#A Closing Word — When You Return to the Table

Contents

Thought is stronger when it remains as a short choice than as a long speech.

#The Last Fragment — The Covered Mirror

When the session ended, the GM covered with a cloth the small mirror he had set at the center of the table. Today, many faces had been reflected in that mirror. A samurai who kept his command to the end, a monk who chanted the name of a dead enemy, a ronin who in the end did not draw his blade, a hermit who said the mountain path had gone astray.

One player, tidying away their sheet, paused and asked, "Why did my character sheathe the blade at the end?"

Another player laughed. "You should be the one to know that."

The GM shook his head. "It is all right not to know yet. You may come to know in the next scene. What matters is that the choice has already begun to change the direction of the heart."

Outside, the rain had stopped. The mirror was covered, but the people in the room thought a little longer about their own faces. The Sando Shinkyo was not a finished book, but remained as the first question of the next session.

#Three Sentences

Confucianism asks: "Where is your place?"

Buddhism asks: "Who is suffering?"

Zen asks: "What are you holding on to?"

To remember only these three questions is enough.

#Use at the Table

During a session, you need not open this book to find a long paragraph. Instead, think briefly before a scene.

What cause does this NPC speak of?
What death remains in this place?
What can this PC not set down right now?

When an answer comes to mind, show that answer with a single sentence or a single prop. Better than a long explanation are a lord's worn command letter, an extinguished goma fire, a cooled teacup.

#A Final Boundary

The Sando Shinkyo is not a frame for confining a character. A samurai does not always speak only of Loyalty. A monk is not always compassionate. A Zen monk is not always right, nor does the mountain hermit always know the world better.

A good scene arises when thought wavers. When the loyal one doubts a command, when the compassionate one takes up the blade, when the No Heart one grasps a single name.

That wavering keeps the Three Ways and Six Hearts alive.

#A Closing Word

The blade is swift. The sutra passage remains long. Rites bind a person, compassion releases a person, and silence makes the empty place between the two.

The night of Konsei Reiyotan begins in that empty place.

Even when the mirror is covered, the trace it cast of the heart remains within the scabbard.