Next to the king's palace, there are four heavenly kings, all with their names in the scriptures. The east holds the king of the country and the country protects the country. Today, we are talking about patriotism, love for home and love for hometown. The King of the East represents this meaning. In order to protect the country, we should start by protecting ourselves. What we call self-love and self-esteem today is to protect ourselves. He said: if you can protect yourself, you can protect your family; If you can protect your family, you can protect your society; If you can protect your country, you can protect world peace. The spirit shown is responsible and responsible. He taught us this. If you are irresponsible, if you can't do your duty, if you refuse to do what you should do in your duty, how can you protect the country? Everyone can do his duty, what kind of work I am, I want to do my job well, I want to be responsible, and I want to do it seriously. This is to protect the country and defend the country. The props in his hand, now the props, he took the pipa, not the form of a watch. It is definitely not this heavenly king who likes singing, so you are wrong. Pipa represents the golden mean, and we in China Confucianism emphasize the golden mean. Pipa is a stringed instrument. When the rope is loose, it won't ring, but when it is tight, it will break. It is necessary to have a moderate tuning to make the timbre beautiful. This tells us that whether dealing with people or things, we should be just right, not too much and not too little. This is called the middle. Just like playing the piano, the tuning can't be tight or loose, just right, that's what it means. Confucianism emphasizes the doctrine of the mean, while Buddhism emphasizes the meaning of the doctrine of the mean.

The king of the south is called the king of growth, and his name is growth. What does growth mean? Progress. Our wisdom should grow, our virtue should grow, our life should be improved every day, and everything needs to be improved. You know Buddhism stresses diligence. It strives for progress and will not regress. Someone once told me that our Buddhism should catch up with the times, which is wrong. It should be that the times should catch up with Buddhism, and Buddhism is the dominant era, yes. But what about today? Today, Buddhism is behind the times. What's the point? It used to be a faucet, but now it has become a tail, a big reversal. Buddhism is to lead this era and guide life. We want a happy life, a happy family, a successful career, social peace, a prosperous country and a peaceful world, with Buddhism as the leading factor. Can achieve this goal according to the principles of Buddhism. We should not forget that in the early years of the Qing Dynasty, when Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong were in power, China was the first powerful country in the world. What did these emperors use to teach the public? Use the infinite life sutra. These emperors in the Qing Dynasty were all great. He unified the whole country with an infinite life. If his methods continue, the Qing Dynasty will not perish. Of course, there are many reasons for national subjugation, but we think this classic has been abolished, which is a big factor. Who abolished it? Empress Dowager Cixi. Perhaps Empress Dowager Cixi listened to the Infinite Life Sutra, and it was all her fault. She was not happy to hear it, so she abandoned it and stopped watching it. This has an impact, and it cannot be said that it has no impact. In the heyday of the Qing dynasty, the rule of the country was based on Buddhism, and we should understand that the upper and lower sides worked together.

Buddhism is always seeking progress, so is Confucianism. Confucian teaching stresses "innovation, innovation and re-innovation", which is also improving every day. Among the six paramita in Buddhism, where will paramita fall behind others? How can this be true? The king of the south stands for enterprising and hard work, which is what it means. He has a sword in his hand, which represents wisdom. We China said "cut the gordian knot", which is what we mean. Not that he likes sword dancing. No, it's a symbol of wisdom. Only a high degree of wisdom can drive progress, and only a high degree of wisdom can drive real happiness. This is the king of the South.

The western heavenly king is called Guangmu, and the Sanskrit name is also translated into miscellaneous language. The Queen Mother of the West is very talkative and can speak different languages. Today, we speak language genius. Guangmu, the North King is called Duowen. What are these two kings? Table method. The first two heavenly kings are the targets. Our goal is to defend our country, but we must have a high degree of wisdom and make progress every day. How does the western king achieve the first two goals in methods? You should see more and learn more. Now let's talk about sightseeing. Sightseeing and inspection, led by the Western King, he took the lead, he taught us to watch more, and the Northern King taught us to listen more; Look at others and listen to others. Learn from this experience, learn from the shortcomings of others, learn from the strengths of others, and build your own country. Won't we be number one? Now, it is said that VCD is very common in China, not common abroad, but very common in China. What's the point? This is what Tian Wang and others mean. We should come from the back. If we learn these technologies today, we will certainly learn the most advanced ones, and we will not get old. We are going to build an airplane today. We must build the best and bring other people's products. We will improve it in view of its shortcomings. We built it better than him. Isn't it stupid to decide not to build a small plane that was just invented more than 0/00 years ago, and build it from there? That's a fool. So it must be based on the achievements of others, and then we will change their shortcomings, improve and change their shortcomings, and we will make more progress, even more progress than him. This teaches you to read more, and reading more means reading more. The heavenly king has a dragon or a snake in his hand. What do dragons and snakes mean? Represents change. Today, science and technology are changing with each passing day. Both dragons and snakes are fickle, which means to tell you that society is very complicated and changeable, so you should observe it carefully. In the process of change, you can master the same, and you will achieve something. Hold the bead in one hand, and the bead remains the same. Dragons will change, pearls will not change; In the infinite changes, we have mastered the unchangeable principles, which were taught by western kings. Being able to have a language genius and be proficient in various languages can make cultural, scientific and technological exchanges with every country and race, which can be successfully completed.

I've heard a lot about the king of the North. King Guangmu teaches us to live in the present, visit everywhere, see everywhere and learn. The King of the North has listened too much, and everything is vertical. We often say, "Read thousands of books, take Wan Li Road", take Wan Li Road horizontally, and read thousands of books vertically. We should learn from the lessons of history and accept the wisdom and experience of the ancients. On this basis, we will carry forward. What these four heavenly kings taught us, we can't treat him as an ordinary god, they are all wrong, and accept the lessons and teachings of the four heavenly kings. He has an umbrella in his hand. What does an umbrella mean? Prevent pollution. In ancient times, the pollution was not so serious, so his umbrella was put away. Now I want to be a statue of the four heavenly kings. If I hear more about the Heavenly King Umbrella, I will definitely open it. The pollution is too serious now. This is to prevent pollution. In such a complicated society, he knows that pollution is inevitable. The pollution of thoughts, opinions, spirit, psychology and physiology is terrible. Environmental protection was advocated in Buddhist scriptures thousands of years ago. Now, environmental protection means preventing pollution. Think about how brilliant the teaching of Buddhism is. Thousands of years ago, Buddhism used art to express its teachings. Unfortunately, it is regarded as a religion in modern times, and these expressions are regarded as gods. It's useless to burn incense and worship Buddha and make a wish and beg. You ask Buddha and Bodhisattva to bless you. Do buddhas and bodhisattvas really bless you? How can this be true? The blessing of Buddha and Bodhisattva is to teach you. You understand, you accept, it is really his blessing. His blessing is teaching, nothing else, and we can't mistake him.

These are the Four Heavenly Kings. Let me give you a brief introduction here. We need to know him, we need to know him, and we can really benefit from hearing his name and seeing his image. Therefore, the Heavenly King Temple should hold such a class to let us understand these truths and know what we should do in our daily life, so as to make ourselves happy, our families happy, our careers successful, our society stable and prosperous, our country prosperous and world peaceful. The four heavenly kings taught us these great truths and good methods and decided not to be superstitious.