> The vajra is the ancient thunderbolt. It is a seal of power from the greatest of kings. The god of gods. It means, all at once, thunderbolt and diamond. It is both unsurpassable, unblockable, and indestructible. That is the basis of our path.
> From Teachings of Garo Sanghao
Raxri jumped, scared, screaming.
Abbot Wairojashra, however, caught the lightning before it struck the ground. The lightning writhed white hot in the abbot's grasp. A fulgurous serpent. The lightning snake extended all the way to the clouds.
"Now the lesson begins. This sermon shall teach you the Flower Path of Enlightenment."
The abbot pointed at the earth where the lightning almost touched, but never did.
"The basal level is there. The earth, so close to the fulgurs of the Thunderbolt Path, but never yet.
"The Adamantine Path--it is important to know that the other name for the Adamantine Path is the Thunderbolt Path--calls this level the Dirt Level. The Dirt Level is the realm everyone is born into, especially those pakta hungry ghosts and the hell-beings. Both commoner and king are of the Dirt Level, if they've never cultivated themselves. Their control of Nihawa is basal. That is to say, they only have rudimentary control of it. In other words, they know how to move and breathe and live. Even those in the Dirt Level can find enlightenment, but it will take them multiple lifetimes.
"Now it must be said: traveling up the Thunderbolt Path is not a requisite for enlightenment. It is but one path among many. It is but one cultivation method over many. The lands speak of Soul Refinement Cultivation, All-Love Poetry Cultivation, Uncreated Light Suffusion Cultivation, Chakra Nondualism Cultivation, Ancestral Wisdom Cultivation, and there are yet a thousand more... Why is this so? Why is there so many? Because this world is a world of suffering and delusions, a world of beauty marred by the false consciousnesses of the living beings within it. A thousand thousand sects understand this truth, coming to it from vastly different places.
"They are paths to Emancipation all the same," Raxri said. They breathed, speechless suddenly.
The Thunderbolt Master pointed now at the fulminating light emanated by the tamed lightning. In between the now-charring soil and the crackling tip of the thunderbolt serpent. "Here is the beginning of the Thunderbolt Path. This is where you are. The Shore of Lightning. You have chosen the path of indestructible and irreducible enlightenment, which can come to you suddenly and in a single lifetime. I commend you, for it will not be an easy road. You will shed many things before you might gain them back. Perhaps you already have."
The words lingered for a bit. Raxri looked nervous.
Then, Abbot Wairojashra continued: "This is the Heat Level. In truth the first realm of the First Realm: the Desire Realm. Those in the Desire Realm are weaker than those in the Form Realm. And those in the Form Realm are weaker yet than those in the Formless Realm. Finally, only Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can go past the Formless Realm.
"In the Heat Level you have access to certain realizations about the truth of the world, but it is not complete. You have knowledge, but you will need certain trainings and the Empowerments from Thunderbolt Masters to unlock the special way in which we Adamantines harness Sapi."
The Abbot shifted in his seat and said: "Let me tell you a bit about Sapi. No doubt, the witch Akazha has taught you about meditation and the mystic winds and fires?"
Raxri nodded. "The Sapi as the source of power and the dynamism of all sentient beings, and the Nihawa powers the chakra centers..."
The Abbot nodded approvingly. "There is a deeper understanding however, which is especially potent and important in the Paths to Enlightenment: Sapi is the basic requirement for sentience. Cultivators such as us, then, refine our bodies and minds to be able to harness and manipulate our Sapi and Nihawa. More importantly, we accumulate and cultivate our Sapi. In so doing, we ascend the very rungs of reality. Many gods and sacred beasts are those that have attained certain immortality by cultivating vast amounts of Sapi. Through control of our Sapi, we can perform great feats that would seem to be straight out of a chanter's sagas."
"I see. Like a true hero," said Raxri.
The abbot smiled, his eyes squinting into slits. "Finally, however, almost every Cultivation harnesses Sapi and Nihawa to some extent. However, and this is importance, Sapi is not our essence--nothing has essence, remember that. We cannot be reduced to our Sapi: Sapi has no identity. Nothing in this world arises independently. Everything is always made of something else.
"Paths of Enlightenment such as ours, however, have a cause for attaining such power. To many Paths of Enlightenment, this is for Liberation, Self-Extinction, Immortality, Grand Unity, Apotheosis, Sagehood, Wizardhood, and more. However, for us in the Anantadharma: our cause is compassion. Our cause is the Emancipation of all sentient beings. As once wished upon by Kafeng Masangwa. Until all beings are free."
"Until... all beings are free..." echoed Raxri.
Yiwaritala chimed in then: "The Bodhisattva Vows, you must know." He turned to the Abbot. The Abbot nodded. Yiwaritala turned to Raxri and said: "It rings as thus:
Though the sentient beings be innumerable, I will save them all.
Though the hatred be inexhaustible, I will break them all.
Though the wisdoms be unaittanable, I will claim them all.
Though Liberation is unsurpassable, I will accomplish it all the same."
Raxri blinked, and then looked in awe at the Abbot. Was this not the very same thing he asked me...?
The abbot nodded. He still grasped the lightning in his hand. The cloud overhead them stood still as though frozen, looking like a great storm god pointing indignation at them. He continued his sermon, "And so, our Cultivation must be suffused with the Compassionate Mind, or the Buddhas Consciousness. If it is not, then you will not truly understand or attain the Greater Mysteries of our Path. You must bear the determination of Unconquerable Compassion to attain the greater Liberation we find."
"So the power I cultivate must be for all sentient beings, and not just for myself?"
The abbot nodded. "The drawback is this will take you longer. We cannot rely on selfish methods for refining our Sapi."
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"I understand."
The abbot then pointed at the tip of the lightning. "Once you've both taken refuge in the Tristones and learned how to tap into your Sapi Furnace, only then shall you be considered as someone stepping upon the Thunderbolt Path. This is the Lightning-Enterer Level, the second Level of the Desire Realm. Here you have enough Sapi to understand and access the mystic martial arts and wizardries of our path. To ascend the various Levels, you need to perform the appropriate Ascension technique, which for us, is a Meditation on the Gods, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhas."
Yiwaritala nodded, inhaling and then exhaling. Raxri looked at him, and then back at the Abbot. "Why is it called the Desire Realm?"
"Here? Because you are bound yet to this world of desires. You gain power because you desire for something, even if that desire is truly benign. It is desire all the same. In the Thunderbolt Path, we do not shirk away from the emotions and passions of the masses. Instead, we embrace it, temper it upon the furnace of enlightenment, and forge it into a tool for Liberation. We begin at the Desire Realm because we must. No ambition for greater compassion will not lead to greater compassion. However, desire must soon be shed, along with faith, and turned into Conviction. Only then will you enter into the Form Realm.
"The Form Realm and the Formless Realm will no doubt be still out of the grasp of your current mental capacities. In a shortened version however... the Form Realm is the Realm of fine materiality. The Form Realm is the Realm of celestines, of supernatural martial artists, of wizards, of sages, of mystics, of gods. Their bodies are of light or of any fashion they wish it to be, and they are living in constant bliss and have no need for coarse foods. Many of them are the very gods that folk worship.
"The Formless Realm is even higher than that, further, atmost. Here even the Light Bodies are turned into nothing but just awareness. Formless Cultivators do not need to manifest bodily in the world to influence it, though if they do they are unbound by the laws of both Heaven and Earth."
"Are the Buddhas in the Formless Realm?" asked Raxri.
The Abbot shook their head. They pointed at the sky. Nowhere near the cloud. "The Buddha are beyond all of this, surpassing all to surpass and are unsurpassable. They commonly manifest bodies in the three realms, however. Once you are liberated, you will no longer be fettered by phenomenal reality. Phenomenal reality will be fettered by you."
"How do I become Buddha?"
"You follow the path. You focus and strengthen yourself." Abbot Wairojashra gestured to the great lightning. "You climb up the path that is not meant to be climbed. You will become Buddha yet, though depending on your method, practice, and determination, what kind of Buddha you will become depends. But remember that Buddhahood is transcension. It is far, far beyond the realm of even the Creator Gods: the gods that create new universes in the trichiliocosm to house more sentient beings."
"What are the three kinds of Buddha, master?" A fire was lit in Raxri's heart. The questions flowed out of them like a river undammed.
"Concisely, there are the Arhat Buddha, or just Arhats. There are the Jina, or just the Conquerors. And then there are the Bodhisattva, or just Bodhisattvas. Arhats are those that awaken following the teachings of the Law. Conquerers are those that awaken without hearing the teachings of the Law, and they do not leave behind a community, only seeking truly personal Liberation. Bodhisattvas, the most difficult of the three Buddhahoods, are those that seek liberation for all beings, shirking the arrogance of those that seek liberation away from the masses.
"In truth, however, these are all Buddha all the same. Though the various sects and clans of our faiths will quarrel over what each of these mean--and truly some of them do not even believe this to be true!--they are all attainers of the same path with different goals. All of them are the Whorls all the same."
Raxri nodded again, in understanding. Their eyes flickered back to the lightning still in the Abbot's grasp. They did not seem to be in any way phased by the thousand-suns hot streak that they held in their hands. For a moment, Raxri wondered what realm the great Abbot was in. "Abbot, how does one ascend the realms? I wish to wield my Sapi and cultivate it. I wish the strength to save everyone."
The words of the Mad Fool rung again: Save those that betrayed you.
The abbot smiled and nodded. They pointed at the lightning bolt and said: "Good. Then know this: The first Stage of the Desire Realm, the Mortal Stage, has 12 levels. This is the only realm that has discrete levels. Once you're passed these, once you've Calcified, you will have become a great wielder of Cultivations. It is, however, important to remember that these 12 Levels we've codified for this particular Monastery. In the outside world, they might have differing ways of codifying levels. This is all because, in truth, there is no codification of these things. It is a free-for-all for accumulation of greater Sapi. But to help those that otherwise would not be able to cultivate, we follow this:
"First, Soil.
"Second, Heat.
"Third, Lightning-Enterer.
"Fourth, Accumulation.
"Fifth, Emergence.
"Sixth, Refinement.
"Seventh, Fury.
"Eighth, Fulmination.
"Ninth, Signification.
"Tenth, Noble Soul.
"Eleventh, Clarification,
"Twelfth, Calcification.
"These make up the first 12 Levels of the Desire Realm. Many warriors and fighters dance here. The final realm, Calcification, is so called because many of those that attain that level almost never revert or fall back below that level... unless their strength and determination is found wanting. Many warriors reach Calcification after 2 decades. That is the realm of Martial Masters. You must realize, however, that the realm of the Masters is ten thousand times more voluminous than the realm of the students."
"I am in the Heat Level right now," said Raxri, thinking. "Is that right Abbot?"
The Abbot nodded. "And you have great stores of Sapi. Yet untapped. Or perhaps, buried?" The abbot bowed and said, "This is the point where Yiwaritala can show you it much better than I. Yiwaritala? I must perform the obeisance rituals to the mountain gods."
Yiwaritala bowed, performing the mouth reverence to the abbot. The abbot rose, turned, and walked over to the shrine. They began chanting and placing various sacrifices upon the porcelain plate of the altar. Some of them looked like betel nut, others cakes of rice.
Yiwaritala, on the other hand, offered Raxri his hand. "I bid you, dear one. Rise."
"A-ah. Okay." Raxri took Yiwaritala's hand gingerly. The two of them rose.
"You've mentioned that you wanted to train the Thunderbolt Staff, yes?"
Raxri nodded.
"Have you any knowledge of any previous martial arts?"
"The witch Akazha taught me in the fundamentals of the Whorl Hand," replied Raxri.
"So she is your master? She is not exactly the best martial arts master. Her skill in sorceries, however..."
"Yes she is my master.," said Raxri, raising a devious eyebrow. "Would that be a problem?"
"In this Realm Belligerent," said Yiwaritala. "That is to say, the interconnected world culture of martial artists and magicians here in the Utter Islands, it is disrespectful to look for another martial art before your own master has told you to do so. In your case, however, you have been expressly told by the witch Akazha to find us and learn from us. And so we shall take that as her honorable word. You stand at a crossroad, now." Yiwaritala's already intense eyes intensified only more. "Will you take the ascetic path and become a monk, or will you stay of the laity, and only take what you can?"
Raxri gulped. They didn't want to be a monk! But that might mean I might learn less, and won't it be a waste to not learn all I can after having traveled here?! "I'm not sure about the path of the ascetic. I... still need to find out about who I was. Becoming a monk might impede this goal of mine... and I might not be able to help those about me without traveling. I might waste precious years in the monastery!"
There was a hint of offense in Yiwaritala's eyes. He looked to the abbot, who was still too busy working on the ritual to really offer any advice. Yiwaritala sighed. "Your determination shines through. It is true that taking on the robes will chain you to the monastery until your training is done, and this might take a good few years or so. But your cultivation will be great. Unsurpassable."
Raxri said nothing.
"However, the abbot figured as such. I do not remember what history the Abbot has with the past Raxri Uttara, but they seem to be particularly inclined to help you. And so, I will teach you how to harness your Sapi, how to use it alongside Meditation, how to wield Sapi through the vector of Martial Arts."
Yiwaritala turned to the abbot again.
"Does this mean I will be learning the Thunderbolt Staff?"