The New Winds

With the sun beginning to sag slowly down toward the horizon, Bayushi Jiro waits for his friend to take a walk and enjoy the gathering dusk together. As he waits, he casually hums a song and keeps his eyes on the sky, as if the answer to the questions turning over in his mind might be found written there.

With part of the sun still sinking down the horizon, Prashant comes walking from the town, the Kawaru coin earring from the other day on his right ear, a pendant in the shape of a mountain around his neck, a pillow book that has clearly seen some use tucked under his left arm. The way he walks seems to indicate he is a bit tired, but he keeps a smile on his face nonetheless.

Seeing the Bayushi, he bows and waves, still from a certain distance, then nods again when he gets closer. "Konbanwa, Bayushi-san!"

Bayushi Jiro finds a lightness of feeling stealing upon him as he heard the voice of his friend. He turns quickly, returning Prashant's bow with a formal one of his own, a pretty smile spreading across his lips as he spread his arms in greeting.

"Konbanwa, Iuchi-san. I am very pleased to see you! We seem to have chosen a good evening for a walk, yes?" he asked, extending his hands to take in the atmosphere and the beautiful weather.

"It is a lovely evening indeed!", the Iuchi says, clearly pleased. As he joins Jiro, he takes the book on his hand and waves ahead. "Would you rather sit down somewhere - so you can show me your work too! - or take a walk while we talk about some koans?"

Jiro considered for a moment.

"I thought we might walk out to where I painted it so that we can share the experience of memory when we see the painting. If, as we go, you wish to begin instructing me in the ways of zen, no one would be more pleased than I."

"That sounds like a fantastic idea, Bayushi-san", he says, smiling. "Will you lead the way, then?"

As they start walking - calmly and slowly, taking in the sounds and scents of the surroundings, Prash suggests - the shugenja asks the courtier, a serene smile on his face. "Do you remember any particular Koan, Bayushi-san? We might start with one you like, or one you would like to return to"

OOC
Going to use some of the time, either during the walking or conversation or later after we settle down to meditate - just plugging the roll here so I don't forget to do it later, supposing that isn't a problem.

Day 4 EE - Meditation/ Void for Void Recovery at some point while walking with Jiro. TN 20: 10d10o10k4 29

Jiro was content to be walking quietly in Prashant's company, with the coolness of the evening air gathering around them. He felt at peace in a way his all-too-active mind seldom allowed. For once, the distaff-conversation, the alternative replies that moved through his mind and were left unsaid, faded into silence, allowing him to focus entirely on the young man beside him. The young man who he hoped would one day soon be his young man.

"I am afraid that I only know one, Iuchi-san. It was told to me by a monk from Shinden Osano-wo who was visiting Lord Bayushi when I was a small boy, but it has stuck with me. I think because it was so different from anything I had heard before. But...ahem...this is it:

When he became emancipated the sixth patriarch received from the fifth patriarch the bowl and robe given from the Buddha to his successors, generation after generation.

A monk named E-myo out of envy pursued the patriarch to take this great treasure away from him. The sixth patriarch placed the bowl and robe on a stone in the road and told E-myo: "These objects just symbolize the faith. There is no use fighting over them. If you desire to take them, take them now."

When E-myo went to move the bowl and robe they were as heavy as mountains. He could not budge them. Trembling for shame he said: "I came wanting the teaching, not the material treasures. Please teach me."

The sixth patriarch said: "When you do not think good and when you do not think not-good, what is your true self?"

At these words E-myo was illumined. Perspiration broke out all over his body. He cried and bowed, saying: "You have given me the secret words and meanings. Is there yet a deeper part of the teaching?"

The sixth patriarch replied: "What I have told you is no secret at all. When you realize your own true self the secret belongs to you."

E-myo said: "I was under the fifth patriarch many years but could not realize my true self until now. Through your teaching I find the source. A person drinks water and knows himself whether it is cold or warm. May I call you my teacher?"

The sixth patriarch replied: "We studied together under the fifth patriarch. Call him your teacher, but just treasure what you have attained."
---Mumon, the Gateless Gate, Senzaki and Reps, trans.

Jiro smiled pleasantly after finishing the tale, but look to his left to see what Prashant made of it. Perhaps he was familiar with it from his own studies?

The Iuchi heard the Koan attentively.

"I don't think I've heard this one before", he says after quite some time, smiling slightly.

Thinking good; Thinking not-good.

"What do you think of it, Bayushi-san? And... why do you think it has stayed with you?"

Jiro considered for a moment. "I think..." He fell silent a second time. "I think there is something to be said for the fact that understanding the true self is the door to illumination, and that to understand requires us to refrain from assigning value to what is. I often rush to judgment--on myself most of all--and while it may be that E-myo was, in fact, bad when he desired the relics, in the end the badness was immaterial--it came afterwards, in a sense. It was commentary, but not E-myo in himself. What is important is not the relic or the symbol or the commentary, but the truth, and the truth is immediate and personal--a secret only because we look for it in symbols and through commentary."

Jiro sighed. "But the symbols are so mighty, Iuchi-san, and the commentary asserts itself so well. It is as the sixth master says. The path is no secret, but that does not make it an easy one."

The Iuchi smiles fondly at the Bayushi, nodding to him.

"Hai... It does not!" He thinks for a moment.

"I guess at times the most obvious things are the hardest to do. Well... One of Shinsei's sayings bears some relation to this, I guess - 'The truth is simple, liars make it complicated'. I... Sometimes think this saying is a bit too simple, naïve even. But if you think of it, 'liars' may not be others who are trying to hide the truth, but our own thoughts, instincts, maybe desires even."

He stops for a moment, thinking again.

"But back to the Koan! I wonder... how can we distinguish our 'true self' from treasures and symbols? How can we recognise 'thinking good', from 'thinking not good', from 'truth'?"

Jiro frowned as he gave it some thought. "I...do not know, Iuchi-san. Perhaps if we withhold judgment--or remain aware of instinctual judgments and resist their application--we can see things as they are. That is, either what they are in themselves, without reference to external ideas, or perhaps what they are is determined by their effects...but again not in the sense that those effects are positive or negative...simply that they are what they are."

His frown deepened. "All of that may have meant something, but I am not sure that I could tell you again if you asked me."

The young man smiles. "Simply what things are, then... That sounds wise! So maybe our true self can see the true self in things, and in others?"

He ponders for a while, then chuckles a bit. "You say you might not be able to tell me that again, but still it is Bayushi-san who said that, ne? Was that 'thinking good'? Or a true self?", he asks, smiling playfully, but warmly.

He then seems to remember something, looking at the Bayushi with some praise in his eyes. "And ... When you were riding so well against Kuni-san yesterday. Was that a true self?", he says, the playful smile still on his lips.

Jiro blushed. "I wondered if perhaps you were watching, Iuchi-san. It gives me some satisfaction that you approve of my...rather humble abilities as a rider. I heard that you are the champion of a great race among your people? Is that so?"

"Oh, your words are far more humble than your showing was, Bayushi-san", he says, smiling fondly.

"I... have been trying to watch the events before and after I participate", he says, then adds perhaps a bit shyly."I've... been rooting for those I care for too, you know? And well..." He then adds, more calmly and cheerfully - "Many did really well with the horses yesterday! Except for Miya-sama..."

He then looks at Jiro a bit more directly. "But you rode true, really! Even more so for one trained for the courts!"

He saw genuinely happy for Jiro and interested in the topic - perhaps unsurprisingly for a Unicorn. But he then turns back to the previous topic.

"So... I suppose it was your true self atop the horse, then, ne?" he says, smiling. "Can I follow with another koan I remember a monk mentioning in our training?" He looks ahead "I suppose we still have time before we reach the landscape of your painting?"

He then starts reciting:

"A long time ago there were two friends, one who played the harp skillfully and one who listened skillfully.

When the one played or sang about a mountain, the other would say: "I can see the mountain before us."

When the other played about water, the listener would exclaim: "Here is the running stream!"

But the listener fell sick and died. The first friend cut the strings of his harp and never played again."

"What do you think of this story, Bayushi-san?"

Jiro blushed prettily at the high praise, but notes that Prashant does not confirm the rumors of his great success. Curious.

"Iuchi-san's praise is very much appreciated." He found himself smiling his small, private smile. "If I am my true self when I am riding, then I wonder if perhaps he will ride with me before we leave Tsuma?"

Then he turned to the koan.

"I confess my first reaction is one of sadness, Iuchi-san. That a great musician should give up his gift is a stunning display of loyalty to his friend's memory, but...it strikes me as a tragedy nonetheless. I am not sure if it is truly honoring the memory of the friend, or trying to eliminate that memory from his mind."

Jiro tilts his head. "But I do not think that my instinct is to think like Shinsei or a member of the Brotherhood. Perhaps they would say that he was setting aside his desire...but then, perhaps it reflects that he only desired his friend's approval or enjoyment of his art, and now that his friend is gone, there is no point in playing."

Jiro frowned. "I am not sure."

For all his monkly and sometimes academic ways, it seems clear, in this topic at least, that Prash is as much a Unicorn as any Moto.

"Oh", Prashant says, smiling as well. "That does sound nice, Bayushi-san! Although..."

He smiles a bit again, clearly happy even though once again his eyes seem a bit distant for a moment. "You had mentioned the race in the Naadam - the competition for the annual Unicorn gempukku ceremony that is. I... did win the horse race this year", he says, and unlikely for him his eyes even look slightly proud. "Or rather, my family's Yentekke did", he says, laughing a bit. "I had rather expected one of my dear friends to win it, really! But Yentekke was particularly inspired that day"

His eyes shine brightly as he mentions 'his dear friends' and the race, but this time something seems different. Instead of distant, sad and awkward, he seems more comfortable, maybe even happy - as if sharing these good feelings with Jiro somehow made sense to him.

Coming back to the present moment with a tender, warm smile, he lowers his head a bit. "Unfortunately it is often thought that Shugenja do not need horses as often and as much as others, so I haven't ridden Yentekke or another of my family's horses to Tsuma. But we might be allowed to use ponies for a ride around the town if we can find the chance to do it before the tournament is over. It's... not quite the same thing, but it should be nice".

He then finally turns back to the Koan.

"Ah... but my apologies, Bayushi-san! About the story. I often think about this one myself, in fact, and... well, I also feel there is a sense of sadness in it, ne? But... I find it interesting that you mentioned it might seem as if the harp player would be trying to eliminate his friend's memory by laying his instrument to rest. That is not an interpretation I remember the monk or my colleagues bringing up."

He thinks for a bit.

"In fact... whenever I think about this Koan I keep going back to the relationship between the silent harp and the listener's impressions when hearing his friend's music. Do you think... that fits with your interpretation of 'forgetting'? And... what do you feel would be a proper way to honour the lost friend's memory?"

"I am sure that there are healthier ways than to erase an art that this friend held dear. I am sure that there are others who could be moved as well, not as replacements for the friend, but as...fellow participants in this art."

He bowed his head in thought. "Yes, I think that would be a better path. It does not represent a clinging to the dead friend, but it honors him."

Jiro's face brightened considerably at the mention of the Naadam. "But winning the Naadam sounds like a truly splendid feat, Iuchi-san. I feel some pride that such a horseman finds my riding worthy of a little praise. I will be looking forward to riding with you. But then, I find myself looking forward to any time I spend with you."

They had come upon the place he had painted his landscape the day before, where the river passed below a rise in the land. An easel holding the painting stood on the spot commanding the view that Jiro had painted.

He nods, still thoughtful. "Hai.... It's interesting, really. I wonder - breaking one's instrument, or keeping it and finding others to hear, which of them is more motivated by 'clinging to the dead friend'? And... is breaking the instrument or using it to create more beauty the better way to 'honour' the friend?"

"The koan also mentions that 'cutting harp strings' has become a sign of close friendship in some circles. I... think there is a metaphorical image here", he says, looking at the sky, still thoughtful... then looks back at Jiro and smiles.

"Oh, Bayushi-san, you honour me too much! I did not win the Naadam - that fell to our fierce friend Moto Ichiro-san!", he says, laughing slightly. "Yentekolyi and I did win the horse race, though! Even beat the awesome Shiotome Ne... Utaku Nesrin-san and Utaku Himeko-san!" - his voice gets passionate, joyful and caring as he talks about the event and his companions - it was probably already clear before, but if not, it is now that he not only greatly respects his clan and its traditions, but also has close ties and great enjoyment of many of his clansmates.

"But Bayushi-san, you're too humble - your performance was remarkable, even more so regarding your control of the steed proper!" He looks down for a moment, a smile clear in his eyes. "I'm looking forward to our ride then", he nods, then sees the easel and takes in the view. "Oh... this is a lovely spot!"

Bayushi Jiro was not at all certain he could conceive of a positive metaphor for friendship in the intentional ruining of a musical instrument, so he was a little bit pleased that the conversation turned just then.

"Awesome Shiotome, Iuchi-san? Well, I suppose I agree. They are awesome in their way, though I have always thought that Moto Ichiro embodied the term. It is no surprise to me that he came away with the championship. But you bested all of them on their own turf, as it were. That is very...very inspiring! And it is good that you take some pride in it. I think it is a wonderful thing."

But as Prashant brought up the landscape, Jiro smiled and took a step slightly closer to his companion.

"I agree entirely, Iuchi-san. I thought to paint it to have kept a memory of the place near at hand. But...I am glad that you find it beautiful as well, and...I do not think that I shall be able to forget Tsuma. So...if you would accept the painting as a gift from me, that you might remember this spot and our time together, that would please me very much."

The Iuchi smiles warmly at Jiro's compliment, a small grin on his lips again. He's not usually one to be proud, but winning the horse race was a big surprise, and a pleasant feeling - even if he still though it was as much or even more Windhoof's success as his own.

But he quickly focused back on the landscape before them. It was really something to behold, and the fine day made it even more beatiful.

He was looking around, taken in by the view, as he heard and, after some time, processed the Scorpion's words.

"Oh!", he says, turning to the Bayushi. "Bayushi-san... I... I couldn't possibly be worthy of the time and spirit you have dedicated to record this lovely view", he says, bowing slightly even as he smiles.