The 101 Steps to Enlightenment
Long ago, longer than most remember, the wise and ancient Limmik Kunar came to realize that mortality leads to all things unworthy. His reasoning was simple enough: Because we die, we become attached to life. Because we are attached to life, we are attached to the trappings of life. Because we are attached to the trappings of life, we will commit evil to have them. Because we will commit evil to have the trappings of life, we can be manipulated by those who claim they can help us achieve more in life, or a greater reward in death. Master Kunar understood that the primary manipulators of those attached to the trappings of life were members of the religious castes. From the wayfarers of Darmon to the matriarchs of Morwyn, every church offered mortals an understanding of how to please the gods and be rewarded in the afterlife. Yet even the afterlife was an illusion, a series of trappings that continued the cycle of life, in which the mortal races could be manipulated into acting against their natures. The gods of the tree and their priests promised one of three paths beyond death: a life of eternal happiness, torment perpetual, or rebirth into the world to continue the cycle. All three paths seemed to Master Kunar to be continuations of the unworthy aspects of mortality, for is not eternal life under the thumb of the gods simply a life of service to their beliefs and manipulations? And is not a life of torment perpetual a terrible evil that none would desire to suffer? And is not rebirth to try again simply rebirth into the same manipulations? And so Limmik turned his study to the Creator, the Nameless One who made all things and then departed from them. Surely, the only way to be free of the veil of tears that is eternal rebirth and death, punishment or subjugation at the hands of the gods of the tree, is to leave the sphere. Only by being free of existence entirely can one be assured of freedom from the unworthiness of mortality.
Master Kunar spent his life discovering the 101 steps to Enlightenment, the mantras and contemplations necessary for his own escape. And at the end of his life, it is said that Limmik Kunar became one with the power of the Nameless One, or departed the sphere or became a being of pure energy from beyond the Great Sphere. While there are conflicting reports and understandings of the old master’s final fate, all agree that he did not die, but simply disappeared. Sadly, Master Kunar’s 101 steps, which he painstakingly documented for his disciples, did not grant his followers freedom from the Great Sphere. The earliest steps were quite useful for harnessing the power he called “ki,” but later in the process the steps, though clearly useful for Limmik, had no meaning for his disciples. And so all who wish to depart the sphere, break the cycle, and be free of existence must walk a new path of discipline and set down their own steps.
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