[D6, EE] The Closing of the Lid

[Cearnach]

The door slides open silently, with almost no more effort that a touch, a thought. The place of rest is exquisitely simple. Soft woods, rich in luster reflect and seem to magnify the steady glow from seven tallow candles. The Empress' bed of rest is held in a cradle of smooth granite, centered on the dais. It is also rosewood, perfectly polished to mirror-like sheen. The Kami play with light, expanding and distributing it around the large space so the serenity of dimness achieved the delicate balance between solemnity and safety.

Standing in a semi-circle, facing the open casket is a cohort of shugenja and monks. They are still. Their kimonos almost unperceptively moving with each breath of the sutra. Their eyes closed in deep mediation, preparing themselves to aid the Empress on her final journey. their lips giving birth to those words which ease the burden of karma: "Nam myoho renge kyo," they chant in an unceasing tide, in and out, the inhale hardly waiting for the exhale.

[Cearnach]

[This thread is now open]

[Jihen]

Jihen was among those present. His mind and body fully attending to the sacred honor of blessing the Empress in her progression from this life to her next stay on her journey...

[Yasuki Masaki]

Masaki was present as well - this time in white garments appropriate for the occasion - although probably relatively far in the back, given that there would be much more important shugenja attending.

She keeps completely silent, her face one of sorrow - as appropriate. But traces concerns do also seem to show up from time to time.

[Kuni Shiori]

Shiori was present with her fellow delegation member, Masaki. She too was dressed in white for this occasion, without the extraneous hakama she often wore. As much as she would like to admit that she didn't pack a white kimono for her journey here, it was a bit of a requirement. Not because of the Empress's turbulent health but rather that death was a likelihood even in a place such as Winter Court. It's not something often talked about in proper company but considering this was a feudal society, death came more often than not. Sometimes it's a delegate's elder age, shame cleansing, shi duels, sudden illness, a hunt gone wrong, mysterious falls from windows...the list of (sadly, often reported) possibilities made it foolish to not bring funeral wear to Winter Court.

However, the Empress's death wasn't exactly something that Shiori expected. At least, so soon. It was obvious that she wasn't long for this world, given her state in court, but she was the Daughter of Heaven. Anyone would have assumed that the Heavens would have blessed her with fortitude so that she could put a proper end to her affairs before she departed to the great afterlife where she was destined to be with the other great Emperors. Life wasn't fair, everyone knew that, but it was assumed that life would always be fair to the Empress due to divinity alone. It was admittedly a death that even unnerved this Kuni just a smidge.

Everyone was mortal.

[Abbot Do]

At last, Do steps forward with a grace that confounds his awkward height. With great care but with a directness that borders upon speed, he reaches into his robe and draws out a pair of incense sticks and sets them in the lining of the coffin. Then, his task complete, he returns to his position among the assembled monks.

[Togashi Mizohachi]

When Do returned to his place, Togashi Mizohachi stepped forward. His foot falls left no sound, swallowed by the sutra's tide. His contribution was a lump of charcoal, but his pace was unlike those of the Brotherhood monks. Instead, he stood over the Empress' coffin and intoned:

"These are the words of Nichiren, the student of Shinsei:"

"The life of a human being is fleeting. The exhaled breath never waits for the inhaled one. Even dew before the wind is hardly a sufficient metaphor. It is the way of the world that whether one is wise or foolish, old or young, one never knows what will happen to one from one moment to the next. Therefore I should first learn about death, and then about other things.

The ultimate law of life and death as transmitted from Shinsei to all living things is Myoho-renge-kyo. Myo represents death, and ho, life. Living beings that pass through the two phases of life and death are the entities of the Ten Worlds, or the entities of Myoho-renge-kyo.

T'ien T'ai says that one should understand that living beings and their environments, and the causes and effects at work within them, are all the Law of renge (the lotus). Here “living beings and their environments” means the phenomena of life and death. Thus, it is clear that, where life and death exist, cause and effect, or the Law of the lotus, is at work.

The Great Teacher Dengyō states, “The two phases of life and death are the wonderful workings of one mind. The two ways of existence and nonexistence are the true functions of an inherently enlightened mind.”No phenomena—either heaven or earth, yin or yang, the sun or the moon, the five planets, or any of the worlds from hell to Enlightenment—are free from the two phases of life and death. Life and death are simply the two functions of Myoho-renge-kyo. In his Great Concentration and Insight, T’ien-t’ai says, “Arising is the arising of the essential nature of the Law, and extinction is the extinction of that nature.” Shinsei and Many Treasures are also the two phases of life and death.

Shinsei, who attained Enlightenment countless kalpas ago, the Lotus Sutra that leads all people to Enlightenment, and we ordinary human beings are in no way different or separate from one another. To chant Myoho-renge-kyo with this realization is to inherit the ultimate Law of life and death. This is a matter of the utmost importance for Nichiren’s disciples and lay supporters, and this is what it means to embrace the Lotus Sutra.

For one who summons up one’s faith and chants Nam-myoho-renge-kyo with the profound insight that now is the last moment of one’s life, the sutra proclaims: “When the lives of these persons come to an end, they will be received into the hands of a thousand Buddhas, who will free them from all fear and keep them from falling into the evil paths of existence.”How can we possibly hold back our tears at the inexpressible joy of knowing that not just one or two, not just one hundred or two hundred, but as many as a thousand Enlightened Ones will come to greet us with open arms!"



And through it all, the assembled monks chanted the sutra, performing the work as it must be done. And, his quotation completed, Lord Togashi bowed formally to his liege and kinswoman before returning to his place among the assembled monks.

[Asahina Hoshiko]

Hoshiko has been there offering her prayers and calm, how could she not be? While she was pretty sure emperors and empresses skipped the line in Meido and were hurried along to nicer addresses (if they paused there at all), the soul still had a journey, and there were still malign forces that might waylay it. So you still observe all the formalities for protection and out of utmost respect.

Her dark robes have been left aside in favor of mourning white. Even her grandmother's ghostly voice has been quiet, respectful in the wake of such a great and somber event.

[Kitsu Shintaro]

While the Shinseists continued their unending chant, the initiative passed to the Fortunists as Lord Kitsu rose and approached the coffin. Though he had been much in the Empress' disfavor in life, in death there was something of confidence in his eyes.

He bowed deeply, and reached into his pocket to produce a strange relic: a single claw from what must have been a great lion indeed. This he placed within the coffin before turning to those assembled.

"The Empress has departed, but she is not gone from us. The spirit of a woman lives on, not just in memory, but in a very real sense. That which is part of the world may change, but it cannot be erased. We need only reach out, and our Empress will guide us once more."

He bowed deeply to the assembled holy men to emphasize his sincerity, then withdrew.

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna listened to the song of the monks, and the words of the monks and shugenja in reverent stillness and deep piety.

She wore the mourning white. A stark change from her usual green and gold.

She felt her heart beating in rhythm with the chant.

[Agasha Sanjuro]

Agasha Sanjuro, dressed in mourning white, is in attendance. He takes in the prayers and blessings of the other samurai and dignitaries and offers up his own for the protection of the Hantei's soul on its path.

Death is a natural order of life. In life, Her spirit stayed strong while her health suffered. As she proceeds on her journey, she is relieved of the physical pains of life. May she pass through quickly on to her final destination and be free from any corruptions.

[Soshi Eiji]

Eiji was there, dressed in his funeral whites, eyes red and moist with the tears shed for the fallen Empress.

He listened as one by one great samurai of the land said their final words to a godly figure who had given every drop of her being to the preserverance and governance of the Empire. Oh what she must have been like in her golden youth, sword in hand as she claimed back the reigns of the Empire from her puppetted brother.

But she was gone. Ascending the celestial dragon's tail to take her place among those who had come before her. The only truly unkind she had done, departing this realm before ensuring that someone was ready to sit the throne for her.

Perhaps it had just been too great of a weight for her to wish upon another. Her years as Empress had taken all that she was, transforming the proud warrior, slowly but surely into the withered remains that now rest upon the coffin. So afraid to crush another with the weight of the crown that it slipped through her fingers, as her great strength finally failed her. And now it fell, and five others reached for it.

Could any of them be her equal? The others, noble as they were in their own ways, seemed so...small to sit the throne. Children dressed in their parents clothes, imagining themselves adults. They were just....people. The ruler needed to be...more. Would being half-fortune give the fifth wind more stature? Eiji was unsure.

A heavy yet fragile crown was fallng to the ground, and Eiji hoped that someone was able to take it into hand, before it shattered on the ground. He was here and he would witness it, one way or the other.

[Shiba Ryusei]

Ryusei stood attentively, his expression stoic.

This was the Daughter of Heaven's send-off, and to be on anything but his finest conduct would be unthinkable. He looked neither left nor right.

All of his worries about what her death would usher in, his fears, his hopes, none of that mattered for the time being.

[Yogo Kiuchi]

As one of the few shugenja of the Scorpion, and the only Yogo, Kiuchi was honored to perform this sacred blessing. The Empress was a hero even she wasn't the Empress. He respected her. He honored her. But her did not love her. As a Scorpion and a Yogo, he was ever loyal and lived to serve.

So, he did his duty. He hoped it would be to her approval.