WORLD RENOUNCER
Seishi
I don't normally work with Jin and Bosatsu, except for one sort of circumstance. A prophetic birth. We have been taken to Earth's past to give a prophecy to this expecting mother and her husband. This is not my first rodeo. I helped this lady named Mary bear this one child at one time. But maybe we'll talk about that later. When there's a prophetic birth there is an entirely different from a normal birth, so I have a different team. You see, the wheel of samsara that shares its name with Rinne involves death, afterlife, and birth. But a prophetic birth is different. The soul has no reincarnations, it is born once for a purpose.
Bosatsu sets up the circumstances, as ordained by God. I gave the body a new soul from the Well of Souls. And Jin... well, it's hard to explain. You see, all prophecies are a choice. Even if the prophet who receives it receives an unambiguous prophecy, they have a choice to tell it clearly or lie about it, those in the family have a choice, and if possible the target of the prophecy has a choice. But... the choice isn't as clear-cut as it appears. A man named Oedipus tried to run from the prophecy that he would kill his father and marry his mother. He would have been better off if he had simply ignored it, but instead he ran away from his adopted parents (who gave him up when they heard the prophecy) and straight toward his real parents. While Jin offers free will through prophecies, some of the choices offered are self-fulfilling. Ironically, knowing the future is perfect freedom and perfect slavery. Perfect slavery, because it often paralyzes one with the realization of a horrible future. But provided one thoroughly researches things, it brings tremendous peace and freedom.
Let me be clear about one thing. We're not angels. In the case of Mary, we didn't deliver her prophecy. It went through a series of angelic intermediaries, starting from God, then the angel of God, then an archangel named Gabriel. We didn't say a thing to her. Jin set up the laws of probability allowing the event to be equally possible and impossible. Bosatsu enabled the framework that facilitated this process. And I was there to ensure the pregnancy went smoothly and the child was born. This birth itself was fairly normal, but the prophecy surrounding it was not. "Your child will either rule the entire world, or renounce it," the messenger had said. Now many people would jump at the chance of finding out that their child was going to be a holy man. Well, in theory, they might not like the whole idea of refusing to eat certain meats or vegetables because it's unclean or the fact that ultimately the child wasn't really theirs but belonged to their faith. But this was India during the height of its caste system, and this family wanted their child to be exactly that, a leader who would conquer the world. However, things have a way of not going like you'd expect...
Jin
Free will is a funny thing. The average person expects that events once predicted, automatically come to pass. But I'm an old hand at this. I knew that if they had simply ignored the prophecy, and raised their child normally, it would never have come to pass. But this boy, Siddharta, was blessed or cursed to have a father with impossibly high expectations for him. Not only were they high, but they were rather lacking in the aspect of choice.
But as I say, I know my job. What better way to make a child who makes clear choices than to stifle him from day one? And so, his father, King Suddhodana did his best to distract him from deep contemplation. He gave him the finest wine, women, and surrounded him with parties. He kept him insulated from sickness, death, and old age. Which is of course easier said than done. Whenever someone got so much as a cold, seemed old or ready to die, they were dismissed from the residence. Of course, we helped. We literally kept some of the attendants from showing their age, because after all, they had to earn a living.
As Siddharta grew, he was kinder than other children. He was more thoughtful and seemed to be more reserved. King Suddhodana's bloodlust for war wasn't shared by his child. Religious history tells you what happened next, that he snuck out of this pleasure palace, that he saw old age, a sick man, a dead person, and finally a monk. That he studied under the Sikhs, and while his life before had been too soft, this ascetic life was too hard. How Buddha cultivated a "middle way," meditating under a tree and dealing with various temptations, and finally teaching others before he died.
But perhaps the most important story is never told. How was he able to sneak out of the palace so easily? How indeed.
Suddhodana
Among men, I was a king. It was my great ambition for my son to see him become a man one day and overtake the world. That was the prophecy the wise man predicted, and I would do anything to prevent that other prophecy from coming to pass. I gave him luxuries, friends, and all the enjoyment that he could possibly stand if he would only stay near us and not wander out into the world.
I wanted him to be a leader of men, a great hero, a conqueror. But more than anything, I wanted to keep my son. I am no heartless bastard, though yes, I am a member of the Kshatriya caste, and it was my destiny to kill people for a living in pursuit of rule. And no, I didn't find it ironic that the Brahmin priest caste was higher than us, the rulers. So no, I didn't see my son Siddharta as moving up in caste, but rather that I was loving a son. I had lost a wife not long after he was born, and I couldn't bear the thought of losing him too. I am not a brute. Well, not as much as people imagine.
The plan worked for a time. But I watched Siddharta as he grew. He was kind to people, and as least as kind to animals. He saved a snake from torment. He was gentle to his horse, and to the birds of the sky. And when his cousin Prince Devadatta shot a swan with his bow and arrow, he took the swan and nursed it back to health before releasing it. I saw how happy and decent my child was, and how he was too good for this violent life that I was to give him. So I wished to keep him happy, I wanted him to be safe. It was safer indoors, after all. So I built him a palace and filled it only with the young and healthy, and I gave him his cousin Princess Yasodhara so that he would not need to venture outside the home to marry. And yet, rather than becoming happy, I saw it. The light in his eyes slowly flickered and died. He became depressed at the state of life, he became restless and wanted to see other people. I couldn't understand it. He had everything he needed, so why did he still wish to leave?
And so, I made a choice. I fired the guards in his palace, telling him that they were on vacation. With them gone, Siddharta felt emboldened to sneak away at times, and each time he did, I hired people to come to the palace grounds. There was no sense in him wandering too far, after all. I did it knowing that I would lose him, but I couldn't stop seeing that haunted look on his face as I had stolen away his happiness through pleasure.
To find the first two was easy. I rounded up an old man from a part of town where most of older men and women lived, and I found the sick man with the other lepers. I was careful not to get too close, but I paid him a nice sum to hang around near the gates. People kept trying to get rid of him, as after all, sick people are shunned and frowned upon. But he had received his payment, and was a persistent man. As for the last, I kinda sorta had to have my attendants carry out an assassination. What? Don't look at me that way! For my son, no gift is too great.
In any case, this was enough. Siddharta was greatly disturbed by what he saw, and perhaps more disturbed by the fact that it was close enough to his home that he suspected I was responsible. He ignored the dancing girls, and I knew my plan was working. Not long after, he ventured out on his own, leaving his wife and child behind. I watched from a window as he took one last look at his home. I waved to him and smiled, though I doubt he saw me. My boy had grown up.
