Tea: Path of Wisdom
"To live is to think. What is the difference between a dull person and a dead one? "
I recited the mantra for the umpteenth time and headed off to the meditation hall.
Life in the temple wasn't bad. Food was free albeit bland, you sat around all day reading scriptures and scrolls on gaining enlightenment and wisdom, you didn't have to go socialize, and my parents wouldn't come to abuse me.
The abbot was nice too, he taught me the easiest way to recite the scriptures (futile effort, my memory simply refused to retain anything useful or important), and spend extra time teaching me how to brew tea, write calligraphy, and even sometimes smuggled me novels and comics to read from outside. Though it was most likely out of pity, he was the only one that truly cared for me.
In the meditation hall, the golden statue sat stalwart as always, I had no faith in human made gods but sitting in front of it, I wished that I could there would be something to my life, something I was good for apart simply wasting my life parasitizing off the temple.
Then I went on the rest of my day reciting scriptures and doing nothing with my life. And on and on, day after day, year after year, until I realized, I was 86 and about to die.
The thought of dying wasn't scary, in fact I didn't really feel anything.. I had been long dead, my body was just doing the same repetitive things day after day like a robot and now the hardware had worn out.
Walking myself down the hallway, I took a bath and went to sleep.
The night was silent, the birds and bugs seemingly unwilling to ruin the peaceful atmosphere. My room was worn, my everyday habits engraved to the bones of the wood, the air slightly musty, a waft of incense lingering in the air.
'What a waste, looking back on it I should've been grateful about my life...but it really was so boring. In the next life, I'll make sure to enjoy life to the fullest! I hope I'll be born in a world like the novels, better yet, I hope I'm born the prota-'
I died before finishing the thought.
And awoke to a brand new world.
Three_Rotten_Plums · Action
