Virupaksa — the guardian king of the West — is one of the Four Heavenly Kings, the protectors of the world and the dharma: an armored deity who watches over the western quarter, commands the nagas, and sees all with his far-seeing eyes, holding a serpent and a jewel as he defends the teaching. His name means “he who sees all” or “of varied eyes.”
The All-Seeing King
Virupaksa is the guardian of the West among the Four Heavenly Kings (Lokapalas), the four deities who ward the cardinal directions from Mount Meru and protect the world and the Buddhist teaching. His name signifies his far-reaching, all-seeing sight — he is the king with the penetrating gaze who watches over the world, observes the deeds of beings, and perceives those who do evil. With his all-seeing eyes he keeps watch and reports, and he punishes the wicked and encourages the good.
The Lord of the Nagas
Virupaksa commands the nagas — the serpent-beings and dragon-spirits of the waters — as his hosts, and he is most often depicted holding a serpent or a small dragon (sometimes a noose or a rope of snake-form) in one hand and a jewel or pearl in the other — the serpent he masters and the jewel it guards. In China he is Guangmu Tianwang (“the Broad-Eyed Heavenly King”), and his armored image, holding the serpent, guards temple gates with his three royal brothers, each defending a quarter against the forces of evil.
The Guardian of the West
As one of the four protectors, Virupaksa is invoked for protection and for the all-seeing watchfulness that guards against evil and encourages virtue. The Four Heavenly Kings together — [vaisravana] of the North, [dhrtarastra] of the East, [virudhaka] of the South, and Virupaksa of the West — form the complete fourfold guard of the Buddhist cosmos, their fierce armored figures standing at temple gates across Asia to ward off demonic forces from every direction. In Virupaksa, Buddhism gave form to all-seeing watchfulness and the mastery of the serpent-powers — the broad-eyed guardian king of the West who sees all the deeds of the world, commands the nagas, and defends the dharma from the western quarter.