the Buddha because they make frequent appearances in the Pāli Canon. They are devas from the lowest devaloka, and are therefore the closest to the human realm. As kings they are lords over the various chthonic spirits such as yakṣas, nāgas, kumbhāṇḍas, and gandharvas that inhabit the Buddhist mythic landscape.

I hope to do more thorough research on the kings in the future. The fact that there are mantras to these, and other Vedic/Hindu gods (such as Agni, Indra, and Śiva) is a very interesting facet of esoteric Buddhism.