#structured thinking?

[a-chuffed-floating-panda]

“What would the nuns possibly gain out of spying on Yangchen?”

[I don't know what this turned out to be😅 I was a lot better at writing essays in Norwegian classes than English classes because I could 'talk' more. This is structured thinking and ‘talking’ I guess]

I got hit with a sudden thought while I was at work.

The nuns who spied on Yangchen during her childhood can be seen as a Devadatta story if you squint your eyes and tilt your head a little; something that started off with good intentions that later led to misery.

That it started out as something with a good intention because Yangchen was, for a fact, unstable. Something that would be important for someone in Ayunerak’s position to know. You know, what should be done if the next avatar isn’t quite sound of mind? How would their actions and choices affect the world? This, by all means, is a good intention.

But it doesn’t stop at a single report of this information. It continues and evolves into detailed monitoring. With the mention of Abbess Dagmola taking notes of the names and past lives Yangchen would slip into, I’d imagine that those reports would be quite detailed.

(I’m continuing to write as I’m walking home)

But why not stop at a single report and continue to monitor her by themselves without sending more reports? Because, for one, this isn’t mindfulness, nor is it respectful of them to do so and it would definitely generate negative karma for them. Something that I strongly believe came back to bite them when Ayunerak slipped up and let the information be known to Yangchen.

Now then? The Avatar, the most important person in the world, who is from their temple, doesn’t trust them. For as kind and compassionate Yangchen is toward humanity, something like this, especially from people who she thought she could trust and with a fragile mind like hers, breaks a bond to a point where it simply can’t return to what it used to be. And for some people, this is something that can be accepted- “this has happened, this has hurt me and I cannot change this”- but never forgiven.

If I go full on Buddhist and mythical and all worldbuildingy, Yangchen would be considered a reincarnation of Avalokiteshvara, and some regard him as a Buddha. A Tathagata. (This depends so much on the tradition) and if the definition is stretched and moulded, the breach of trust and the lack of respect for her as a person, is a wound to her. Which would go under the unforgivable sin of wounding a Tathagata and send someone straight to hell. [If you really stretch and water down the definition and define what a wound truly is. In reality, this rule would mean attempting to kill a Tathagata]

I don’t believe that Yangchen has forgiven them. (At that point in the books, at least; I am aware she resolves to not find out who, it's more the nuns as an entity that I'm thinking of) She might have said so to comfort, if they found out she knew, and keep up that ‘compassionate avatar’ front of hers, but not meant it; Actions like that hurt no matter who you ask. Taking her compassion into account, I’d believe she’d want to forgive them, but would be too hurt to do so immediately.

It takes a very strong person and a lot of cultivated compassion and bodhicitta- she is the Avatar, after all- to forgive such a betrayal of trust. Yangchen is 17. She is a teenager. She hasn’t been in the world for that long. There is time to eventually forgive if she hasn’t.

I know Hsien resides at the Western temple, but when I first heard that, it felt a lot like service to me. Hierarchy. Something they did to serve her because she asked them to. [That would also strengthen the ‘compassionate avatar’ image as well, wouldn’t it? Make her look nice in their eyes. Didn’t think about that…]

(I am home now)

Now, what would the nuns gain out of continuing to send such reports and monitor her as closely as they did? Despite the obvious cultivation of bad karma?

We don’t know. That’s the thing. This is where the squinting and head tilt comes in because a lot of this can be speculated since there isn’t a lot known about the nuns at the temple.

In the instance of Devadatta, he was jealous of the Buddha and wished for status and honour. He began with good intentions, wanting to make the sangha better by hardening some of the Buddhas rules, something he thought would be helpful. But there he was met with failure. He befriended a local king, who gave him a lot of donations and really brought out an obsession with himself. Devadatta later approached the Buddha, asking him to resign and give the leadership over to him. Something the Buddha refused. Devadatta tried to kill the Buddha three times before he created a schism in the sangha by leaving and creating a new school with his followers. He became extremely ill nine months later and saw the wrongs of his actions and wished to meet with the Buddha to beg for forgiveness. On his way to the Buddha, the earth sucked him down to hell before he could meet him.

Obvious downward slope there.

He commited the three unforgivable sins, killing an arhat, wounding the Tathagata and creating a schism within the sangha

Some reasons for the nuns, just at the top of my head, temple donations/funding, patrons, status-among the temples and in the order- and refugees to possibly ordain.

I doubt they were jealous of a small child, believing that they should be the avatar instead of her. But this idea is common, though. So maybe? If they’re that petty.

Taking in the isolation of the world at the time, trade with the outside world went down; Upcharged prices and people being greedy mostly. They lost money and funding to keep up with the temple. It’s the largest temple, so I’d imagine they’d need a bit more materials and money than trading with each other could bring in. The nuns could have continued writing reports to Ayunerak, concerned about Yangchen’s unstable mind and how she’d affect the world, hoping that they’d get donations or patrons to help with the temple in return.

The refugee mention depends a bit on the environment, rivalries between monks and nuns, and what sect is more popular at the temples during this time. Say, the platinum affair happens, the order of the white lotus involvement is known among the monks and nuns and people begin throwing blame at each other for saying ‘this’ to that order member and ‘that’ to another order member, blaming them for causing the platinum affair to happen; That they were the root that caused such suffering. Rifts begin to form in the communities and those who write reports to Ayunerak believe that getting more refugees to the temples and ordaining them would bridge the rifts. And the temple with the most refugees does bring about a certain status that ‘they’re the most compassionate ones’ and are thus better than the other temples.

… wouldn’t this be like trying for a baby, thinking it would fix your relationship with your partner when you should’ve broken up with them? That was a very sudden thought that popped into my head right now. But there are those who believe it, so this can have some merit.

For status within the order, it’s very speculative. Because one, it isn’t known what an air nomad's role in the order is. Two, can they even rise up the ranks as an air nomad? Those who’re not supposed to care for status or worldly affairs? Three, a practising air nomad and politics? How would that work?

I headcanon, genuine practising air nomad members of the order to mostly be scholars, collecting rare historic information and writing treatises. Transporting items or people across the continent. Not necessarily high rank. Nomads, on the other hand, I headcanon them to be a lot more open to different things. [I lean into this in some of my fics. Shout out to my Sonam fics and further ones involving her<3<3 Shoutout to the elusive wings of love, to an extent<3]

So, say that they can rise up the rank like a normal member and out of ‘concern’ for Yangchen, secretly wanting status and honour, sends those reports thinking that they’d be on Ayunerak’s good side and thus rise quickly in the ranks because of her. This is very selfish, despite what good intentions they had at the start. I guess it would show the other members that they care for Yangchen, though, and they’d receive praise for being so kind and caring. This is the closest I've gotten it to Devadatta's story.

[I know I’ve mentioned in some of my fics that there are air nomad grand lotuses, but it’s more the rising in rank I’m thinking of as opposed to being ‘gifted’ the title so to say and becoming one without rising rank.]

Then it’s the meddling in politics. Knowing the orders ‘neutral’ status and tending to observe the world instead of acting, why knowingly let people suffer? Why knowingly let people die? Something that would go against the teaching? I don’t understand.

But then, not everyone is kind and there are corrupt individuals who believe they know better and they unknowingly cultivate great karmic obstruction with such a belief. People who believe they know better also tend to cherry pick things to make them look better; They look at some teachings with contempt and favour others. This is bad. Like very bad. They’ll end up unable to cultivate respect for the teachings, if they think they know something, they will lose something else, and their practise will be a small portion of the path, and the karmic obstruction this creates will be extremely painful to remove.

Tsongkhapa makes mention of this in ch2 of the Lam rim chen mo

Geshe Tsakpuwa also comes to mind here; the one who poisoned Milarepa

So, someone could’ve truly deluded themselves into thinking that they were practising the teaching by sending the reports to Ayunerak, thinking that it would be for the betterment of other beings if she knew of Yangchen’s connection to her past lives. The karmic obstruction created will show itself at a later date in their life.

A good comparison would be corrupt pastors.

There is another thing I thought of, but it’s rather… apathetic, if taking in Yangchen’s mind into context and something that they don’t gain anything from. Like, at all. Outside of a hurt Yangchen who doesn’t trust them.

That is the thought of the ‘me.’ Of a permanent self. Which doesn’t exist in the true nature of reality.

Someone could’ve then written those reports to Ayunerak with the genuine belief that Yangchen doesn’t truly exist. So since she doesn’t exist, what they’re doing won’t really matter that much because ‘we don’t exist.’ This, while yes, it’s a view that’s sought to achieve, it’s also quite a cold way to regard Yangchen with when she needs something that is untainted and undeniably Yangchen’s.

For her younger years, she needed a ‘me,’ something that was undeniably hers and she thought she did until Ayunerak slipped up.

A last reason, is that the nuns were manipulated into spying on her. Which I believe can have happened. Or blackmailed maybe because nuns haves lives, too, they could’ve gotten caught doing something they weren’t supposed.

You know, what if a nun was involved with someone, that someone found out that Yangchen was the avatar and threatened Yangchen’s safety, demanding information in return? It is a possible scenario.

This is something that could be a Jetsun scenario, if she was the one to leak information. [Oh my god, the angst potential this has in a fic]

After getting all that out, I still don’t see what they’d gain out of doing that. Like, I genuinely don’t? Nuns and monks are well read people and extremely knowledgeable, so they’d know that it would be a bad thing for them to do. If they’re genuine practitioners, nothing outweighs such negative karma that they’d accumulate from doing that and they would know that.

If they’re not genuine, then I believe their reasons for doing so comes in this order, that they think themselves to be better, corrupted teaching, status in the order and at the temples and temple funding.

Reasons I'm cautiously including because it depends on context:

The belief that Yangchen doesn't truly exist is something

Manipulation/blackmail

Those reasons, taking the state of the world into account, seem the most realistic and likely ones.

Did I get you thinking? If I got you thinking, then I did something right:)

[I entertained a thought I had at work thinking that it would be a quick throw away post and this happens😂 did this just turn into an essay? I’m not arguing for anything, though😕 I was just thinking and this happened. I am sooo surprised that I remember the lam rim bit😭 I’m so proud of myself😭🥲 Welcome to my brain on an average work day when I try to entertain myself]

[pangur-and-grim]

alright, I’m annoyed with the class that I’m taking. it’s about writing novels, and I thought it would have cool stuff about balancing your narrative and developing themes etc, but instead she spent the first class talking about how every book fits into the Hero’s Journey (the monomyth template). and I was somewhat of a contrarian, and said “can you give us examples of books that don’t fit into this template?” and she said “no. because all books fit.”

but I dunno man, I just finished reading this Korean book where the plot is just the character having a string of hookups and reflecting on them without changing in any way. I don’t know if it’s possible to contort that into the Hero’s Journey.

[theartingace]

Murderbot meets ART (who knew transports could be smart enough to be MEAN)

[fastepp]

Every time I see an author promoting their debut Greek mythology retelling on twitter I mourn the loss of like. To put in ineloquently. Just using these stories as inspiration for your own. Your story does not need to force itself to fit the shape of Orpheus and Eurydice it’s fine you can just allude to their story!! You can use their themes!! Nobody is going to arrest you for being allegorical instead of literal!! I might eat them alive at this point. It’s the only way.

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

"it's not that deep" not yet but I've got a shovel and fan theories and digging makes great exercise!

[pendulouspuppyudders]

i love overeating and posting about it

[hinamie]

been thinking a normal amount about just how Strong yuuji is

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Who is this sassy lost child?

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[cologona]

“Jason should have ducked”

Jason gave Bruce a gun to shoot him with.

Jason gave him three options but there are only two results. Either Joker dies and Jason is left alive or Joker lives and Jason is too dead to care. That’s not an accident you have to understand.

It’s the most miserable “win if I win, win if I lose” I’ve ever seen set up and it worked. The neck slice moment isn’t just written for shock value it’s a demonstration of the truth of Jason’s point. Sometimes refusing to choose one over the other is just a choice for the other.

[chloesimaginationthings]

Hold on guys… if Glamrock Freddy is Gregory’s dad…

And Vanessa is Gregory’s sister…

DOES THAT MEAN GLAMROCK FREDDY HAS ADOPTED VANESSA TOO ⁉️⁉️⁉️

Nessa you have a cool new dad now I’m so proud of you

TBH THIS IS GOOD logic,, Vanessa got a new dad

[crazycookieraider]

One detail I haven't seen people point out is how whenever we see Jimmy sitting in the cockpit, he is ALWAYS seated in the left seat. And at least in aviation, the left seat is considered the Captain's seat, while the right seat is the Co-Pilot's (First Officer's) seat.

Remember the start of the game, when the course needs to be corrected to avoid the crash? He purposefully steers it wrong using the Captain's yoke. So even if they all survive the crash, even if they all end up being rescued, the blame would fall onto Curly.

Plus, even when he's in the cockpit together with Curly, getting his psych eval done and being asked a very direct question of "Have you been able to complete your mandated tasks as a Co-Pilot efficiently?" he is casually answering it while sitting in someone else's seat.

Cool bit of foreshadowing imo, but also shows how damn OBSESSED and petty Jimmy was from the very start.

[hellenhighwater]

on a very get-your-feelings-hurt note, I am considering doing artprize this year with an entry about Laika the cosmonaut dog. just to be real sad.

[honehonn3honey]

A protection that becomes more creepy

Azul in my heart. You can see the original art here and read the monster list here @lustlovehart

[Alt under the cut]

My first concept, since my style could not simulate the texture of slime in its purest state

It is quite thick so water can not enter or wet. Only small puddles where you can accumulate

It is a monster and that, magic, but I can imagine that it can only reach a height by the pressure, it can come out expelled sometimes

[agentravensong]

thinking about how the extra area added on to a pacifist run of undertale, the true lab, is about alphys's past mistakes. how it ends with the story reaffirming that, despite the pain she's caused, the thing that matters is that she has now made the choice to do the right thing. she's still worthy of her friends' love.

thinking about how undertale doesn't expect the player to get a pacifist ending for the first time. how it's more likely than not that the player will kill toriel the first time they battle her, how lots of players don't initially figure out how to end undyne's fight without killing her, etc. what it expects — not even expects, really, but hopes — is that the player, if they care enough, will use their canonically acknowledged power over time to make up for those mistakes.

no matter how many neutral runs a player has done before committing to the pacifist run, the thing that matters to the characters, to the story, is that you've chosen, now, to do the right thing.

compared to alphys, the player honestly gets off lightly, in that you're the only one (other than flowey) who really remembers any harm you might have caused. and any direct guilting the game could have done about it is long past at this point. instead, as undertale often does, it makes its point via parallels: alphys caused harm, and she knows it. she has committed to being better. in doing so, she has unlocked for herself a better ending to her story. and she deserves it. she's forgiven.

those structural narrative parallels are all over undertale, if you know where to look. and that's one of the things that makes it so fuckin' good.

[knifearo]

being aromantic is like. hey btw you're going to live a life that is the culmination of most of society's worst nightmares. sorry lol ✌️ but then you turn around and take a really good hard look at it and it turns out that living in that nightmare is fucking awesome and you get to wake up every day and take that fear that other people have and laugh and hold it close until it's a great joy for you instead. and being happy is a radical act that you define instead of someone else. and you're sexy as fuck that's just a fact of life i don't make the rules on that one

[thestuffedalligator]

God do I think a lot about the bit in Monstrous Regiment about old women.

"Women had to cover their hair on Fridays, but there was nothing about this in the Book, which was pretty dar—pretty damn rigorous about most things. It was just a custom. It was done because it had always been done. And if you forgot, or didn’t want to, the old women got you. They had eyes like hawks. They could practically see through walls. And the men took notice, because no man wanted to cross the crones in case they started watching him, so half-hearted punishment would be dealt out. Whenever there was an execution, and especially when there was a whipping, you always found the grannies in the front row, sucking on peppermints."

I can't explain why, I just. God this bit haunts me. This is the most resonant idea that's lived with me for months after I read MR.