Usually it means the following eight deities based on mainly 'Sharihotsumon-kyo Sutra,' and 'Hoke-kyo Sutra' and 'Konkomyo Saisho-kyo Sutra' as well; Tenbushu (Deities who reside in a heavenly realm, one of the six realms in which the souls of living beings transmigrate from one to another), Ryushu (Pre-Buddhist snake or dragon deities), Yashashu (a class of semi divine usually considered to be of a benevolent and inoffensive disposition but sometimes also classed with malignant spirits), Kendatsubashu (Gandharva), Karurashu (Garuda), Kinnarashu (Kinnara) and Makoragashu (Mahoraga).
通常に用いられるのは「舎利弗問経」を基本に、「法華経」や「金光明最勝王経」などの説により、天部衆、龍衆、夜叉衆、乾闥婆衆、阿修羅衆、迦楼羅衆、緊那羅衆、摩睺羅伽衆の8つを指す。