#Pure Land Sect

[chocochococoffee]

I saw your post asking for cumplane prompts and I couldn't resist giving one:

Fusion au (ala steven universe) where SQQ and SQH can only fuse with one another because fusing with anyone else would reveal them as transmigrators

yayyy thanks for the ask! i did a fanfic for you. its short tho. iis doneeeee but i cant really link it since android tumblr is shit and aint letting me hyperlink. i hate it

https://archiveofourown.org/works/57639514

here

-----

Sometimes Shen Yuan felt that he was thrown inside a nightmare. Airplane called it a fanfic, but didn't call his bro out for being wrong. Gemstones here, alien attacks there, the world the System had for them wasn't Proud Immortal Demon Way anymore. 

Where to start, though? Oh, from the Very Start.

PIDW was meant to be a stallion xianxia. Cheap, easily sellable, you could add whatever bullshit and people would eat it with gusto because Magic Chinese Bullshit solved all problems, no matter what Cucumber would say against it. Now... whatever this world had instead was a mix of intergalactic/sci-fi with some touches of modified xianxia for whatever meaning cultivating could have in their now very touchable, colourful cores. What was this, Land of the Lustrous? Cang Qiong sect itself felt like a direct ripoff outta it. There was no buddhist father of the sects in their mountain though, just a lot of rowdy humanized stones polishing themselves to perfection. Sometimes they polished each other with dual cultivation. Airplane cackled madly when Shen Qingqiu had furiously mentioned it to him, skin dark green in embarrassment. No matter how edited, the core (haha, geddit?) was still the same.

For being a modified xianxia, now that their cores had become actual gems a lot of their training had become a lot more literal. Tangible, even. Airplane decided that it was easier than all the soul and aura bullshit he had written eons ago.

So yeah. Gems. Literal aliens running the whole mountain, training humans (it wasn't the case for every sect, though) and other gems for polishing into immortality. Of course the head figures of every house would have to be gem people, most of them coming from pure lineages. According to some history books, gems had colonized their plane centuries ago. Something about the quality of the soil and the nice fauna.

Airplane had called bullshit on that, he knew it was because of the specialized porn.

Fusion they had called it, the process of becoming one with another gem, the act of purest feelings that would result in a better, stronger core. 

Fusion could also be done within humans, for some reason. He had guessed that the trace minerals inside the alien gems were very accepting of the chelating qualities of the organic complements in humans.

As a result, everyone wanted to fuse. Forget dual cultivation, it was the actual Goal of the gems. It was part of all sects training, it was a required step for perfection.

And everyone could fuse and de-fuse. They could do multiple fusions too! Fusion threesomes, foursomes, maybe more! 

"Do you really believe in that bullshit?" Shen Qingqiu had asked Airplane, now Shang Qinghua, while drinking, while lazing and acting unmannerly outside of every eye put on him. While relaxing in front of the only one who could see him really relax. "Is fusing really a step to happiness?? Today even my own students are asking me why I don't do fusions with anyone in Cang Qiong. They are asking me if I am broken."

Shang Qinghua knew from where those words came from. He had been the one who warned Shen Qingqiu of what fusing really meant.

He had done it once when younger, and he had broken his partner's mind.

They couldn't take all the information inside Airplane's mind and soul. Two lives were too much for a person, even more if they had the information of the world itself.

And yet...

"Not gonna lie to you bro, I do like the idea of fusing. Even Qingge has benefited of it - I believe that it can work miracles sometimes. Just... not with us. Fucking system doomed us sexless." He took a sip of his own baijiu. Tasty shit. 

"Fusionless."

"Whatever, it feels like sex."

Shen Qingqiu had known of his only experience. It had broken him to see that he was unable to participate on one of the best features that the PIDW fanfic they lived in had to offer.

"Your Only sex experience, you mean." 

"Whuh? You come here to call me out while drinking my wine? Pfwuh, you ungrateful child. At least I Have fused once, you are still a Green Sapling compared to Me"

"Well I AM green! And this is bullshit."

To follow the design, Cucumber was also a gem. It was an implicit requirement to be the head of a sect in Cang Qiong. He, though, was not what Shen Jiu had been. 

Everyone knew of the new Shen Qingqiu proud stone, a malachite that had grown from his chest in needles towards his shoulders and neck, a problem not only made his skin get greener shades whenever his emotions ran too strongly but also that required lots of tailoring attempts thus ending with sluttier clothes, making him shine through the hallways of the sects quite literally. He didn't really know how his core had evolved from an olivine to a malachite, their compositions were different, no? And Shang Qinghua had been the only one who knew of the peridot on Shen Jiu's chest, the knew he had guarded and hid all his life, a secret that not even Yue Qingyuan knew at all.

Bullshit world. Bullshit System restrictions also.

"But no, I didn't come here to 'call you out', you swine. I came here with a proposition"

"Whoa, this is new. Are you feeling too alone without Binghe, now?"

"Binghe has nothing to do with this! It... it is more about my. Our. Uh. Our mental health. I was thinking that maybe we could try fusing? We are two people in the same conditions and I thought that maybe the restrictions that affect others shouldn't affect us... wait, what is with that face??"

Qinghua sweated, the astonishment making him acquire an orange tone. "How many cups of baijiu did you drink?? I am not trying anything unless you are sober -- I am sure sober Cucumber wouldn't even try to touch me unless to hit me with your fa-- ouch!" He was hit with Qingqiu's fan.

"I am Not Drunk, Qinghua, I have just started my second cup. My opinion will not change, also, I am telling you -- agh, you are right, this may have something to do with Binghe after all. Today Mu Qingfan even tried to recommend me some fusing to Take my mind out of my Binghe's 'demise' and... you know, it has been one year since I had to thrown him into Jue Di Gorge... Medicines aren't making any effect right now and you heard me, I may be kind of desperate, though, If I am asking this to you so... can you try to listen to me once without being an ironic piece of shit??" 

And sure thing, all that sentence had been acidic as fuck but the pain clad under that was veridic.

For mental health huh... 

"Cucumber bro, you know how this means much more than just treatment, right?"

"I know"

"This also means you will have to understand me, within the fusing bonds and outside of them. You will have to treat me well if we are agreeing to it, even if its just to Try."

"Yeah I will... I am willing to try."

Airplane cackled. "Try?? God, you really are unromantic, you little shit. Go drink some water, let the alcohol flush away first. If I am going to try fusion sexing with you I will not do it with baijiu on the body."

"Hey, I am taller than you!!" But he obeyed his instruction without retaliation, and Airplane thought that may be a start.

When Airplane fused for the first and last time it had been with his roommate, a promising An Ding prospect which meant he was also a tired and hopeless kid with great abilities in math. He had been funny and ridiculous, and also a human. 

He was now six feet under and Airplane excelled in math as a memento of their last dance.

Now they had written their own goodbye letters to their peers and friends, if anything went wrong.

"The best way to start a fusion is by dancing."

"I know, there are many types of courtship dances and Qing Jing teaches more than twenty of them. In my last life I had two left feet and now look at me, master of dances I will never use."

"Oh, not even on me, bro?"

"If you are like me we wouldn't even sync if it isn't something from the modern world, our world."

True that, plus Airplane still had maintained his two left feet from his other life. An Ding never cared to teach them things as frivolous as that, confident on the innate abilities of their own students to learn on their own. Something that Qinghua had planned to change in a near future, of course all depending on how the Binghe domination trope went.

"Got any plans, Cucumber bro? I may have stayed in this world for too long, my mind is already a bit hazy..."

"Hmm. What about Caramelldansen?"

"HELL, NO"

"Gangnam Style?"

"You want us to fuck or to laugh until a heart attack!?"

"Language!"

"Meanie. Hmm, what about Let it Go?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"You know the choreography? I do."

"... of course you would"

It took them a few tries, and they didn't know the choreography as well as they had memed in their own original lives, but they, in time, learnt that the best way to fuse was when in sync with the other, and if it had meant them to be embraced to each other while laughing, it was enough.

"Shizun, what does this mean??"

If the whole of Cang Qiong had taken their reckless union and odd choice of partner with dismayed eyes and mean suspicion, Binghe had been on top if that mountain. Three years training in the underworld had felt like a millennia, and it may as well have been that amount of years considering that coming back may have meant that An Ding and Qing Jing had fused as their leaders had not only become an extremely stable gem, but also decided to keep fused longer and longer. Chrysocolla may have been an invention born two years ago, and may the citrine sparkles shine oddly on their black and green eyes, but the happiness they radiated may have been depicted in books as the bright blue-green colour that made their own robes and hair.

Even when separated they had changed each other, Shen Qingqiu's core turning into what looked more like Azurite, and Qinghua's secret Citrine core changing into various forms of Agate.

"Shizun, are you really happy this way?" Binghe had asked Shen Qingqiu while suddenly missing his green spikes. His new blue robes may not mix well with Qing Jing altogether but it couldn't that it was a beautiful colour.

"Mm, I may be? Now I know many things that I didn't before." He had smiled, finally satisfied. He now had all the information that even Qinghua had reprived to himself and the rest of the world in his mind, thing that became even more ckearer when together, and Qinghua had now someone who loved him and his inventions near. Qingqiu himself had learnt to love his real life inventions too, he could even pass Mobei-jun and see what Qinhua adored in him, too. That was a funny thought, but he had two years of unlearning and relearning new things, enough to be more accepting of what their future could be.

"You think you can convince Shang Qinghua if I can join you?"

If he had fused with Qinghua for that reunion he would've surely not sputtered his tea. That was a certainty.

[nousrose]

I maintain that truth is a pathless land, and you cannot approach it by any path whatsoever, by any religion, by any sect. Truth, being limitless, unconditioned, unapproachable by any path whatsoever, cannot be organized; nor should any organization be formed to lead or to coerce people along any particular path. If you first understand that, then you will see how impossible it is to organize a belief. A belief is purely an individual matter, and you cannot and must not organize it. If you do, it becomes dead, crystallized; it becomes a creed, a sect, a religion, to be imposed on others. This is what everyone throughout the world is attempting to do. Truth is narrowed down and made a plaything for those who are weak, for those who are only momentarily discontented. Truth cannot be brought down, rather the individual must make the effort to ascend to it.

Truth is a Pathless Land

Jiddu Krishnamurti

[whumpbby]

Idk if there's a right way to say this but Jiang Cheng's biggest crime in and out canon is being not that pleasant to be around and i rlly wish people would acknowledge that instead of trying to paint him as The Worst in order to justify their weirdly intense hatred towards him

I'm going to ramble,sorry, that how I put thoughts in order:)

I think that's the perfect way to say it actually. And 100% fact imho. His biggest flaw is that he has no patience with other people's shit and no filter on how little patience he has. He lets people know he's unhappy with them. All his care and dedication is in his actions.

The way he cares about Wei Wuxian and then Jin Ling - even his scolding is an expression of care, always concerned about the way their behaviour can bring harm to them or to their sects. The way he sacrificed his life for Wei Wuxian without a moment's doubt and neve mentioned it. The way he was fighting a war and rebuilding the sect at the same time. The way his sect became absolutely notfuckwithable. The way he kept throwing himself in the way of danger for his loved ones in the Temple.

This is not some villain who only cares about himself - the way he's being painted by the antis.

There was this post somewhere saying that the biggest flaw in a fictional character is being boring - they can be a war criminal, as long as they're not boring.

I think for some people who are looking for pure escapism and feel-good simplicity (and nothing wrong with that, everyone does that) the "boring" gets replaced with "ugly". The depiction of trauma survivors that didn't "go through all that and ended up kinder". That didn't get over the tragedy in their lives to an appropriate standard. That are functional, but not happy. That bring back the bad stuff that happened because it still influences their lives and behaviours and reactions.

They want all the tragic trauma of the past, but without long-lasting consequences that aren't leading directly to cock-healing or fawning.

Like, if you think about it, no one went through the war in that book and came out "better". Absolutely no one. Lan Zhan drowned himself in guilt and directed all his anger towards Jiang Cheng. Wei Wuxian didn't stop running for even a moment and he became an intensely careless, emotionally dishonest person. Lan Xichen settled into not really doing much, coasting on his sects' position and JGY's help. Nie Mingjue became a bona-fide warlord who basically said "fuck these people, hunt them for sport for all I care". Meng Yao learned that you can stab your problems away. Everyone around them became incredibly trigger-happy for a long while.

And yet JC is the only one singled out as the Evil Walking The Land, because his trauma response isn't pretty and stoic and is specifically, understandably, targeting the Innocent Cinnamon Roll Protagonist and isn't fixed by the end of the book. He could have saved the world, but as long as he's not polite while he's at it then fuck him.

This is, like, primary school level morality were facing here xD

I cannot tell you how surprised I was when entering the world of The Untamed - prepared by Tumblr to see jC as this demon of a man and instead found this guy who, by all accounts, is in the right 99% of the time. Then I read the book and was staggered by the final reveal. And the absolute bullshit I was fed by people that wanted to sour me on the character before I could make my own mind.

Not even gonna get into how these people treat Wen Ning - whose whole existence is a horrific chain of horrific events ending in his absolutely awful existence of an actual slave... But he's such a cute puppy, eh?

Tldr: people who keep making excuses for hating JC do it to somehow justify the fact they can only accept Trauma Light in their fiction.

[astrology-by-sita]

ON SAGITTARIUS RISINGS ♐️

This is a part of a series on the rising signs not necessarily in Zodiacal order.

Sagittarius is the adventurer. Also the priest, judge, teacher, lawyer, politician... Ideally it's someone who is in a position to decide the right and the wrong, cause in the old days religion determined these factors. Education used to be religious etc and even now it still is but to a lesser degree. In a secular society it's secular humanitarian ethics that determine right and wrong, but same thing. Sagittarius signifies those.

The thing about Sagittarians is that they love freedom, they love travelling. Jupiter rules 1h and 4h. Change is the only constant for them as their ruler jupiter exalts in 8h of sudden changes. They loathe stagnancy.

They do not want to be tied down. Saturn rules 2h and 3h. Where you have capricorn is where you struggle with restrictions so the centaurs find the 2h stuff restricting - family especially. They don't want to be tied down with family responsibilities or property responsibilities. Especially night charts. Aquarius in the chart is what you wish for. They wish for 3h stuff - to teach!

Now their opposite sign gemini struggles to get what sagittarius have - intuition and faith beyond rationality. Sagittarius already transcended rationality but they want to rationalize their experiences, their life journeys, their spiritual experience - to be able to teach it. "I had a spiritual experience but it won't make sense to someone restricted by the confines of the mind" is something the centaurs contemplate about.

Saturn ruling 3h makes them struggle to communicate their ideas and experiences especially to someone who is more perocuppied with details and minute rationales rather than general picture. So they get misunderstood especially night charts early in life. As they grow and mature, gain more experience in communicating their ideas, they're able to articulate their ideas accurately.

Their 9H ruler sun exalts in 5h so having children or being around any children in general is an opportunity for them to pass down their knowledge cause children haven't yet acquired that rationality, they're still intuitive so it's easier for the centaurs to teach children.

They have virgo 10h, the highest point - the peak (10h) of spirituality is service. Virgo is the hermit in tarot as well so Virgo is also about spirituality and religion so it's their overall life direction (10h). Mars rules 5h and 12h. Day charts especially might struggle in the areas of romance and self expression.

The stereotype of "spontaneous" sagittarius placements isn't always true, as they want to be this way but they get misunderstood cause of the saturn ruled 3h. There is hidden darkness and hidden trauma beneath all the optimism, especially family or ancestry trauma as the moon (family/mother) rules their 8h.

Back to Mercury ruling their 10h in Virgo, as I mentioned in the thread about Virgos - it's the sign of "purity of action". Virgo means you do your job without thinking about the result. If you think about the result then the action is tainted and no longer pure. Mercury also is the planet of teaching and it rules the 7h (one-on-one interactions) of sagittarius risings.

So dear Centaurs, if your calling is to teach, then just do it, teach! Do not overthink whether people are listening or whether they're understanding etc. I'm sure you'll find a good disciple, someone in the crowd who does "get it"! And I don't even mean teaching in a classroom or a lecture hall, it can be any informal setting.

Sagittarius risings are detached somehow from their early home environment as they have 4h pisces. There is some distance with roots, ancestry & a parental figure too.They find their home abroad in a foreign land especially day charts cause jupiter then is the benefic of sect. Study the condition of jupiter in depth to find out what is "home" for Sagittarian. "home" isn't necessarily where you grow up, it's where you find like-minded people. that's the greatest lesson we can learn from centaurs.

[sorenblr]

So I’ve seen some Japanese tweets where they talk about the Buddhist+Gnostic associations of SMTV. Nothing major but that that Murakumo(Tehom as well) uses the same Dharmchakra mudra as Seraph in DDS. Another one believes Lucifer might be a stand in for Kokuzo Bosatsu as well due to being the Buddha associated with the Morning Star and how good old Lord of Chaos “transcended” beyond being a mere god, demon, or Nahobino.

Both the vanilla release and Vengeance are definitely playing with the theme of Buddhistic transcendence- it's perhaps the reason that Goko/Amitabha is the one to shepherd you onto the Throne. I think the paradisical Pure Land sect is an awkward association for that role, but, you know, he's a very crowd-pleasing Buddha. It's also why this metaphysical cycle is the "Mandala System", as a very stupidly-named echo of Nocturne's womb world.

This team loves to harp on the Morning Star shit so much that I don't even think bringing Kokuzo into the mix is that much of a stretch; even if it wasn't literally the intended parallel, Lucifer certainly plays the intermediary Bodhisattva role, rejecting the Throne and waiting to usher the protagonist into a more complete transcendence.

The Dharmachakra mudra is a very on the nose signifier, in light of all that. It's also a thing that looks cool to do before your big sword attack. Bringing it back for Tehom is slightly silly in a vaccuum, but it's consistent with the previously implied dharmic interpretation of Abrahamic religion. Make of that what you will, though.

[ruiconteur]

meta on li lianhua’s hair ornaments (x)

transcription and footnotes under ‘read more,’ because the CPS rate for this video is inhumane

transcription:

Which of Li Lianhua’s hair ornaments in Mysterious Lotus Casebook do you like the most?

Lotus seedpod hairstick: In the first and last episodes, Li Lianhua wore the same hair ornament. Lotus seedpods allude to a fate of longevity; I hope that Li Lianhua will be unbothered by illness and live a long hundred years of age.

Lotus leaf hairstick: lotus leaves allude to a quick wit, cleverness, quiet and calm. When Li Lianhua encounters an incident, he remains cool and collected. When solving a case, he’s sharp enough to spot even the minutest detail [1], and his predictions are of divine accuracy. A lotus leaf hairstick fits detective!Li Lianhua very well.

Lotus flower hairstick: lotus flowers symbolise purity, nobility, eternal friendship, and that one’s desires will be gratified. This lotus flower hairstick only appears once in the entire show. At the time, Li Lianhua said: “Before I die, I will find shixiong.” What Li Lianhua felt for his shixiong then was a close attachment and brotherly affection [2].

Threaded lotus vine hair ornament: this hair ornament alludes to the continuance of Li Lianhua’s life and endurance.

Threaded lotus seedpod vine hair ornament: Li Lianhua’s hair ornaments are all largely related to lotuses. The lotus has too many good meanings; what is worn on Li Lianhua’s head is the lotus in question.

Threaded lotus leaf string hair ornament: this hair ornament was what Li Lianhua wore while solving the Lotusbank Manor case; truly a perfect match with his ink-green robes—noble, pure, and it does not detract from his elegance.

Bamboo joint, silver leaf, and fish-head hairstick: when Li Lianhua spoke about his past, he said: “Back then I was penniless and injured. The only thing of value I had, I pawned for fifty taels of silver—it was that token of the Sentinel Sect’s leader that can bestow life and death, unknown to none in the martial realm.” This hairstick alludes to well-being, wealth, and status. I hope for Li Lianhua to simply be safe and sound.

Threaded pinecone vine hair ornament: pinecones symbolise good fortune and delightful beauty. Li Lianhua’s ten-year lifespan is too short; I hope that Li Lianhua can live on, safe and sound.

Dual bamboo joint hair ornament: this hair ornament appeared the most frequently in the show. Bamboo is a plant that is evergreen in the four seasons of the year; it has an indomitable vitality. Bamboo symbolises a willingness to break but not bend; even when battered by the wind and snow, it will not lower its head. No matter if he is Li Lianhua in the drama or Cheng Yi in real life, that spirit of unbending efforts of his is hard-won and to be treasured.

Lotus root joint peach wood hairstick: lotus root joints allude to auspice, longevity, blissful love, and carefree independence. Peach wood symbolises warmth and tenacity. Li Lianhua wore this hairstick while meeting with A-Mian in the Temple of Deliverance because he too once had a blissful love.

Pine branch hairstick: pinewood represents everlasting verdancy and alludes to longevity. Li Lianhua wore this hairstick while using the Stillness of Yangzhou to save A-Mian. Each time Li Lianhua uses his internal power, he shortens his lifespan. How I hope that even as he saves everyone, he can save himself as well.

Lotus heart [3] and root joint tea needle hairstick: lotus hearts can be brewed into tea to cleanse the heart, and represent a simple and steady character and attitude towards life. This hairstick was only worn in the Women’s Residence. In the Women’s Residence, gold can be taken as toys; there are delicacies from land and sea, there is fine wine, there are beauties. From beginning to end, Li Lianhua only ever seeks a simple life; being able to visit the mountains and enjoy the waters, drink tea and fish would be enough.

Curved lotus seedpod hairstick: this hairstick was worn during the Women’s Residence case. Lotus seedpods and lotus flowers are the same—they grow out of the muck unsullied [4]. Sacred and pure, peaceful and clean, unaffected and simple, exactly like the simple life Li Lianhua seeks. Tranquility yields profoundness; to be unmoved by worldly ways, to be untempted by fame and gain, to be undisturbed by worldly desires.

Black gauze flower bud hair ornament: this is the most unique hair ornament worn [by him] in the entire show. It was only worn during the Stoneld Village case. In ancient times, black gauze was said to avert death; Li Lianhua saved Xiaobao twice in the Stoneld Village case, exposing his identity the second time, even though he knew every time he used his internal power, he would shorten his lifespan.

Black bamboo joint hair ornament: black bamboo represents steadfast resolution, tenacity, unsullied nobility, and the quality of neither bending nor yielding. It bears the epithet of “gentleman.” This hair ornament was worn during the imperial palace case, the last of the show. On the road Li Lianhua took to get here, he broke many strange cases and risked losing his life often, and finally uncovered Shan Gudao’s scheme.

Lotus root tea-pusher [5] hairstick: this hairstick was worn by Li Lianhua as he was rescuing Di Feisheng. The two of them were once sworn enemies, but now they are each other’s salvation, having unknowingly established a special friendship.

Jade-inlaid coronet to tie up the hair: this is Li Lianhua using Li Xiangyi’s identity to return to the Sentinel Sect and save Yun Biqiu. The same person, the same attire—yet the characters presented are entirely different.

White jade needle hairstick: “Partings upon partings, farewells upon farewells; the coming times shall be the coming times.” Ten years ago, Li Xiangyi was buried in the eastern sea; ten years after, Li Lianhua was reborn. Li Lianhua didn’t die—he’s living the life he wishes to live.

footnotes:

“Minutest detail”—秋毫 / [something as small as] an animal’s autumn down.

“Close attachment and brotherly affection”—情同手足 / to be as close in affections as one’s hands and feet.

“Lotus heart”—莲须, which refers to the 花蕊 / stamen and pistil of the lotus flower. I’ve rendered it as lotus heart because 蕊 has three 心 / heart radicals.

“Grow out of the muck unsullied”—出淤泥而不染, a quote from the famous prose piece 《爱莲说》 / on the love of the lotus by 周敦颐 Zhou Dunyi. here’s a translation by @/sevenseas.

“Tea-pusher”—茶拨. from what I’ve seen, it's a long and thin utensil used to push tea leaves from a scoop into a cup.

[talonabraxas]

Amitabha “Infinite Light” Talon Abraxas

Amitabha Buddha | Amitayus

The great savior Buddha is known as Amitabha (Sanskrit: “Infinite Light”), also known as Amitayus (“Infinite Life”), Japanese Amida, and Chinese Emituo Fo in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly in the so-called Pure Land sects. According to the Sukhavati-vyuha-sutras, which serve as the foundational texts for the Pure Land sects, a monk by the name of Dharmakara took several vows, the 18th of which stated that upon his attaining Buddhahood, all who had faith in him and invoked his name would be reborn in his paradise and would live there in bliss until they attained enlightenment. Dharmakara ruled as the Buddha Amitabha in the Western Paradise, also known as Sukhavati, the Pure Land, after fulfilling his vows.

In 650 CE, Amitabha’s devotion emerged in China. From there, it went to Japan, where it resulted in the establishment of the Pure Land school and the Real Pure Land school, both of which still have significant followings today. The late Heian era raig paintings of Japan depict Amitabha’s Pure Land and Amitabha descending to welcome the recently deceased in a beautiful way (897–1185).

In Tibet and Nepal, Amitabha is revered as one of the five “self-born” buddhas (dhyani-buddhas) who have existed eternally. Amitabha was never as well-known as a savior figure there as he was in East Asia. In accordance with this theory, he appeared as both the bodhisattva (“buddha-to-be”) Avalokiteshvara and the historical Buddha Gotama. His color is red, his posture is one of meditation (dhyana-mudra), his symbol is a begging bowl, his mount is a peacock, his consort is Pandara, his family is Raga, his element is water, his sacred sound is “ba” or “ah,” his skandha (element of existence) is taste, his sense organ is the tongue, and his place in the body is the mouth.

Amitabha is referred to as Amitayus, or “Infinite Life,” since he bestows a long life. While the two names are frequently used interchangeably in China and Japan, the two forms are never confused in Tibet, where Amitayus is revered in a specific rite in order to live a long life. He is shown holding the ambrosia vase from which the jewels of eternal life spill while sporting ornaments, a crown, and other accessories.

Amitabha Buddha, also known as Amitayus or Amituofo, is a central figure in Mahayana Buddhism. He is considered one of the Five Dhyani Buddhas, along with Akshobhya, Ratnasambhava, Amoghasiddhi, and Vairochana. Amitabha is revered as the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life. He is believed to have created the Pure Land, a realm of perfect bliss and enlightenment, where beings can be reborn through the power of his grace and merit. This

Pure Land is known as Sukhavati or Dewachen.

The Pure Land tradition of Buddhism is particularly popular in China, Japan, and Korea, where it is known as Jodo, Jodo Shinshu, and Cheontae, respectively. Followers of the Pure Land tradition believe that by chanting Amitabha’s name, they can generate the necessary merit to be reborn in his Pure Land and attain enlightenment.

The name Amitabha means “Infinite Light,” and his image is often depicted with a halo of radiant light surrounding his head. He is also commonly depicted holding a vase, representing the nectar of immortality, and a lotus flower, symbolizing the purity of the Buddha’s teachings. Amitabha’s importance in Mahayana Buddhism is reflected in the fact that he is the focus of numerous sutras and texts, including the Amitabha Sutra and the Infinite Life Sutra. These texts describe the Pure Land in detail, including its geography, inhabitants, and the benefits of being reborn there.

In addition to his role as the Buddha of Infinite Light and Infinite Life, Amitabha is also regarded as a bodhisattva, a being who has chosen to postpone their own enlightenment in order to help others attain liberation from suffering. As such, he is often depicted surrounded by other bodhisattvas, including Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and Mahasthamaprapta, the bodhisattva of wisdom.

Overall, Amitabha Buddha is an important figure in Mahayana Buddhism, particularly in the Pure Land tradition. His teachings and his Pure Land offer a path to liberation and enlightenment for those who seek it.

Amitabha mantra

(Om Amideva Hrih)

[weiwuxianismybae]

wei wuxian isn't sin-free either. that's the point. no one in mdzs is. the purity police mentality is why so many in the fandom turned their backs on wangxian. wei wuxian is not a perfect uwu little angel. he committed more atrocities than jin guangyao

???????????????????????????????

How to say you missed the point without saying you missed the point.

Anyway, sorry, I'll stop joking around. Let's take this bit by bit, shall we?

Not sure what you mean by "pure" and "sin". I don't know enough about Buddhism or Chinese culture in general, so I won't speek much on this matter. (Yet, I'm pretty sure the book wasn't written with Christianity in mind🙃). Anyway, making mistakes doesn't make you "bad". Making mistakes is what makes us human and it doesn't make you morally "grey" or "bad" and especially not when you regret them:

He was only stating a simple fact calmly, but the cultivator felt as if he was scorned, fuming, “What do you think we’re talking about here? How could there be bargaining for debts of blood?”

Wei WuXian, “It’s not that I want to bargain about such a thing, but that I don’t want my charges to be doubled just because of some words from another. I won’t shoulder what I didn’t do.”

ExR ch. 79

Note that he said that he won't shoulder what he didn't do, not that he won't shoulder anything at all.

Finally, Wei WuXian spoke up. He said, “Then what do you want me to do?”

Fang MengChen paused in surprise. Wei WuXian, “Then what do you want? Nothing but my miserable death to soothe your own hatred?” He pointed at Yi WeiChun, who lay passed out among the crowd, “He’s missing a leg, while I was cut into pieces; you lost your parents, while my family had long since been gone. I’m a dog who was chased out of its home. I’ve never even seen the ashes of my parents.”

Wei WuXian, “Or do you hate the Wen Sect’s remnants? The Wen Sect remnants that you speak of already died once, thirteen years ago. And right now, just then, for my sake, for your sake, they died once again. This time, they’ve all become ashes.” He continued, “Let me ask you—just what else do you want me to do?”

[...]

Wei WuXian, “Nobody told you to forgive me. The things I did, not only do you remember them, I remember them too. You won’t forget them, and they’ll stay even longer in my mind!”

ExR ch. 82

Wei Wuxian's goodness shouldn't be debated. All his actions were justified. He was never the initiator. Let me repeat myself: Who attacked whom first? Who massacred Wei Wuxian's home? Who send the Wen remnants, who lived peacefully on a small piece of land that was given to them by the winners, to the work camps where they were tortured?

As for the remnants of the Wen Sect, they were herded into a small corner of Qishan, not even a thousandth the territory it onced owned. They were crammed into the place and struggled to live.

ExR ch. 72

Who ambushed whom on Qiongqi path? Who went on offensive because he grew up with his cousin and didn't like Wei Wuxian anyway? Who promised to let the matter go if Wen Qing and Wen Ning turned themselves over? Who went back on that promise? Who gathered 3000 cultivators to kill 50 innocent people? Who killed those innocents?

"He committed more atrocities than Jin Guangyao"

...

...

I recommend you to read the extra Villainous Friends. It's a real eye-opener.

Just then, two disciples from the Jin Clan of Lanling dragged over a cultivator with disheveled hair.

"Weren't you going to refine a new set of fierce corpses?" Jin Guangyao said. "As it happens, I've brought materials for you."

[...]

A young girl and boy, both trussed with rope, kneeled on the ground and shouted miserably to He Su.

"Ge!"

He Su was stunned. His face blanched white as paper. "Jin Guangyao! What do you mean by this?! You can just kill me. Why implicate my entire clan?!"

[...]

Jin Guangyao shot him a glance, then turned back around and said in an even-tempered tone, "You can't say that. The He Clan of Tingshan used the full force of its power to start an uprising and plot to assassinate Sect Leader Jin. All of you were caught red-handed. How can you call this 'no reason'?"

A number of the captives cried out, "Ge! He's lying! We didn't. We really didn't!"

"What a crock of shit!" He Su spat. "Open your damn eyes and take a good look around! There's a nine-year-old child here, and elders who can't even walk! What uprising could they start?! And why would they assassinate your father out of the blue?!"

[...]

However, no one here would listen to his defense. Sitting before him were two vicious villains who already considered him a dead man and were enjoying the sight of his last-ditch struggle. Jin Guangyao leaned back with a smile and waved.

"Gag him. Go on, gag him."

Wei Wuxian never killed his father, brother, son, wife and then pretended that he had no choice. Wei Wuxian didn't slaughter a whole clan just because they were standing in his way and he saw them as annoyance. Wei Wuxian was never besties with other mass murderers (Xue Yang).

I wanted to argue that the only thing that made Jin Guangyao better than Jin Guangshan was that he had never forced himself on women... but then I remembered how Jin Guangshan died...

SiSi, “The middle-aged man wanted to shout and struggle, but his body was weak. The boy who led us inside opened the door again, grinning as he dragged him onto the bed again and tied him up with a rope, stepping on his head. He told us, carry on, don’t stop even when he’s dead. Have any of us been through such a situation before? We were scared half-dead, but we didn’t dare disobey. We had to continue. At the twelfth or eleventh round, that sister suddenly screamed, saying that he really was dead. I went over and checked. He’d indeed kicked the bucket, but the person behind the curtain said, didn’t you hear me? Don’t stop even when he’s dead!”

ExR ch. 85

Don't spoil Wei Wuxian's good name by comparing him to the likes of Jin Guangyao!

+ bonus:

"You little hooligan," Jin Guangyao said with a laugh. "Wreck stalls if that's what you want. You can burn down the entire street, for all I care, as long as you mind two things—don't wear the Sparks Amidst Snow uniform, and keep your face hidden. Don't let anyone find the culprit and put me on the spot."

Btw, the excerpts from Villainous Friends were taken from Seven Seas translation.

[silverloreleysfanfics]

Yet another idea for a TTEOTM fanfic I'll never come around to write.

Roleswap fic!

Cang Jiumin is a cultivator, the adopted son of Master Zhaoyou. His world has been on literal fire because of the Phoenix Demoness Li Susu, daughter of the Ancient Devil God's Lieutenant Di Mian who managed to snatch the Evil Bone along with the Sky-Slashing Sword when the Devil God fell. Even if Di Mian was trapped in the Barren Abyss, he managed to free himself and found his daughter's egg, powering her with the Evil Bone's power he corrupted Li Susu's original pure nature, turning her into the Phoenix demoness who brought destruction upon the world ever since she hatched.

When Li Susu decides to attack the Immortal Sects to obtain their artifacts, she and Cang Jiumin clash for the first time, and she seems to recognize him somehow, much to his confusion. She attacks him anyway, but he's protected by Ming Ye's dragon scale and able to access to the Mirror of the Past's power.

This leads the elder Immortals to believe he must have some godly ancestry or protection and can use the relic. As such, Zhaoyou entrusts Cang Jiumin with the task of going back in time to make sure Li Susu won't be corrupted by demonic power.

Now, he finds himself in the body of Tantai Jin, Ye Xiwu's husband, and here I have two routes:

The past background is the same: Tantai Jin is the hostage prince of Jing who managed to marry the favourite daughter of the Pillar General of Sheng, Ye Xiwu is vicious and shows every possible bad trait that will lead to her easy demonization, so he has to try to awaken her best feelings so she can learn to love the world and respect others.

Tantai Jin is the favourite prince of Jing, even though he was born the son of a concubine. When he brought an end to the long-time war against Sheng thanks to his wit, he was ordered to marry Ye Xiwu, daughter of the Pillar General of Sheng, to consolidate his power in the foreign land where he's staying as regent (basically, his father let him have Sheng to compensate the fact he can't get the throne of Jing due to existence of his older, legitimate brothers). Obviously, Ye Xiwu hates him, is spoiled, and all the drill.

which is actually 2.1: Tantai Jin is the favourite prince of Jing who is friend with Xiao Lin and his marriage to Ye Xiwu was wanted to ensure a more lasting peace (like in his dream in ep 4). Ye Xiwu, who thinks Tantai Jin will never get the throne due to the existence of his older and legitimate brothers other than the fact he has a reputation of being weak and meek, despises him and the marriage.

Plot 1 would retrace some steps from canon, with Cang Jiumin having to try to elicit pity and affection from the tyrannical Ye Xiwu from his disadvantaged place as a hostage prince and unwanted husband. The moment he transmigrates is when he dies kneeling on the frozen lake, he's "saved" by the benevolence of Grandmother Ye.

Plot 2 would require some more imagination and delve into palace matters and politics (which are not my expertise) but would make a more novel plot.

In any case, they should come around to discover a few things about each other:

Ye Xiwu's life was not as nice as it looked, despite being the only legitimate daughter and most spoiled, in fact, she was always overshadowed by Ye Bingchang ever since she stole Pian Ran's Love threads. Ye Xiwu genuinely loved Xiao Lin and had her heart broken by his indifference, other than the fact Ye Bingchang used her newfound influence to push her sister out of society.

Tantai Jin is a tribulation of Cang Jiumin (like YXW was LSS), but he's not the Devil Fetus here. Instead, he's the lost son of Ming Ye and Sang Jiu, who she lost without even knowing she was pregnant when she saved Ming Ye the last time in the Ruo River (hence why he was born from Concubine Ruo)

Ming Ye drags them into the Bo're Life to show YXW who her father really is like (Di Mian did kill Chu Huang after all, which he lied to LSS about), and also the risk of allowing herself to demonize like Sang Jiu did. For his son, he wanted him to know the real story and see his mother, but also apologize and warn him not to make his same mistakes of being too cold and distant with the woman he loves, along with the hint to the presence of the Evil Bone in LSS and the need to replace it with an Immortal Marrow.

After their deaths (which will depend on how the plot develops) Cang Jiumin comes back to his life in Xiaoyao sect and is surprised to find that Li Susu is now a new disciple of Qu Xuanzi, leader of Hengyang sect.

This could be the end... or not.

[thegroduschronicles]

uuuuuh yes! I'm gonna toss some X-Naut headcanons out into the void since I'd like to start posting more yes hello

So! There’s been a decent amount of speculation about what the X-Nauts are/aren’t and the HCs I've seen out there vary wildly - ranging anywhere from them being regular, ordinary dudes in costumes to aliens. My personal HC is that they originated as a secret society many, many years ago and are made up of shamans that were born bereft of magic.

Shamans have been confirmed to be born with varying levels of magical ability. Some have extraordinary amounts of innate talent (ex. The Tribe of Darkness) and historically stopped mixing with others in order to keep their bloodline pure and their magical ability potent. The X-Nauts are on the opposite end of the spectrum - born with little to no casting ability, I HC that the founder started a secret organization for others like him, intended for those who couldn’t participate in ordinary shaman society. These shamans specifically worshipped only Skolar and spent their time researching and developing scientific advancements that would allow them to make up for their deficiencies.

After a time, the original X-Nauts decided to separate entirely from the shamans and turned their focus towards reaching the stars on their own terms. They were considered rather heretical. I have another HC that the shamans were once a lot more condensed, but that they eventually developed into different sects over time and spread out across the land (including the PM64/TTYD shamans, the SMRPG shaman merchants, Valentina’s shaman + birdy bodyguards, the Ancients). This is an extension of that idea.

I HC that the X-Nauts were able to successfully leave the planet and spent many, many years in space, but have recently returned and are looking to establish themselves after having completely decimated the climate of their new planet via unchecked technological growth and rampant abuse of their resources. Their round body shape is the result of spending generations living in a cold, harsh environment- their uniforms are specifically developed to protect them from the snow and ice. They struggle to adjust to hotter weather.

Grodus would be the latest in a line of rulers descended from the original founder. Only the founding family is given the privilege of using “magic”. The leader’s traditional priest-like garb is a remnant of their origins, though they no longer have a strong sense of spirituality in practice.

I also HC that while the X-Nauts were able to blend in easily in some respects upon returning, they’re a bit out-of-touch in other ways. Some of the common X-Naut names are rather odd (ex. Crump) and were picked since they’re considered “exotic”. You can find ones with ordinary names like Johnson and then look down the way to find one named something like Peanut.

One extra little detail that I’ve played with is the idea that their scarf-things intentionally resemble facial hair as another remnant of emulating shaman society - maybe they’re unable to grow any as extra insult? not sure that I’m seriously including this as part of the HC but it made me giggle a little

[communist-manifesto-daily]

The Communist Manifesto - Part 19

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Such fantastic pictures of future society, painted at a time when the proletariat is still in a very undeveloped state and has but a fantastic conception of its own position, correspond with the first instinctive yearnings of that class for a general reconstruction of society.

But these Socialist and Communist publications contain also a critical element. They attack every principle of existing society. Hence, they are full of the most valuable materials for the enlightenment of the working class. The practical measures proposed in them – such as the abolition of the distinction between town and country, of the family, of the carrying on of industries for the account of private individuals, and of the wage system, the proclamation of social harmony, the conversion of the function of the state into a mere superintendence of production – all these proposals point solely to the disappearance of class antagonisms which were, at that time, only just cropping up, and which, in these publications, are recognised in their earliest indistinct and undefined forms only. These proposals, therefore, are of a purely Utopian character.

The significance of Critical-Utopian Socialism and Communism bears an inverse relation to historical development. In proportion as the modern class struggle develops and takes definite shape, this fantastic standing apart from the contest, these fantastic attacks on it, lose all practical value and all theoretical justification. Therefore, although the originators of these systems were, in many respects, revolutionary, their disciples have, in every case, formed mere reactionary sects. They hold fast by the original views of their masters, in opposition to the progressive historical development of the proletariat. They, therefore, endeavour, and that consistently, to deaden the class struggle and to reconcile the class antagonisms. They still dream of experimental realisation of their social Utopias, of founding isolated “phalansteres”, of establishing “Home Colonies”, or setting up a “Little Icaria”* – duodecimo editions of the New Jerusalem – and to realise all these castles in the air, they are compelled to appeal to the feelings and purses of the bourgeois. By degrees, they sink into the category of the reactionary [or] conservative Socialists depicted above, differing from these only by more systematic pedantry, and by their fanatical and superstitious belief in the miraculous effects of their social science.

They, therefore, violently oppose all political action on the part of the working class; such action, according to them, can only result from blind unbelief in the new Gospel.

The Owenites in England, and the Fourierists in France, respectively, oppose the Chartists and the Réformistes.

* Phalanstéres were Socialist colonies on the plan of Charles Fourier; Icaria was the name given by Cabet to his Utopia and, later on, to his American Communist colony. [Note by Engels to the English edition of 1888.]

“Home Colonies” were what Owen called his Communist model societies. Phalanstéres was the name of the public palaces planned by Fourier. Icaria was the name given to the Utopian land of fancy, whose Communist institutions Cabet portrayed. [Note by Engels to the German edition of 1890.]

[ ◁ First | ◃Prev | Table of Contents | Next ▹ ]

[demonslayedher]

Kanroji Temple: A lesser-known KnY Holy Site... which is a holy site anyway

There are actually a few Kanroji Temples throughout Japan, but one very small one in Wakayama Prefecture embraces the namesake in some subtle ways. The platform-only train station which shares the name also got in on the fun with green and pink "love" banners with cherry blossom and cat motifs. Although there is not as much to see there now as there was in 2020 during a short promotion they did, there's still a few cute vestiges.

To borrow a previous analysis of Mitsuri's name: 甘露寺: "甘露 Kanro" is "Sweetness" (in Japanese Buddhism, this is considered a virtue, perhaps you could think of it more like a heavenly sweetness than a gluttonous one) and "寺 ji" ((Buddhist) Temple). Rather than looking at this and thinking "wow, her family is so Buddhist" you could look at it and think "wow, they're probably pretty well-off." It's a wide generalization, but surnames which are also temple names imply that the family was long a (presumably wealthy) patron of the temple, and it carries a high class ring to it.

Besides the name, there are another couple reasons this is such a nice little Mitsuri related spot.

This temple was already known as a bit of a matchmaking spot, because there is a conifer on the premises with leaves that, once they are dried, don't break if you try to pull them apart. In addition, there are little protective "inome" (boar's eye/snout) marks around the roof, which people nowadays look at as upside-down hearts. There was also some romantic episode between the couple who started the Kamakura shogunate here, Minamoto no Yoritomo and Hojo Masako, but Mitsuri and Masako have very different personalities so I'll leave that there.

I did not realize this until I was on my way, but you know Tama, the station master cat? And Nitama, the successor? Kishi Station is the very next train stop. Mitsuri would be thrilled! I was also thrilled to encounter a celebrity, which was not at all on my itinerary for the day. Even got to ride the Tama train.

It seems that during the Mugen Train hype of 2020, the temple had as many as 200 visitors in a single busy day, when they were displaying a wider banner with the temple's name and a pretty green and pink background. There were signs that cosplayers could hold in front of it, as well as a "love pillar" temporarily installed in the little courtyard. Cosplaying in public isn't welcome in many areas of Japan, so this feels a bit like the equivalent of Christian churches having welcomed Pokemon Go players after they became gyms. This temple does, after all, function first and foremost as a religious institution, specifically for the Jodo sect of Pure Land Buddhism. Still, they are flexible and open-minded with it. Back in 2020 they had Rengoku's words about how growing old and weak being what makes humanity precious written as words of wisdom on the post outside the temple where words of Buddhist-style wisdom are typically posted. Nowadays, although there are also signs saying that the inside is off-limits to anyone not there to worship, there was also a sign saying, "Come, everyone, let us go and pray... (Himejima Gyoumei??)" I love that nod, because Himejima's repetition of the nembutsu (Namu Amida Butsu) is stressed in the Jodo sect.

Speaking of! Besides o-mamori (protective amulets), it is very common for shrines and temples to have go-shuin, a stamp or handwritten seal, in exchange for a modest fee (more technically, a donation). Many pilgrims (or tourists, that's fine) collect these directly in fancy books, but you can also just take the paper home to put in a book later. Although Kanroji Temple had their own version of these before their unexpected namesake popularity, they now have a second version on green and pink paper. It is the nembutsu written in a "rikenmyogo" calligraphy style. That is, "sword style" calligraphy.

While the "demon slayers use swords!" association is clearly there, and in their explanation they make a lot of clever use of the 滅 (eliminate) character so prominent in the KnY world, the sword is in regard to how when Buddhist figures are depicted holding swords, this is not so much to slay the enemies of Buddhist teachings, but to sharpen oneself and cut away ones' evils, faults, and worldly attachments--the sources of worldly suffering.

That said, no one is making the fans get rid of their attachment to a hit manga/anime, and there are still a few signs to hold in "I was here" photos.

The train station, which is surrounded by cherry trees and had a tiny heart graffiti etched into the sign, still has their "love" banners up, as well as a clearly inspired illustration of an anime girl reminding people to show their train passes clearly to the conductor when disembarking (because there are no gates on this train station platform).

So if you ever find yourself a couple hours away from Osaka on your way to visit Nitama the celebrity station master, just remember you can make another nearby stop in honor of the Love Pillar. If you don't have the luck of riding the Tama train, you might get to ride a strawberry train too.

[iphisesque]

Genshin was the most influential monk in the Buddhist Tendai sect, active in Heian-era Japan; in accordance with his syncretic beliefs, he took an interest in the Pure Land eschatological school of Buddhism, and his masterpiece, the Ōjōyōshū, went on to influence the founders of Shin Buddhism, Honen and Shinran.

the prison realm as an ark to bring forth a pure new world // the ōjōyōshū or essentials of rebirth in the pure land, composed by genshin in 985 (tr. a.k. reischauer)

[sasster]

Funny Business

You know what I never do? I never talk about my character's pasts.

Okay, that's a lie.

Anyway. :)

Have a baby young adult Vineno, as your official introduction to the man!

If you see any typos, no you didn't <3

[Oh yeah, google doc]

--

It’s grisly work, what purple bloods are comfortable doing to their fellow trolls. As he watches yet another body fall limp at the blow of a flailing club, Vineno thinks that this might be a far cry from the actual responsibilities of the highest of the land dwelling castes. To say nothing of the smell of blood thick in the air and the deafening sound of laughter and horrified screams. It’s enough to give the purple blood a headache that’ll last him the rest of the week.

Needless violence, needless noise.

As if his prayer were being answered, all at once the shouting from either side of the fiasco is gone. Silence and the smell of death are all that hang in the aftermath. Vineno, for his part, is less than impressed by the entire display.

“Let me get this straight,” he speaks slowly as he steps around the carnage left behind by the subjugglators seeking to indoctrinate him into their sect. “There’s no real rhyme or reason to it? Wrong place, wrong time?”

That’d always been a burning question of his, but he was fortunate enough to make it this far into his life without having to deal with clowns this up close and personal.

“Maybe if they were faster and stronger, they wouldn't have anything to worry about.” One replies with a grin.

A few others roar with laughter behind her.

“Just that simple, huh?”

“Yep. You in?”

It’s not logic that he felt particularly interested in arguing against.

Easy enough to follow.

Vineno shrugs. 

“Yeah, why not? It’s about time I did my part in the name of the Messiahs.”

The other purple bloods cheer, quite boisterously, in response.

They are simple creatures.

“Alright, that’s what I like to hear!” The leader, he guesses, manages above her troupe. “Now we just gotta get some paint on you and the Grand Sunderer will be happy to meet ya’!”

What a name.

“Good plan.”

There is an increase in the volume of whooping as greasy hands pull him into the group.

“New guy has to get the drinks!” Someone calls from the back, and Vineno feels himself smile.

How contagious, their mirth!

“Easy enough.”

–

Hours must have passed from the raid, to the securing of drinks, to the two pairs of hands that slather his face in grease paint.

The two artists above him discuss the best design to adorn him with, barely glancing down to get his input on the matter.

“How’d you make it a whole ten sweeps without finding yourself a troupe anyway?” One asks.

He shrugs.

“Not much of a talker, huh?”

“‘Least he’s cute!” The other, awfully bubbly, chimes in.

This is more socializing than he ever bargained for.

Finally, the finishing touches are being put on his face and he is shown a mirror.

It takes a lot for him to bite back the laughter their handiwork conjures; Two thick gray markings, in a sea of white, come down from the bridge of his nose and around his eyes, then they skew sharply down his cheeks toward his neck.

Pure artistry.

“Snakes! They’re like. Minimalist snakes.”

“I see.”

“Sunderer will love to see it, we promise!”

He couldn’t care less. He only nods in response.

“Alright, alright. Let's get you out there!”

And then those greasy hands are on him again, tugging him up and out of the room.

What a handsy group of people.

–

“Vineno! Welcome to the family, brother!” Calls who must be the Grand Sunderer as he is tugged along by the two trolls that did his makeup. The pageantry of this lot is almost entirely too much to suffer.

They stand by a table at the end of a great hall that must be stuffed with all of the clowns this church had to offer.

Even better.

“Just like that?”

“Of course! Unless the drinks are bad.” The Sunderer is a large and jovial spirit, but the thinly veiled threat is a bit heavy handed.

They’re never seen outside of their church walls. Why should they be when they have such a good troupe to subjugate the masses?

Such a hard mark.

Vineno says nothing as the leader that got him into this mess brings him to the head of the table where the grand highblood pushes one of the drinks the newcomer supplied forward.

“You first,” their smile goes nowhere. “No funny business, eh?”

He eyes the drink for a moment before securing his hand around the glass and knocking it all back in one go.

“I am a terrible clown, I don’t do funny business.” He says as he sets the glass back down.

“Ah, there’s plenty of time to fix that!” Sunderer declares as they chug down their own drink which gets another uproar in response.

The rest of the clowns start to drink their fill.

–

The drinking lasts well into the morning and the following evening. If he’d known that these clowns were going to drink themselves into their graves, he would not have bothered wasting all of those vials of his poisonous mixtures in their booze.

Each of those morons must’ve had four times the amount he intended to give. Mixed with alcohol?

That sounds fatal.

Vineno steps around the bodies, twitching in their stupors, as he douses the last of the church in the gasoline from his pack. They were having so much fun they never even realized he slipped away from their celebration to grab it.

Simple, simple creatures.

As he passes by, the Sunderer grabs hold of his ankle. The grasp is much more feeble than their stature implies they should be capable of.

He says nothing as he looks down at them.

“What did you do?”

“Mm?”

Their face contorts into something that must be anger.

Vineno shrugs and dumps the remainder of the canister directly onto their face.

“Supplied the drinks.” He says finally, flashing a grin that shows off his fangs as he pats around his pockets for the matches.

[2af-afterdark]

Hello wonderful friend, because i am currently drawing, I'd like you to tell me what would the WHB characters see as "art" and what they would make, if they could ?

-🪰

Art is such a subjective thing and devils have such a wide variety of tastes and interests that I think all of them think of something as an expression of art. More interestingly, I think there are unique forms of art that devils would have that humans do not. There are definitely some taxidermy adjacent forms of art, especially with all the angel parts that devils collect. I also believe torture would fall under some kind of performance art for them. They probably have a version of modern art that is pure chaos. Like, the entire point is for no one to have any idea what is happening and for no one to find any meaning because it's too random (like, the actual point is chaotic meaninglessness).

Considering how often their stuff gets destroyed by angel attacks... I think the ability to protect something is considered a form of art. Like, when you have those scenes in anime where only one small section of land is left untouched in a sea of ruin? That's art.

There is also likely a form of art with horns. Foras uses his to make jewelery once every 10 years, but other devils may use their horns in a different sense of expression.

There are probably entire sects that try to copy human artists throughout time. Or maybe some devils genuinely like human art? That's not even getting into things like dance or sculptures or other artistic mediums.

I don't know, honestly. I just think they would have forms of art we cannot even conceive of.

[pinktwingirl]

Hi. I’m Israeli, I saw a few of your posts and I would like to share my perspective with you.

You talk a lot about Zionism as an ideology, but I think it’s important to distinguish between the ideology itself and what is being done today.

Zionism is an ideology that states that Jews have a right for self determination in their own state. A lot of it is rooted in religion, but a large part of it was a response to Jewish persecution in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Being a minority you are essentially helpless when people decide to pillage you or treat you like a second class citizen (and yes, that also happened to Jews in North Africa and the Middle East) when you have your own state, you can at least defend yourself.

Just like any other group of people can strive for self determination (including Palestinians) so can Jews. It’s not just a matter of being secluded from others, or being elitist, it’s a matter of insuring your own security as much as you can as a people.

Zionism is not an evil ideology. You can maybe argue that the way it was achieving its goal is evil, but by that logic you can also argue that Palestinians are evil since they had also committed heinous acts against Jews in this land way before the invention of Zionism and even before they defined themselves as Palestinians.

Zionism is also very tied to Judaism. The longing for returning to “the homeland” is referenced throughout countless Jewish texts in the diaspora, again, way before the invention of Zionism.

There are some sects of Judaism that are against it, but saying “hey, Judaism and Zionism are completely detached!” Is I’d say… incorrect. Like to a point where the overwhelming majority of practicing Jews have some sort of Zionist views.

So about the situation today. in an ideal world, I believe that Palestinians have a right for self determination as much as we do. Saying Zionism is just like this evil, western colonial power, whose sole purpose is to harm and torture Palestinians is very very incorrect.

Thanks for reading, have a nice day 🙏🏽

This is gonna take me a whole essay to respond to so I’m gonna do y’all a favor and put a cut below feel free to read more if you want

If Zionism were purely about “Jewish self-determination”, that would be one thing. However, the reality is that the ideology of Zionism is inseparable from anti-Arab racism and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The argument you are making only works if you are operating under the assumption that Palestine was an empty piece of land before it was settled by Israelis, which is a notion that many Zionists have tried to push, hence the Zionist slogan: “A land without a people for a people without a land.” However, this is not true. There were always people living in Palestine, and there is no way that an exclusively Jewish state could have existed there without systematically murdering them and expelling them from their land. If you go back and read the texts of the original Zionist leaders, they make it explicitly clear that this was their objective from the very beginning. Ilan Pappe’s book “The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine” documents this extensively. I’ll include a few excerpts here. This is Zionist leader David Ben-Gurion’s second in command Moshe Sharett explaining how he wanted to pay off villagers to leave in order to “reduce the number of Arabs” in Palestine:

This is the description of “Plan Dalet”, which was explicitly designed to drive out Palestinians and murder whoever remained:

This is David Ben-Gurion explicitly saying that even 40% “non-Jews” (aka Arabs) in Palestine was unacceptable:

This is an example of how Plan Dalet was carried out in the village of Deir Yassin (tw: murder, sexual assault, this is extremely graphic)

While to some, Zionism might seem like a nice idea, in practice, it requires murder and systematic cruelty towards the Palestinian population that is continuing to this day. This is why people are opposed to it. It has nothing to do with religion or antisemitism; it is because people can very plainly see that the occupation and genocide it has caused is morally wrong. To quote Dr. Gabor Mate on why he is no longer a Zionist: “Yes, we created this beautiful dream, but we created a nightmare for somebody else.”

I don’t know what percentage of the Jewish population are Zionists, but I think the fact that there is such a strong Jewish anti-Zionist community is proof enough that Zionism should not be linked to Judaism. In fact, you could even argue that saying so is antisemitic because it implies that every single Jewish person is complicit in Israel’s war crimes, which is not true. Furthermore, I strongly believe that many Jewish Zionists subscribe to the ideology because they have been told lies and propaganda about the creation of Israel. It is very evident that Israel is going out of its way to cover up its crimes against Palestinians (i.e. outlawing mentioning the Nakba, planting trees over destroyed Palestinian villages to make it look like nothing was ever there, etc.) I think more Jewish people would have second thoughts about Zionism if they knew the truth behind the ideology.

As for the notion that the military occupation and apartheid of Palestinians is somehow “necessary” for Jewish safety, I would say that this is not only untrue but also makes no sense. Violence is inherently necessary to run a military state and keep a population under an occupation, and violence is always going to beget more violence, which is the exact opposite of the “safe utopia” that Israel strives to depict itself as. Think about it: if you were in a Palestinian’s shoes, would you not do exactly what they are doing? If you were born under a military occupation where you were routinely at risk of being bombed and having your home stolen by settlers, would you not resist by any means necessary, even if it meant resorting to violence? At the end of the day, the only difference between you and a Palestinian is luck in where you were born - that’s it. Safety is not achieved by oppressing others. Safety is achieved with peace and respect for others. I am not against Israelis living in Palestine. But there is no reason why Palestinians need to be ethnically cleansed for that to happen. People of different religions coexisted in Palestine before Israel; there is no reason why that can’t happen again. The more Israelis that realize ending the occupation is in their best interest, the faster the violence will end. It really is that simple.