#Buddhism — The Language of Suffering and Compassion
Contents
Buddhism calls the name of the dead. In Konsei Reiyotan, there are times when that name answers.
#Introductory Fragment — The Monk Who Asks a Name
The yoma wept in a child's voice. In the back of the shed a small hand scratched at the crack of the door, and the villagers had drawn far back. The samurai gripped his blade, but before its tip touched the door the monk Rensho stepped forward.
"Please stand aside," said the samurai. "If we are late, more will die."
Rensho nodded. "That is why I ask." He laid his hand on the door and said low, "What was your name?"
The weeping within ceased. After a long while, a child's voice answered. "Aki." Among the villagers one woman collapsed on the spot. Rensho did not look at her; he turned again toward the inside of the door. "Aki. One who calls you so is still here."
The samurai did not lower his blade. Nor did Rensho tell him not to draw it. Only, before the fighting began, that being was first called by a name.
That day they might have had to cut down the yoma. But the Buddhist scene had already begun — before the question of kill or save, from the refusal to treat a suffering being as nameless.
#What Buddhism Asks
The starting point of Buddhism is suffering.
A person is born, grows old, falls ill, and dies. One parts from what one loves and meets what one hates. One does not gain what one wishes to gain, and even what one gains vanishes. To see the structure of this suffering, to ask why it is so, and to ask how to escape it — this is the great trunk of Buddhism.
In Konsei Reiyotan this question is the sharper. One who died in war becomes an onryo, one who starved to death becomes a gaki, and a heart holding a grudge becomes the gate of a yoma. Suffering is not a notion but a substance that knocks at the door night after night.
#Buddhism in the Sengoku Period
The Buddhism of the Sengoku period is not one.
| Current | Center | Connection in Konsei Reiyotan |
|---|---|---|
| Pure Land lineage | Amida Buddha, nembutsu, salvation of the common folk | Pure Land Monk, popular uprising, cohesion, rebirth in the Pure Land |
| Esoteric lineage | mantra, mudra, mandala, goma | esoteric monk, exorcism, Barrier, Fudo Myoo |
| Zen Buddhism | zazen, intuition, no-mind | ronin·swordsman·warrior culture, detailed in a separate chapter |
| Shugendo | mountain austerity, Shinbutsu syncretism | shugenja, austerity, mountains and yoma |
| Temple powers | land, warrior monks, political networks | Hiei League, temple strongholds, religious military force |
Buddhism is not only within the temple. Funerals, war, popular organization, mountain practice, urban culture, daimyo patronage, and the slaying of yoma all connect with Buddhism.
#The Core Language of Buddhism
#Suffering
A Buddhist figure first sees suffering. The enemy's suffering, the ally's suffering, the yoma's suffering, the suffering within himself.
This gaze gives birth to compassion, but at times to nihility as well. If all is suffering, why fight? If however much one saves, they die again, what is salvation? The bright heart Compassion (慈) and the dark heart Void (虚) of the Way of Emptiness are the two directions of this question.
#Karma
Karma is not a simple demerit. Deeds accumulate, and accumulated deeds call the next scene. One act of killing, one betrayal, one act of relief changes a person's heart.
To speak of the Three Ways and Six Hearts shift in Buddhist terms, the change of heart is the moment the weight of karma reveals itself.
#Compassion
Compassion is not weakness. Compassion is the attitude of not turning away from suffering. At times even cutting down an enemy is read as compassion. But it is precisely that point which is dangerous. The words "to kill is compassion" can turn an esoteric monk into an asura (修羅).
#Emptiness
Emptiness is not "there is no meaning at all." It is the insight that all things have no fixed substance and arise leaning upon one another. When this falls into nihility, it becomes Void (虚). An NPC who mistakes emptiness for nihility becomes a very dangerous villain.
#What Buddhism Does in Konsei Reiyotan
Buddhism holds actual power. In co, the esoteric monk, Pure Land Monk, and shugenja are all classes that possess a Buddhist language.
But the focus of this volume is not new effects, but interpretation.
| Class·Scene | Buddhist interpretation |
|---|---|
| The esoteric monk enters the Core Zone | the body of the Dharma-protector, drawing sentient beings out from the midst of hell. |
| The Pure Land Monk recites the nembutsu | the name of Amida that holds the heart before death. |
| The shugenja performs austerity | mountain practice that makes one's own body an offering to attain enlightenment and power. |
| One holds a funeral | binding the grudge into a story and giving the dead a road to walk. |
| One converses with a yoma | seeing first the suffering being. |
| One cuts down a yoma | bearing the contradiction of killing to prevent a greater suffering. |
#The Bright Face and Dark Face of Buddhism
| Direction | Aspect | Three Ways and Six Hearts |
|---|---|---|
| Bright Buddhism | Reduces suffering. Consoles the dead. Leaves compassion even for the enemy. | Compassion (慈) |
| Dark Buddhism | Abandons the world, saying all is suffering. Mistakes salvation for the end of the world. | Void (虚) |
| Militarized Buddhism | Takes up the blade for the sake of compassion. The temple becomes an army. | the collision of Compassion and Loyalty, or Compassion and Hegemony |
| Mountain Buddhism | Awakens through body, mountain, and suffering. | the meeting point of Compassion and Truth |
#Making a Buddhist NPC
| Question | Example |
|---|---|
| What suffering did he see? | war orphans, a starving village, an onryo, a family member turned yoma |
| Whom does he try to save? | the common folk, the dead, the yoma, a disciple, himself |
| Where does his compassion reach its limit? | repeated betrayal, an irredeemable yoma, the command of the temple |
| What does he mistake for nihility? | emptiness, nirvana, rebirth in the Pure Land, equality, silence |
#Manner of Speech
A Buddhist figure speaks of suffering and karmic ties.
- "That one too is suffering."
- "I will cut. But I will not hate."
- "This grudge did not arise today. The karma has long accumulated."
- "May you attain rebirth in the Pure Land. In the next life, in a place where you need not take up the blade."
- "Do not read emptiness as nihility. Because it is empty, it can be filled again."
#Scene Example
There is a child turned yoma. The villagers say to kill it. The child's mother weeps before the temple.
The esoteric monk, looking at the yoma, calls to mind the name of Fudo Myoo. The Pure Land Monk asks the child's name. The shugenja remembers the eyes of a starving beast he saw on the mountain. The samurai draws his blade, and the scholar calculates the scale of the damage.
The Buddhist scene begins here. The question is not whether to kill or to save, but whether, killing or saving, one saw that suffering.
Compassion is both the hand that lets the enemy live, and the mouth that, having cut, calls out his name.