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The path to the Deathless is awareness; unawareness, the path of death.
-- The Dhammapada

The Western concept of sin and redepmtion, so vital to the Kindred's sense of Humanity, is fairly alien to most Kuei-jin. That's not to say th eEastern vampires don't see things as right or wrong; rather, the regard themselves as above those concepts. By virtue of what they are, vampires are fundamentally unclean. Still, they serve some purpose under Heaven. Unlike her Western counterpart, a Kuei-jin doesn't feel guilty about what she is. Instead, she takes a more Zen view of things, "I am an unclean thing. Yet I exist. Because I exist, there must be some place under Heaven for me." A Dharma helps guid her to that purpose.

Although it resembles the Kindred concept of generation, Dharma works more like the Humanity rating in reverse; rather than measuring a vampire's fall from grace, Dharma reflects her rise above her original state. When a Kuei-jin first returns from the spirit worlds, she's little better than a cannibal-corpse, soon (if she's lucky), she regains some sense of her former humanity and beings acting like a person with mighty powers. In time, this behavior wears thing; the vampire required a semblance of peace and destiny. Raw might is fun for a time, but, as the Kindred elders can attest, it feeds on itself until an immortal life goes hollow.

Wisdom -- and the hunger for it -- often comes with age. For the first few years of her unlife, the vampire finds herself enmeshed in mortal concerns. Resplendent in her newfound powers, she usually returns to her old home to settle a few scores and carve a new piece of turf. After a while, however, she understands that mortal games are like a thousand scattered grains of rise -- too small to collect and too tedious to pursue. A vampire who survives long enough to appreciate immortality eventually wants more than mere superhuman power. The quest down a Dharmis road takes a vampire many mortal lifetimes; the lanterns of that quest -- moments of insight called den -- goad her onward in the night.

Dharmas have practical benefits, too. Most Kuei-jin courts require at least a minimal familiarity with some Dharmis path; the living dead are too dangerous (to the living and the dead, and everything else in between) to be left in a shameful, undisciplined state. A renegade who refuses to learn anything about her place in creation does not exist for long; soon, an ancestor tires of having such a capricious creature in his domain, and he instructs her, enslaves her, exiles her or destroys her. A Kuei-jin with an advanced sense of purpose, on the other hand, earns respect for her enlightenment. That sense of attunement also helps the vampire to shift about Chil the more harmonious a vampire become to creation, the better she can use creation's lifeblood. Furthermore, her affinity helps her overcome the powers of lesser rivals; some soul-powers simply won't work when a youngster uses them against an enlightened ancestor. Even so, all the power in the world cannot ease a vampire's hung the way simple harmony can. By advancing her awareness, the Kuei-jin transcends her anguish.

Each beginning Kuei-jin character is assumed to belong to one of the five Dharmas listed. Dharmas are not power-based. Nor do they reflect the strength of a Kindred of the East character. Instead, they measure a vital; yet ephemeral, thing; the journey to find a place in creation. For a living dead thing, some sign of destiny may be all there is to hope for.