Epilogue
Messiah Li, an incarnation of Lord Lao of the Celestial Masters, will inaugurate a great cataclysm that will destroy these sinners, and only the devout faithful, the zhongmin will survive and enjoy the era of Great Peace under the rule of the Messiah.
- The Divine Incantations Scripture (4th - 5th century CE)
2025 Wudangshan, China
It did not end with a whimper. Nor a bang, but Daniel Hebert's foot crunching on a graveled path. He descended from his personal Vimana that flew across the sea to the famed Wudangshan Temple Complex. Following closely behind was Annette, hand twitching now that she no longer had a weapon and 'Satan' was no longer possessing her.
The ancient Wudang mountain range was famous the world over. It was the place of cultivation of such auspicious personages like Zhang Shangfang, the Sage who transformed Taoist Yoga into Tai Chi Fist- the world famous martial art it is today.
The Purple Cloud Temple loomed ahead, a testament to the great history of the Taoist practitioners of this land. That it survived both the Communist uprising and the
Dharmayuddha is merely prestige upon it's glory. Well, Daniel concede that it was rebuilt in 1413 and extended in 1803-20, but
everything needed maintenance in this world.
"Your eminence, this way."
The Taoist Monk- formally called a "Qiandao"- guided him and his retinue towards up the temple. They were here for a historic meeting the like of which the world has never seen.
Awaiting him was Elder Zhang Yu, the head of the Purple Cloud Temple and the elected master to represent all of the major branches of Taoism.
Standing next to him was Master Cheng Yen, the Buddhist representative.
The Imam, Muhammad Jafri was representing what was left of Islam.
Rabbi Bezalel stood next to him, representing Judaism.
Sri Vedanta Chatterjee was representing Hinduism- or more specifically, the syncretic version of it that was left behind in the wake of the now defunct Dharmic Authorities. Fortunately Hinduism was always very flexible and could take a hit and keep rolling, welcoming what made sense and quietly throwing away what did not.
The alien looking Indra-Sakra also stood there, his greater height looming over them all. The Asura rebellion had been brutally put down when Indra returned to space and now he seeks a place at the table.
And finally, a Dragon Suit, representing the Canadian God herself as a major world power. She was the arbitrator and recorder for this historic council.
They were here for peace certainly, but more than that. They were here to do something that had never be done before.
To unify all religions and by extension, all nations of the world- regardless of race, creed or differences. They would celebrate their similarities and be challenged by their diversity in all of it's forms. But they never wanted to be splintered and broken again. Not like before.
The esteemed personages sat in a circle and waited. None dared speak first.
So Annette did.
"I was the host of Mara for the longest time."
Everyone turned to look at her.
"I was his host. I can't say that he was a nice being, he was driven by revenge to the very end. But he may have inadvertently saved countless worlds from the depredation of the false-gods."
She paused.
"I want it to mean something. The suffering he went through. The people he- and I- have killed. And…"
She gripped Daniel's hands and gave him a sad smile.
"I want my daughter's sacrifice to have meant something..
She locked eyes with each member of the delegation, even Dragon's ocular lenses and spoke with determination.
"Nobody leaves until we
make this work. God knows we've fucked up enough times already."
So they got to work.
There was debates- so so much debate.
There was cosmological models being expounded. What they knew to be theological truths versus philosophical deductions- or was it the other way around?
Empirical evidences were considered- certainly no one believe that the Earth was literally 6000 years old. Some of the old American Churches that Daniel spoke of wanted him to push forth a creationist agenda, but Daniel shot that down so fast it burned.
Fortunately, I am the representative for all of Christianity.
Cheng Yen argued that the oscillating Universe theory matches Buddhism. Sri Vedanta argued for Eternal Inflation. The Taoist was undecided and concluded that perhaps they were both looking at the same problem from different angles.
Rabbi Bezalel slammed his fist on the table.
"Science is all well and good, but empirical evidence also applies to the experiential reality. What do we all know are experiential truths that everybody experience?"
Cheng Yen nodded her head in agreement.
"The Rabbi is right. The Buddha taught…"
And so it went. Theories and dharmas and secret teachings. All things were laid bare. Nothing was kept back.
Slowly, things began to take shape. Make sense. A coherent and consistent system that didn't precisely explain how everything works together, but certainly gives the
space necessary for everything to co-exist. It was a beautiful fractal pattern, a true magnum opus.
Nothing was written down- Dragon simply take everything that was said and refined it into a coherent whole. Nothing needed to be quoted fully. One only had to allude to a specific scripture or passage and Dragon will have lifted it off of the internet or an archive.
Occasionally, someone would produce a tattered tome, a secret copy of a copy of an ancient text. Dragon would dutifully scan these as the discussion continued unabated.
They did this day in and day out for an entire month.
They began and ended each day with prayer and worship- to each of their respective deities and beliefs and then they come together and as one they worshipped the Truth. Simply the Truth. The one thing they all believed in.
Finally the Ultimate Scripture was compiled.
A database of the world's known truths, both scientific, philosophical and religious.
It demand from the people a will to live and a desire to serve the truth.
"What should we call this truth?"
Elder Zhang Yu stroked his white beard and cheekily replied.
"Let's just call it the Tao. The
Way is after all, in every religion. Logos. The Straight Path. Dharma. Ma'at."
Daniel thought it was appropriate. He remembered reading C.S. Lewis'
The Abolition of Man in College finding it when he was looking for the Narnia series at the library. He could remember his passage regarding what he felt was the Tao:
The Tao, which others may call Natural Law or Traditional Morality or the First Principles of Practical Reason or the First Platitudes, is not one among a series of possible systems of value. It is the sole source of all value judgments. If it is rejected, all value is rejected. If any value is retained, it is retained. The effort to refute it and raise a new system of value in its place is self-contradictory. There has never been, and never will be, a radically new judgment of value in the history of the world. What purport to be new systems or…ideologies…all consist of fragments from the Tao itself, arbitrarily wrenched from their context in the whole and then swollen to madness in their isolation, yet still owing to the Tao and to it alone such validity as they posses.
It was sometimes difficult to imagine that C.S. Lewis was a devout Christian scholar. The man was brilliant.
Annette perked up at the mention of the name, "Ma'at? The Egyptian goddess of Justice?"
The Elder chuckled, "Hardly a goddess. A force beyond the gods themselves, a cosmic order that demands a certain way of life."
"Strange for a Taoist to be quoting a dead goddess."
"I made every man like his fellow….I have given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked...I was a husband to the widow and father to the orphan. Do you know who said that? Ma'at did. She is cosmic law and justice, she is the mover of all natural bodies and laws and she is the embodiment of righteousness. She is Dharma- the Dao actually- personified."
"Interesting."
Muhammad spoke up then, "Certainly, every religion's concept of God or the Way is similar- identical in fact. Our eschatology are even similar- all of us here have a prophecy of the end times, albeit the interpretation varies."
Daniel stood up, "Is it truly different though? The Great Unity as proposed by Confucius, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth as promised by Jesus, the Pureland of Maitreya, are these not Heaven
on Earth, here in the living world? Is it simply not the future? We all want a prosperous future for mankind, bound in righteousness and nobility. Could it be that is all that God truly want from us? To live the way?"
Elder Zhang Yu nodded, "Now you're getting it."
The Jew raised an arm, "Judaism believes the same. Olam ha-ba is the
world to come and in some circles is regarded as the Garden of Eden come again- which any scholar will tell you is a state of being more than a place."
They quickly descended into a rapid conversation regarding the End Times.
"Has the End Time already come?"
They turned to look Indra, who had thus far remained silent and simply accepted those who were greater in the fields of theology- and human interests- to debate the fine details.
Indra continued, "When Taylor sacrificed herself to save the cosmos, did she not also brought low the enemy and Mara, which can be interpreted as a metaphor for her inner evil-"
Annette bristled at the accusation, but Daniel grabbed her hand. That seemed to always calm her down.
"- That she overcame. She overcame the inner demon within herself- for let us not forget that Mara is a simulation reflecting herself- and she
won and saved the Universe. Which brings me to my next point."
He stood up and called upon a holographic display that began to scroll to several lines of text.
"We know that according to the testimony of Master Chekov and Master Sriganesh, Mara was once a priest of a truly god-like being, an eternal energy source which he claimed was part of the cosmic process. How can such a power be stopped by a mere teenage girl? Ask yourselves if sticking your arm into a leaking vessel of a piece of eternity itself can do anything to stop it?"
Indra sat back down and looked at each of them, "I
personally believe that Taylor is the Messiah and that she ushered in the end time. It is our job now to steadfastly build her kingdom and bring peace to the Solar System and
beyond. Spreading the religious ideals of love and truth and righteousness as we were always meant to
live. She is Li-Hong!"
"She's dead," Annette spoke with finality.
Daniel admit that he was moved. Certainly no one said that Jesus had to return bodily in the same way he left...perhaps Taylor really was the Messiah.
The Old Church would not have accepted something like this. The New Church can.
Sri Vedanta coughed, "There will be many different interpretations of what happened. And you know what?"
He raised both arms in a 'so what gesture.'
"That's fine by me. We are rich in diversity. Taylor will be a Saint. Or a Buddha. Or Jesus Reborn. Or the Kalki Avatar. It does not matter. We
know beyond any doubt, that she saved us, that she interceded with a being that we could only accept really is God or a part of God's power. She interceded for us and saved us- and she destroyed all false religions and false gods and overcame the devil in her own heart all at the same time. And that is enough for me to add her to my prayers."
He clasped his hands together and bowed his head to pray.
Daniel too clasped his hands together and prayed.
The rest followed suit.
A Saint for the New Era was made here in this room. But in ten-thousand years, will anyone still remember her?
+++
10,971 CE, Ketuma Ecumenopolis (Heaven, Paradise, Pureland)
"And that, child, is the story of the last vestige of the dark age. And within living memory, Paradise was achieved."
The floating woman lifted off of the ground. She was beautiful and dressed in a skintight bodysuit of deep pink.
A child floated next to her, dressed in a bodysuit of baby-blue.
"What of Taylor? What happened to her?"
"Well Ajita, from what we know of the nature of the Eternity Matrix today, Taylor is dead certainly. But why on Earth does life end in death? Do you not know-"
She spread her arms out at the lush grass blowing in the flat plain of Heaven, tall trees casted cooling shadows over the golden spires of the eternal city of Ketuma which was encircled by 84,000 satellite cities, each populated by millions of people.
Up ahead in the sky, the light of Sol casted an orange glow over the great oceans of the Earth and glinted off the metal surfaces of the great sky cities overhead.
The woman continued, "- do you know that we live in Heaven. The hereafter. The Garden of Eden. We are dead yet living. Taylor is dead yet living- she is one with God now, broken down into the indivisible substance, freed from all mental conditioning, free from all karma. She is in the other shore."
The woman turned back to the child.
"And you too, shall enter the other shore. I was there when you were born. I saw the gods- not like the devas of the solar system- but the true gods from another time and space. They themselves delivered you into our world from the far away dimension of Tushita. I saw. I know."
She touched his brow reverently.
"You will bring trillions into the path and billions will become as you are and know God truly. After you have extinguished all conditions and enter the True Void of Nirvana, as Taylor Hebert has done before you, for 60,000 years the true dharma will be taught by your disciples, followed by the Dharma-likeness for another 60,000 years as religions numbering in the millions spread your decaying teachings to every corner of the universe, sowing the seeds of enlightenment in alien races far and wide so that one day, God will send more Prophet-Buddhas to save them too."
Ajita's face scrunched up.
"I don't feel like I can do that. I don't think I can be like Taylor Hebert at all."
She hugged him and spoke softly, "I have faith in you. Pray to Taylor tonight. Let her guide you."
"But she's entered Nirvana. She is gone from all worlds and all dimensions."
"Silly boy, do you not yet know, all are one? You studied amplituhedron physics in school, you should know that nothing is beyond the bounds of the True Void. We are tiny lotuses nestled within lotuses in an infinity of lotuses."
Ajita closed his eyes and instantly realized that this was true.
The humans of the future were different. They were giants in comparison to the man of before, towering over mortals at great heights of 160 feet, long ago engineering themselves this way. Even Indra acknowledged the superiority of the human race over the devas. And in every human, an inherent grasp of the higher truths of the universe. With but a focus, Ajita's very cells can compute calculations that once took towering Shards to do, his eyes can see into all spectrums and even the quantum foam. Nothing was beyond this child's power.
No child of humanity could be denied anything. They only lived with the weakness of death- but to such learned and virtuous beings as they, death was not a weakness, but a part of their very long, millennia-long lives.
Humanity had long surpassed the false-Bodhisattvas race.
Ajita nodded his head.
He looked to the rising sun, the former gas giant known as Jupiter- the redeemed Lucifer- now a second star within the solar system. It filled him with strength and determination.
"I shall devote myself to the Path fully tomorrow."
The woman smiled.
"I am sure your parents would be proud."
"My father is the Prime Minister of the Chakravartin. He knows that religion is the greatest calling in the world. He would not object."
"Child, your Lord father knew your destiny before you were born. He saw it. We all did. It was upon the path of time and was inevitable. The whole solar system and beyond watch your progress carefully. He will be overjoyed to see destiny fulfilled."
She bowed to him. To the boy who would become a Prophet-Buddha. The Buddha named
Maitreya, who aspired to establish the Pureland upon the material world and to guide them into the great federation of Infinite Purelands in dimensions so distant and close to God it was beyond their comprehension.
And together they flew away towards the dawning of the promised hour.
+++
The water flowed into the shore and withdrew.
The winds blew gently.
She coughed and opened her eyes, wide and innocent. She looked around her and frowned in confusion, as if seeing it for the first time.
She gazed down upon her translucent skin, glowing from within a luminous light.
Turning behind her, she saw a giant lotus flower, opened and spilling forth viscous fluid that smelt faintly familiar.
A womb.
There was a glint of light in the sky and she looked up to see another luminous being descend.
The being touched her gently.
"Hello child," he spoke without sound, "Do you remember who you are?"
She frowned.
And then smiled.
"I know."
The being bowed to her. He was nice enough, but she now knew that this was not her destination. This world was close to where she needed to be. It was the wrong universe however.
She descended into a lower realm and then yet lower, and lower and lower. She shed her powers and her light as she descended, until she felt space thick with causality as she became a grosser and grosser material being.
From
Keter to
Malkuth, she felt her body form from the eternal energy of God.
And finally she stepped into a beach filled with grains of precious jewels. She was naked as a babe and she laughed and danced in the river.
She gazed in awe at the golden spires of the eternal city yonder.
A boat of white wood drifted downstream. A child sat inside and he looked at her curiously.
"Who are you?"
She felt the answer bubble forth, her soul so bright that her very thoughts align with her being. There was no time for deliberation, no doubts in her speech. She wills it and her body, mind and voice executes it.
"Thus come, thus gone. Thus come again. Free from all conditioning, I am here simply because I want to be alive and to partake of
living."
She held out a hand.
The boy took it. The custom still exist.
"I am Ajita. Who are you?"
She smiled.
"I am Taylor."
From within her body, she withdrew the Eternity Matrix.
"It is near the end. It will happen slowly, as worlds crumble and space shrinks. This is inevitable. But as the material universe reached it's maturity and withers, so too our soul shall shine brighter. You shall guide us to that higher state as we are simultaneously freed from this world."
She passed him the Matrix and he cupped it in both hands, eyes brimming with tears.
"I thank you, Taylor Hebert, Prophet-Buddha of a bygone era."
Taylor kissed the boy on the head to give him her blessing and pushed his boat away, a burst of unknown power sending his ship careening out into the ocean- to where he needed to go. She saw it on the path.
She flapped her arms and flew into the air and then did a flip, reveling in an existence where hells and suffering cannot exist because even the youngest of children and smallest of insects was filled with love and care. Where everyone was a philosopher and a scientist, where every problem was met with a confident cry of, 'we can do it, we can solve this, we can help people.'
All of her prior suffering was worth it, to bring forth and to live in such a perfect material reflection of God.
"Now, I am going to go eat a veggie burger. I wonder if they still have that?"
They did. And she ate her 100% matter replicated veggie burger, fresh off the press.
And life was good.
A/N: While I chose to use the Buddhist angle for the final scene here, I could have just as easily written about the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth, Islamic Jannah or the Garden of Eden or Satya Yuga or the Confucian Great Unity. It's a matter of perspective, but the point is, nearly all religions all agree that Heaven is within the Human Realm (or in our hearts). A human paradise, achieved by human hands, guided by the love of God. Not beyond it.
Keter and Malkuth refers to the Topmost and Lowest Sephirot of the Kabbalah (The Tree of Life). For more on physics stuff, read about
Amplituhedron.
For more about Maitreya and the Cities of the Future, read
Buddha Pronounces the Sūtra of Maitreya Bodhisattva's Attainment of Buddhahood. For the anime version of this sutra, watch this.
Thanks for reading everyone! Look forward to my next project
PS: Fanfiction.net link
here.
