Hua-Jiao: The Path to Enlightenment

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

Spoiler

Please don't RP knowing of these scrolls existences unless you frequent the hou-zi monastery and understand the hou-zi language. (Or, of course, are told about it in RP by those who fit that bill).

Buried within the deepest recesses of the mountain monastery of the Hou-zi is an archive of scrolls, lost to time. Many are deteriorated beyond reading, but many have remained intact. They tell out a story in the old Hou-zi tongue, in calligraphic writing dating back to the earliest days of the Hou-zi Empire. Three scrolls in particular remain in near perfect condition. They read as such:

 

一 The Fengshui Monastery

Our sanctuary, built in the cold wastes of the northern mountains where no sane Hou-zi would ever choose to live, has become the home of our people for many generations. It is the bastion of those who continued to follow the Hua-jiao customs, even after its practice was outlawed by the Heavenly King. It was here our ancestors fled to after facing persecution in Jing-Taiyun. Here they built their temple, and continued to practice their faith. A secret enclave of Hou-Jiao monks.

 

Even when the Empire fell, the monastery survived. We were the last pocket of a species in a land that had left us behind. We will endure for another 10,000 years. The teachings of Hualian and the path to enlightenment must endure.

 

二 Hualian the Prophet

Hualian was a Fei-zhu of the house of T’ang. His father Longyen sat as a ruling member of the Council of Chi. Hualian was the youngest of three sons. He grew up in the lap of luxury with no responsibilities to burden him. When Hualian was a young man, his father and brothers were murdered by scheming political opponent Qing-Shifu of the house Qing. Instead of embracing his role as heir to T’ang, Hualian left his home to immerse himself among the beggars, lepers and peasants of the Empire.

 

For ten years, Hualian travelled across the empire. He spent his days in the rural villages, the ghettos and the slums, living amongst the poorest of Hou-zi. In these travels, he saw contrasts. He saw a simplicity and serenity in the lifestyles of these farmers and labourers, yet also poverty, starvation and disease. He struggled to find answers, why do people meet such fates? Envy and power poisoning the rich, and destitution and plague the poor.

 

And so, he left for the mountains at the edge of the world, secluding himself. He meditated under a lone cherryblossom tree for 30 days, and on the 31st, he received enlightenment. He had experienced the world and seen the nature of civilization. He had come far, and finally arrived at the Si Sheng Di (四聖諦), the four truths, and Ba Sheng Dao Fen (八圣道分), the eightfold way. His teachings would become salvation to Hou-zi without hope. It would be known as Hua-Jiao.

 

三 Hua-Jiao

 

May this scroll serve as a disciple’s direct transcribing of the tenets of the path to enlightenment as taught by Hua-jiao in the slums of Jing-Taiyun. Hua-jiao centers around two pillars, the acceptance of the four truths of life, and the embracing of the eightfold way as a way to live. In doing this, Hualian spoke, one learns to contextualize and put aside suffering, to embrace happiness, and to live wholesomely.

 

The four truths speak of the nature of life. Upon leaving his affluent household, he came upon an old Hou-zi, a sick Hou-zi, and a dead Hou-zi. These encounters fueled the main question of his meditations for the next ten years. Why do people suffer so? Upon reaching enlightenment, it was revealed to him.

 

THE FOUR TRUTHS - 四聖諦

Life, by default, is defined by suffering.

 

The root cause of suffering is the soul’s instinct to desire and crave.

 

Suffering is eliminated through the release of all earthly desires, including love, wealth, family, and health.

 

The path to enlightenment is achieved through an eight-step process called the Eightfold Way.

 

The Eightfold Way, or the Ba Sheng Dao Fen (八圣道分) had also been a revelation upon Hualian’s meditations and extensive fasting. Learning to follow the eightfold way was the true path to shedding attachments to the earthly world, and achieving true enlightenment.

 

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH - 八圣道分

Right View (正見 Zheng-Jian)

To accept all actions have consequences, to embrace your karma, and be resolved that death is not the end of it. This is called right view.

 

Right Thought (正思惟 Zheng Si-Wei)

Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.

 

Right Speech (正語 Zheng Yu)

Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech.

 

Right Action (正業 Zheng Ye)

Abstaining from killing, abstaining from stealing, abstaining from sexual misconduct. This is called right action.

 

Right Livelihood (正命 Zheng Ming)

To avoid  any life that brings shame. To avoid causing suffering to sentient beings by cheating them, or harming or killing them in any way. This is right livelihood.

 

Right Effort (正精進 Zheng Jingjin)

To eliminate evil and unwholesome mental states that have already arisen. To generate wholesome mental states that have not yet arisen. This is right effort.

 

Right Mindfulness (正念 Zheng Nian)

To contemplate the body as body, resolute, aware and mindful. To put aside worldly desire and sadness. To contemplate feelings as feelings. To abstain from craving the four contemplations of body, feelings, mind, and phenomena. This is right mindfulness.

 

Right Concentration (正定 Zheng Ding)

To have control over your own mind with iron discipline. To be able to focus on anything. To detach from sense desires and unwholesome states. This is right concentration.

[Aesopian 1639]

"But can you also be a Canonist?" asks Ti'gobser. 

[KBR 2046]

Shen-Li King of The Monkeys, and Monastery Leader gives his thumbs up.