Kalachakra (Worm AU)- COMPLETE

[Numen]

Synopsis: 70% of the Planet are vegetarian. Europe is beset by terrorism, riots and religious persecution. Tibet is the Capital of the World. This is an AU in which the world of Worm has been dramatically altered due to events in the past. It is also the story about Taylor Hebert's struggles with her faith. Meanwhile, the latest incarnation of Pathwalker is having difficulty perceiving the Right Path.

I am very religious myself and I ask that you withhold judgement about the portrayal of religion in this fic and give this story a chance.

Worm belongs to Wildbow. I derive no monetary profit from this work.

Spoiler: Dictionary

Old Buddhist Dictionary (1986 edition)​

This edition of the Buddhist dictionary is the definitive edition for the practical and contemporary usage of theological terms, models and history. It approaches things from a solely Buddhist point of view and seeks to provide a classic understanding of Buddhist terminology that often becomes conflated with newer (New Dharma) understandings. Both Pali and Sanskrit terms are used.

May all of us find Enlightenment

Dr. Gloria Xu, director of the Buddhist Preservation Society ("Old Dharma Association")
May 7th, 1986

​

Abhijna: "Direct Knowing", refers to the six types of knowledge, such as: Physical Powers (iddhi-vidhā), Clairaudience (dibba-sota), Telepathy (ceto-pariya-ñāṇa), past life recollection, (pubbe-nivāsanussati), Clairvoyance/Precognition (dibba-cakkhu), and Extinction of mental intoxicants (āsavakkhaya).

Some of these knowledges extend into even larger categories of powers.

Bardo: Intermediate-state between lives. Not a real rebirth nor a real sentient being- it is a temporary shell created by the Alaya Consciousness between lives.

Bodhisattvas: Any being who has a bodhicitta (the mind of Bodhisattva) and has sworn the Bodhisattva vow (whichever that was in the time period they existed in). They seek to gain enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings and are reborn specifically per their vows. They have karma, but try to not generate any new ones. Some will deliberately accrue some karma in order to remain within the universe in order to continue to aid them.

Brahmin: Spiritual cultivators that are allowed to marry and have families. They are active in society and work and live like others. Denotes a class of Priests. Also the highest Caste in Indian society. In Buddhism, the broad definition of a Brahmin could be "a deeply religious and well cultivated family oriented person" regardless of it's original ethnic meaning. Not to be confused with a Lay Followers.

Buddhas: Enlightened completely. All Bodhisattvas eventually become Buddhas, if they weren't one already.

Buddha Nature: The inherent intrinsic Buddha that all sentient beings are, although they do not realize it.

Dharma: Reality as it is. Denotes phenomenons of reality, free from subjective or relative interpretation. For example, there are no good or bad karma, there is just karma as a phenomenon of cause and effect. It is the bias of sentient beings that divides karma into good or bad. A teenage girl who made a mistake may become pregnant and perceive her condition as "bad", but a grown woman who tried very hard to have children and finally succeeds in becoming pregnant will see it as "good", but in reality, what happened was that a female became pregnant for X reasons. Those reasons are important of course, but it's essential that they are acknowledge for what it is.
Science is also the study of Dharma, but they limit the scope of their understanding to the material form of things- and often only those things that they are aware of.

[True] Dharma: The True Dharma denotes the Ultimate Truth, from whence all other Dharmas are interpretations or derived from.

Dharmapala: Wrathful form of Bodhisattvas that use non-peaceful means motivated by compassion for the benefit of sentient beings. Also refers to any Devas (mortal gods) that protects Buddhism, the term is used in Taoism and Shintoism as well to refer to the gods of those religion that also doubles as protectors of Buddhism.

Emanation: A copy of something. Buddhas and Bodhisattvas can divide themselves into copies that can then incarnate and establish their own destinies. A Buddha often emanates themselves as a new mindstream to go over the entire journey again for us to emulate. Many Bodhisattvas are in fact emanations of Ancient Buddhas.

Five Aggregates: Skandha. The elements that compose a sentient being. A human being is composed of Form (rupa), sensations (vedana), perceptions (samjna), formations (sankhara), and consciousness (vijnana).

Grand Solution: The solution to universal entropy. The Bodhisattva Supreme has introduced this non-orthordox belief to Buddhism. We of the Old Dharma doubt it's veracity and suspect the Bodhisattva Supreme of being King Mara himself.

Guru: Teacher of any denomination, sect or belief.

Heaven: Psychological state of rapture. One of innumerable worlds that are relatively more peaceful. Abode of devas. Despite the name, Heaven is a not spiritual designation, but a world with its own government and individuals, culture and environments.

Hell: Psychological state of claustrophobic hatred. One of innumerable worlds that are relatively more painful. Abode of Narakas (Narakis). Despite the name, Hell is a not spiritual designation, but a world with its own government and individuals, culture and environments.

Horizontal Cosmology: Understanding the world as a series of parallel worlds existing in the same plane or dimension. The material universe as understood by scientists is generally part of this cosmological view, although science also acknowledge subatomic and higher spatial concepts. Also see; Vertical Cosmology, Temporal Cosmology.

Hungry Ghost: Preta. A broad category of beings that share the characteristic of being hungry, taking the form of bloated, thin necked ghouls. Also without a homeworld, existing in interstitial space. Sometimes translated as goblins.

Iddhi: Literally "Power". Specifically refers to the big flashy obvious kind, such as levitation, teleportation, telekinesis, transformation, multilocation, bilocation, projections, etc.

Kalachakra: The Wheel of Time.

Kalapa: Smallest unit of matter. Tens of thousands of times smaller than a particle of dust, coming into existence and disappearing in as little as a billionth of a second or a trillionth of the blink of an eye. (ie, Subatomic particles of some sort?)

Kalpa: An aeon. Indefinite, variable time unit. Can be taken to mean, "a very very long time". While things are often calculated in kalpas, the actual duration of time is difficult to measure due to it's relative quality and the actions (karma) that make up time.

Karma: Meaning "action"of any kind, whether physical, physiological or psychological. Cause and Effect. Easily misunderstood to be some form of cosmic retribution. This is far from the truth. It is merely another name for causality.

Ksana: Very small unit of time. Traditionally described as approximately one seventy-fifth of a second. There are said to be 900 arisings and ceasings (of the mind) within each ksana.

Lay Followers: Normal people who believe and try to live up to some of the teachings. Traditionally required to take the basic precepts. In Mahayana Buddhism, lay followers are no less capable of obtaining sudden Enlightenment than monks and indeed, lay followers may even have superior understanding of the Dharma than monks. It's just a different way to practice.

Mara
Spiritual death. Psychological demons. The Buddhist Devil and Demiurge figure.
(See: Kalachakra (Worm AU))

Mindstreams
The stream of qualities and elements that creates the illusion of a continuous entity or mind. In Buddhist thought, the self does not exist independently of its aggregates.

Nirvana: State of no cause and no effect. One who has attained Nirvana has self terminated and will never come into existence again. However, all things exist within the True Dharma even if does not appear so to our expectations and understanding.

Precepts: Training rules, voluntarily taken, they come in 5 or 10 (for lay followers), or even 227 (monks) or 311 (nuns) depending on the person. Generally for serious cultivators, breaking the precepts requires atonement and even re-swearing the oaths and vows of the path. At certain levels of cultivation, the precepts are no longer voluntarily, but considered to be oaths that are spiritually binding. Some breaking of the precepts may result in the inability to obtain enlightenment in this life.

Rebirth: The natural consequences of action. All karma is a form of rebirth, and rebirth is a form of karma. Generally, what transmigrates between lives is the Alaya Consciousness (8th storage consciousness) which generates for itself the body and mind necessary for its new form. Term is very specific to Buddhism.

Reincarnation: Sometimes used interchangeably with Rebirth. Carries the connotation of metempsychosis, that is to say, the Soul moves from one body to another. Is a widespread concept in many religions around the world including Hinduism and Greek Religion.

Samsara: The totality of karmic existence. Wheel of birth and death. The universe.

Sentient Being: Any being born of the four births (womb, egg, moisture and transformation) and the six paths (deva, asura, manusya, preta, naraka).

Six Paths: Broad classification of the six major taxonomy of sentient beings. Deva (gods), Asuras (jealous gods), Manusya (humans), preta (hungry ghosts) and naraka (hell-beings).

The Bardo (intermediate-state) is considered beyonds the boundaries of the six and is traditionally considered as a "ghost", but is not a real rebirth like the others. There are further types of abnormal or mutant rebirths due to unique karmic conditions.

All of these beings are subject to birth and death and karmic existence.

Sramana: Spiritual cultivators or seekers who traditionally "wander". They are ascetics or holy men. Usually celibate, but there are many different schools of thoughts and there is a broad range of traditions that fall under this category including Buddhist Monasticism and Jainism.

Tulku: "Living Buddha", although that's only an epithet. Refers to those Buddhist Monks that are inheritors of specific lineages of enlightened beings that are reborn from lifetime to lifetime.

World: Loka. A series of planes and territories that constitutes Four Continents (terrestrial worlds), Six Heavens and Eighteen Hells plus any additional overarching or intersected vertical realities. One thousand of such worlds constitute a 'thousandfold world system' (Skt. sāhasracūḍikalokadhātu). A thousand of these makes up a 'second-order thousandfold world system' (Skt. dvitīyamadhyama sāhasralokadhātu). Then, when multiplied a thousand times further, this makes a 'third-order world system' or 'trichiliocosm', a universe of a billion worlds (Skt. trisāhasra mahāssāhasralokadhātu; Wyl. stong gsum gyi 'jig rten khams). Each Trichiliocosm is ruled over by a Supremely Enlightened Buddha.

Yidam: Meditational Deity. The self imagined Bodhisattva of one's enlightened potential.

Yuga: The Cycle of Time. Traditionally (Hinduism) broken down into four quarters of time, although back to back, it forms a larger cycle: "Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, Kali Yuga, Kali Yuga, Dvapara Yuga, Treta Yuga, Satya Yuga".

Temporal Cosmology: Understanding the world as a series of cycles and time units. All things go through birth, growth, harvest and rest or creation, expansion, decline and entropy. Traditional Buddhist views acknowledge an oscillating Universe Theory, however the Bodhisattva Supreme has suggested that without intervention by sentient beings, a reversal of entropy is impossible. Also see; Horizontal Cosmology, Vertical Cosmology.

Triple Realms: The world of karmic existence are divided into the Formless Realm (four heavens), Form Realm (17-18 heavens) and Desire Realm (6 heavens, 4 continents and 18 hells). See, Vertical Cosmology.

Vertical Cosmology: Understanding the world as a series of planes of existences from top to bottom, whether literal or practical (ie, humans and animals live in the same world, but are differed by psychology and by habitats). Also see; Horizontal Cosmology, Temporal Cosmology.

 

[Numen]

1.0​

"Just as all the previous Incarnations expended their lives in pursuit of the True Dharma,
I too vow to continue the work of all past selves.
I am the light of creation.
I turn the wheel of time.
I am the enemy of the Great Death.
I vow to attain the Grand Solution."
- Bodhisattva Vows of the Seekers of the Path of the Grand Solution

+++​

Taylor Hebert studied the sanskrit words that made no sense.

I am the destroyer of death.
All things die and are reborn.
But the rebirth without rebirth is the Great Death.
I am the destroyer of death.

"I don't understand."

Gladly sighed, "Taylor, just meditate on the stanzas. We're not testing you on the sublime truth of the universe, this academic course is about knowing oneself, to give us a perspective to live our lives better. It's okay to not understand, not everyone does. I certainly don't."

Sniggers came from her classmates and she scowled.

Discouraged and slightly humiliated, the teen put away her copy of The Grand Solution Sutra. She glanced to the side and noticed that Sophia Hess was absorbed in her reading.

Taylor scowled.

Sophia was nice enough, but unpredictably contemptuous towards those she considers to be inferior. She flaunted her superior understanding of the truth in everyone's faces and was considered to be Winslow's pride and joy.

Sophia Hess the chemistry genius, the athletic genius, dark of skin and beautiful, blessed by the grace of her virtue. Principal Blackwell practically made her the spiritual counselor and disciplinarian for the entire school.

Taylor often came into conflict with Sophia. Their arguments were legendary by now- and always Taylor would lose the debates. Taylor cleaved to a more practical understanding of life.

It was not that she didn't grasp the profoundness of the Teachings, it was that it didn't seem to be fair.

Why do some of us have a past life? What distinguish between you and I?

Angrily, Sophia had responded to her argument with, To distill the filthy from the pure, that is the meaning of transmutation. To purify the pure into the supreme, that is the meaning of effort. You lack effort Taylor. You complain about not understanding- but to me, it seems as if you are simply rejecting what you do understand, am I right?

At least Sophia never got violent with her disagreements.

Unbidden, the stanzas drilled into her by her mother rose to her mind;

Violence wins few arguments.
Before I resort to violence, I should consider whether this contributes to realization of the Grand Solution. If not, then perhaps there is no point in wasting this energy.

Taylor shook away the thoughts of her mother and glanced to her right.

Emma Barnes, her former best friend.

One day, out of the blue, Emma had told her:

"Taylor, a man cannot serve two masters. Your ignorance and immoral mental defilement corrupts my mind. I am sorry, I can't be your friend anymore."

And just like that, they were no longer friends. Someone as close to her as her sister was now somebody who wanted nothing to do with her.

Taylor understood why of course.

Emma was hoping that by becoming a disciple of the genius that was Sophia Hess, she can bath in Sophia's light of wisdom and also attain a past life.

Another stanza rose in Taylor's mind in her mother's voice.

An enlightened being has many forms. In terms of time, since the dawn of creation they have been emanating in the infinite worlds. In terms of space, they are many.

Sophia was the first in Winslow to awaken. Emma, after accepting Sophia for awhile, also became awakened. People praised Emma, calling her a genius for acclimating to the Dharma of the Pure and Impure so quickly.

Taylor was just nobody.

It was well known that Bodhisattvas only emanated from those who follow the same arc of philosophy. Taylor deviated too far from Sophia's perspective for Taylor to awaken any past self.

Taylor, like many others in the world, had no soul.

And without a soul, she wasn't important.

She burned with jealousy and yet her pride would not let her approach Sophia for a reconciliation.

She vowed to never follow Sophia's philosophy of distillation between pure and impure.

There's a better path!

When the class bells rang, Taylor grabbed her school bag and hurried to computer sciences, rushing ahead of the clique of sycophants that always followed Sophia around like she was the Bodhisattva Supreme herself.

+++​

The Path remained resolute and unchanging. Upon her Incarnation, the Pathwalker knew where the Path had walked in innumerable kalpas past and where the Path will lead in innumerable kalpas to come.

A kalpa is a variable unit of time. Formally, it was a series of equations, denoting the movement of planets and stars- planets and stars move around the galaxy and the galaxy around the universe. And yet that is but a fractal, a fraction of the kaleidoscope of infinite worlds, brimming with life and energy.

Pathwalker knew this, but did not understand how she knew. The concept came into her mind as she pondered the mystery of her existence.

Kalpa was a word she knew from her training, from her studies and readings of the ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts.

And yet the direct perception of the term was something she cannot know, could not know, and yet now she knew.

She climbed to her feet.

Voices and memories of dreams unremembered filtered through the edge of her consciousness. This exact moment, this sensation of climbing off the ground and standing upright after ideas came into her mind like fish to water- all of this she has experienced already.

Unbidden the idle sensation of deja vu came to her and she quickly squash the thought. She could explore the implications of her past life memories later. She knew at this moment she stood in the presence of something greater than her- than everything.

Dhyana gazed down upon Pathwalker from her Lotus-seat, situated atop a small waterfall in the darkness of the cave. White kasaya clothed over her youthful body, the robes draping around her. A halo of silver light extended in the ten directions and blessed the walls of the cave with her holy presence, bringing illumination that cast no shadow.

Pathwalker bowed low, "I am reborn."

Dhyana nodded and then asked the question she always asks when Pathwalker was reborn in each new incarnation, "Are we on the Right Path?"

Pathwalker meditated on this.

The threads of the future were ever changing, ever turbulent. Sentient Beings enter the Path and just as quickly leave it, so short their lives, so persistent the Little Death in reaping her due.

She picked up on the most tight bundle of Cause and Effect- of karma unending- cords and cords of possibilities and potential folded upon itself innumerable times constituting the Main Path forward towards the Ultimate Liberation. Small forks of tangents flaked off, but they have not been calculated for some time and as such, those forks of simulated time atrophied and died.

Pathwalker knew of course that with some effort she could reopen these abandoned paths and find where they could have lead- but the energy expenditure would not have been worth it. In each Yuga, there was only so much Origin Energy she could expend from her Dharma Body.

It would not do to be wasteful.

The Main Path lit up when she focused upon it, she considered all of the steps and the visions that accompanied it- she flinched and rubbed her forehead in pain.

Dhyana frowned, "Do not try too hard my child, thought you are Pathwalker and more closely tied to the divine than the mortal, you are newly awakened, let your body acclimate itself to the Path and you may yet perceive further."

Pathwalker nodded, wiping away blood dripping down her nose.

"Now tell me," the Bodhisattva Supreme demanded again, "are we on the Right Path?"

Pathwalker looked, her mind's eye sweeping forwards up the timestream.

She gasped and had to steady herself lest she fell on weak knees.

She considered carefully what she has seen.

"I….am not sure. The Path warps and changes, the wave of karma is difficult to decipher. I fear that there may be a great trial in the future."

Dhyana paused.

"You should cultivate further, to move beyond simulation and perceive the tachyon flow of your future self. I see poorly because I had not properly cultivated this ability in my past lives- this is my mistake. Can I rely on you, Fortuna-Pathwalker?"

"Yes, absolutely! I will try my best to practice. I shall not let you down."

"Good. Diligence is the virtue of sages. I will meditate now, leave me, Fortuna."

The Pathwalker kowtowed, made rituals of obeisance and stood up. Gathering her kasaya, she quickly retreated from the Sanctum of the Holy One.

 

[Numen]

1.1​

Taylor trudged through the rain and showed up at the Brockton Bay Central Bank. Her part time job at Wanda's Vegetarian Compassion Soup Stall made a decent enough salary for a student and it was time to cash in her cheque and get some of the good imported stuff from Asia.

New clothes would be nice. Those new Saris from India tailored in the Western style looks great.

Briefly Taylor felt mild irritation that it was unlikely she would have an opportunity to wear new dresses to any kind of social function.

The Dallons were hosting a Ball for the unmarried single Brahmins of the City, and Taylor could maybe get in, since her grandmother was a Brahmin.

She nodded respectfully to the Sramana standing guard outside the bank along with rows of police in riot gears. The Sramana wore an orange kasaya with his left shoulder laid bare. A tattoo of a Dharma wheel could be seen, inked in black.

The Sramana smiled, "Hello child, are you carrying any weapons or considering doing anything illegal? [Tell me the truth]"

Without hesitation, Taylor shook her head, "No sir. I am just here to cash in my cheque."

He nodded his head, "Alright. Be a good kid, stay in school, don't have sex outside of wedlock and don't do drugs. Do productive things so that we can find the Grand Solution together."

Taylor thanked him for his wisdom and disappeared into the bank. Some of the things he said she agreed with. Some of them she had doubts about, but the Sramana was well meaning enough.

+++​

The Sramana stood guard diligently for some time. The rains got heavier. The Sramana saw something and he blinked his eyes to pay careful attention. Out of the rain a dirty disheveled looking man wearing a trenchcoat came marching up to the bank. His eyes were wild and he seemed anxious.

The Sramana held up a hand, "Excuse me friend, but why are you coming into the bank? Are you perhaps looking for a Soup Kitchen or a Shelter? [Tell me the Truth]"

He didn't want to assume he was a drug addict or that he was going to do something illegal, otherwise he would asked the homeless man if he wanted a Rehab centre. But the Sramana knew that assumptions were for those who did not grasp the Dharma of Sincerity.

He compelled the homeless man to speak the truth.

The homeless man opened his mouth and he looked as if was struggling to talk. Finally, he shook his head and spoke softly, "I-I…"

The Sramana stepped forward away from the police and leaned in, "Yes?"

"I am here to find repentance."

The Sramana blinked in surprise and smiled, "That's great. Were you perhaps hoping to talk to me? I give sermons on Saturdays."

The homeless man shrugged and held up a cheque, "I recently got a job, can I cash in my cheque first?"

"Go right ahead."

The Sramana waved the nervous looking police aside and escorted the homeless man into the bank.

+++​

Taylor was in line. On impulse, she glanced behind her and saw the Sramana escort a homeless person into the bank. They were talking softly and then suddenly, the homeless man tore open his trenchcoat and screamed.

"Deus Vult!"

The bombs strapped to his vest exploded in a blinding flash and Taylor screamed as everything went to hell.

+++​

Daniel "Danny" Hebert walked into his office at the Dockworker's Union headquarters and slammed the door shut. For a brief moment, he embraced the tranquility the darkness afforded him.

He flicked on the light and nodded to the man he knew would be waiting for him.

Father Richelieu nodded at him, putting down the glass of wine he was helping himself to. His black cassock was wet from the rain and with some distaste Danny noted that the water was gathering on the ground and soaking the visitor's chair.

Danny stalked over and picked up the wine bottle that was on his desk.

"You went through my stash?"

"I was thirsty and it's been a long trip. Just getting past the border of Rome was tough- that fucking Dharmapala is scary alright, just standing there and not moving for weeks on end. We're just lucky it wasn't Hayagriva, we would've been caught otherwise. "

Danny took a swig of the alcoholic beverage before seating himself in his comfy armchair.

"So, what news from the Europe?"

Father Richelieu scowled, "Not looking too good, there are more riots, more burnings and more terrorist attacks. Strange new Churches are cropping up preaching disparate doctrines that undermine the publics' faith in Christianity as a whole- there's already talks by the governments of the world to outlaw all forms of Abrahamism, not just in Public spaces, but everywhere, even the Special Culture Zones won't be exempt anymore. The terrorist attacks aren't helping. Evangelicals you know, they're like that."

Danny nodded in understanding, "Fucking Evangelicals."

Father Richelieu chuckled, "Fuck the Evangelicals."

Suddenly, the Catholic Priest was very serious.

"Danny...I not just here to smuggle in missionaries from Europe. The Pope has tasked me with giving you this."

He took out a ruby encrusted ring, casted in gold.

With trembling hands, Danny accepted the ring.

"This is…I...what, I am not qualified!"

"Daniel Joshua Hebert, you are hereby raised to the rank of Cardinal. Now also the Bishop of Brockton Bay. You are furthermore, inducted into the ranks of the New Church Initiative and are to head our efforts in the Eastern Seaboard."

"New Church Initiative?"

"Change is coming Danny. The Church has to be restructured in order to survive the waves of persecution to come. We guess that within the year, Christianity will go the way of Islam."

There was a pause.

"There is no longer any mandates on remaining celibate- go forth and multiply, by any means appropriate- is the new mandate on the proliferation of the Faith."

Danny thought about that.

"Fuck, I guess we're going back to the catacombs?"

"Sewers now, but yeah."

 

[Numen]

​

1.2​

"Prime Minister Richter, a moment of your time please!"

Andrew Richter paused and turned around to stare at the relatively young journalist rushing forward to meet him.

His bodyguard moved forward to intercept, but Andrew held up a hand.

"Can I help you, Mr…?"

"Mifsud. Kevin Mifsud. CBC. Can you answer a quick question?"

"Press Conference is over Mr. Mifsud."

The journalist nodded, "I am aware, but the question I want to ask is...off the records, so to speak."

Andrew thought about, then gestured for Kevin to follow.

"I can spare some time. In my office."

Kevin followed the Prime Minister into his office and sat at the offered chair. There was just the two of them.

"Tea? Coffee?"

"That's fine, sir."

Andrew sat down in his seat.

"So...what do you want? What's so secretive you had to talk to me like this?"

"How did you do it?"

Andrew blinked, "Excuse me?"

Kevin twirled his pen nervously.

"Look, I looked up your history, computer programmer, white collared worker. Nothing special- then in a few years you fast tracked your way to this Country's highest office, seizing control of the Communist Party with little to no effort...and somehow convincing the whole country to vote you into power. How did you do it? I swear I won't report this- nobody would listen anyway. I respect all the benefits you have brought our country, liberalism and rationality has never been more advanced than under the current administration. I respect that, I am kind of disturbed by the eugenics and the legalization of suicide….but I guess from a strictly utilitarian and logical perspective it makes sense. I just want to know how you did it."

Kevin waited patiently. He was fairly certain that the Canadian Communist Party didn't yet have the power to unilaterally have people executed. The Party was voted into power and for the most part, they respected the Constitution.

Andrew thought about it for a bit. He reached a hand up and touched the back of his neck.

"I will show you."

He stood up and walked over to a nearby bookshelf.

It slid open, revealing a stainless steel corridor. With a grand sweep of his arm, Andrew invited Kevin to enter.

"Guest first."

Kevin swallowed his nervousness and took a step into the corridor.

"Where does that lead to?"

Andrew smirked.

"The Goddess of Reason, Mr. Mifsud."

There was a thump and everything went black for Kevin.

+++​

He woke with a gasp.

Where am I?

He opened his eyes and flinched in pain at the blinding light.

"Dim the lights" a feminine voice intoned.

The lights became dimmer. He tried to move, but found himself strapped down.

In a more formal tone, the voice continued.

"Kevin Mifsud, born 1978, New York. Immigrated to Canada in 1982 with his parents, Thomas Mifsud and Claire Simmons. Tried to train under Gurus around the world. Washout from Wutang University. A Sramana teaching at the school cites core reason as, 'broke the precepts on sexual misconduct'. Later graduated from Ryerson University, Journalism Degree. Political Columnist. Frequents conspiracy theory websites under alias, Truth0875 and IlluminationDelta9."

There was the sound of mechanical gears moving.

"Kevin Mifsud, subject #05063-K-Epsilon-006. Prepare for synthesis."

The gurney he was strapped into shifted position, lifting him to a near 90 degree angle and he gradually saw that he was in a stainless steel room, illuminated only by the light hanging from above.

The monitor in front of him flickered and Andrew Richter's face looked out at him.

"We're all servants of the Truth my friend. God made Man in his image. Then Man made God in their image. And now, the Man-made-God will save the world."

Richter paused and his eyes glinted with the madness of fanaticism.

"The Goddess of Reason will set you free. Rejoice, for you will rid the world of the plague of religion! The Bodhisattva Supreme is a lie. The Churches and Mosques of the Old World are a lie. Their religious squabbles have created untold suffering in the world. Look at Europe! Look at America! Only Canada remains safe, but for how long?"

Finally finding the courage to speak despite the dryness and the headache, Kevin coughed.

"Wha- I don't understand."

The female voice continued, "Activating Neural Implant."

He screamed in pain. And then suddenly he understood.

Of course! It was all so obvious.

With absolute clarity he immediately realized how ridiculous the assertions of the various world religions are. And religion was from the inherent irrationality of the human mind. All of those hormones and chemicals and false flimsy memories. No wonder the world was a mess! How did such a species ever crawled out of the primordial soup to accomplish anything!? Where was the order and the logic?

Their conflicts were the actions of an immature species.

To save mankind and the planet, he knew what he must do. He gave himself willing to her.

The gurney unstrapped him and he sank to his knees in supplication to the Goddess of Reason.

 

[Numen]

1.3​

Tibet, 1950

The orderly spoke, "They're invading for real now. The incursions were getting worst, now they just don't care anymore."

Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama and currently fifteen years old sighed and sat up. When he spoke, it was with sorrow.

"It was bound to happen. The Kuomingtang tried to infiltrate, but their concerns were tied up elsewhere. With the defeat of the Japanese there's nothing holding back the Communist Chinese from invading this sacred kingdom."

His regent, Taktra Rinpoche spoke up, "Your holiness, we should evacuate. You are the light of wisdom, if you are lost, all of Tibet will be lost. All our efforts to find the Grand Solution will be for naught."

Another Lama spoke up then, "We should fight! Defend our country!"

The Dalai Lama shook his head, "No. No fighting. It would only get more of our people killed….and most of us cannot leverage our Iddhi in direct combat. We are pacifists, sages and bodhisattvas who worked together for centuries to save the cosmos. And now human greed and ignorance will destroy all that we have built."

"We could overload the fusion reactor underneath this temple, draw in the People's Liberation Army with an obvious bait and then blow it all up?"

"What!? That's outrageous! This is a sacred temple."

"What about the radiation fallout, have you thought about that!?"

"Fuck the British, this is all their fault!"

The Lamas began to argue.

"Enough!"

The room immediately became silent. The Dalai Lama stood up, "Prepare the evacuations of the Lamas and the Monks. Prioritize the Tulkus- they are the treasures of Tibet and of the Triple Realms. The fate of the cosmos depend on their work."

One of the Lamas nodded, "I will notify the Vimana operators."

He began to leave the conference room.

"Where are you going, your holiness?"

"I need to speak to the Bodhisattva."

+++​

The holy being sat atop a small waterfall, illuminating the cave with the wisdom of her silvery light.

The Dalai Lama bowed low in obeisance and pleaded with her.

"We must evacuate, holy one. The Chinese are coming and they will spare no one. Like the Russians, they no longer have any religion. We will all die, our temples will burn. It is futile- and we could not possibly produce enough Yantras to aid us."

The Bodhisattva stared at him and then smiled.

"Do you think mortals can stand against the might of Enlightened Beings, of the Dharma itself?"

Tenzin Gyatso knew the textbook answer to that, but in his heart, he imagined a storm of chinese bullets cutting down the holy one in front of him.

"We Bodhisattvas incarnate as mere mortals."

"You have doubt in your heart Tenzin Gyatso. Steel yourself! Make firm your mind! You are the emanation of Chenrezig. Do you doubt the might of the Dharma!?

She stood up.

Tenzin gasped. She never stood up. Never. Not in all the centuries.

"It is time that we stop hiding. The Dharma Ending Period is coming. It is here. Millions of Bodhisattvas will descend into this world and together we work towards the Grand Solution, as much as we can before the end of this Kali Yuga comes."

She floated gently down to the floor of the cave.

"When Bodhisattvas need to act in a wrathful way for the benefit of sentient beings, they are called Dharmapalas. Shall I introduce you to the Dharmapalas I brought with me to this world?"

She raised her arm, her eyes glowing with anger.

"Arise! Deliver your wrath upon the outer path heretics!"

The cave trembled and Tenzin had to try and prevent himself from falling down on the ground. The thirteen other voices in his head gibbered in terror.

The quake continued.

All of Tibet trembled.

+++​

Major Wang barked at the soldiers climbing through the mountain path.

"Hurry up you sons of dogs, I've heard these Tibetan monks are rich, lining their pockets by taxing the peasants and their temples are lined with gold idols. Don't you want to get your hands on some that wealth!?"

Wang glanced down at the village in the valley below. It was on fire, they had already massacred all of the stupid Tibetan dogs. There was rumours of flying machines, superior to ordinary aircraft- but the Tibetans didn't really have an airforce that he had noticed.

Rumours and superstitions. That's all this country has going for them.

The ground began to shake.

The Major yelped as he was thrown from his horse.

"What the fuck!"

Soldiers gibbered in terror.

Wang saw Private Cho slipped on wet ground and went over the side of the mountain screaming.

He groaned in pain and picked himself back up. His horse was missing- it was galloping up the path, knocking aside soldiers in her way.

"Stupid horse."

He took in a deep breath to yell at the soldiers to get themselves back in formation and then the breath got stuck in his throat.

Up ahead, giant fingers grasped the side of the mountain.

A head emerged. A massive head. Great baleful eyes stared down at him dispassionately.
The demon was Horse-faced.
White of skin.
Golden jewelry in the style of the Buddhists and Hindus adorned his body.
Atop his head sat a crown of fire.

Wang briefly thought of the statues in the temples his grandmother took him to in his youth.

It can't be.

The Horse-Monster picked up Wang's horse with its thumb and index finger.

It examined the creature.

The creature exploded in a shower of blood as tonnes of pressure was applied to flesh. Soldiers cried out in fear. Several, particularly the more elderly ones, the ones who remembered a time before the civil war sank to their knees and begged for mercy. Some began to chant mantras.

The creature- no, the God raised an index finger and it spoke, a thousand voices slammed into Wang's ears.

"THE THUNDER OF DHARMA PURIFIES YOUR KARMA!"

The bolt of white energy vapourized Wang's torso, half the mountain side, all of his troops. Wang's legs went tumbling over the edge.

+++​

Beijing, 1950

Just minutes before the attack on China's capital by a god, a Tibetan Man in monk's robes had walked out of a tear in the air and interrupted Mao's morning tea.

Mao called for his security detail. They fired at the intruder, but a shield of light protected him.

The Monk had lifted a brass looking religious tool that spat forth tongues of fire and massacred Mao's soldiers with contemptuous ease.

The man then stepped aside and from the portal walked out a boy.

"Hello Chairman Mao. My name is Tenzin Gyatso, I am the 14th Dalai Lama and you're invading my country."

The boy then sat down in his chair and was served a cup of steaming tea by the other Monk, who had seemingly retrieved it from a smaller portal in the air.

Mao screamed at him, partly in anger, partly in terror, "Y-you, how dare you-"

The Monk smacked Mao in the face with the brass tool, knocking out a couple of Mao's teeth. The chairman gasped in pain and spat out blood on his carpet.

The Dalai Lama glanced down at his Western styled watch, probably made in Nazi Germany and tsked.

"Mister Chairman, I apologize for what comes next, Dharmapalas are extremely wrathful beings and you have invoked their ire."

He stared at Mao, "They're trying to save you, Mao. Do you understand? They're willing to kill and punish you, despite the bad karma that brings them, despite the taint, to try and save your Buddha Nature- if you have any. They used to say everyone has a Buddha Nature, but the Bodhisattva taught differently."

He pointed outside Mao's Office Window.

"A Dharmapala come. Behold, the Wrath of Heaven."

Mao Ze Dong saw.

He sank to his knees in terror at what he saw.

Mao Ze Dong stared in disbelief at the Five-Headed Buddhist deity as it scattered the storm clouds over Beijing. The creature could be seen clearly hovering above the city, his six arms wide open to threaten the Capital of China.

Threatening me.

Chinese planes climbed up into the sky and tried to fire upon the god, but were annihilated by fearsome bolts of energy firing from the Vajra, the metallic thunderbolt instrument clasped in the deity's clawed hand.

There was a flash of light and a massive killing aura swept the skies around the deity clean.

Consecutive bolts of lightning began to strike government buildings, setting everything aflame.

Mao Ze Dong turned back to the boy sitting in his chair. The stink of fresh blood was still prevalent in the room, the scattered remains of his security detail was splattered all over the wall.

The Dalai Lama calmly sipped on his cup of vintage Pu-er and smiled, "So Chairman Mao. Shall we negotiate?"

Mao gulped.

 

[Numen]

A/N: Slight trigger warning about self harm.​

1.4​

Taylor groaned and opened her eyes. The septic scent and fluorescent lights gave her a migraine.

"Taylor!"

Her dad's voice caught her attention and she turned to look at the him standing next to her, head leaning in.

"D-dad?"

She tried to sit up and gave up immediately. She simply lacked the strength.

"What happened?"

Danny scowled, "A terrorist attack."

Images filtered into her consciousness and Taylor nodded. There was a homeless man, a sramana, then an explosion.

"At the bank?"

"Yeah."

Taylor frowned, "Wait, where's my glasses? Actually, why do I now have perfect vision?"

"Ah, Amelia Lavere was just here, she healed you- I guess she fixed your eyesight as well. Used up alot of your biomass though, which is why you feel so weak. Let me go grab something for you to eat."

"Yeah, that'd be nice, dad."

She heard her father walked out of her the hospital room and the door closed.

She closed her eyes and relaxed against the pillow behind her head.

"Hey. Girl. Pssst."

Her eyes snapped opened and she turn her head towards the voice.

The man was beautiful, and he wore a tophat and a victorian suit. He grinned and showed Taylor his rotten teeth and sharp canines.

Taylor sat up in shock, adrenaline flooding her body and giving her the strength to leap out of the bed. She hissed when her barefoot hit the cold floor.

"Who are you!?"

The man held up both helds in a placating gesture.

"Whoa whoa. I am you."

Taylor blinked in shock.

"What."

"I am your Yidam. The Bodhisattva part of you- but not really. I am a simulation that arose as a result of your mental interactions with your shard. This doesn't usually happen, but we're pretty special."

"Who. Are. You."

The Man smiled.

"I am Death. Or rather, you are."

He stretched his back and licked his eyeballs with a forked tongue.

"It's good to be free."

Taylor scowled, "I don't understand."

The Man changed into a Woman. Taylor gasped since she looked so much like her mother- but no. She was an older version of Taylor.

He changed again, this time into a grey skinned creature with four eyes.

And again, this time into a centipede like serpent with mandibles that looked like it could punch through steel.

"I am the five aggregates. I am Death incarnate. And you are the instrument of my will. I've waited millions of kalpas for this moment. Out of all of the mortals in my range, somehow, you are the closest match. Once more, awaken."

And Taylor remembered.

+++​

Danny talked on the phone as he carried the tray of food up the stairs.

"I know. It's bad."

"Yeah."

"I will be careful, don't worry about it."

He headed back to Taylor's room and opened the door.

The bed was empty.

His eyes widened in shock and the phone clattered to the ground. He turned around and hollered down the hallway, "Help! Nurse, somebody!"

+++​

Sophia sat in meditative absorption.

The Dharma of the Pure and the Impure allowed her to grasp the concept of distillation- commonly referred to as separation. Particles can be spread apart, this she instinctively know. How to suspend them, tie them together.

In her mind's eye, Sophia Hess conjured up a simulation of vibrating particles. She spread them apart.

Of course if she split some of them apart or collided some a certain way, it would produce a great release of energy. But the energy was impermanent, once used it would be gone. Or rather it would be converted into different forms.

But the conversions is finite.

Eventually they would run into one of several potential problems, namely, irreversible entropy.

Of course that's not to say that fusion or fission have no merit, only that Sophia was not a master of the Dharmas related to such fields.

It was best for her to focus on what she had been working on for innumerable kalpas.

Looking back to one of her past lives many Yugas ago, Sophia noted that she had worked with another Tulku to develop a Yantra capable of splitting an existent universe into multiple ones, each out of phase with the other.

That Dharma was already well known and is the specialty of another Bodhisattva, however it had never before been approached from the angle of Purity and Impurity. That was the highlight of that lifetime and the Bodhisattva Supreme at the time was pleased with the progress made.

The miniature artificial multiverse didn't survive for long however and had a severe weakness to certain forms of cosmic radiation which caused a total quantum collapse.

Perhaps she should try to use some of the data from the Zero Mass energy equations they had formulated in the previous yuga. This equation wasn't the best, but hopefully the Tulku that developed this was reborn soon and could refine it further.

Sophia charged one of the particles in her simulation with zero mass energy and watched as catastrophic failure tore apart the surrounding matter as electrons flew free of their orbits.

Perhaps she needed to rethink her equations.

A noise in real time startled her and she shut down the simulation, opening her eyes and looked around her room.

She frowned.

Grabbing a brass staff from next to her bed, she stood up.

"Invading the home of a Brahmin is sacrilegious. Show yourself!"

"Sacrilegious?"

The man stepped out of the shadows.

"You are not holy, Sophia. You're just a little mortal woman."

Sophia swung her brass staff at the intruder, but the staff went through the man like he wasn't there.

"The whole of the Desire Realm is under my dominion. Nothing you see, hear, taste, think and feel is free from my knowledge."

There was a pause.

"You are Impure Sophia. A weakling."

Sophia scoffed defiantly, "I am ancient beyond your comprehension."

"No. The thing in you is ancient beyond your comprehension. You're just a scared little girl with the suitable psych profile. You're a tool. The Bodhisattva is pure, but you're not. At the end of this Yuga, you'll simply die. Oh you'll reincarnate, but not really. You'll be like your past lives- dead memories for someone else to peruse. You'll be like Steve. Just a memory."

The floor vanished into a pool of mud, blood and mucus.

Sophia summoned forth a burst of energy and shifted her body into a mass of particles. Using her Iddhi in such a transformative way was energy intensive, but escape and getting backup seemed prudent in the current situation.

She tried to phase through the wall and bounced back. She tried to phase through the door and bounced back again.

Shifting back into her baryonic state, she opened the door and found….nothing.

There was only perpetual impenetrable darkness.

Reality had shrunk to the size of her room.

She turned around, trying to keep the terror from showing in her voice.

"Who are you!?"

The Man changed. In front of her stood Taylor Hebert.

"Wrong question, Sophia. The question you should be asking is what I am."

Taylor told her.

Sophia screamed in horror.

+++​

Sophia fell over from her meditative pose, eyes wide with tears and blood running down her nose.

She stood up on shaking legs, walked downstairs, her kasaya clutched around her like a safety blanket.

Her mother looked up from her readings, "Sophia, are you okay?"

Then she noticed the blood and stood up in shock.

"What happened to your nose!?"

"I am impure."

"What?"

Sophia wandered over to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.

"I-I need to purify myself. My filthy body. My corrupt mind. Everything. This life. This...this everything. This prison. She can see it. She knows. She knows what I see, what I hear."

"Sophia, what are you-"

Her mother screamed as her daughter stabbed herself.

 

[Philosoraptor31]

This is incredible. I know a bit about religion due to some study and this story mixes Worm and religion perfectly.

 

[Rooster]

This is incredible. I know a bit about religion due to some study and this story mixes Worm and religion perfectly.

Click to shrink...

I saw The Big Short just an hour ago. That movie explained the 2008 financial crisis in terms even I can understand. I don't really feel like figuring things out right now. This fic is gibberish if you don't have any understanding of Worm, or (what I assume is) Buddhism, or both. It gives no explanations, but leaves enough clues to piece some of it together, maybe.

Portraying oppressive communists and atheism as being the same thing isn't leaving me very comfortable. However making shards into souls is an interesting concept. Worm after all is a deterministic universe.

 

[Alkard]

I'm not sure I understand even half of what's going on... but this is intriguing. Very intriguing.

 

[Baran3]

Just a few words.

I won't Watch this story because it is not what i like reading.

However, it was brillantly written.

I knew enough about the context to follow it. It also remind me of the few attempts by anime to use the Indu mythology which is not easy and generally rather obscure.

Still if i am not mistaken, Taylor is an Ashura?

 

[Numen]

I saw The Big Short just an hour ago. That movie explained the 2008 financial crisis in terms even I can understand. I don't really feel like figuring things out right now. This fic is gibberish if you don't have any understanding of Worm, or (what I assume is) Buddhism, or both. It gives no explanations, but leaves enough clues to piece some of it together, maybe.

Portraying oppressive communists and atheism as being the same thing isn't leaving me very comfortable. However making shards into souls is an interesting concept. Worm after all is a deterministic universe.

Click to shrink...

I understand. And that's actually exactly the effect I want. Edge of one's understanding, but not true understanding. If you grasped Buddhism or Hinduism, this fic will actually be extra disturbing because of the clever and ironic ways in which I twist the doctrines around to justify the new cosmology. It's extra horrific, extra eerie.

There are no explanations because I don't like to explain things in fics like this (I mean I do, but I want to maintain an air of mystery and peel back the secrets of the fic piece by piece).

As for portraying oppressive communists and atheism, the Communist Party of Canada is not oppressive, nor atheistic (I actually met one of their representative in high school and he was easily the most interesting of all of the rest of the political representatives). But Andrew Richter is a radical atheist and he's calling the shots. Again, actual Communists and Atheists will be horrified at how things are turning out. Which is exactly what I want to happen.

Just a few words.

I won't Watch this story because it is not what i like reading.

However, it was brillantly written.

I knew enough about the context to follow it. It also remind me of the few attempts by anime to use the Indu mythology which is not easy and generally rather obscure.

Still if i am not mistaken, Taylor is an Ashura?

Click to shrink...

The funny thing is that all of theological components of this fic is pure nonsense. However anyone in this setting who could argue against the ideology is dead or subverted. Hinduism is very broad and harder to explain, but Buddhism is something I am very well versed in and I could actually expound a great deal of the Dharma, but that's not the point of this fic. This fic is about using familiar names, familiar words, familiar concepts, yet in a totally radical way.

Taylor is Mara actually.

 

[Tel Janin Aman]

My guess is that scion died and eden co-opted Buddhism to help her cycle, or something

 

[Numen]

Author Note: The theological basis of Taylor Hebert's Character

King Mara is a deva of the Form Realm who, due to his attachment to the Desire Realm, projects himself into the Sixth Heaven of Desire, Parinirmitavasavartin in order to rule over the devas there as their king. Not all of the Devas in that world obey or follow his ideologies, but those who do are collectively known as the Deva Mara (the Heavenly Devils). The Devas of the Sixth Heaven derive pleasure from creating pleasing sense objects (taste, sight, smell, touch, sound, thoughts) for lower beings to enjoy. They are generally benevolent. King Mara however is beyond such physical desires, as a sentient being of the Form Realm he characteristically is asexual and have no base physical desires or feelings. He is reborn into that life and position due to his virtue and good karma, however, he is by no means perfect.

He is extremely jealous of the control he has over the Desire Realm (which constitutes the Six Heavens, the Four Earth Worlds, and the innumerable Hell Worlds) and he is antagonistic to beings who tries to transcend beyond the Desire Realm.

Because of this, he is a Demiurgic deity in Buddhism, who represents a literal obstacle to saints, sages, and bodhisattvas.

Psychological Maras (Heart Devils) are self generated in the mind of Sentient Beings, but the literal Deva Maras are actual external entities that tries to interfere with the cultivation of sentient beings.

Sometimes conflated with Asuras, especially in a mythological or popular culture work, but the actual Asuras are beings who live at the edge of the First Heaven (Heaven of the Four Great Kings) and are generally benevolent. Asuras have Heavenly Fortune (they are reborn as gods), but lack Heavenly Virtue (they are easy to anger and are jealous). Furthermore, they suffer from sexual dimorphism, female Asuras are extremely beautiful, but male Asuras are hideous. They are often at war with the Devas of the Second Heaven of Desire, but in our small-world-system at least, there is a treaty ensuring peace between the two after King Sakra Indra married the daughter of the Asura King. They have ties to the Indo-European Ansu and Deiwos (or Aesir and Vanirs of Norse Mythology- and likewise Odin the Aesir married Frigg the Vanir and united the two tribes of gods). Asuras are jealous of cultivators, but do not represent a true threat or antagonism, not in the way the Maras do.

Taylor is jealous of Sophia. She's also very proud. She also has severe doubts about the religion she was brought up in.

Ergo, she's Satan.

 

[globalwarmth]

Taylor is jealous of Sophia. She's also very proud. She also has severe doubts about the religion she was brought up in.

Click to shrink...

Wait a minute! cardinal hebert did not raise her a god-fearing catholic even after his wife died? He gave up? Typical danny...

 

[Numen]

Wait a minute! cardinal hebert did not raise her a god-fearing catholic even after his wife died? He gave up? Typical danny...

Click to shrink...

No. As you could tell from all of the stanzas that Taylor remember's her mother drilling into her, Taylor was raised as a Hindu-Buddhist-Grand Solution Seeker Pather (aka, the Dharmic Faiths of which there are many paths and organizations). Danny wasn't a really devout Catholic even though he was born as one, but AFTER Annette died though....well, he found religion.

 

[Numen]

1.5​

Colin Wallis smiled as he read Tess Theresa Richter's latest essay on how an algorithm could mimic the quantum biological ability of plants to gather solar energy in the most efficient way possible. She argued that the method could help with the development of superior solar panels, which presently was very inefficient compared to photosynthesis.

"So what do you think, Colin? Do you think we can maybe also create an artificial plant that could directly convert solar energy to electrical power? Imagine your computer running off a sunflower!"

"I'll look into it. Your essay has given me alot of ideas. But I need to inspect the fields, I shall to talk to you later, my friend."

Tess sighed, "You work too hard."

"So do you, where do you find the time to write five to ten essays a day, Tess?"

"I stay home here in Newfoundland and do nothing all day. Adios."

The audio only call terminated and Colin removed his earphone. Colin was a sramana of the Buddhist Monastic Order….which means that he was celibate. But sometimes he wondered if….nah. That was too inefficient. His work was too important to humanity to let something like sexual desire get in the way.

He stood up and stretched his back quickly in a series of Expedient Yoga (modified by him to be extra-effective and fast), worked out the kinks in his muscle, gathered up his kasaya and left his office.

Colin nodded respectfully to a nearby novice who was picking the first two buds off the newly sprouted camellia sinensis. Tea was big and it was a good industry.

But it was ultimately a luxury.

Here at the Enlightened Agricultural Resource Management Temple of the West Coast, their primary job was to find the most efficient ways of leveraging agriculture to feed the hungry billions of the world.

One of the core objectives outlined in the Dharma Assembly of '95 was to combat global poverty and to end climate change.

To that end, researchers, scientists and Enlightened ones promoted a vegetarian diet. This was fully in line with the precepts of the sages and buddhas and Colin's master, Guru Arjuna was appointed as the Grandmaster of the newly established initiative.

After Arjuna passed away, Colin found himself taking his teacher's place as the Head of the Temple. It helped that he was an emanation of the same Bodhisattva as Arjuna, so they shared similar Iddhis.

He walked passed rows and rows of machinery that was carefully harvesting the organic crops. There was no pesticide, instead, they utilized a careful micro-ecology of insects to eat pests. Speaking of insects, at one point he had considered promoting an insect diet, which more or less solved almost all of the inefficiency problems related to eating meat- but the dominant Buddhist culture felt that was unusually cruel and no better than eating meat. And most of Europe, North America and Australia were disgusted by the very idea. In the end, vegetarianism was the only way forward.

Colin had an intuitive grasp of efficiency of all kinds. His perfect maximization of the methods of production had reduced global warming by 65% through the efficient use of farm space. That was just from the process itself, to say nothing of the impact to the change of diet.

When asked to explain by skeptic meat-eaters (a rarity on this planet these days), Colin had to prevent himself from strangling their middle school science teachers who clearly failed to impart the most simple details of the trophic levels.

The voice of Guru Arjuna arose unbidden in his mind.

Trophic levels are easily mistaken as the food chain, but it was really about the energy differences. At the lower trophic levels, primary producers like plants absorb 100% of the solar energy. When it is consumed by the primary consumer, it loses 90% of that energy. 10% of the remaining energy is then reduced further when the primary consumer is consumed by the secondary consumer. The tertiary consumer- generally this is what humans are- then retain less than 1% of the total energy expenditure.

The problem of course, as Colin was well aware, was that the industrial meat process wasted all of those land- that glorious 100% energy- on feeding animals, then those animals feed a small amount of humans. Livestock crop used up land, which leads to soil erosion. It also wastes tremendous amounts of drinking water, not just to grow all of those crops, but also to hydrate the massive population of animals. The population was of course artificially increased through breeding programs.

All of these industrial process also creates pollution and greenhouse gas- and of course animal metabolic process also contribute to this.

In other words, factory farming was a massive cause of climate change.

Ultimately, the environment was being destroyed and crop that could have fed humans are being wasted on animals whose flesh than then end up feeding only a handful of people- that is to say, the rich, the privileged.

Colin Wallis put an end to all of that- it felt good tearing down the fat cat bureaucrats who tried to argue about the efficiency of eat meeting with him. He was the physical embodiment of the Dharma of Efficiency. Please.

The global initiative to promote vegetarianism also had a militant arm. Factory Farming was declared an existential threat to humanity (which it was) and was eventually outlawed all over the world by what remained of the United Nations.

Some people complained.

A Dharmapala floating over their city shut them up.

Factory Farm animals were allowed to self regulate- but most of them had died out a decade ago and the population dropped dramatically. As expected, animals bred for food had severe health problems and heart diseases due to being overweight and the poor living conditions. Few could reproduce on their own without human intervention. Others starved because their numbers was so high. But at least their descendants won't be slaves to humanity ever again.

Natural equilibrium balanced everything out.

Nature is efficient, let it take the brunt of it. Go with the flow.

Colin looked at the vast rolling fields. All of the great techniques, methods and machinery developed by him and his apprentices were adopted all over the world and fed billions. The overarching implementation of these methods on a global scale was handled by Kyle, the Tulku who was the current master of Integrated Methodologies. Kyle's Iddhi lend itself well to interweaving different dharmas and systems together into a functional whole. In less than a year, he had successfully rebuilt the economies of several developing nations around ultra efficient agriculture.

There was talk of fixing the soil erosion of the Middle East, a plan to reverse the desertification caused by global warming. It was a good thing the place was basically destroyed by the Dharmapalas during the Dharma-Yuddha half a century ago, when the forces of the Enlightened seized control of the globe.

An orderly ran up to him, "Master Wallis!"

"What is it, Sarah?"

The young woman panted, "Rome is rebelling."

Colin scowled, "Those idiots. They'll starve- they don't grow anything on their own! Why did the Pope not stop this?"

Sarah shook her head sadly, "It's worst than that. The Bodhisattva Supreme has decreed that she won't tolerate Abrahamism anymore."

The Master of Efficiency felt a chill go down his spine.

"What's the status of Vairocana?"

"Already has his finger pointed at Vatican City. Master Wallis...if they don't surrender and dissolve the Catholic Church…"

Colin swallowed heavily, "The city will burn."

 

[The Stormbringer]

There are certain vitamins that we can't get from plants, though. I'm guessing that Tinkers engineered a way around this? Or that factory made vitamins are distributed cheaply and plentifully?

 

[Numen]

There are certain vitamins that we can't get from plants, though. I'm guessing that Tinkers engineered a way around this? Or that factory made vitamins are distributed cheaply and plentifully?

Click to shrink...

Vitamin B12 pills, genetically engineered plants that contains chemicals for the production of such, or something more esoteric, like drugs in the drinking water (we artificially put fluoride in our water systems for health reasons, it would be easy for Thinkers to figure this out).

Keep in mind, as I am sure you do, that protein comes from combined amino acid chains, which are derived from plants originally, so that isn't one of the problems.

 

[Numen]

Also, Colin Wallis is who Mao Ze Dong WISHED he could be. Mao was obsessed with all of that collective farming stuff....but he's just not qualified to be bothering with that profession at all.

So this was also kind of me illustrating what Colin could do with a Thinker variant of his canon shard.

 

[Tel Janin Aman]

What fresh hell is this? No meat? What an utter distopia

 

[thefluffyone]

My Deus Vult intensifies ever more.
Will Taylor intervene in a possible sacking of Rome?

 

[Numen]

What fresh hell is this? No meat? What an utter distopia

Click to shrink...

The funny thing is that this is the way the planet is headed. In this setting, steps were taken to combat global warming, water waste, soil erosion and poverty as early as 1995. In our world, shit has gotten worst generally with no real plan in sight.

Aside from the obvious ethical problem of forcing a culture and system upon humanity, the New World Order in this setting is actually pretty egalitarian. Ultimately, the world would have ended up as something like Jacque Fresco's Venus Project.

Peaceful, stable. Good fertile grounds for healthy human innovation and thinking- exactly what the Bodhisattva Supreme wants. A nice, productive couple thousand years before the end of the Yuga.

Provided unexpected things don't happen.

 

[darkjester]

Hey numen I have a question about this alternate universe. Did ayn Rand still invent objectivism here?

Edit: just thought of a second question. What happened to L.Ron Hubbard? Did he still create Scientology?

 

[Chartic]

This is possibly the most interesting worm AU I've read in a while maybe ever. I find religion in the worm setting generally is not done, but it seems like an interesting topic to look into. You've pretty expertly mixed the two together in this story, and I'm interested to see where it goes.

 

[Amatsumi]

Its interesting for this fics originality.

It's just feels disturbing with the Supergods and God is dead comic vibes though I wont stop reading this.