Vaiśravaṇa

Vaiśravaṇa (Sanskrit) or Vessavaṇa (Pali; Tibetan: རྣམ་ཐོས་སྲས་, Lhasa dialect IPA: [Namtösé] , Bishamonten (毘沙門天)), is the name of one of the Four Heavenly Kings. He is considered the "chief" of the Four Kings and an important figure on his own in Buddhism in Japan.

His mantra is oṃ vaiśravaṇaye svāhā.

Names

The name Vaiśravaṇa is a vṛddhi derivative (used, e.g., for patronymics) of the Sankrit proper name Viśravaṇa from the root vi-śru "hear distinctly", (passive) "become famous". The name Vaiśravaṇa is derived from the Sankrit viśravaṇa which means "son of Vishrava", a usual epithet of the Hindu god Kubera.Vaiśravaṇa is also known as Kubera and Jambhala in Sanskrit and Kuvera in Pāli.

Other names include: