Yet more essays! (Joy -_-) Also, fic rec.

[soc_puppet]

summerwrite, it has begun! \o/... I think.

Finished up with step three of the Snowflake Method; hoping to start step four soon-ish, but also have finals next week and papers to work on.

Speaking of papers! I have two more finished for my Eastern Religions class which I found fun to write.

Eight Paths to the City

Once there were eight brothers who wished to travel to the city to sell their wares. They traveled together until reaching a point where the road divided, split into two paths three times.

A sign showed that each path lead to the city, but the brothers argued over which would be the fastest route. Unable to decide which one to take, the brothers agreed to split up, each taking one road. So saying, each of them took a share of their burden and chose a road, planning to meet up in the city before selling their goods.

The first brother took the path marked as Right View. He was a man who valued his eyesight, and his ability to tell quality goods from poor goods just by a glance. Since he had such good eyes, he was not worried when the path became twisted and dark.

His lack of concern did not last, however, as the shadows stretched and warped, making the most innocuous things appear sinister. More focused on the path in the distance than in front of him, he tripped over a snarled root, and his pack was snatched from him as if stolen by some miscreant.

Panicked, the man froze in place, clenching his eyes shut. As he allowed the sounds of the forest to permeate his hearing, his heart grew calmer, and at last he opened his eyes again.

There was his pack, just behind him, hanging from an outstretched tree branch. What's more, he could now make out where the trees parted, and the city's walls not far beyond. Taking his pack gratefully, the first brother quickly made his way out of the woods, taking care not to let his fears cloud his vision again.

The second brother, valuing his reasoning more than his eyes, took the path marked Right Thought. He believed his mind to be sound and often stuidied science in his free time to strengthen it, so he knew there could be nothing more to the path than trees, roots, and earth.

As he walked, though, his mind wandered. Soon he was no longer thinking of the path but of the city, and his seven brothers. So lost was he in thought that when a snapping twig brought him back to the present, he could not even recognize where he was.

The second brother's throat was clogged with panic, and his thoughts raced in circles, providing little comfort. But, when he looked behind him, he recognized a gnarled tree many meters back, and was reassured that he was traveling in the right direction. "As long as I keep going forward, I will make it out of the forest and reach the city," he reasoned, and set forth with renewed vigor. It was not long at all before he made it out of the trees.

The third brother, caring more for the present than either his eyes or reasoning, chose the path marked as Right Mindfulness. Since he was always mindful of his friends and family, he could only perceive benefit from taking the path, and set off nearly care-free.

Not far into the trees, however, the road shifted uncomfortably beneath his shoes. He stumbled for a few steps over the rocks, and then came to an uncertain stop. Swallowing, he moved to step forward, but the rocks beneath him trembled too much for him to go on. Focusing on his feet, the brother reminded himself where he was, and took a more certain step forward, followed quickly by another, and another. By focusing primarily on the present, he made quick progress over the unstable rock path and soon exited the woods.

Unlike his brothers, the fourth brother's greatest passion was the spoken word. His love was stringing them together in new ways to find the sounds they would make. For this reason, he chose the path of Right Speech.

He had not traveled far on the path when he came across an elderly man carrying a huge load. Being well raised, the fourth brother offered to assist the gentleman in his carrying until they reached the older man's donkey cart. The elderly man was delighted, and accepted the brother's offer immediately, babbling about his plans in the city and his twelve grandchildren.

The man was not an eloquent speaker, and he walked slowly as he talked. Soon, the fourth brother lost track of his words, focusing instead on the weight in his arms, and reaching the donkey cart as soon as possible.

At last they reached the cart, and the fourth brother loaded the man's goods up gratefully. The old man looked at him expectantly. "Well?" he asked.

The fourth brother frowned in confusion, and the old man prompted him to take the offer he had made on their walk. At last the younger man had to admit that he hadn't been listening, and the older man nodded in understanding. "I offered you a ride to the city in my cart for helping me carry," he explained.

At once the brother was remorseful and apologized profusely, assuring the man that he would listen more closely if he would be so kind as to share his stories again. The man readily agreed, and the two of them spent the ride to the city deep in conversation.
So it was that the first four brothers met the second four not far outside the city's walls, having all arrived at roughly the same time. They each shared the story of their travels as they set up their stall, and learned what had happened to the others.

The fifth brother told how he had taken the path of Right Action and made it over a steep gully only by following a type of bird that had offended him in the past.

The sixth brother shared how he had wrestled his way through thick vines on the path of Right Diligence, allowing rare, colorful flowers to get sun in the process.

The seventh brother had become lost on the path of Right Concentration, but had been able to follow the sound of a stream to find the road again.

The eighth brother related how he had shared his lunch with a stray dog on the path of Right Livelihood and was later defended from a viper by the animal.

All eight brothers agreed that they had learned valuable lessons on the paths, and decided to take different routes on the way home than those they had come by. And so it was that the brothers grew in wisdom on the eight roads to the market.

--fin--

I feel pretty lame for that one, actually -_-a We were using Thich Nhat Hanh's The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching in class, and had only gotten through the eightfold path before we ran out of time and had to move on to the Tao de Ching and Zen Buddhism ^^a In any case, the path order up there is the order in which he writes about them, and not the order in which they are usually given. I really could've fleshed out the second four brothers' stories, but I was kinda running out of page space as it was (er), and the teacher's got a bunch of final essays to grade coming up anyway.

Assignment: Show how you apply the eightfold path in real life. I'm about a month and a half late with this paper, but I'm also finally satisfied with it, unlike the first two drafts I tried ^^a Thankfully, the teacher is remarkably cool about this, as well as my choice to write in fiction format (♥!), in addition to sounding somewhat vaguely like Ben Stein :3


Three Religious Icons Walk Into a Tea House

Lao-tse and a Buddha sat adjacent to one another in the tea house; when the Buddha set her cup down, a Zen priest appeared and filled both, then quickly returned to tending the kettle. The two at the table turned at the sound of the door opening, and Arjuna entered.

"To appear when called
Rather than lingering in stagnation
Is the height of wisdom," Lao-tse said pointedly.

"It's wonderful that you are here," the Buddha told him, gentling Lao-tse's words.

Arjuna pulled up a chair, and the Zen priest left a cup of tea at his place.

"Apologies, revered friends," he said;
"While traveling here expediently,
I was called to my duty,
And I could not turn my back to it."

The Buddha nodded understandingly, and Lao-tse allowed grudgingly:

"To do one's duty, and allow others the same
Is wisdom beyond wisdom."

The Zen priest set a dish of sweets on the table to offset the bitterness of the tea; Arjuna took one and popped it in his mouth.

"Friends," he said, "You called
And so I came. Now I ask
of you, why have you called
me here today? Why do we meet?"

The Buddha sipped her tea thoughtfully. "While all our teachings are distinct," she said at last, "there are those who would compare us. I have thought that proximity alone cannot be the basis for such comparisons, and Lao-tse agrees; we both would like to hear your opinion on the matter.

Lao-tse nodded. "While one's neighbor
may be distinguished,
only fools mistake
one for the other."

Arjuna processed this. "I find
I also agree," he replied, "For
even siblings who share parents
will be different from one another.

"Our duties are not the same,
and we vary in the methods
by which we complete them.
Truly, we are diverse companions."

"The sage who knows his place
Need not spend his life searching," Lao-tse added.

"As it is one man's place
to instill social order,
it is another man's task
to set the familial hierarchy.

"Thus, though I may set down instructions
for proper courtly behavior,
Your master Vishnu assigns people to their
rightful place in the world,
and to them their right Dharma.

"It is neither my task nor yours
to do this for him.

The Zen priest passed through, refreshing cups and laying out cleaning cloths.

"Well put," the Buddha remarked. "One who teaches courtesy should not be expected to write out laws or govern classes, nor should a lawmaker be made to teach others how and when to bow.

"Likewise," she continued, "I am fit for neither of those tasks. I strive instead to help people attain inner peace and reflect it in their outward lives. My teachings are not yours, and yours are not mine.

"I will not deny, however," said she, "that all our ideals share some common elements. Though they are different ways, we each seek the same destination."

Lao-tse allowed himself a nod.

"While there are many rivers
that follow different paths,
they will all end in the sea.

"Like the rivers,
though our ways differ,
our goals are the same."

Arjuna agreed. "While our roads vary,
we have similar paths in mind.
Through practicing good Karma, citizens
find peace with themselves and others.

"Similarly, followers of the Way
do their duty and can find harmony,
just as those who seek enlightenment
must first know their place in the world."

The Buddha smiled in satisfaction. "It is true that, though only an ignorant being would think us the same, we have more in common than we might. And while we may be compared by some, we know that we are distinct.

Having reached accord, the companions finished their tea, and left the tea house to travel their separate ways.

The Zen priest cleared the table and washed the dishes.

--fin--

Using Buddha here to mean "enlightened being" rather than a specific figure. Likewise, the Zen priest is a generic priest with no specified gender. In fact, the thing that made me write the essay was being able to treat the Zen priest like that, as we had a speaker on Zen Buddhism come in a week ago who talked about how Zen was all about being there, and how when people ask Zen priests about Zen (What is Zen?, etc), the Zen priests are known to advise they stop asking questions and go wash the dishes X3

Had way too much fun with this, and worry about about what I've done with the style/representations here, but am otherwise satisfied. 'Specially since it took less than two days.


Sadly, I can't actually count either of those towards my word count for this summer, as they were both finished on Wednesday, but at least they're done and in for credit! And I am soooo going to count anything I actually write down for the next Snowflake steps toward my wordcount. (Page-long Summaries should totally count, guys.)

One more thing before I close up shop here - lyzzle, you are requested to report here for a very well done and in-character Percy Jackson and the Olympians friendship fic, featuring Percy and Grover. Especially since you dragged me into the damn fandom in the first place. Now go! *makes shooing motions*

Actually, let's extend that to anyone else who might be familiar with the series. It's a lovely piece of work, so you should go read it! And if you're not familiar with the series, well, I suggest you become familiar. (Greek mythology! Guys, it's Greek mythology, done in a not horrible way! And very cool characters and solid friendships and... just go read it already.)

Comments

[lyzzle.livejournal.com]

Dude, I've totally had that fic open in my tabs all day. XD ...But I haven't read it yet. Going now!

ps: I need more PJO icons! D:

[soc_puppet]

Go reeeeaad iiiiiit, it is socute! And review also. We must encourage the writer to write more, yes?

Ditto, man. The only one I have I got from you. Which is an awesome icon, but not exactly versatile?

[lyzzle.livejournal.com]

It isss! :D And yes, we must. Unfortunately, I uber fail at reviews. ^^;

I know what you mean. :/ I'll have to raid the comm for a new one. Or two. Or three.

[soc_puppet]

Do so anyway! Even if it's just "I liked it" or "How cute!" or "I read it and thought it was good so my friend told me to review it, so here I am"!

Sounds like a plan; I may just look into making my own, myself.

[abarero]

*flails at fic plug* Thank you for just making my day infinitely more awesome *.*

And yesssss, more people need to get into Percy Jackson. I have been pimping to everyone I talk to about it XD;

[soc_puppet]

It was well deserved, IMHO :3 And thank you for also making -my- day more awesome with the fic in the first place ^.^ ♥

Yessss, they dooooo. I should probably shove the books at my mom as well, come to think of it...