In some Buddhist

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

 denominations, the Twelve Heavenly Generals or Twelve Divine Generals are the protective deities, or yaksha

Yaksha

Yaksha is the name of a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, who are caretakers of the natural treasures hidden in the earth and tree roots. They appear in Hindu, Jain and Buddhist mythology. The feminine form of the word is ' or Yakshini .In Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist mythology,...

, of Bhaisajyaguru

Bhaisajyaguru

Bhaiṣajyaguru , formally Bhaiṣajyaguruvaidūryaprabharāja , is the buddha of healing and medicine in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Commonly referred to as the "Medicine Buddha", he is described as a doctor who cures suffering using the medicine of his teachings.-Origin:...

, the buddha

Buddhahood

In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...

 of healing. They are introduced in the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaidūryaprabharāja Sūtra

Sutra

Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...

.
They are collectively named as follows:

• Japanese
  Japanese language
  is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
  
  : or or

Names of Generals

The names of the generals are:

Sanskrit Sanskrit Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...	Japanese (kanji Kanji Kanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet... )	Japanese (romanized Hepburn romanization The is named after James Curtis Hepburn, who used it to transcribe the sounds of the Japanese language into the Latin alphabet in the third edition of his Japanese–English dictionary, published in 1887. The system was originally proposed by the in 1885... )	Chinese Chinese language The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages... (Pinyin Pinyin Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into... )
	宮毘羅 金毘羅	Kubira Konpira (Shinto Shinto or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...  deity)	Guan1pi2luo4, Jin1pei2luo4
	伐折羅	Basara, Bazara	Fa2zhe2luo4
	迷企羅	Mekira, Meikira	Mi2qi3luo4
	安底羅	Anteira Anchira	An1di4luo4
	頞儞羅	Anira	E4ni2luo4
	珊底羅	Santeira, Sanchira	Shan1di4luo4
	因達羅 帝釈天	Indara, Indatsura	Yin1da4luo4, Di4shi4tian1
	波夷羅	Haira	Bo1yi4luo4
	摩虎羅 摩睺羅伽	Makora, Makura	Mo4hu3luo4, Mo4hou2luo2jia1
	真達羅	Shintara, Kimnara	Zhen1da4luo4
	招杜羅	Shōtora Shatora	Zhao1du4luo4
	毘羯羅	Bikara Bigyara	Pi2jie2luo4

The goddess Marichi, protector of warriors and protector against fire is sometimes worshipped as one of the Twelve Heavenly Generals.

In popular culture

Statues of 12 Heavenly Generals are put up at Ngong Ping, Hong Kong. It is near the Status of Big Buddha.

See also

• The Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
  Glossary of Japanese Buddhism
  This is the glossary of Japanese Buddhism, including major terms the casual reader might find useful in understanding articles on the subject. Words followed by an asterisk are illustrated by an image in one of the photo galleries...
  
  for an explanation of terms concerning Japanese Buddhism, Japanese Buddhist art, and Japanese Buddhist temple architecture.
• View Album of 12 Heavenly Generals at Ngong Ping