The New Winds

Yotsuo showed up for his debate match with Jiro. He suspects that he is going to be far outmatched, much like he would have been in the iaijutsu brackets. Winning the championship or even the individual tournament was never something he expected here. So with low expectations he can only be potentially pleasantly surprised with his own performance.

He greets his opponent with a respectful bow and a pleasant disposition. "Bayushi-san. I am glad to be facing you again. You handled a horse better than I could. Let us see how well we do competing with words."

----

D7 LM, Initiative, School Rank / Awareness: 5d10o10k4 33

"I have been looking forward to this match, Kuni-san, as your wisdom has been of great help to me in the past, I feel the challenge will be excellent."

He bowed deeply in respect, then got ready for business, his game face descending like a pallid mask.

D7, LM: School Rank/Awareness for Initiative: 6d10o10k5 40

After a moment, the boys were given a passage from the Tao to interpret. Fortunately, it was not one of the dangerous ones that advocated for the undermining of government, but it was an interesting passage nonetheless.

Everyone knows beauty as beauty
because they know ugliness,
knows good as good
by knowing bad.

So it goes: life and death
beget each other, hard
makes easy and vice-versa,
high and low arise by
contrast, long and short
are co-configured, sound
and silence make the music,
before and after follow
from each other.

Therefore the wise practice inaction,
teach without talking about it.

Everything comes to pass
in its time, dynamic
and unauthored, proceeding
despite expectations.
Take what happens
naturally, go on:
no one knows how or why,
it lasts forever.
--http://mrossman.org/translations/laotzuverses.html


After the judge's recitation, Jiro spoke quietly, with a hint of reverence. "In this passage, the Little Teacher asserts two concepts which at first glance seem unrelated. First, the idea that concepts are defined by their opposites, second that events are unpredictable and lack authorship. The fulcrum is the response to this wisdom the Little Teacher advocates--the wise man is to take no action and somehow to teach without reference to...and this is where the passage becomes most ambiguous..."it," which I take to mean the information contained in the first stanza. The trouble, of course, is that The Little Teacher has chosen to teach (an action) while referring to "it" in most explicit terms. Are we to follow the words of his mouth or his actions? Which is the true lesson?

D7, LM: Courtier/Awareness roll #1, 2 raises called. Tn=30: 10d10o10k5 53 5 persuasion points

Yotsuo nods to the argument made by Jiro. "I cannot say I disagree with that assessment. But I assess that the passage clearly points to the two different ends of a spectrum on so many occasions that it is meant to subtly draw attention to the space between. That the "it" refers to the extremes and that no person is or lives at those extremes. They exist between them. And merely by being between them and being an example of the reality we live in does more to teach than actively instructing another does. We, as a whole, enable others to learn from us simply by being who we are."

It was a point. Not the most poignant one, and certainly not argumentative or in any way striking down the Bayushi's point. But it is one.

D7 LM, Courtier / Awareness #1, 1 CR, TN 25: 7d10o10k4 39 +3 points

"Let us take that and apply it to the third stanza. The encouragement to let things be as they are naturally would seem to support your point, Kuni-san. There is a tension, however, in assuming others will no us from who we are, or can learn from that simple presentation and what is contained in the first stanza. If we learn from opposites, what are we truly teaching when we are ourselves unvarnished? Surely it is the opposite of our true virtues that will be illuminated, not the precise nature of what we truly are in ourselves."

D7, LM: Courtier/Awareness roll #1, 2 raises called. Tn=30: 10d10o10k5 36 3 persuasion points

"Again, there is truth in what you say. There is no guarantee that others will know or learn from us. But that is only a tension if you look at the verse from the perspective of one that considers themselves a teacher. When we observe the theme of the passage, we identify that it suggests teaching without words. But it illustrates many opposing ideas as well. So what is at the opposing end of the spectrum of teaching without words? Learning from what is not there. While the second to last stanza is targeting the teacher, I believe the last stanza is targeting the student. The teacher and the student who could also be identified as the reader. We must be between them, both of them, though not necessarily in equal parts."

D7 LM, Courtier / Awareness #2, 1 CR, TN 25: 7d10o10k4 33 +2 points

OOC: roll kept an additional die in Orokos, I removed that extra kept die here, number of rolled dice is accurate

"And yet, we are enjoined to learn without really knowing. It is acceptance the Little Teacher is after, an acceptance that is made easier when one takes this passage with others in the text that suggest the world of experience is primarily illusion. If that is the case, then what does learning get one? Further confusion only, and further from the truth. It is paradoxical, for we are only aware of this because the Little Teacher chose to teach us with words."

D7, LM: Courtier/Awareness roll #1, 2 raises called. Tn=30: 10d10o10k5 63 6 Persuasion points


14 Topaz Points thus far.

"That is an excellent point that I will need to think on," Yotsuo replies, pausing for a few moments.

Which sounded like a concession, and may as well have been a concession. It wasn't one but the judge made a judgement anyway and Jiro was clearly the winner.

D7 LM, Courtier / Awareness #3, 1 CR, TN 25: 7d10o10k4 22

Jiro bowed deeply to his opponent in respect, unwilling to refute any of Yotsuo's excellent points.

Kuni Yotsuo is eliminated
Bayushi Jiro advances, gains 22 points, for a new total of 232

Yotsuo bowed with respect to Jiro. "It was an honor facing you Bayushi-san. I look forward to further discussions in the future."

"As do I, Kuni-san. Your insight has demonstrated itself a second time here, and it would be a foolish man indeed who would fail to turn an ear to what you have to say."