#re: buddhist

[smt-smash-or-pass]

[hinamie]

not a question but i'm losing my mind a little bit over airbender gojo.......in lok we learn that airbenders can unlock the ability to fly by severing all earthly tethers.....and what happened to gojo's tether? his one and only???? can he fly because he killed suguru? i'm not okay

that would be a good theory!!! if gojo was an airbender :3

jjk atla!au with @philosophiums

[necromancy-savant]

Rehab was pretty hit or miss - I met some great people, but the program was very 12 Steps oriented, and I'm more convinced than ever that the 12 Steps is a cult that leads its members to an early death. On the other hand, changing my medication totally killed my desire to drink as did the conviction that I do not want anything to do with the world of recovery

[ravenkings]

not to make another sob story roman roy post (i’ll include connor in this one as well) but another one of the many tragedies that make up their lives is the fact that neither of them were ever given a chance to succeed in life (despite their absurdly capacious material resources) bc the only model for success they had was their father’s corporate media mogul success and neither roman nor connor are really cut out for that in the same way that it seems shiv and kendall are (or might be lmao bc neither of them have really been tested yet.)* 

both roman and connor seem to me to be people who could potentially succeed and maybe even be happy in life if they were somehow able to completely get out from waystar/logan’s influence/the public sphere/etc. (not that they will ofc; i’m not that naive.) however, imo both shiv and kendall seem to identify so closely with their father’s professional legacy and their personal identities are so deeply entangled with it that i have a hard time imagining them as ever being able to fully pull away from it or find satisfaction in something else in life.

*connor, of course, does try to run for president, but he’s still playing his father’s game since the entire campaign seems to be more or less financed through his family money, and he tries to get special airtime on atn, so imo that doesn’t really count.  

[brawley1492]

When "Evil" Buddhists die!

I suspect!

Their "re-incarnation" ends! ... William

[weedle-testaburger]

ok that last post about joseph reminded me of something i thought of when we went to the christmas service: i remember when we did a lesson about buddhism in re and idk if they explained it wrong but if they were correct it sounds way more metal. with christianity it's all 'and an angel came to mary and asked her to have a baby for god' but apparently with buddhism it's 'the buddha's mum had a dream that an elephant put a flower in her womb and had a baby with paddle wheels tattooed on his feet'

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Grape seller NPC: That will be two silvers.

Buddhist cleric, currently broke: Will you accept payment in the form of a parable? 

DM: Uh…roll persuade.

[Cleric rolls a nat 20 and piles his obscene number of bonuses on top.]

DM: Your parable converts him to Buddhism. 

[This was a bad precedent to set, because for the rest of the session, the party nominated Cleric their chief negotiator.]

Ship’s Captain: The voyage will cost you 30 gold pieces each.

Cleric: Are you interested in two grapes and a parable?

[DM did not manage to re-impose sensible rules about finances until party tried this on the hostile kraken priest demanding tribute for his kraken in the middle of the Mediterranean.]

Artificer: Would your kraken like some grapes?

Barbarian: And a parable?

[Next session, the remainder of the party will be attempting to trade grapes and a parable for several resurrections.]

[peekofhistory]

Do you have a favourite c-drama, either historical, modern or fantasy? I really enjoyed watching Everlasting Longing

I absolutely have a favourite, along with 3 other that come really close 😃 These 4 shows I've watched for almost 30 years now and I still keep re-watching them because of how amazing they are.

a) 1994 Romance of the Three Kingdoms (三国演义) b) 1986 Journey to the West (西游记) c) 1987 Dream of the Red Chamber (红楼梦) d) 1998 Water Margins (水浒传)

These 4 series were based off of the classical novels of the same names. They were produced by CCTV, the central broadcasting network in China, so we call them 央视版 (central broadcast version) because there are many other adaptations.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, out of these 4 series this one is my ABSOLUTE favourite. Not only for Chinese drama, this is my favourite show historical, modern, Chinese, English, the top spot in my heart.

This story is set in the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history. Out of all 4 classics, this one is the most historical, but the story DOES contain many fictional aspects. Many people say it's 70/30 (70% based on history, 30% made up/tweaked from history). The characters themselves ARE all real in history, and the general direction of the story follows history as well.

Near the end of the Han Dynasty, local warlords started gaining power, eventually splitting the country into 3 Kingdoms. That's pretty much the basis of the story. It goes into strategies used in warfare, psychology of using strategies, famous battles, etc. People also use it to discuss some philosophical questions like, honor, right vs wrong (kill an innocent person to calm an entire army, is that justified? etc.), what is acceptable as a leader, being faithful to your country, not giving up, etc.

I've watched this series no less than 20 times over the past 30 years and every time I still laugh and cry. I also know enough about the background when they were filming to know how difficult it was. The series is 84 eps long, they filmed in 5 groups for 3 years (so basically all 5 groups were filming at the same time to save time), even utilizing the military for some of the larger battles. Main character roles were paid 250 yuan/episode (about $34 USD today), which was fairly good for salary back then but nowhere near the outrageous amounts actors get today compared to average worker. The first few months before filming all actors went through training, horseback riding, fighting, going over the novel with experts, learning etiquette and mannerisms, etc.

This series also has my favourite historical figures, Emperor Liubei and his Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. After researching the actual history of this period, these two are my top historical Emperor/advisor pair. An Emperor who trusted his Prime Minister with his Kingdom, and a Prime Minister who fought to the last breath to fulfill the dream they had together T___T 为什么我的鱼水君臣要 BE...😭😭😭

If you're interested in watching this series, @hanchaozhilang is doing English subs for the whole series

Putting up 2 MVs for them here (combined into 1 video), 我家昭烈帝和武侯有排面！！

Srcs: 一知半解书 【悬溺一响，诸葛亮登场】 https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1nP411W7tA/

博文儿吖 【刘备|正史燃向】翻译翻译什么叫昭烈！ https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV14r4y1m7rs/

Journey to the West is based off of a true event in history, during the Tang Dynasty. A monk went on a journey from Chang'an (now Xi'an) to India for Buddhist scriptures. I'm not too familiar with the actual history, but I can imagine back then it would've been an incredibly difficult journey to make.

The novel took that journey and expanded it. They wrote in 3 disciples for the monk (technically 4...the horse who's the son of one of the Dragon Kings is also one), and put 81 "tests" along the way. The monk and his disciples had to overcome these attempts to thwart their journey to finally reach their goal.

The main character of this series isn't actually the monk but his eldest disciple, the Monkey King (top right). The Monkey King (named Sun Wukong) was birthed from a rock, and learned skills like how to transform into various objects, how to fly, etc. At one point he trashed the Jade Emperor (Emperor of the Heavens) palace and was sentenced by Buddha to be trapped under a mountain, but was tasked to assist the monk on his journey 500 years later.

When they filmed this series they were desperately short on funding, only had 1 video camera to use xD Every single main actor took on several roles (some of the smaller monster roles, once all the makeup was on you couldn't tell anyway). The actor who played the Monkey King, Liu Xiao Ling Tong, he came from a family of Peking Opera performers who specialized in the Monkey King role, so he excelled in it.

The novel Dream of the Red Chamber is originally called Story of the Stone (石头记). It centres around several large, rich, powerful families interconnected through marriage, with members serving in the court and one of the daughters even being a concubine to the Emperor. Although the story doesn't specify a dynasty, most people speculate it's likely set in Ming (the author was from the Qing Dynasty).

There are numerous storylines throughout the story, but the main one is between a young man, Baoyu, and his cousin, Daiyu (top left). This novel is incredibly complicated, with an entire profession dedicated to studying just this book (called "Redology" 红学). It can be viewed as telling the rise and fall of a family, but can also be viewed to describe a society and the rise and fall of dynasties. There are many, many characters in this book all with different story arcs. When I was a child, watching this show was just pretty clothes and hair, but as I grew, every time I re-watched the show I found reflections of life in this story. Family relationships, friendships, colleagues, bosses, this story touches on all of them, so whatever age you read this book/watch this show there's things to think about.

Many of the actors for this show were not actors by profession, literally plucked from the crowd. For two years prior to filming, all of them lived together, learning the script, reading the novel, going over it with experts, learning mannerisms, how to write calligraphy, poetry, etc. Their roles weren't immediately set, so during those two years they all tried out different roles, memorized lines, basically like living in a giant dormitory together, so once filming did start their "acting" was very natural.

Water Margins is set in the Song Dynasty. This story, to me, is darker than the other 3. The story depicts a court that is very corrupt and unjust, which forces a lot of otherwise good people to resort to criminal activity. Over 100 of them gather on a mountain in the middle of a lake, called Liangshan, where they essentially become a gang.

The traditional view of them tended to be kind of like Robinhood, raiding local cities and distributing the wealth to the people but if you actually read the book it's darker. Before joining the group, some of them would kidnap women and **** them, or one person had a restaurant where she murdered customers and made them into meat buns O.O;; So...yeah, dark stuff.

But anyway, the story goes into how this group take on the courts, lots of fighting, lots of bloodshed, the ending's really tragic T_T

[ryin-silverfish]

how does rebirth and reincarnation work in Buddhism

do memories carry over and Can personality traits or characteristics also stay the same

or does being reborn erase everything and basically reboot a person

is everyone reincarnated or just some people and what causes rebirth

if you don’t want to explain it can you please reply with links to websites where I can find information on the topic

Disclaimer: Everything I write here is less Indian Buddhism, and more "sinicized Buddhist concepts", aka "Chinese adoptation of the ideas of karmic laws and reincarnation, with a bunch of tweaks".

-There are 6 paths of rebirth: Heavenly/Deva, Asura, Human, Beasts, Hungry Ghosts, Hell. In practice, because of unfamiliarity with the Hindu Asura ("wrathful demigods"), it often gets simplified into 5 paths instead.

-Based on one's karma (consequences of one's causes), one is reborn into one of these Paths after death. The first 3 are commonly seen as the "3 good paths", while the last 3 are the "3 bad paths".

-Technically, even being reborn as a celestial being does not free you from suffering, since, despite the incredibly long lifespan of celestials and the pleasures they enjoy, their stay there is still not infinite, and they'll be reborn into a lower path once their Good Deeds Bank runs out, so to speak.

-However, in lay practice, being reborn in the Heavenly path is often considered "Good enough".

-Similarly, in more doctrinal Buddhism, the concept of "non-being" and the lack of a permanent, eternal self is a big thing (where there's no continuation of the self between each life, memory-wise or personality-wise).

-Yet after its spread to China, it was adjusted to fit, and syncretized with existing beliefs about souls and ancestor worship, and honestly, folks pretty much assumed that there is a...soul thingy that gets reincarnated, and some sort of continuation exists between each life.

-In Northern-Southern dynasty and Tang legends, there are a lot of tales about people who remembered their past lives, or people who suffered misfortune/got a lawsuit from ghosts in the Underworld bc of bad things they did in another life.

-However, in the latter case, they often don't remember. It is kinda implied that reincarnation itself blurred/erased their memories, but never explicitly explained.

-The much later Ming-Qing addition of Mengpo and her amnesia soup could be seen as a "fix-it" to that question: people don't remember their past lives bc the amnesia soup is mandatory, and the few who remembered are folks who had found a way to avoid drinking it.

-Like all folklore stuff, it's far from universally adopted, and in Liaozhai, you can still see tales like Lian Xiang's, where the fox spirit in question died, reincarnated into a human body, and remembered her old ghostly rival-turned-best-friend upon seeing her again.

-In vernacular novels and tales about reincarnated immortals and celestial deities, like JTTS and JTTN, it's more common for the protagonists to remember their original self from start to finish, or recover their memories after being informed of that fact and settle on working their way back into their old position.

-As for "does everyone have to go through reincarnation?" Unless you are a Buddha, a Bodhisattva, or Arhat, technically yes.

-After Daoism adopted the Buddhist ideas of karma and reincarnation, there were also works that suggested, by attaining immortality, you wouldn't have to reincarnate again...

-But I personally saw that as more of a "immortality just means no natural death, not unkillable" situation——the immortal in question won't have to reincarnate bc they can no longer die of old age, but if sth comes along and kill them, or they got demoted by the Heavenly Emperor for breaking celestial laws, their soul will still re-enter the cycle.

-Lastly, what causes rebirth? Well...existing. As long as you are within the Realm of Desire and a being of the Six Paths, you are subjected to the cosmological cycle, and to Buddhists, the only way out is attaining enlightenment.

[redsugarx]

青白之魅 2: Background & Influences

1 Introduction & Presentation // 2 Background & Influences // 3 Hair & Makeup // 4 Set Design // 5 Clothes & Accessories // 6 Conclusion

You want the nerd stuff? This is the Nerd Stuff post. Here are the main pieces of media that inspired the shoot, which I will be referencing in subsequent posts.

I'm not gonna be re-detailing the events of the legend itself in this post, because there are like a billion versions out there that you can easily find, but if you're not familiar with it here is the Wikipedia page. I'd give the plot a quick glance-through!

白蛇傳/白蛇传/bai2 she2 zhuan4/Legend of the White Snake

Mural depicting Bai Suzhen at the Beijing Summer Palace. Src: Wikimedia Commons, 颐和园长廊绘画，白蛇传, December 2005

It’s hard to say when exactly the Legend of the White Snake originated. When it first started out, it was likely just another standard married-a-pretty-girl-but-actually-it-was-a-demon fable. It didn’t stay that way—the Ming and Qing dynasties favored romance and feeling (google the Cult of Qing, it’s too complicated for me to go into and frankly my grasp on it is hazy at best), sort of like the way Europe had a Romantic period, which impacted literature in a variety of ways.

One of the most well-known early versions is a Ming Dynasty story called 白娘子永鎭雷峰塔/白娘子永镇雷塔/bai2 niang2 zi0 yong3 zhen4 lei2 feng1 ta3/'Madam White is Imprisoned Forever Under the Leifeng Pagoda,' from Feng Menglong's famous 警世通言/jing4 shi4 tong1 yan2/'Cautionary Tales.' It portrays Bai Suzhen, then called 白娘子/白娘子/bai2 niang2 zi0/Madam White, in a more sympathetic light (although she takes on somewhat of a crazy ex-girlfriend role). Later depictions focused on Bai Suzhen as the main character.

Src: Wikimedia Commons, 杭州西湖边，许仙、白娘子、小青塑像, May 2009

I like to consider this folktale as an example of how people and culture can change drastically through time, and how the boundaries between ideas become more blurry the closer you look. I also like to look at it as an example of people's views on something changing for the better as a result of familiarization: while the original snake-wife horror story likely stemmed from a fear of venomous snakes and supernatural threats, the propagation of the story throughout literature, opera, and other media encouraged understanding and sympathy over terror and rejection.

Most versions of the Legend of the White Snake end after Bai Suzhen gives birth to her son, only to be imprisoned under the Leifeng Pagoda by the monk Fahai, who Xiaoqing is not yet strong enough to defeat alone. Fortunately, a commonly-accepted sequel story involves either Xiaoqing coming back to fight Fahai and free her sister after cultivating her abilities to be strong enough, or Bai Suzhen's son growing up to show so much filial piety that the heavens were moved to release her.

Today, some people worship the snake sisters as deities, especially Bai Suzhen (there are a couple temples dedicated to her!), as symbols of health and medicine. In this way you can see that the sisters achieved immortality in the end :)

青蛇/青蛇/ QING1 SHE2/GREEN SNAKE (1993)

src: TMDB, liml715, 青蛇 (1993)

In my first semester at college I took a spectacular class called Sex and Gender in Premodern Chinese Culture. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least, though extremely challenging. At the end of the semester, we watched Green Snake, a 1993 Hong Kong movie directed by Tsui Hark 徐克 based on the novel by the famous author Lillian Lee, 李碧華.

A majority of white + green snake photoshoots these days base their model styling on this movie. It’s a beautiful story that touches on sensuality and suffering, simultaneously exploring and questioning Buddhist and traditional Chinese philosophies. The film is wrought with natural imagery and symbolism, containing allegories for 'othering' and perceived righteousness that I think are very relevant to today’s society. I especially appreciated its portrayal of the raw, animalistic nature of 'coming into womanhood,' and the question of whether form dictates identity or vice versa.

I watched the original Cantonese version, but I found this dubbed mandarin version on Youtube with simplified and English subtitles for your viewing pleasure.

A lot of design choices I made were impacted by this movie, especially the set design. The film focuses more on the two snake sisters as the main characters, rather than Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian's romance being the focus of the plot, so it expounded more on Xiaoqing's character than the opera or the original folktale. The overall aesthetic was very mystical and alluring and I used that as inspiration for my set design.

戲曲/戏曲/Chinese Opera

Chinese opera played a big role in popularizing the Legend of the White Snake, especially the romantic version popular today. There are lots of different kinds of Chinese opera (jingxi, gezaixi, kunqu, yue, wu, etc etc etc), and many of them have their own structures and versions of the Legend of the White Snake. The version I watched in full was Peking opera (because it was free and on Youtube lol, highly recommend).

Chinese opera has specific 行當/行当/hang2 dang1/‘role types’ for its characters. You might call these 'tropes' or 'archetypes'—it’s similar to how you’d call someone the female lead or male lead, or maybe 'sidekick bestie' or 'comic relief,' except more specific. Each role type has its own set of rules for costuming, the skillset the actor has to have, and the role of the character in the overall story. Sometimes there are subtypes of roles. In the Legend of the White Snake, both sisters are 旦角/dan4 jiao3/‘female leads.’ 

src: Wikimedia Commons, Legend of the White Snake in Beijing Opera, Feb 2008

Bai Suzhen is a 正旦/正旦/zheng4 dan4/‘righteous woman,’ also called the 青衣/青衣/qing1 yi1/‘teal-dressed.’ Most operas have this role as the female lead. A zhengdan is a dignified woman with steadfast virtues and an elegant demeanor, often already married or middle-aged. She is strong-willed, sophisticated, and fights for what’s right. Usually, her actions and decisions drive the plot of the story.

Xiaoqing's martial uniform. Src: 典藏臺灣, 青蛇戰裙襖-衣、褲（典藏號fir_09_0106_169）, March 2008

Xiaoqing can count as either a 花旦/花旦/hua1 dan4/‘flower maiden’ or 武旦/武旦/wu3 dan4/‘martial woman.’ The huadan is a younger girl with a lively and more naive personality, often accompanying an older and more mature zhengdan or guimendan (I don’t think this opera has a guimendan so I won’t go over it). As Bai Suzhen’s sworn sister, she playfully fulfills the duties of a maid, acting as her confidant and assistant, even helping to set up the meet-cute between her and Xu Xian.

借傘/借伞/jie4 san3/'Borrowing the Umbrella,' the scene in which Bai Suzhen and Xu Xian meet.

Both sisters carry swords, have extensive fight scenes and can be considered wudan in the scenes they fight in. You’ll see that during these scenes, there's a costume change into the wudan’s soldier uniform, 戰襖/战袄/zhan4 ao3/battle costume. They each perform a variety of acrobatic tricks with swords and spears that the actors have to train for years to master, especially Xiaoqing.

金山寺/jin1 shan1 si4/Jinshan Temple plainclothes rehearsal, one of the two extended fight scenes in the opera.

The opera is significant for a couple of reasons—one being that it helped me get a sense of the snake sisters' characterizations, and two being that it helped to see where hundreds of years of the story's evolution finally landed. I didn't use the opera costumes for inspiration in the clothing design, since opera costumes tend to be more similar to Ming/Qing clothing and my design was based off of Northern/Southern Dynasty silhouettes, but opera elements made their appearance in several ways in the hair design, which I'll expand on in the next post.

Popular Adaptations I Did Not Watch

白蛇：緣起 and 白蛇2：青蛇劫起 (2019-2020 Donghua)

新白娘子传奇 (2019 Cdrama)

Why? These are more modern adaptations of the legend. I've seen clips from them both and they are breathtakingly beautiful in their own right! But because I was creating my own adaptation of the legend, I wanted to primarily reference older media (at least pre-2000's), rather than using other peoples' ideas from the past few years. Again though they look absolutely amazing, so for anyone who wants more engagement with the legend, I highly recommend trying them!

If you made it to the end, congrats :) I'll try to get the next few parts out relatively quickly before my memory fades so I can continue writing more informational stuff in the future. The subsequent parts will focus more on the shoot itself and the design work I did for it. Happy Year of the Snake!

1 Introduction & Presentation // 2 Background & Influences // 3 Hair & Makeup // 4 Set Design // 5 Clothes & Accessories // 6 Conclusion

[sailormoonsub]

Hey I was wondering. With Emi Shinohara’s passing, what would you rank the top 10 Mako centric episodes?

Of course! All screencaps are from @sailorsoapbox's hi-res archive.

10. Episode 29

Usagi and Mako immediately become delusional besties because Ami and Rei are too busy NOT letting their romantic imaginations run free

9. Episode 105

Mako starts training in the mountains with a Buddhist monk. You don't see any of the other senshi training in the mountains with a Buddhist monk, do you? Of course not! No one is doing it like our girl!

8. Episode 39

Ice skating was very popular on the moon. And Mako's freakin GREAT at it!!!

7. Episode 134

Makoto reconnects with a friend from her old school who is STILL not over her </3 who knows if she ever moves on, we never see her after this

6. Episode 55

Seducing an alien with hot dog octopus for the bit.

5. Episode 49

You need a blood transfusion? Mako's already sterilizing the area for the venipuncture! Don't even try to fight her! She can't be stopped!

4. Episode 96

"i'm bisexual now"

3. Episode 45

Not a Mako centric episode, but Sailor Jupiter's sacrifice MADE this episode what it was. The stakes are too high and her heart is too big. And Emi Shinohara's voice acting performance is stunning.

2. Episode 147

"When you're tall like me, no one asks you to dance." "Can I ask you for a dance?" [Tumblr user sailormoonsub starts crying.]

Episode 25

Her debut! Obviously! Before you even know her name she suplexed 3 guys on her own and then shared her adorable bento without hesitation. This girlie contains multitudes. I don't see how you can watch this episode without becoming obsessed.

[smt-smash-or-pass]

[roboticchibitan]

OK. So! Remember how I said I was going to make a zine about being nonbinary from a Buddhist perspective? I did the thing! It's available on itch for free. There's a version for viewing on a screen (the "Gender is Empty zine.PDF" file) and a file that's been re-arranged to be printed (the "gender_is_empty_zine_typeset.PDF" file). I can't help you figure out your printer. You're on your own for that.

Anyway. It's 11 pages (5.5x8.5inch pages). Here it is! Hope you enjoy!

[hallowpen]

Anil remains of the perspective that Pin's "choice" was made with the intention to hurt her instead of protect her. Their status within their own relationship forced very different reactionary measures that Anil fails to understand from her place of privilege. Anil was ready and willing to sacrifice everything in order to be with Pin, while Pin was willing to sacrifice her own happiness to prevent Anil from being disgraced. Anil has been taught by experience that should she want something, she has the power to make it happen. Pin has lived to serve the royal family and to take responsibility for any wrongdoing that may cause them potential harm.

It was lovely to see Lady Uangfah sympathizing with Pin, especially when it's compared to Princess Patt's harsher approach. Uangfah is in the best position to understand wanting something you simply cannot have... and, thus, succumbing to her own marital fate within society.

สไบ (pronounced 'sa-bai') is a shawl breast cloth that is typically worn for any culturally significant traditions... like a wedding ceremony. Often hand-embroidered, Sbai are made from long pieces of silk that can be draped diagonally around the chest by covering one shoulder and hanging behind the wearer's back. The quality (and color) of its silk and threads were determined by one's status in society. Vibrant and more expensive silks were worn by royalty, with embroideries of gold or silver threads.

Reputational hearsay is disallowed in royal society, as both involved parties typically tend to suffer as a result. Making an accusation against a person of rank requires evidentiary support, otherwise it could look like the intentional spreading of a false rumor. As Pin, Patt, and Anan all point out, should they publicly reveal the truth about Kuea without any proof, his denial could endanger the reputation of the Savettavarit name... which is what this whole insisted-upon marriage is supposed to protect in the first place.

The idea of karmic penance is nothing new in this series (or in Thai Buddhist tradition)... and it is something that has been ingrained into Pin from Patt's influence (re: episode 12). Pin, herself, has described her actions as sinful: that she would "force" Anil to step below her revered standing is considered to be 'immoral'. It can be said that Pin sees herself as a stain against Anil's otherwise pure character. In order to repent for her actions, she must make amends... no matter how much suffering she might endure as a result. And while she may not understand it, Anil can only wish that Pin can endure and find some form of happiness in her pursuit of redemption.

There are several key steps involved in a traditional Thai wedding ceremony...

ขันหมาก (pronounced 'khan maak') is a procession where the groom and his relatives march to the bride's home. The parade will often feature drummers and traditional folk dancers in a lively celebration that announces the groom's arrival. Relatives are often seen carrying monetary gifts to be used as part of the bride's dowry and offerings that represent important aspects of the marriage... such as health, prosperity, fertility and longevity.

พิธีกั้นประตู (pronounced 'phi-thi gan pra-tuu') is the symbolic barring of the groom from approaching the bride. The groom must successfully pass through a number of obstacles that are put in the groom’s way by the bride’s family. These symbolic "doors" can only be entered once the groom has proven his worth to the keepers of the "locks". Gold and silver gates are represented by gold or silver belts, which are held by two female members of the bride’s family and friends. The groom's passage through to the next door will only be granted once a "toll" has been negotiated with the keeper of the lock. The entire process is symbolic of the challenges the groom must overcome in order to be worthy of his bride's love and her family's approval. Upon completion, the dowry (สินสอด or 'sin sod') is then formally presented to the bride's family.

พิธีหลั่งน้ำพระพุทธมนต์ (pronounced 'phi-thi lang naam phra-phuut-ta-mon') is known as the water pouring ceremony. The water pouring is the most important part of a Thai wedding ceremony as it is when a couple can officially be seen as husband and wife.

Before the water pouring can take place, the couple is seated at a traditional water pouring table known as ตั่งรดน้ำ (pronounced 'dtang rot-naam')... with the bride to the left of the groom. They each receive a ceremonial headdress known as มงคล (pronounced 'mong-khol'). The headdress is made from one continuous piece of cotton that forms a circle around each of the bride's and groom's heads... to signify the joining of the two as a couple. Their foreheads are anointed with three dots of white powder to represent the shape of a pyramid, which is symbolic of enlightenment and harmony.

The รดน้ำสังข์ (pronounced 'roht naam sang') is performed by elders pouring blessed water over the couple's hands using a conch shell. The conch shell holds auspicious value through its connection to the Hindu god Vishnu. A trickle of water is poured from the base of the thumb to the fingertips, over first the groom’s and then the bride's, to symbolize the passing of blessings from one generation to the next.

[gravity-what]

I…look, I know this is supposed to be for OCs okay? But I was doing my Chinese practice so here we are…

(My practice was just colors and animals so there is a good chance that the other stuff on here is wrong, but I did my best. 😵‍💫)

Anyway, all of these are very specifically for the trio while they were together/before Chase’s betrayal. Including the songs which I put way too much research into. Hadn’t had the reason until now to read ancient Chinese poetry…

Translations and heavy details (fair warning, it’s a lot) under the cut:

Dashi

風/风龙 = Wind Dragon/Dragon of wind. Although there is a reason it’s so heavily obscured/faded.

大熹 = Dashi. Original named ‘大师’ (literally ‘Grand Master’) but he purposefully changed it upon joining the whole Dragon mess because he didn’t like the implication of his name and what it seemed to insist upon him. Instead he chose to replace 师 (shī) for 熹 (xī) meaning warm/bright. Dashi has no sir name per Zhang Zhung tradition.

银色 = silver (color). [all of the OG trio is represented by a precious metal in my stuff] in this case represented by Tibetan prayer wheels which are originally driven by wind. For Dashi in particular I tend to go with the Tibetan/buddhist symbolism of things so silver represents purity, protection, and ability to dispel negativity.

茉莉 = Jasmine. While in Chinese culture it represents long-lived love and loyalty, in Buddhism is actually is seen as a symbol of compassion, empathy, and showing kindness to all living beings in this world along with purity of intentions.

猪 = pig. While typically the pig represents abundance and happiness, and symbolizes honesty and generosity, in Buddhism it is also a symbol of ignorance and one of the three ‘poisons’ that cause suffering.

毽子 = Jianzi shuttlecock! Essentially a toy and one of Dashi’s favorite games to play (in my mind). Representing his playfulness and one of his main means of connecting to someone.

陌上来 = a yuefu poem called ‘Mulberry on the Path’ about a beautiful woman who gets hit on while on her way home from collecting Mulberry leaves for her silk worms. My choice of this particular piece for Dashi comes from a very specific analysis of the poem which says: “This poem depicts the image of a beautiful, chaste and intelligent mulberry-picking woman in a humorous style and comedic artistic technique as she turns down a man’s advances.” which I think Dashi would appreciate.

空 = Empty. It can also mean leisure or free time. This one’s a little complex because, while I chose 空 here, that actually isn’t considered a negative emotion. I chose it both for the initial western interpretation that comes with the concept of feeling ‘empty’ but also the deeper Buddhist/taoist interpretation of a ‘feeling between breaths’. A state of potential, openness, and the ability to receive new experience.

Guan

山龙 = Mountain Dragon (there are headcanons that go with this label but the gist of it is that the title of ‘Dragon of Earth’ didn’t actually solidify until later into 土龙 and part of that transition was Guan purposeful distancing himself from being a Xiaolin Dragon and pushing that title change so, if any scroll did magically show up with 山龙 next to his name the first association wouldn’t be to the Xiaolin Dragons.)

蕭關 = Xiao Guan. Xiao = sir name connected to the Xiao clan of Lanling with direct connections to the Southern Qi dynasty. 關 is a direct reference to Guan Yu a Chinese military general from 200 ce whose achievements were glorified to such an extent after his death that he was deified. Guan’s father named him 關 after him in hopes of him receiving as much renowned.

金色 = gold (color). While gold means a lot of good things (power, wealth, longevity, and happiness) I have specificity chosen to represent the color using the 馬蹄金 “Horse Hoof Gold” which I’m also using as a symbol of Guan’s Xianbei heritage and the cultural connection he is slowly re-affirming now that he is out of the more direct force of his fathers pressing demands.

寸寸金 = inch of gold. Meaning: Attracting wealth, rolling in wealth, great prosperity. It’s a plant mostly given during new years as a hope for these things in the coming year.

鹿 = Deer. wealth and longevity. But also white deer in particular are associated with immortality since it is believed that white fur is a sign an animals has achieved immortality. In deer specifically they are thought to live for 1000 years and to turn fully white at 500. For those who have read my Dashi era stuff you will probably recognize the additional connection to the 1000 year journey that represents the link between Chase and Guan’s friendship and ambitions.

關刀 = Guandao. While the first ever Guandao was made by General Guan Yu in 220-280 ce, Guan’s own version and modification of this famous weapon is already quickly changing it from a simple ‘Guandao’ to “the Spear of Guan”. it’s not quite there yet, but one day he is certain it will be just as famous as the Green Dragon Crescent Blade (青龍偃月刀).

木蘭辭 = The Ballad of Mulan, because Guan is a fanboy through and through.

无可奈何 = direct translation is ‘helpless’ but, from what I found online, it’s more specifically “feeling powerless or helpless in the face of certain situations, with no way to resolve them, leaving one with no choice but to accept them reluctantly.” Which, with his family situation…ya.

Chase

水龙 = Water Dragon aka: Dragon of Water

勇追 = Chase Young (Direct translation = Yǒng Zhuī, although Chase definitely still introduces himself as Zhuī Yǒng to be contrary. Also, post betrayal, he starts to use 永 (Perpetual/eternal) instead of 勇 (bravery) which are homophones of each other so, you know, still Yǒng Zhuī)

铜色 = copper (color). [If you have read chapter 2 of ‘gathering the dragons’ this is probably obvious]. However while Chase’s own interactions with the color are negative, copper does represent longevity due to how durable of a metal it is. Add that to the beautiful blue that is also becomes when exposed to water and oxidation and, well. Ya.

梅花 = plum blossoms. Meaning: resilience, perseverance, and hope. Furthermore, the five petals represent the five blessings (五福): long life, wealth, health, virtue, and a peaceful death. While not all specific to Chase, the number 5 is an important number associated with his and Guan’s relationship in my stories.

猫 = cat. Symbol of good fortune and used for pest control. While I mostly chose the cat because of its association with 9 lives (9 being an important number in Chase’s story) I also chose it because of just how much work went into adopting a cat in ancient China which…I liked they symbolism for for obvious (Omi related) reasons 😆.

手卷 = handscroll. (What can I say? In my mind he is a nerd who likes his scrolls. Side note: not sure about this particular translation at all since handscrolls seem to specifically refer to art scrolls and might not apply to historical/martial arts scrolls that I’m specifically trying to refer to here 🤷)

四坐且莫誼 = Let the Four Seats Be Quiet and Not Noisy. A Yuefu poem whose first line is 四坐且莫喧，愿听歌一言。which, supposedly, translates to: Please don't make any noise, I'd like to hear a song. Which mostly just makes me imagine Chase using it as a way to tell people to ‘shut up already and let me listen to the song already’. (Look, out of the trio Chase was the hardest to find a time-period appropriate poem for…which I still might have gotten wrong 🫠)

骄傲自大 = cocky/conceded/arrogant (negative). For…obvious reasons (tbh I love this character trait of his so, you know.)

[city-of-ladies]

Queen Insu (1437–1504), also known as Queen Sohye, was a shrewd political figure of the Joseon dynasty and Korea’s first female author.

A scholarly lady

Born and raised in the capital, Insu was likely taught Confucian moral principles from an early age. Coming from a family with a strong scholarly tradition and ties to the royal court, she was immersed in an environment of learning. Fluent in Chinese, Korean, and Sanskrit, and well-versed in literary classics, her education was exceptional for a woman of her time. She likely learned alongside her brothers.

At around 15, she married Crown Prince Uigyeong, and her father-in-law, King Sejo, praised her as a filial daughter.

Widowhood and regency

Insu’s life took a dramatic turn when she became a widow at just 19. Her husband, who had never ascended the throne, left her with three young children. After King Sejo’s death, his son Yejong briefly ruled but also passed away. In 1469, Insu’s second son, Seongjong, was chosen as king by her mother-in-law, Queen Jeonghui. The following year, her late husband was posthumously enshrined as king, and Insu received the title of Queen Insu.

Initially, Queen Jeonghui, was offered the regency but hesitated, suggesting Insu take the role instead. Though Jeonghui ultimately accepted, she lacked Insu's knowledge of classical Chinese. Insu, with her exceptional education and powerful family connections, became a key figure at court, wielding significant influence. While she didn’t hold an official position, she likely co-ruled with Jeonghui, assisting in crucial state decisions.

The Naehun

It was during this period that Insu authored the Naehun (Instructions for Women), establishing herself as Korea’s first female writer. This conduct manual outlined how women should behave according to Confucian ideals, emphasizing chastity, discretion, gentle speech, and etiquette.

Insu advocated for female education, arguing that it reinforced moral integrity and prepared women for their roles as wives and mothers. She criticized the trend of teaching daughters only poetry and music. However, she maintained that women’s roles should remain advisory and supportive.

The Naehun may also have served a political purpose, legitimating her mother-in-law's regency by citing examples of capable Chinese empresses. It reinforced the idea that women could govern wisely. Insu was thus also able to empower herself and present herself as a matriarch.

Queen mother

When Jeonghui’s regency ended in 1477, Insu continued to hold an honored position as the king’s mother. A devoted supporter of Buddhism, she argued against suppressing the religion, fearing it would lead to public unrest. In 1492, she spoke out against excluding commoners from monastic life and taught her five grandsons Buddhist and Confucian texts, which she recited from memory.

However, family tensions escalated when Queen Yun, King Seongjong’s consort, physically attacked him, leaving scars on his face. Insu took decisive action, first sending Queen Yun back to her family, then ordering her execution by poison.

The ascension of Insu’s grandson, Yeonsangun, in 1494 marked a dark chapter in her life. Yeonsangun, a violent and tyrannical ruler, was Queen Yun’s son. Upon discovering the truth about his mother’s death, he directed his fury at Insu. In 1504, Yeonsangun attacked his grandmother, leading to her death on May 11 at the palace. She was buried in a tomb that symbolically outranked her husband’s.

Enjoyed this post? You can support me on Ko-fi!

Further reading

Duncan John, “The Naehun and the politics of Gender”, in: Kim-Renaud Young-Key, Creative Women of Korea The Fifteenth Through the Twentieth Centuries

Kang Jae-un,  The Land of Scholars Two Thousand Years of Korean Confucianism

Park Si Nae, “Re-reading Queen Sohye's Naehun”

Pae Yong-Yi, Women in Korean History