- Location
- On a Journey Through The Decade
Actually, maybe we should pick up Astral Body Forging Method. That one looks like it gives us resurrection immortality, as well as clones.
Incidentally, like a lot of things in Kung Fu Hustle, its portrayal of the Buddha's Palm is drawn from a simplified form of classic wuxia stuff. The "original" Buddha's Palm has 9 different techniques, only a few of which are used in the movie. They are:
1. The First Rays of Buddha's Light - A defensive aura that surrounds the users with glowing sutras that destroy incoming weapons and deflect attacks directed at them.
2. The Radiance of Buddha's Incense - A powerful directed Qi attack that can pierce most defenses. This was the one Sing used that cut a big swath out of Pig Sty Alley in the movie.
3. Buddha's Challenge to Nature's Force - Summons a maelstrom of wind, thunder, lightning and rain, all at the user's command. The maelstrom can "shatter rocks and clear avalanches."
4. The Peal of Buddha's Thunder - A focused sonic attack that can deafen, stun and knock over crowds of enemies.
5. From the Arms of Buddha in the Western Heavens - The user, seated in the lotus position, rises up in the air and rains down lightning made of pure Qi.
6. Buddha's Illumination of the Earth - This is the technique in the movie you think of when you think "Buddha's Palm."
7. Buddha's Reincarnation - The user levitates up on a cloud and causes the ground far below to shatter and explode, rising into the air.
8. The Wrath of a Million Buddhas - The user creates dozens or even hundreds of copies of himself and the copies all fire off The Radiance of Buddha's Incense simultaneously.
9. Buddha Puts His Foot Down - The user strikes directly at the enemy's Qi with a well-placed strike, usually to the target's foot (because there are a lot of pressure points in the foot that connect to the rest of the body). Physical resilience is useless; only internal mastery can be used to try to defend yourself from this technique. The scene where Sing smashes a bunch of dude's feet like a cartoon character is a comedic nod to this technique.
Hm. Perhaps it should just be replaced in the order form with all of those in a sequence
It mostly went over my head.I just had an idea for reworking the original Buddha's Palm techniques (while keeping the singular Buddha's Palm technique you've already made). A mudra ("seal/mark/gesture") is a symbolic/ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism, most of which are performed with the hands and fingers. Basically every representation of the Buddha or other Buddhist figures show them performing a mudra, and there happen to be 9 common mudras whose meaning is easy to find online that we can use.
Maybe rename the series "Wisdom From the Buddha's Palms?"
Abhaya Mudrā: The "seal of fearlessness" that represents protection, benevolence and the dispelling of fear. This is the one where you have your right palm facing outward in front of you while the left one is held horizontally in front of your waist.
This would correspond to "Buddha's Illumination of the Earth," i.e. the Buddha's Palm as it was most obviously used in Kung Fu Hustle.
Bhūmisparśa Mudrā: The "seal of Earth's witness" that represents the Buddha's request that the Earth witness his enlightenment even in the face of being tempted and then threatened by the demon Mara; the Earth responded by banishing Mara. This is the one where you sit in a meditative pose with your right hand touching the earth while your left hand sits in your lap, palm upraised.
This could be analogous to "Buddha's Challenge to Nature's Force" combined with "Buddha's Reincarnation," recalling the Buddha's plea to the Earth and turning all the forces and elements of the Earth against those who seek to harm the user, so long as the attack was unjust or unprovoked.
Dharmachakra Mudrā: The "Wheel of Dharma seal" that represents the Buddha's first sermon after he attained enlightenment and thus the moment he set into motion the teaching of the Dharma. Typically, only the Gautama Buddha himself (and sometimes Maitreya) are portrayed making this mudra in Buddhist iconography. There are a lot of variations on this one, but the most common is where both hands make that "OK" gesture where you make a circle with your thumb and forefinger; they're held against the chest, with one facing inward and the other covering it.
In the original Buddha's Palm, the 9th technique ("Buddha Puts His Foot Down") was actually a lost secret technique; most people thought there were only 8 techniques. Since we've collapsed two of those into one here and that leaves one over, I think there's room to leave this one as the "hidden 9th technique" that can only be unlocked by mastering the others, or just write it in later.
Dhyāna Mudrā: The "seal of meditation" that, obviously, represents meditation and all the implications thereof. It's the one where one sits in a meditative pose and rests both hands in their lap, palms upward and the thumbs touching.
This would probably correspond to "From the Arms of Buddha in the Western Heavens," mostly for lack of somewhere better to place it and the specifying of a meditative pose.
Varada Mudrā: The "seal of generosity" that represents offering, welcome, charity, compassion and sincerity. The left hand is held up and bent down at the wrist to present the palm outward.
Another pun, I'd correspond this one to "The Wrath of a Million Buddhas," since you're very generously giving your opponent dozens if not hundreds of attacks all at once.
Vajra Mudrā: The "Vajra seal" that represents knowledge. It's the one where one hand is held in front of the heart with the wrist turned and the index finger extended so that it points up while the others make a fist, and the other hand is wrapped around the finger, also in a fist. And yes, this is one of the hand seals from Naruto. Hand seals are an actual thing used by ninjas and other people in ancient Japan and Kishimoto didn't just make them up.
Since the vajra as a symbol is both a diamond and a thunderbolt, representing irresistible force and invulnerability as well as firmness of spirit, I'd make it analogous to "Buddha Puts His Foot Down" as an attack that targets an opponent's soul directly, bypassing the body completely so that only internal strength can be any defense.
Vitarka Mudrā: The "seal of discussion" that represents the discussion and transmission of the Buddha's teachings. You do this one by putting your hands in the same position as you would for the Abhaya, but with the fingers making a circle like in the Dharmachakra.
I would have this one correspond to "The Peal of Buddha's Thunder" as a pun on the idea that most people are deaf to the Buddha's teachings and hear without listening; this would be a sonic attack with a big AoE where those in range can be targeted to be deafened, stunned, sent flying and/or straight-up knocked out or even killed (Buddhists are pacifists, but most usually an allowance for killing when it would cause greater harm not to), depending on how profound and/or true the words the user speaks are.
Gyāna Mudrā: The "seal of wisdom" that represents, well, wisdom. This is the one where you make that same wheel with the index finger and thumb, then bring it inward toward your heart.
This would correspond to "The Radiance of Buddha's Incense," since in Buddhism wisdom often goes hand in hand with piercing through lies and deceptions, and the attack is about piercing through... well, almost anything, really.
Karana Mudrā: The "evil-dispelling seal" that expels demons (literal, symbolic, or both, depending on who you ask) and removes obstacles like sickness and negative thoughts. Hilariously, it looks almost identical to the well-known "throwing the horns" gesture in the West, except that the thumb isn't folded over the other fingers.
This would probably be the defensive technique of the bunch, corresponding to "The First Rays of Buddha's Light," perhaps with the light coming out of the outstretched fingers so that you basically throw the horns to protect yourself and others with glowing Buddhist iconography and then shoot it back at your enemy, which is just about the most metal thing I've ever imagined involving Buddhism.
Thoughts?
Let's get confirmation from QM; would the Meditation and Reading methods clash with cultivating Standing Above All Beasts?
@Kolarthecool Do we need to buy the formation required to train Immortal Sage Awakening or is that included i n the coat of the manual?
I'd like to second the question of whether we can even use an Earth rank cultivation art (Like, how the hell does 'mortal', 'earth', etc match up to the body refinement/core formation/core ignition/ascendant mortal thing?) right now, or if we're still stuck with the Mortal ones.
In the latter case, I'd suggest either Golden Goose or Astral Body Forging for our next one, probably.
I'd tend to shy away from a rage art like Black Heaven and Earth.
Hey, if we chose not to partake in an activity other than cultivation, then will we get a bonus to training, or is that just not allowed?
I was more concerned with what kinds of cultivation method we could use for our next one.It depends on the requirements of the art.
Right now, the MC needs to spend some time concentrating to create Qi, and he can only have it flow through his body while making changes, or use it quickly in a technique. If it's an art that requires him to actually store the Qi, or use it in a complicated manner, he will fail.
Prodigy and other traits can help to bridge this gap but not by much. Basically, if it's an art that needs him to store Qi in a core, he will 100% fail. But if it's something like controlling two, or more, different types of Qi, or something equally complex, there is still a chance of success.
Also: Mortal covers the 1st realm. Earth covers the 2nd and lower parts of the 3rd. Heaven covers the rest of the 3rd and the 4th. Immortal is the 5th, 6th and 7th. Divine is the last 2 realms.
Greater Universal Body requires qi storing so that's out of reach currently.I was more concerned with what kinds of cultivation method we could use for our next one.
I don't really see much about cores in any of them.
Might we not want to hold off on the Genius Body and Genius Soul until we've ratcheted them up as far as we can with dedicated training? Once they are higher, they will be harder to train.
It's kind of like if you get Gamer powers you don't dump points into attributes right away, you train the shit out of your attributes first and only drop points once diminishing returns kicks in. For Genius Body I would drop Millenium Ginseng root first as well.
You should check out the traits section of the shop suggestion spread sheet I included the rest of the endurance, willpower and constitution traits in there they just haven't been added to the actual store yet.
I'm thinking Ten Sun birds to get our speed up a bit. It shouldn't conflict since it's based on a heavenly body moving through the sky.