Welcome to Gaia! ::

#1

"You have heard me say before:

'Understand that Life and Death are themselves Nirvana
Neither hate one, nor cherish the other
Only then can you be free.'

When you bring death to your enemy, do so without attachment. Do not feel vengeance or hatred towards your enemy. Only know that they are your enemy and what you must do, do quickly and with compassion. Your compassion is your passion in the form of your blade. There must your vengeance be; not in your mind. When a man tosses a pebble into a pond, he does not check the bottom of the pond to see if the stone is there. He knows his action has produced its desired effect. So must you be when you take the life of an enemy. Know that you have shown him mercy by releasing them to their Karma and you are part of that Karma. Do what you must and no more. Those that bring death are the same as those that save life. That is the true way of the Clan."

#3

On How Xen Came Into The Service Of Lord Yama...
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:: Xen pauses, pours some green tea from the pot on a small table next to him, sips some and then continues speaking ::

"In my previous incarnation, I was born in Nippon to a peasant woman and a Ronin father. They loved each other deeply and had hopes for the future, despite their difference in social standing. My father thought it important that I was trained to defend myself and my mother when he was away for extended periods of time serving some Daimyo as a sword for hire. Knowing that I would not be able to legally carry a sword, he chose to teach me the Bo, a simple staff that any peasant could carry. I grew up quickly, as the land was filled with turmoil during those days as Daimyos fought to be Shogun and the Emperor was but a mere puppet of them.

The love between my parents was ill fated. When I was eight years old the body of my father was brought back to my village for burial. He had been killed personally defending his Daimyo shortly after he had been accepted as full Samurai into the Clan. My mother was filled with great sorrow, for she loved him with a pure love. She was inconsolable and even when she died of fever when I was twelve, I knew that she had never gotten over his death. Time had been hard for my mother and I with no father to send money to hire laborers or to help in the rice fields. We were very poor, but not in spirit, as my mother had instilled in me a lasting love for the teachings of the Lord Buddha. After my mother died, I gave the land we owned to a Soto Zen monastery and entered it as a novice monk.

Life as a novice was simple, but involved a lot of work, We younger monks were given the menial tasks that kept the day-to-day life of the monastery running. I practiced Zazen with the other monks and on my own when there was time. My Sensei took a shining to me; but there was another boy, older than me, that did not. His name was Jiri. He was popular with the other monks, because he told them what they wanted to hear, but often got into minor trouble with the townspeople when he would go out with his begging bowl. They accused him to my Sensei, the Abbot, of asking for bigger donations to the monastery (which later, I discovered Jiri kept part of for himself) . Jiri was jealous of me because the Master would sometimes take me and not him into the gardens to discuss his teachings in great depth. Jiri was determined to become Abbot and it seemed sure to everyone else that he would some day. Jiri taunted and sometimes beat me in his anger. Though I could have surely resisted because of the continued training I did in the art of the Bo fighting that my father had taught me, I did not. I tried to have compassion upon Jiri, because I had no aspirations for myself. If Jiri would become Abbot, then it was the will of the Buddha, I told myself, and I must submit to it.

When I had just turned 18, my Master took ill, as he was very aged. All of the monks were sorrowed, because we loved the Master very much. He had been a good and honorable teacher to us all, training us to be knowledgable and true practitioners of Zen. The Master summoned all of the monks to the meditation hall and declared that his teachings and the position of Abbot would be bestowed upon me. I was shocked, but accepted the Master's will for me. The other monks accepted this without question. All but Jiri. He was duplicitous and of an undisciplined mind. Secretly, Jiri had longed for the day when our Sensei would die. Seeing his aspirations were thwarted, his evil knew no bounds and on a day when I was to tend to the Master on his sickbed, Jiri poisoned the tea I was to serve to him. My Master died a horrible death and it was evident that he had been poisoned. Jiri was quick to make sure that all eyes were upon me for his death. I felt grief-stricken for the Master, but I was also afraid for my own safety. Soon, one of the monks, a dear friend of mine, came to warn me that Jiri had evidently planted poison in my quarters and that he had all of the monks looking for me, to seize me until the local prefect would sentence me to what would surely be my death. My friend also told me that Jiri had taken upon himself the position of the new Abbot of the temple. Hearing all of this, I quickly packed the writings of my Master, some food and my staff then departed the monastery in haste. With a little money given to me by my friend, I booked passage on a merchant vessel headed to Goguryeo and then I made my way into China.

On my journeys I was hidden by those friendly with my temple back in Nippon, because with the Soto monastery funds Jiri had hired a Ninja to pursue and kill me. I secreted for some time in a remote area with the Shaolin and even though I was not part of their temple or privy to all of their secrets, I was allowed to study Ch'an and Bojutsu with them. Eventually, word reached me that the hired assassin had discovered my whereabouts, so I was forced to leave.

After many hard travels I reached the sacred city of Lhasa in Tibet; the farthest and most remote place in the world I could think to go. I thought I had finally outdistanced my would-be assailant and so it seemed I had. For seven years I dwelled there, studying rare sutras, divination and secret teachings; some with the Dalai Lama himself. My Zazen meditation had taken on new and wonderful aspects there high atop the world. Clarity, like crystaline icicles reflecting sunlight, stilled my troubled mind. Still, somewhere deep down inside, almost against my will, I cursed Jiri, who had made me leave home and who had slain my Master whom I had loved so much. It is true that I had grown greatly in wisdom and in spiritual strength because of my travails, yet one lesson remained.

One night, while chanting the Heart Sutra before a mandala of Avalokiteśvara, who is the bodhisattva of compassion, I heard unfamiliar footsteps come from behind me. I did not turn, because I knew it my assassin, finally come to slay me. At their approach, I calmly spoke the words that I had reached in Heart Sutra: 'Because nothing is attained, the Bodhisattva through reliance on Prajna Paramita is unimpeded in his mind. Because there is no impediment, he is not afraid, and he leaves distorted thinking far behind. Ultimately Nirvana!'. Just as I said the last word, the Ninja stabbed me from behind. I fell over on my back and looked into the eyes of the masked one. 'forgiveness' was the last word I uttered.

Then I saw myself lying on the ground and the Ninja grabbing my satchel, then quickly exiting the temple. Suddenly, I was transported to another place or dimension not of this world. A pure, white light surrounded and permeated me. For an unknown time or time without time I drifted without motion in the silent light. Then, quietly at first, came the primordial sound. It grew in intensity until it was loud enough to shatter worlds! It was the first and last sound of all the Universes: 'OM'.

Before me appeared in indescribable magnificence the World-honored One, the Buddha. He was seated upon a white lotus and clouds of incense swirled around him as he smiled upon me. I was unable to speak and found myself bowing before him. When I looked up again he said one word to me: 'forgiveness'. Then as quickly as before the entire vision of the glorious Buddha became one of darkness and off fire and smoke. Before me now was the terrible Buddha, our Lord Yamaraj.

I was struck with terror and wondered to myself what it was I had done to deserve such horrible Karma!
'You shall suffer the fate of your own making! The wheel of Samsara spins as you have chosen!', were the words that now came from the Wrathful One. Instantly, I was struck with fire that proceeded from the mouth and eyes of the Lord of the Underworlds. Pain and fear and hopelessness enveloped me and I did not know who or where I was for what seemed an eternity as I drifted like this in the black fire. Slowly, my senses returned.

I now found myself in the Bardo, the Afterlife that is between lives. I had entered the Eight Hells that are reserved for those that have not attained Nirvana, but must be purged of negative Karma. For countless kotis of kalpa I tread trough the hells. Meeting ghastly shapes that once were men, fighting the evil Naga demons that tried to consume me forever, wondering why I was sent here by my Lord Buddha.

Eventually, after what surely must have been thousands of mortal lives of time, I met my old adversary Jiri in the lowest hell. He was in a state that i cannot even describe. It is a wonder that I recognized him at all. He was weeping and crying aloud that he was sorry for all that he had done. I approached him and seeing him suffering so, I had compassion upon him and wept, too. My tears fell upon Jiru and for the briefest of moments his torment was lifted. Jiri looked up and saw me and cried out: 'Your tears have comforted me when I did you great wrong. Please forgive me of the evil I did to you, Xenji.' I embraced Jiri and and told him that I had already forgiven him when the assassins blade struck me. Jiri rose to his feet and spoke once more. 'I prayed to the Buddha that he would send you to me so that i could tell you that I was wrong to hate you. I did not know that you would also suffer because of my prayers.' 'No', i said, 'Surely your prayers were answered and here I am, but I suffered because I did not learn the true lesson of compassion until now. Please forgive me for not being wise enough to be able to have had such a talk with you when we were still among the living.'

Then, there in the midst of the darkest hell, the Buddha appeared to us both, vacilating from heavenly to wrathful form and back again over and over. We fell to our knees as the Buddha spoke: 'You shall both be released from this hellish prison. You Jiri, to another mortal life. But you, Xenji, must be my servant and show compassion on others among the living that find themselves in a similar predicament of mind. Go now, both of you and resume your Karma.' At his words I looked over and saw Jiri smiling at me. 'Peace, friend', I said. Then I was transported back to my body.

The lamas had alread been chanting over my lifeless corpse the first day's rites of the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, when my lifeforce reentered my body. They were stunned but quickly realized I was no ghost, but a living man again! They brought me back to the temple and bathed and purified me and gave me food to eat. The Ninja that had slain me heard of this and returned to the temple to beg my forgiveness. He became the first of this Clan and part of my mission to serve Lord Yama.

This is how I came to be here. Some must serve those that heal. I must serve those that have wandered into obedience to Lord Yama - those who bring death. If the only thing I teach you is to be merciful and mindful in that which you do, then my mission will be fulfilled. Remember, we all tread our own 'hell' and our own 'heaven' made by our thoughts and our actions."

#7 The Way of the Clan – Heart & Soul
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In my series of "The Teachings of Xen" it is a great honor for me to teach some of the heart and soul of the Way of the Ninja, Ronin and Monks as they were originally influenced during their birth and rise in Japan. I find it one of the most enjoyable things I do here. I hope it brings benefit to you all.

Xen is the root of all 3 of these traditions.

The Way of our Clan is Xen.

The Dark Wolves is more than just a Guild, it is a place to enjoy yourself, a place to learn and a place to interrelate with others. Are these things not the heart and soul of Xen? Yes!
It is the heart of this Clan of which you are a part; so each of you is part of the heart and soul of the teachings and traditions of ancient Japan ... they live in you!

In the ancient writing, called in English, The Way of the Bodhisattva, it says:
“Wherever and whenever and whatever you are doing, for your sake or the sake of others, do with diligence the teachings given for that situation... for those that are knowledgeable of the teachings there is no action that is not of merit.”

Lets look at that, because this is a major foundation of Xen and of what it means to be a Ninja or a Ronin or a Monk...

When I give these teachings, as your Sensei it is important that I do so according to the teaching that were given to me! When I teach I do so with diligence – with knowledge and proper intent for the sake of the Clan. When I do this, my teachings have merit, as the Sutra quoted above instructs me to do.
“...whatever you are doing, for your sake or the sake of others, do with diligence the teachings given for that situation.” I must practice what is right for the situation.

So, too, must each of you do with all of your heart and soul what you do in and for the Clan.
In this way you will benefit yourself and your fellow Clan sisters and brothers!
We must work in harmony, without fighting, as Xen teaches us to.
We must work together, in cooperation and as equals, acknowledging our teachers and leaders only as being a necessary part of the Way of Xen, as it teaches us to. Leaders should not dominate other Clan members, but serve them. Respect is earned rightfully, not taken. All Clan members should serve the greater good of the Clan, not selfish Egos that want power or glory.

Battle time is nearing... now is the time become one. Your glory must come from battle.

“for those that are knowledgeable of the teachings there is no action that is not of merit.”

If we stand together the Clan will act as one...just as in Xen all awakened beings are one!

No threats, no foes, no spies, no infighting will touch us if we are one.
Their existence will mean nothing. We are aware of their existence and do what we must as we are taught to do by Zen. The Dark Wolves exists and will always exist! We cannot fall.

The true enemy is an unfocused mind.
Let our foes run around in fear of us and each other... we shall remain disciplined, patient and unmoved. We shall have one mind.


Xen is the heart & soul of each Clan member and of each Team in the Gaia Battle System. The one who follows the Way of Xen will prevail, because there will be no fear, the mind will be calm, they will enter battle confident and knowing what to do and when! All of their actions will be right.

Your victories in the Gaia Battle System will become greater as you practice the principles that I am teaching you. If you practice the teachings, your efforts cannot fail!

No fear
No enemies
No selfish Ego