Buzen's Tale : Contemplation
By Mike Mullins
The shadows of saplings stretched across the open fields in the likeness of centuries old pines. Sitting on a small boulder, a young man thought of his future and dreaded the plans made by his parents. Last summer he had asked Lieutenant Umiko if he could join the levies, but the bushi nodded her head in rejection, and explained, "Buzen, our lord needs strong workers such as yourself in the fields. The recent war with the Shadowlands army has greatly depleted our reserves."
Buzen was thankful for Umiko's understanding, but it was not enough. As the sun continued its descent below the horizon, the young peasant's thoughts returned to his desire to join his lord's army. It wasn't glory that made Buzen long to carry a spear, sword, or bow, but the need to protect the other peasants. In the past, only small groups of bandits had threatened his village, now, however, mujina raided from the coastal regions occupied by the Shadowlands army.
With a naginata and some training, Buzen knew he could protect his village after his time in Uji's army. Natsu had done the same for the village for twenty years after his enlistment had ended. Unfortunately, a bandit's arrow had taken Natsu from the village only two seasons ago. Sometimes, when Buzen felt his dreams might come true, he imagined Natsu's spirit watched over him. Tonight, Buzen hoped Natsu's spirit could not see him.
Finally, the sun was fully hidden beneath the horizon and the shadows began to merge with the texture of the ground. Dusk would last another hour and then Buzen would need to return to the safety of his parent's home. It was no longer safe to be outdoors after nightfall.
Balanced on the boulder, Buzen closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander. His mind drifted to the future, and he began to center his mind. Buzen focused his imagination and crafted an absolute darkness. Focusing his mind, the young peasant began to craft a simple image. As the red teardrop formed, Buzen began to add details to his vision. First adding a touch of orange intermingled throughout the teardrop, and then adding a touch of movement, Buzen brought his vision to life and concentrated on the perfect flame.
Slowly Buzen merged the center of his being with the small, perfect flame. When a unity existed between the flame and Buzen, the peasant grasped at a quickly dissipating image that resonated in the depths of his mind. The black silhouette that Buzen saw was that of a man with his daisho secured across his back. The man of Buzen's vision walked with confidence down a dozen paths. As each path neared an end, there was always another man represented by a gray silhouette. Silhouette facing silhouette, both men ready, they're reactions balanced between perfect calm and explosive action. In an instant, each silhouette had drawn a katana and struck at the opposing silhouette. The gray man slumped to the floor and the black silhouette bowed his head, a feeling of mourning coming from the man.
Buzen watched the same episode repeat dozens of time. Each episode ended with the black silhouette prevailing, but falling deeper and deeper into an unknown despair. Buzen was beginning to feel the silhouette's pain at the loss of so many lives, and eventually he drew himself away from the flame that had carried him to this vision.
Once again a blankness filled Buzen's mind. His thoughts were centered around a shapeless darkness, and the peasant's imagination struggled to fill the void. The struggle was fruitless, and only when Buzen fully relaxed and slipped into calm contemplation did the image of a white triangle pointed downward fill the darkness.
Buzen exerted his thoughts over the white triangle, slowly shaping the image into more of a tube with an expanded top. Grays mixed into the white form creating a series of spirals leading from the bottom of the tube to the top of the opening. Again, Buzen concentrated to give life to his creation, and slowly the object started to swirl. As the image spun in circles faster and faster, Buzen watched the whirlwind dominate the darkness.
Buzen felt pulled towards the whirlwind, and released his guards that prevented his merging with the circling winds. When the union between the winds and Buzen strengthened until neither was separate from the other, a vision of another dark silhouette unfolded before Buzen.
The dark silhouette walked across vast expanses of land, but upon close examination, Buzen saw that the silhouette's feet never touched the ground. The silhouette traveled across hundreds of miles of wilderness and roads, and eventually came to linger before a grand wall. All around the dark silhouette, white and gray silhouettes battled using summoned fire and shaped earth as their weapons. The black silhouette seemed to side with the whites against the grays. Terrible power was unleashed, and the white and gray silhouettes slowly died away. The dark silhouette moved to one white silhouette in particular and seemed to pour some of himself into the white figure. The white figure stood again and began moving in rhythmic patterns until the last gray silhouette was vanquished by a sphere of void-fueled fire. The black silhouette dropped his head, a sense of mourning and sorrow flowing from him.
The strength of the emotion overwhelmed Buzen and he ripped himself from the vision, separating himself from the whirlwind. Almost immediately, the swirling winds dissipated and Buzen was once again submerged in a neverending emptiness.
Buzen allowed himself to float within the emptiness his mind had crafted. As he truly centered himself again, he released control of his imagination and allowed his mind to float through the darkness. Buzen expressed the gently pulling and tugging of the universe by opening his mind to create a blue circle. Following only instinct, Buzen crafted the blue circle into a drop of water that floated in the center of the infinite nothingness.
Buzen closely examined the sphere with his thoughts. The surface of the drop of water was flawless and the coloring of the translucent blue drew Buzen in. As his consciousness merged with the drop of water, Buzen witnessed another silhouette.
The silhouette was not alone, it's darkness a contrast to the brown silhouette of his regal mount. The silhouette and mount traveled thousands of miles, delivering scrolls to large gray and white silhouettes. One the silhouette's last journey, the rider and mount moved through the wind and along the coast racing ahead of a legion of skeletal silhouettes. The mount was obviously near death, but its efforts kept the horse and rider ahead of the skeletons. Ahead of the man and horse, a giant wall came into view and slowly resolved into a grand city.
Less than a mile before the gate, the mount floundered and collapsed into the white sands. The man urged his horse to rise, but the animal did not have the strength to continue running. Slowly the dark silhouette left the mount behind and began to run towards the city gates. Followed by a legion of skeletal silhouettes, the man passed through the already closing gates of the city.
Inside, the silhouette quickly found a tall white silhouette and handed over a scroll case. Helplessly, the dark silhouette watched as the city gates opened and a flood of gray silhouettes charged the white skeletal silhouettes. The skirmish was brief and all of the white silhouettes were quickly destroyed.
With the way safe, the dark silhouette left the city walls and returned to where his horse had fallen. The animal had been stabbed dozens of times and the man fell to his knees. Immediately behind the horse, a shattered skeleton was already being covered by wind blown sand. The dark silhouette cradled the horse's head in his lap and bowed his head. From the man's left eye, a single tear formed and dropped to the sand.
As the tear fell to the sound, Buzen's perceptions moved outward until he was staring at the perfect drop of water floating in the void.
Shaken, Buzen struggled to maintain his grasp on the emptiness and watched as the single drop of water dissipated into the darkness. Buzen became acutely aware of the absolute emptiness his mind had created and he quickly unleashed his imagination fill the void.
Moments later, Buzen found himself staring at a single grain of sand. Calmly, he waited for his expectations to be realized and found himself at one with the tiny grain of sand.
His new view of reality showed a small farm of bok choy and rice. A single silhouette of a man stooped over the bok choy and placed the larger vegetables into a small wheelbarrow. The sun was high and the sky lacked even the smallest clouds, but the man paused in his efforts only to wipe his brow and before returning to the grueling work.
When the wheelbarrow was full, the silhouette transferred the vegetables to a small cart that was mostly full of rice bags and bok choy. This load from the wheelbarrow filled the cart to capacity and the silhouette man began pushing the cart down a dirt road. The path was treacherous, with holes and divots that threatened to overturn the cart, but the man's vigilance kept the cart moving down the path.
Eventually the man reached town, where he stopped his cart in a market area and excepted both coins and goods from other silhouettes. When the man had earned enough to live on, he took the remaining quarter of his goods and traveled towards the levy barracks. Along the way he gave a small rice bag and one vegetable to each of two street waifs. At the barracks, he turned over his remaining food to his lord's soldiers.
Buzen watched as the silhouette returned to his home, ate a small meal, and performed the same routine the next day. The peasant, absorbed in the story of the grain of sand, watched as this simple silhouette man performed the same ritual every day. Each day, new seeds and rice shoots were planted, bok choy and rice were harvested and then sold at market, and any remaining food was donated to the poor and the levies.
Amazed, Buzen watched the man for years of his life. The silhouette showed no expressions, but his movements seemed to show a contentedness to Buzen. Slowly, Buzen pulled himself away from the man's life and found himself once again within a dark and vast emptiness.
Beginning to feel weary, Buzen released the void within which his mind wandered. His body and mind only reluctantly released the void, and as the empty sphere dissipated, Buzen felt himself merge with the tiniest speck of the sphere. Within the one moment, the void opened to Buzen as never before, and he witnessed a fifth story of a silhouette man.
On the top of a cliff with a sheer face that plummeted into the ocean, the dark silhouette of a man stared across the sea. Behind the man, a dozen small gray silhouettes crouched in an aggressive stance. The man looked down the sheer cliff face briefly and then steadied himself for the rush of the creatures blocking his escape.
When the first two creatures charged the black silhouette, the man flung out his arm and a hundred black slivers separated from the silhouette and plunged into the two advancing creatures. Those two gray silhouettes dropped to the ground, completely motionless. Next, four of the creatures cautiously moved towards the man.
The black silhouette stood tall, and, to Buzen's senses, grew in height and in intensity. The larger more powerful man was able to crush all four of the gray creatures, leaving only six blocking his way down the cliff. The intensity and size of the silhouette, however, returned to normal soon after the four creatures had been defeated.
Finally, the last six creatures advanced towards the man, attempting to meet him both head on and from the silhouette's flank. The man leapt towards the two creatures to his left. It was obvious to Buzen that the silhouette was well trained in the arts of kaze-do and mizu-do. His movements quickly subdued the two creatures he had leapt at well allowing him to avoid the attacks of the two creatures that had charged his back.
Moments later, four of the six attackers had been thrown over the cliff. The silhouette man, Buzen could tell, was sufficiently weaker for all his efforts. When the last two creatures sprung for the man's throat, Buzen could feel resignation seeping from the man. Neither despair nor sorrow, nor even unhappiness came from the man as he embraced the two attacks and flung himself and the creatures over the cliff face and into the ocean hundreds of feet below.
The last speck of void flared into darkness and then released its hold on Buzen.
The young peasant unfolded his legs and leapt off the boulder, noticing that the moon was already past its midway point in its path across the night sky. Silently, Buzen returned to his home, feeling more rested than if he had spent the entire night sleeping.
Lexicon:
Mizu-do - a weaponless fighting technique based on the Way of Water
Kaze-do - a weaponless fighting technique based on the Way of Air
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