The Rising Faith
The faith came from the hills of Shangei, almost two hundred years ago it had appeared en masse from those hills. These warriors of faith came not with drawn swords and spears, but with kind words and kind deeds. For what is the purpose of faith but to bring out the best in the souls of men? -Emperor Zhang
The Cult of Tzu had been a quiet and small religious faith in the province of Shangei. Their chief ability was their ability to be like all others. Their distinctions, while numerous, were not noticed by many. The Cult, along with the hundreds of other smaller faiths throughout the Empire that had spun off Ancestor Worship and the Guangfei brand of polytheism, was not considered a separate faith by the Imperial Census.
But they would come into prominence due to one event. The Han Guangfei invasion of Myocaca would serve as a catalyst for further expansion of the faith. The soldiers from Shangei, all followers of the Cult, were able to spread their faith among their fellow soldiers in the army. These soldiers, upon returning or retiring from home, would spread their faith, a faith that was neither contradictory nor offensive to the beliefs of their families and neighbors.
It was
a bit odd but they were blissfully unaware of the core tenets of the faith. Even if they had known, so what? People expected strange things of men who had fought all their way to the capital of the Bladeists, and if there were a stranger people n the world, they had not yet been known. Indeed, it was to the more educated simply a monotheistic extrapolation of traditional beliefs.
The faith revolved around a belief in The Shangdi, 上帝, the Emperor of Above. He is the Heavenly Lord, Master of All in this realm yet he did not create the world and universe. Before him, and still here, is The Force with her path called The Great Way which caused the creation of the world, and the natural change of man. It is the natural flow of heaven and harmony. All of mans problems upon earth is that they have forgotten and strayed from the Great Way and deny the Force.
The proper course of remembering the Force and returning to the Great Way is through doing nothing that is at the same time doing something where one must harmonizes his personal will to the Force. The Force is elusive and intangible, yet it is with image and form. It is dim and dark but with essence and from that essence springs faith. All things come from the Force, nourished by Virtue (as espoused by traditional Guangfei values), formed by matter, and shaped by environment.
The Great Way is like water, each droplet of the force does little, but together they are strong. The Great Way flows slowly but it is powerful beyond imagination and never stops and is the bridge between the worlds of mortals and immortals. It is not simply the law of Nature, it IS Nature and when you follow it, you become one with it. Qi is another, less powerful, component of the Great Way.
The Great Way is based on the belief that the only constant theme in the universe is change and that men must be at harmony to understand change. The change is a constant flow between opposites, as symbolized by yin and yang. The Great Way is the origin of all things, never ending, and is both omnipotent and infallible. The belief in the Force and Shangdi is that The Shangdi is the physical, or as close as possible, manifestation of the Force and symbolizes the Will of the Living Force.
Beneath The Shangdi is the Celestial Bureaucracy, all living emblems of Great Way whom have all successfully become one with the Force yet are so faithful that they deny themselves The Life After Death. Those who have successfully completely harmonized themselves with the Great Way after death becomes part of it, they become One with the Force.
In becoming One with the Force, one becomes Enlightened in all the possible meanings. There are levels of Enlightenment separated by their means of reaching Enlightenment, those who reach it by themselves and those who reach it through the aid of others.
When you get to this, then thoughts become still without being stilled, calmness and insight arise without being produced, the mind of the buddha appears without being revealed. To try to liken it to the body of cosmic space or the light of a thousand suns would be to be further away than the sky is from the earth.
Those who are unable to reach Enlightenment then spend another lifetime upon this world in whatever form best suit the activities of their life. If they were good, faithful and just, then they would return as men or one of the higher animals such as a panda. If not, then they would return as one of the lower animals such as insects and rats.
Truth, Beauty, Justice.
I think I'll declare Splendid Isolation for Guangfei after wubba hopefully accepts my peace offer 
