top of page
JS1_9166_2.jpg

About Shibamata Taishakuten

Taishakuten

Indra, the god of war and bravery, is an important deity known as Indra, and is the subject of the most hymns in the Rig Veda, India's oldest sacred text. Transliterated into Chinese characters as Shaktikannin (Shaktikannin), he is considered a benevolent guardian deity along with Brahma. Indra resides in the Fortress of Pleasure at the summit of Mount Sumeru and is the leader of the deities residing in Trayastrimsa. He protects the true Dharma, listens to the Buddha's teachings, and is a righteous deity who is gentle, compassionate, speaks the truth, and follows the true Dharma. However, before hearing the Buddha's teachings, he was also a fierce deity who united the heavenly beings to fight against the Asuras. In addition to being the lord of the 33 heavenly beings (Trayastrimsa), Indra also commands the Four Heavenly Kings and oversees the human world. That is, on the 8th and 23rd of each month, they send messengers to the human world, on the 14th and 29th, they send princes, and on the 15th and 30th, the Four Heavenly Kings themselves transform and travel around the human world to inspect the good and bad behavior of sentient beings, to see whether they do not kill, steal, lie, etc., whether they are filial to their parents, respect their teachers, and give alms to the poor. Therefore, people call these days the Six Days of Abstinence, and they observe moderation in their actions.

bottom of page