From alt.pub.dragons-inn Tue May 24 17:26:23 1994
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From: raimisl@ucsb.edu (Raimondas Lencevicius)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [PARTY] Zen and the Art of Eating Apples
Date: 24 May 1994 15:33:01 GMT
Organization: University of California, Santa Barbara
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ADMIN: Copyright 1994 by The Dreamer and Raimondas Lencevicius. Permission
       granted for net distribution, all other rights reserved.

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"Ray du Monde at your service.  Thank you for the invitation to this
magnificent party.  I am very glad to be here...and to meet the heroes
of so many tales."  Luthor followed his gaze across the room.  Not to
a burly knight of shining armor or a mighty mage sporting magical tomes,
but to a small street boy who was laughing and playing with the other
children despite his scars.

Ray noticed Luthor's glance and half smiled:
"Yes, every being in the world is a hero in his own way. A wolf hunting a
rabbit and a squirrel fleeing from the weasel, a mighty fir reaching for the
clouds and a tiny buttercup under your feet, a bloody warrior and a
weather worn farmer."

Ray fell silent and looked around the room. The guests were greeting each
other and getting into conversations. The musicians adjusted their
instruments preparing to play. Luthor felt silence settle between him
and the strange guest, the silence that was not heavy and sad, but rather
a light silence that carried common thoughts and feelings.

After a while Ray du Monde turned to the host and asked:
"You honored me by mentioning the teacher of yours. Can you tell me more
about him?"

Luthor cleared his throat and grabbed a drink from a nearby tray. As
he immersed himself into the story, Ray leaned on the staff and
listened as intently as an old ash listens to the wind.

"Not too long ago -- about a hundred years I'd say -- I was a very
unruly child.  My father's side of the family claimed that it
was the human blood in my veins causing me to be so wild.  Many
thought that I would bring shame to the noble Anside name by some
act of violence or dishonor.  But, despite their words, my father
loved me as much as a father could.

"You see, my mother died when I was only 22.  He had known that she
would probably pass on before he did because she was human and
therefore painfully short-lived as most humans tend to be.  However,
she died suddenly leaving him without time to prepare himself for
grief or life as a single parent.

"Since I was the only part of her left, he cared for me even more.
Anything I asked for I was given, even if it would ruin us financially
or bring the family down.  He could deny me nothing and, as a greedy
child, I took advantage of the situation.  I spend weeks away from home
causing trouble in Waterdeep.  I spent the family fortune on expensive
clothes and trips across the Realms.  I was never in one place for more
than a week and that's how I liked it at the time.

"Once, I returned to my estate to celebrate Midsummer with my family
and friends.  On the way to the villa, I met a wrinkled old human
who was perched in one of our apple trees.  I immediately pulled out
my bow and aimed an arrow at his chest.  He looked at me, frowned,
and said 'Be careful what you aim at boy.  You might hit it.'

" 'I would stop talking and get down from there if I were you.  I will
not have someone poaching our apples,' I said to him.  It was no idle
threat, I was and still am an excellent shot with a bow; however, the
man didn't seem worried.

" 'I see.  And you would kill me because I am stealing one apple then?'
he asked me.  The he reached up, picked an apple, and began crunching
away while I stood there and thought.

"For a moment, I was angry, then ashamed.  What, I thought, was the
price of an apple compared to a man's life?  Is one man worth a hundred
apples?  A thousand apples?  'No, I wouldn't shoot you,' I admitted.

" 'Then for the gods' sake, put the bow down.'  Then he jumped down from
the tree and introduced himself as one of the new caretakers of the
estate.  He had been inspecting the tree for an infestation of caterpillars
when I came along," Luthor took a long drink from the glass.

"The Midsummer's festival came and passed like all the others had before
them.  I had planned to leave for Tajane for a nice long vacation in the
sun, but I stayed at the estate instead.  Every day I went out into the
orchards and listened to the old man talk as we tended the trees.

"It seems he had been many things in his life.  He started as a soldier
in the Cormyr army because his father had been a soldier.  He was a good
warrior, but all of his power was nothing compared to the ground splitting
might of the war mages.  He began studying the art of magic and was soon
wielding flames and lightening at frenzied troops.  His power and knowledge
grew, but he still felt hollow and incomplete.

"One year, there was a drought.  He thought that he would solve the matter
by calling up a large rain storm, but he went too far.  The ground was
not able to absorb so much water in a short amount of time, so the land
was flooded and many homes were destroyed.  He was arrested for 'Misuse of
Magical Power Without a Permit' and sentenced to help rebuild all of the
homes that he had inadvertently destroyed.  The forester told me 'Luthor,
after years of war and destruction, after decades of power and magic, I
found nothing more satisfying as helping a family rebuild their lives.'
He left the war mages and began again as a farmer.

"He showed me many things that summer, and in the following years.  Without
realizing it, I became quite the a farmer, having spent so much time in
the fields with the old man.  When he eventually died, I took over his
work and grew apples just like my ancestors had for hundreds of years."

Luthor drained the last of his wine from the glass and smiled brightly,
"Now it is the simple things in life for me.  My garden, my vineyard,
a nice home by the sea, good food, good music, and good friends.  I just
wish I could make everyone see the world in my terms.  Perhaps then there
would be less killing and more parties."
 
"Luthor, Luthor," Ray shook his head, "Here you go again. Changing the world
according to your own fashion." Ray laughed, but there wasn't even a touch of
scorn in his laughter, a laughter that reminded the first spring sunshine
melting the snow after a long winter. "You haven't learned anything
from your teacher. Every moment you actually change the world and yet you
want more..." 

"But not out of greed.  I just want people to see life as I see it."  Luthor
sighed and started on another glass of wine.

"Don't get offended, my friend. Tis true - if the people would see who
they are and what they are doing, the world would change," - for a moment a
shadow passed through Ray's brow. He looked as if his thoughts went
far away: to the raging battles perhaps, but certainly not to the
wonderful party. A moment later the smile returned and the young monk said:

"My teacher, Zen Master Sun An said that this world is like a huge net
and every living being is like a diamond in the mesh of this net. And each
diamond reflects every other diamond. If one changes all the other diamonds
change with it. Your teacher saw that and you experienced it too. Now,
you *are* changing the world.  Just look around."

Luthor took a moment to watch the guests.  "They are happy for now, but
when they leave here, what will happen to them?  They will return to their
normal lives and continue their quest for power or wealth, forgetting the
good time they had here among friends."

"Nothing is ever completely forgotten.  Even if one guest here leaves with
a different perspective on life, then you have done well."

There was another silent moment; Luthor digested the words of the monk.
"Tell me more of this 'Zen' you were speaking of.  I have only heard of
this philosophy a few times before...my teacher's mate has studied it
to some extent."
--
Raimondas Lencevicius 		E-mail address: raimisl@cs.ucsb.edu
!Don't use name and address in the header. They might be wrong!
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	Oft hope is born, when all is forlorn. - J.R.R.Tolkien