> YET ABANDON UTOPIA. Perfection is a direction. It will never be achieved. WE MUST BE CONTENT WITH THE DIRECTION OF PERFECTION. And so this world will revel in the challenges of a world in the wake of the end, where the most well meaning gets to create it, but the HUMAN CONDITION OF IMPERFECTION is the constant enemy. We are our own vices. We cannot help it.

>

> “WHY TRY THEN?”

>

> “NOTHING WORTH DOING IS EVER EASY. ENLIGHTENMENT IS A DIRECTION. KEEP WALKING. NIRVANA IS NOT THE DESTINATION BUT THE JOURNEY.”

>

> A WORLD OF VIOLENCE AND CHAOS, KEPT TOGETHER BY SPIRIT GUIDES AND FIREBRAND FIGUREHEADS, BEING RIPPED APART BY THE CHOICES OF THE PAST, THE GHOST OF THE FUTURE, AND THE COMPETING IDEOLOGIES OF THE PRESENT.

>

> ONLY THOSE WITH THE WILL TO CHANGE IT WILL CHANGE IT. BREAK HEAVEN’S PILLARS, THE WORLD WILL MEET THE WORLD.

>

> HINGSAJAGRA.

>

> From The Maitriyan Manifesto

There in the springs, so early in the dawning morning, there were only a scant few monks and some of the mercenaries that haven't yet left.

Raxri sat beside Myu Fan, almost melting into the healing springs. They let out a sigh and it felt like a thunder god had lifted a weight from them. Myu Fan did the same, almost motionless in the spring. Raxri was supposed to ask a question, but when they saw the doctor enjoying the springs a bit too much, they decided to save it for later.

"You were surprisingly well-versed in intercourse-movements," said Myu Fan, smiling. Raxri looked over and Myu Fan was still resting against the rocks, eyes closed, facing the sky. "It seems, even though your temporary mind has forgotten, your body yet remembers. No doubt fucking was common to you before you lost your memory."

Raxri blinked. "Was I?" They tilted their head to the side. "I simply let my instincts take over. I have no expert knowledge on the art of intercourse."

"Well, while you're not the best, you were decent, for someone who has lost all memory and probably would not be able to remember if they were virgin or not. You are not, by the way. I concluded this. And thank the divinities you aren't. How embarassing that would've been."

Raxri raised an eyebrow, stared at a nearby boulder as they sank into the hot springs until they were covered up to their neck. "Would it be embarassing?"

Myu Fan nodded. "At least, in the Nunuk Vale. And in the Selorong River Communes. Let not virgin blood dapple you, lest demons seize you. They always say. From what I gather, it's somewhat a 'maturity' thing rather than a hedonistic one." Myu Fan shifted. "I'm surprised by your ability to control yourself. Often, the beings I help in this way reach their bliss in short order."

"I simply applied meditation," said Raxri, after thinking about it for a bit.

"Right. Controlling the Inner Winds, the Inner Waters, the Inner Heat... of course. Ah, I should heal more Yokers and Contemplatives more. I cannot perform such a healing ritual with the monks, as you know. With the Vow of Celibacy and all."

Raxri smiled and nodded. "So that was a healing ritual, what we did?"

"Partly. With Contemplatives and Concentratives such as you, it is indeed a mystic ritual. I am not inducted in the true art of such a Yoking, but I see that it has helped you anyway. For others, when they require an intense healing, one that must come quickly, then I perform such a ritual. Of course, it must come with appropriate payment, which is given both in materiel and in spiritual exchangement."

"I see. So it is a form of cultivation?"

Myu Fan nodded, sinking a bit deeper into the healing waters. "Yes. Dual Cultivation, as I've already told you. Most cultivation is self-cultivation, you see. Dual Cultivation is when a pair cultivate."

Raxri nodded in sudden understanding. They became excited, all of a sudden. A new form of cultivation. I can reach my past levels in due time with this. "Are all Dual Cultivations sexual in nature?"

Myu Fan smiled and shook her head. "Nay. While sex is a powerful ritual when done properly, there are other forms of dual cultivation. Proximity, commitment... There are even forms of Group Cultivation."

"Ah, sex with more than two people. Of course." Raxri nodded, matter-of-factly.

Myu Fan stifled a chuckle. "Yes, but not just that. Group Cultivation is a dangerous form of cultivation. Mostly because it is the one that Cults use to accrue power for their cult heads. Truly blessful group cultivation deals in collective ritual that strengthens every being in the group. Some pujas can be considered Group Cultivations, for example."

"I see. Doctor, another question: if two beings were to engage in Dual Cultivation and they do not have the vajra-lotus pair... what would they do?"

Doctor Myu Fan shrugged. "They create one. The fingers become the vajra, the tongue become the vajra, other accoutrements can be come vajras. If two beings have two vajras, then the mouth can become a lotus, the ass can become the lotus. It is all symbolic, as they are all empty."

Raxri nodded. Right. The Emptiness Doctrine. "I see. Doctor, what is a vajra?"

The doctor kept smiling. Raxri bit their lip and said: "A-ah! But I don't want to bombard the doctor with questions while she's resting."

Myu Fan shook her head. "It's fine, Raxri Uttara. Now... a vajra... well. A sort of club-trident... I will have to show you later. It is something that the Termagant Buddha wields. More importantly, it belongs to the King of the Gods, Shagara. It is Their Almighty Thunderbolt, which annihilates those it must annihilate. It is a symbol of ultimate power, of the unsurpassable, of the indestructible, of the undeniable. This is why the Infinite Law also calls itself the Thunderbolt Law, or the Adamantine Law. It is the undeniable Logic of the Awoken."

"Now I understand," said Raxri. "Finally, I understand."

"You never thought to ask, all this time?"

Raxri smiled sheepishly. "Everyone acted as if they knew. I thought it would be too out of place for me to ask."

Myu Fan smirked. "In any case, the term vajra comes from the language of the Refuge of the Gnostics. In Elder Karitan, it is rendered BADRA. That is a syllable in the unification mantra that we chanted."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

"Ah, so that was a unification mantra? Is that required for the healing ritual?" Raxri pondered, staring listlessly into the woods.

Myu Fan said, "No, it isn't. But it seemed to work, didn't it? They say that that is the mantra chanted by The Lady Egoless, and it is chanted when performing the Sun and Moon Eclipse Ritual. That is, the ritual that fuses two beings together temporarily to create a powerful new being where their Cultivations are exponentially more powerful."

Raxri blinked. They turned to Myu Fan. "That's possible? How can I attain this knowledge?"

Doctor Myu Fan shook their head. "It is an utterly high level technique. One that not even the Abbot can teach you. It's the most esoteric of the mystical practices. I have only heard of it in hushed words. Some say one only needs to dance with a partner to fuse. Others say they must have sex with a partner to perform the fusion."

"Interesting," Raxri said, tapping their chin with the tip of their finger. "I will keep that one filed away. Ah, before I forget. Please, Doctor Myu Fan: what did you mean by Yokess? And Yokers? And Yoke?"

Myu Fan laughed, then. She didn't stifle this one anymore. Still, she didn't open her eyes, still floating amongst the serene warm springs. "Yoking is something you will no doubt reach in due time, if you dance down the mystic path. In Elder Karitan it is called, Yauga. And in truth, Yoke comes from the word Yauga. Yoking is the practice of reining in one's senses and one's mind. It's taught here in the monastery that the most powerful thing in all of reality is the Mind. But the Mind Deluded is wild and untameable. Its power can do anything but it destroys aimlessly. It is dangerous and unbidden. To control the mind, one must yoke it, as one would yoke a carabao. Do you understand this?"

Raxri blinked and nodded. "I see. So there are yet more cultivation techniques I am not privy to."

"You have a long path before you, if you wish to cultivate the mystic path," replied Myu Fan. "I hope I was able to be of some help, somehow."

Raxri nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes, you were! Thank you so much, Doctor Myu Fan. Not just the healing, but you've given me great knowledge. No doubt we all would be dead without you."

Myu Fan's smile became lazy as comfort overtook her. "That's nice to hear. So nice to hear."

Before long, they were completely rejuvenated, and they were back in the guestroom wearing their usual clothing. Doctor Myu Fan in her cheongsam, Raxri Uttara in their borrowed monk robes. The smell of incense here seemed stronger, somehow.

"The karma cleansing ritual will be beginning soon. Let us see the Abbot."

They made their way to the meditation house, where the monks all sat upon their silk cushions. When the Abbot saw them enter, he gestured for them to sit where they were most comfortable.

Raxri and the Doctor Myu Fan performed their prostrations to the Termagant Buddha, and then they both decided they were most comfortable sitting nearest the exit.

When the Abbot had seen that they were settled, he nodded. Yiwaritala saw this signal and struck the nearby gong--beautiful and bronze, engraved with dragons and elephant gods. The gong resonated across the entirety of the silent monastery. Then, the Abbot began the incantation.

In front of where Raxri sat was a palm leaf manuscript. They reached for it and flipped it open, and it revealed the mantra they were currently chanting, written in a more modern script that they could read. Raxri chanted along. It was a beautiful mantra, quick and smooth and straight that spoke of beseeching the great Scarlet God Awoken to expunge and annihilate all obstacles and negative karma from their beings, so that they can continue to do what they needed to do. They beseech a few more other Awoken to help them achieve wisdom, to help them cultivate compassion, to help them find serenity, to help them destroy the enemies of the Law.

As they chanted, the Abbot struck a little bell that decided the tempo of their chanting. Raxri also noticed that the monks had their hands folded together, palms touching. And so they took that same stance. They saw that Doctor Myu Fan also sat in that same position.

The chanting was continuous and without end. The beseeching became a statement about the power of the Scarlet God Awoken. How he had been the great destroyer of the King of Gods, the Annihilator of Devils, the exterminator of the enemies of the Law that sought to destroy the Law. The enemy of tempters, the hater of vile deeds, the forceful transformer of vices and evil into virtues and good. Raxri noticed that all of the Scarlet God Awoken's violent actions were directed at those that would deface the law. And more importantly, most of the mantra spoke of the Scarlet God Awoken's violence being used to transform rather than to destroy. Destruction instead became a means, not the end.

Destroying evil transformed a devil into a god.

As they chanted, Raxri felt their mind sink into serenity. Being yoked, as it were. And as they chanted, Raxri also felt the blazing fires of their Will Furnace strengthened and made larger, stoked and fed. This very ritual not only cleansed negative karma, but also cultivated huge amounts of Will and Merit.

The incantation culminated in a powerful chant that spoke of the Scarlet God Awoken's ultimate act: the expunging of negative karma to create means for cultivating one's self in the Law, to eventually come upon the realization of the Emptiness Doctrine.

When they finished that portion of the prayer, they repeated the mantra: AHOM AH HOMA MAHA BADRA LADYA KSEWRAN HOMA HOMA HIWA HIWA. Raxri followed as the monks and the Abbot chanted this quietly, almost muttering it, in rapid succession, again and again, for 108 times.

At the 108th chant, the Abbot nodded and began ringing a bell. They sounded a conch shell trumpet, and Yiwaritala struck the gong forcefully 7 times. At the end of it, the Abbot picked up handfuls of rock salt and scattered it among the assembly. He threw it with such force that some of it even struck Raxri on the head, and they felt not irked but rather, as if their serenity was reinforced.

The silence that followed afterwards was the realm in which the reverberations of the gong and the trumpet and the bell resonated. It allowed Raxri's awareness to expand, to encompass heaven and hell. As the sound echoed, and then subsequently, faded, disappearing into the night, they meditated. There, Raxri concentrated upon emptiness: the illusion of divergence, the ultimate nature of reality in where the subject, object, and action are all one existence.

Then, slowly, they opened their eyes as the Abbot rose to his feet and dismissed the monks. He, Yiwaritala, and Pilinitala walked over to Raxri and Doctor Myu Fan.

"I pray your fatigue and wounds have healed?" asked the Abbot, smiling serenely. Raxri and Doctor Myu Fan bowed, hands folded in front of them in mouth reverence.

"Yes, full well," replied Raxri. "I am well enough to travel again."

"Good," said the Abbot, nodding. "The Doctor is the best of her kind."

Myu Fan shrugged. "And yet here I am, kicked out of the Healer's University."

The Abbot laughed. Then, a moment of silence. Raxri felt sad, suddenly. They said: "I will not keep you for too long. You have been of greatest help, especially during these times of violence, Doctor Myu Fan. Your riding-lizard has been fed and well-stocked. We've granted you a few relics as well to help you on your journey."

Doctor Myu Fan bowed in gratitude. "This one thanks you. I hope there will not be any more violence in the coming future!"

The Abbot smiled. "We will train even better for that to be true."

"When you next come here," said Yiwaritala. "Please, consider teaching some of our monks and nuns. That we may be able to perform healing beyond the basic medicinework."

Doctor Myu Fan leaned back and tapped her chin. "I will ruminate upon it."

Smiling, the Abbot said: "Raxri Uttara. Your work and contribution to this monastery is incalculable. Thank you for fighting in our name. And you have been an exceptional student. Perhaps, in the future, when things align better and you crave for more, I can continue your training. I have yet more to teach you in the ways of the Adamantine Sword."

Raxri smiled and bowed. "Thank you, Abbot Wairojashra. My time here has been so significant. I will not forget you."

"Ah, the tattooist Ampun Sagara seeks you, in his cottage," said Yiwaritala. "He wishes to grant you a parting gift. Shall we? It should not take long. You and the Doctor must leave soon, after all."

"Right. Okay." Raxri rose and followed Yiwaritala.

Before they got too far, the Abbot called out: "Once you are done with the tattooist, find me in the Meditation House. I must teach you to consolidate your Will."

Raxri nodded, bowing with heart reverence. Pilinitala walked after Raxri and Yiwaritala as they left for the tattooist's glade.

As they walked, Yiwaritala smiled and said: "I must thank you. I was dubious at first, but you have proven yourself to me. While I may not be in good terms with the witch Akazha, I can recognize you as a successful student and a testament to Akazha's skill as a teacher."

"Wow," Pilinitala interjected. "Yiwaritala admitting he was wrong? How absurd!"

"I said no such thing!" said Yiwaritala, stammering. "All I said was simply that... Akazha might have some skill as a teacher. It matters not. All of Raxri's skill might just be inborn talent or from their past skill."

Raxri smiled and laughed with them. "I will miss you, all of you."

"Be sure to return when the light guides you to," said Pilinitala, smiling.