Jihen sat in seiza on the deck overlooking the small garden-like opening just beyond his quarters.

He had in front of him a picture of a chrysanthemum he had drawn in haste to help him focus his mind on the day at hand.

He would be providing a calligraphy piece for a display later that evening… and thought on what to choose as the visual and thematic centerpieces of the work of art.

He had also grown tired from the events of the morning and sought a moment of inner refreshment after all that had transpired.

And so he sat… eyes opened but largely unseeing… focusing on the image of the chrysanthemum in front of him…

—————

D8 LA, Meditation, Void Recovery | 8k4 ⇒ 39 (TN: 20)

"Considering the absent Throne, Brother?"

Chou-sin is there, giving a bow.

“Absent?” He asked quizzically.

“With five winds and the fate of the empire all pressing down on the throne… Is it truly absent?”

"You pose something like a koan, Brother," Chou-sin replies. "We'll make an abbot of you yet!"

Chou-sin seats himself alongside Jihen. "What troubles you?"

“Troubled? I suppose I am…” he replied.

“I suppose I wonder as to the extent each of the winds could be directed towards a better future than the present we see today.”

"That is a good question, Brother," Chou-sin affirms. "Would you see the most biddable take the Hantei name, then?"

“Biddable? Most certainly not by any human means. What interest would the empire have in another Emperor who is manipulated this way and that by the winds of time?” He replied.

“But the winds can knock over a tree that fights against its gusts easier than one that knows how to flow with the winds when it needs to. The Way helps a leader who serves the Empire better than a leader who serves themselves.”

Chou-sin lifts a finger.

"Ah, Brother, but how distinct are the Empire and its ruler?" he asks. "Even now, there is a rightful Hantei, the tenancy in office unbroken even if perhaps occluded."

"All things are one in the Void. What would you tell a heimin who spends his waking hours fighting against the Way and indulging the Self in all of his Desires? The more one asserts their Self... the less in tune they are with the Way. For the heimin that may mean a bad yield or a broken home... for an Emperor a 'broken home' and bad yield... is utterly regrettable."

He paused, "If it were as decided as you say... it would be decided already. The heavens are unclear, the imperial family similarly unclear... And we must remember, both are not without will. The heavens may choose to select one who will not so feebly kick against the pricks... One who has a mind capable of turning the empire back to the course it should follow. One who is strong and understands that they do not need to be cruel."

Chou-sin cocks his head slightly.

"Has someone been cruel to you, Brother?"

“Even if it doesn’t happen to oneself… cruelty is all around. Did Master Chou-sin not observe any cruelty today? Or perhaps participate in its enactment?” He asked in the way a challenging pupil often might.

"Ah."

Chou-sin, to his credit, shifts slightly uncomfortably.

It takes him a long moment to answer.

"Is it cruel for a sensei to offer an unpleasant lesson? Or cruel to let the lesson go untaught?"

"I suppose that would depend on the nature of the lesson. And how the lesson was received by the pupil and those that may have observed the teacher in his instruction..." He replied opening a venue for possible explanation without requiring one.

"Consider the kemari game," Chou-sin replies. "However well kicked the ball may be, it is not certain that any will receive it well. Nor yet that robes will remain as they ought to be."

"Was the ball kicked that well today?" He asks.

It is again a long moment before Chou-sin answers.

"It was placed where it had to be," he says, if seemingly reluctantly.

"There are many 'musts' in the Tao, master..." He replies contemplatively.

"Which one is this? Finding friends in the shadows? Or perhaps it is a pitfall that stands in the way of the proper way?"

He replied, "As for me... It made me feel I 'must' bow... For to have one of such station and place in the empire be tasked with something not suited for his station for merely show... because why would one not aid such a fallen man in the situation?"

Chou-sin smiles again, if wistfully.

"We will definitely make an abbot of you yet, Brother."

"I don't Desire such a thing... but if it is what I am to do... of course I will do it Master."

He paused and continued in a humble and soft tone, "I am watching the current Abbot... to see how he acts and how it will affect the future that he leaves for us. I can guess at his reasons, but wonder if he would be so kind as to share the wisdom behind his decisions from his place of experience with such a unruly and short-sighted pupil like myself."

"Mastery must begin with the self, Brother, as you well know," Chou-sin replies. "It is clear you restrain anger on your own part; what is its source?"