Daenism

[Polites]

Since nobody seems to be touching Daenism, I decided to start working on it. Just like in the case of the other PT religions, I'll try to make it the functional equivalent of RL Buddhism without being its carbon copy. The starting point is that Daenism, unlike Buddhism, originally developed as an offshoot of Zamanism, the equivalent of Manichaeism; as there are a number of parallels between Buddhism and Manichaeism, that should not be too difficult.

So far I came up with new names for fundamental Buddhist concepts, using where possible Persian cognates of the Sanskrit and Pali terms (like Bīdār for Buddha, from the same PIE root *bʰewdʰ-, "to be awake, be aware"), and a new name for the religion's founder, Bahram. So far the other details really need working on, so any assistance is more than welcome. Also, considering my very limited knowledge on Buddhism, I encourage anyone who is more familiar with it to help developing this last underdeveloped major religion in this game.

[PaleRider]

once again beating us all in making PT whole....

[Polites]

Well the wiki article is now more or less complete. It could still use some polishing, of course, so whoever wants to do so, feel free. The article on Cheng was also updated and expanded a bit.

[Polites]

There is now a composite Maitreya/Saoshyant figure for both Yazdism and Daenism, named Mihr. This opens the opportunity for some Messianic and Apocalyptic RP for Yazdean and Daenic nations.

[Kubrick]

Brilliant work, very thorough!

[Polites]

Considering that Daenism remains very much underdeveloped, I guess it's time to further flesh it out. I did a bit more research since the last time I worked on this, and there's several shortcomings I would like to see fixed. Firstly, there is no term for the equivalent(s) of non-Mahayana Buddhism, and I would very much like to avoid a Buddhism is Theravada situation. Secondly, "Cheng" as a religion name just sounds awful (and terms like "Cheng Socialism" really don't have the same ring as, say, "Zen Socialism"). So since I'm currently doing a little bit of Daenism-related RP, I figured I might as well work on the religion a bit more.

IRL Buddhism is a vast and diverse religion with many, sometimes overlapping, sects and schools of thought, but which are broadly grouped into three main traditions, Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana. I was thinking that we could keep the same general division into three main schools, but with their elements broken down and recombined. Considering that in RP the Zen equivalent tends to be seen as its own separate school of thought rather than a sub-sect of a Mahayana equivalent, I was thinking that what we could keep that distinction and regroup non-Zen Mahayana with elements of Tibetan Buddhism. So we could have a scholastic, conservative, and monk-oriented Theravada equivalent, an esoterical/ritualistic lay-oriented Mahayana and Vajrayana equivalent, and an iconoclastic, minimalistic, and anti-realist Zen equivalent. I also dug through my trusty Avestan dictionary to come up with some potential names for the three schools. The first we could call Upayanâ (meaning "tradition; teaching, instruction; tradition, old custom" - has a "school of the elders" vibe to it), the second Mazdâyanâ (mazdâ = "wisdom", yanâ = "vehicle"; kinda sounds like a Mahayana invented by Persians, which is the idea I was trying to convey), and the third Daênâyanâ, or Zenshō in Japanese (basically "Zen-yana", has the benefit of keeping the "zen" sound and its meaning without being too much of a RL word).

If that sounds alright, here's a general outline for the three schools:

1. Upayanâ
This would basically be a combo of Theravada and Sarvastivada, plus some of the scholastic elements of Tibetan Buddhism, and would be the most conservative of the three. This would be the school that emphasizes abhidharma, and would largely subscribe to realism (all dharmas, i.e. phenomena, are real). These guys would place an emphasis on the Bidar's humanity (without downplaying his supernatural powers though), including the impossibility of the Bidar to interact with humanity after his death. Upayanâ would also believe that the Bidar's Daena became gradually and irredeemably corrupt in the centuries after his death, so that enlightenment would be impossible these days - best you can hope for is to accumulate enough merit to get a good rebirth, ideally as a god, and then wait for the next Bidar to come along to teach the pure Daena again and gain enlightenment then. Not all Upayanists would believe that though, and there would consequently be a division between urban-based scholastic monks, focusing primarily on maintaining the texts and elaborating on the teachings, and rural-based meditation monks, who would practice meditation and try to get enlightenment. Lay Upayanists would generally not meditate, as they would see that as presumptuous. Upayana should imo be popular in South Dovani.

2. Mazdâyanâ
This sect would be a combination of the more mystical elements of East Asian Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism, so basically Vajrayana + Pure Land Buddhism + Shingon and Tendai + Yogacara. This sect would have come about as a consequence of the divinization of the Bidar in the centuries after his death - if after enlightenment he gained omniscience and the ability to extend his life indefinitely, then it was pretty darn selfish of him to just die instead of sticking around to guide beings towards enlightenment. So these guys would de-emphasize the historical Bidar and focus instead on various other-worldly mythical Bidars, who at least had the common decency not to die; and although the Terran Bidar was pretty flawed, he was the embodiment of a timeless, eternal, all-powerful Bidar nature that all beings share but which is only awakened in fully enlightened Bidars. Mazdayana would believe that enlightenment is (still) possible for all beings, not just monks, but considering the shitty nature of life on Terra the best thing that one can hope for is to be reborn into a Pure Land (generated by a Bidar's boundless compassion) where one can be taught the Daena directly by one of the Bidars and where there is no suffering to distract from that. These guys would also have an idealistic monist metaphysical view - only the mind, and specifically the enlightened mind of the Bidar-nature is real, all other phenomena are empty. Mazdayana would still have traditional monks, but would also place much emphasis on lay practice, particularly chanting the names of certain Bidars at the time of death with the hope of being reborn into their Pure Land. This sect should be popular in West Dovani and in Xsampa.

3. Zenshō/Daênâyanâ
This would be a combo of Zen and Madhyamaka, with a generally iconoclastic outlook and an anti-realist philosophical position. They would reject discursive reasoning and relying on texts or rituals, and would instead emphasize spontaneity and creativity, anti-rational thinking, and abandoning all views. Zensho would hold a sunyata view (all dharmas, i.e. phenomena, are empty, and emptiness itself is empty), and would reject metaphysical speculation, instead emphasizing meditation practice and insight. Zensho would be Pyrrhonist, holding the suspension of all judgment as the highest ideal. They would also be anti-essentialists, considering that there is no fundamental difference between samsara and nirvana, or between Bidars and unenlightened beings - since Bidar nature itself is empty; they would of course be accused of nihilism by their opponents because of this. Zensho would be minimalistic in terms of practices - they'd meditate in unadorned halls, or at most concentrate on one mandala, and they'd also read kōans. They would still have traditional monks though, but would also have "priests" (married in some traditions, celibate in others, and not generally required to be vegetarian). Zensho would be popular primarily in West Dovani and Indrala, where it would also have been born.


The above is just an early draft and open to suggestions. So if you have any criticism, suggestions, ideas on how to improve this, please feel free to post them.

[Captain-Socialist]

Well I hope that means we can retcon Zen Socialism back to Zenshō Socialism now.