+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ C O N T E N T S ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+---------------------------+
+ Introduction ........ Page 2 +
| |
| Feline .............. Page 3 |
| |
| Bear ................ Page 4 |
| |
| Leaping Tiger ....... Page 5 |
| |
| Graceful Swan ....... Page 6 |
| |
| Striking Adder ...... Page 7 |
| |
| Focused Mind ........ Page 8 |
| |
| Lion's Embrace ...... Page 9 |
| |
| Fist ................ Page 10 |
| |
+ Conclusion .......... Page 11 +
+---------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ I N T R O D U C T I O N ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Tucked at the top of a winding path in the Razine Mountains stands an
ancient wooden edifice. For some, it is a secret place of rest and
tranquility. For some, it's an out-of-the-way hang-out where you can
meet a bunch of cute but kind of stinky loboshigarus. For still others
it's a hidden haunt to make a quick sovereign from the generous monks
that live there. But for those that live, study, and train there, it's
a whole lot more. It's the scaffolding for their entire lives, their
home, their daily schedule, their source of physical and spiritual
nourishment. It is, of couse, the Tosha Monastery, a self-sufficient
enclave of peaceful pilgrims plodding on the path to enlightenment.
The architecture of a place can tell you a lot about the people that
live there. The structures they build, the decor and furniture they
prefer, the functional spaces they prize -- all these can offer a look
into the values, aethsthetics, and lifestyles of a community. In the
case of the Monastery, which serves a community of single-minded monks
every feature of the compound seems built to sustain them and guide
them in their learning. In this book, I'll be exploring just one
feature of the Monastery: its eight training halls. In researching the
piece I was allowed to observe the training and live with the monks
for a few months, but even though I'd been blessed by all the Masters
and retrieved the Scroll of Enlightenment for Master Quettle dozens of
times, they didn't consider me member of their pack and declined to
explain in any detail the purpose and significance of their exercises.
So this is part conjecture, based on observation and educated guessing
but I hope it will be a useful resource for people intersted in the
Monastery beyond just begging from the cute monks. I'll describe each
hall in detail and provide an interior sketch for each chamber, and I
will attempt to explain the exercises performed and the lessons they
are meant to impart on the monks.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E F E L I N E ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Most of the training halls are named after animals, and the exercises
performed in them are supposed to help a monk emulate and hone some
positive quality associated with that animal. Moving clockwise from
the entrance of the monastery, the first hall you come across is the
Training Hall of the Feline, so named because it's specially built to
train a monk's balance and endurance. The disciples of the Feline
remain there for as long as they
could. From what I +----------------------------+ observed, I found
there was usually |A precise grid of evenly| no fewer than six
or seven monks at |spaced wooden pylons sprawls| a time performing
the exercise, but |throughout the chamber, the| they never entered
or left together. |floor between them crossed| I could swear that
some more advanced |with hemp-woven mats. No| trainees perched
up there for days |pillar is broad enough to| at a time, but not
being crazy myself |stand atop without keeping| I didn't actually
sit around whole |one's feet and legs together| days and confirm
whether they did |and a few loboshigaru monks| maintain the pose
for that long or |are depicted in just such a| if they would take
breaks for meals |position. Each seems to be| and sleep. Each of
the wooden pillars |at a state of supreme rest| here is placed in
a grid throughout |and peace, except the one in| the room with blue
hemp mats laid out |the midst of toppling over.| on the floor in
between them, both +----------------------------+ to guide movement
through the room and to break the
falls of the inevitable failures. Every now and then a brother of
enlightenment or even one of the Enlightened Masters would pass
through the hall and assess the disciples, but they never gave any
verbal critique that I could hear. It could be they were just making
observations to bring up during in-person training later on, or just
to guide future lessons.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E B E A R ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Training Hall of the Bear is one of the more mysterious chambers
you'll come across at the monastery. There's nothing in the way of
specialized equipment or tools, and no motivational scrolls hung up on
the walls. In fact, there's nothing to see but a big stone table set
up in the middle of the room and a bunch of smaller slabs stacked
around it. From what I could tell, the monk disciples would lie down
on the slab, often with their robes
off, and the other +----------------------------+ monks would just
wail on them with |Bare wooden walls define| thin stone slabs.
The trainee's goal |the countours of this room,| is to show as
little pain as |but the stone slab at the| possible, to stay
stoic and serene |center serves as the clear| in the face of
this assault. I |focal point. Thick, sturdy,| didn't get the
sense that this |and supported at the corners| exercise was about
suppressing your |by four squat pillars, the| emotions or being
"macho" but rather |slab appears an uninviting| experiencing pain,
distraction, and |bed. Even more foreboding is| violence, allowing
it to wash over |the array of smaller slates| you, and crucially
allowing it to |stacked knee-high around the| dissipate like so
much shale dust. |room, some pristine, others| After the exercise
which usually took |shattered. A monk lies atop| about a day from
beginning to end |the slab amid broken stones.| for each disciple,
the broken slates +----------------------------+ were collected and
discarded, often replenishing any
eroded or washed-away gravel in the rock garden, and the trainee was
escorted to his or her cell, where a brother of enlightenment would
watch over them until their bruises and broken bones healed. Of course
loboshigarus are famous for their regenerative abilities, so usually
the convalescence period didn't last long. I saw some slab-smacked
trainees in the mess hall by dinner time.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E L E A P I N G T I G E R ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
To the north of the Hall of the Bear, through a couple wooden hallways
you'll find the Hall of the Leaping Tiger. Like the Hall of the Feline
it has a bunch of wooden columns driven into the floor. But rather
than being laid out in an even grid, these are all different heights
and unevenly spaced around the room. What's more, it looks like the
columns can be rearranged. I didn't see anyone move them around while
I was watching but I did notice the
set-up changed in +----------------------------+ between my visits.
This exercise is |Only one loboshigaru monk| another test of
balance. However, |tests his agility on this| instead of just
standing still on |course, a wiry, fierce-eyed| a narrow pole, the
monks have to leap |male with unkempt fur and a| from one pole to
another according |simple loincloth preserving| to the instruction
charts hung on the |his modesty. He bears a long| walls around the
chamber. Each pole |stick across his shoulders| has a glyph carved
into it near the |laden with noticeably uneven| top repeated three
times over around |sandbags at either end as he| its circumference
so it can be seen |executes a graceful bound| from any point in
the chamber. The |from the top of one tall| charts show what
order to approach |wooden pillar to the next,| the pillars. Most
of the newer monks |framed by an ominous forest| usually navigated
the shorter poles |of glyph-etched columns.| spaced relatively
closely together, +----------------------------+ while the old pros
made some really impressive leaps.
Some even hold poles over their shoulders with unequally weighted sand
bags on the ends! Just imagine how tough it would be to keep your
balance like that while springing around on skinny wooden poles. Can't
lie, I was tempted to jump up there and give it a try myself, but I
didn't think they'd take too kindly to that! Instead, I was happy to
sit in the corner and make my sketches.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E G R A C E F U L S W A N ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
The final chamber on the western side of the monastery before you get
to the kitchens is the Hall of the Graceful Swan. It looked at first
like an ordinary weapons training room, with the racks of practice
swords you might to see in an armory or barracks. The mats even have
circles marked out for monks to spar with one another in mock duels.
But the name puzzled me at first -- a "graceful swan" doesn't exactly
bring to mind the image of a battle-
hardened warrior, +----------------------------+ and these Toshans
didn't seem like |Two robed loboshigaru monks| the types to name
things ironically. |face off at the center of a| If it were it the
Training Hall of |hemp mat inscribed with a| the Spiteful Goose
I might buy it as |precise circle. The walls of| a typical martial
arts training hall |the chamber around them are| but the moment I
actually observed |festooned with weapons racks| the exercises, I
understood how the |filled with decorative steel| name fit. Trainees
met in twos at the |and wooden scimitars, and| center of one of
the circle-marked |each monk in the arena holds| arenas, one with a
steel scimitar and |one of her own. The monk on| one with a wooden
blade. Each weapon |the left holds her wooden| appeared dull and
was decorated with |blade high above her head,| colorful ribbons,
more a symbol of a |beckons to a foe whose gaze| weapon than a tool
of violence. They |is steely as her scimitar.| engaged in what I
can only describe +----------------------------+ as a dance; a slow
and deliberately precise display in
which the blades rarely touched with any force. Each contact appeared
purposeful, almost intimate, and the movements between stances flowed
with a kind of grace and control I could never dream of. The monk with
the wooden blade always led the exercise, with the steel-wielding monk
responding to his or her movements in turn. I couldn't tell if the
dance was choreographed or improvised, but it was really something.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E S T R I K I N G A D D E R ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Training Hall of the Striking Adder is just round the kitchens on
to the northeast wing of the monastery. This one really is an ordinary
martial arts training room with no real mysteries to decipher. Just
like the rest of the place, the floors are cushioned with hemp mats
(which in my expert opinion as a cushion enthusiast, really aren't all
that cushiony), and the floor that shows through the mats is your
standard oak. Each corner has a big
barrel filled with +----------------------------+ wooden staves and
the walls are hung |The author has indulged in| with instructions
on which various |a self portrait here, his| kata stances are
the best for staff |scrawny self depicted with| fighting. And that
is all there is to |a wooden staff brandished at| it! No ceremony or
dancing, just some |a decidedly burlier and more| harmless staffwork
between pairs of |competent loboshigaru monk.| disciples. This is
the only training |Each wears a broad grin as| hall where I heard
the monks actually |they touch the tips of their| talking, carrying
on, even laughing |staves together, signifying| as they sparred.
That's not to say |the beginning of a spar. In| they were unkind
to each other from |the background, various wall| day to day, but I
guess they really |scrolls depict the proper| take the training
seriously, so you |stances for staff combat,| don't hear much
chattering outside |but both lobos ignore them.| the mess hall and
gardens. But here, +----------------------------+ they loosened up a
little, gave each other tips, good-
natured ribbing, commented on each other's forms, and so on. One dude
even invited me to join in! Again, not being crazy, I politely turned
him down and focused on my notes, but I swear he made some playfully
snide comments about my needing to get in shape while he sparred. Nice
try, pal. Maybe next time! Oh, one other thing I found curious: these
were all exclusively staff exercises. Any connection to the Tahtetso?
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E F O C U S E D M I N D ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Heading south brings you to one of the more unique chambers on the
ground floor. With thick walls, low ceiling, and no windows, the Hall
of the Focused Mind is for sure the quietest and coziest of the rooms
I studied. One wall has a bunch of pegs in it with blindfolds attached
and is always the first stop of any disciple coming to train here. I
didn't see many groups or pairs come through this hall on their own,
although it ~was~ real dim in there
most of the time! +----------------------------+ While there were
a few pairs who |Tall, lanky, and with milky| came by to train,
most of the time |white eyes, the Enlightened| it was the Master
Inthal himself who |Master Inthal stands in a| led sessions here.
This makes sense, |ready stance, feet set apart| since Inthal has
some weird kind of |and paws held up to deflect| uncured blindness,
so he would be the |any incoming assault. Before| best to judge the
initiates' blind- |him stands a nervous-looking| fighting ability.
Now, if I didn't |disciple, blind-folded and| know that Inthal
was blind, I would |already facing askew of his| not have been able
to guess based on |looming sparring partner. No| the way he fought.
Not a single monk |other details can be seen| got the upper hand
on him. He always |in the sketch, giving the| seemed to be two
steps ahead, and I |scene a claustrophobic feel,| lost count of how
many got laid out |sight and sound eschewed.| on their backs by
a well-placed chop +----------------------------+ or foot swipe from
Inthal. But he was quick to offer a
friendly paw to help them back up, and never sent them away without a
kind word of encouragement. That's what makes an Enlightened Master, I
guess. I wonder if he's been blind his whole life, or something he had
to adapt to. A question for another book, maybe! One thing I noticed
was that no one ever seemed to take a blindfold out of the chamber,
but always hung them back up before leaving. (Were they ever washed?!)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E L I O N ' S E M B R A C E ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Watch your step heading into the Hall of the Lion's Embrace! The whole
chamber has its floor dug out and a bunch of wooden spikes installed
in its place. It's kind of like a more gruesome version of the Hall of
the Feline or Leaping Tiger, with pillars all sticking up in all kinds
of directions. And even though the spikes are dull, I'm sure it would
hurt something feirce if you fell in! The goal in this room is to
cross the pit from one side to the
other, using the +----------------------------+ spikes themselves
as a path! In the |Garbed in snug-fitting wraps| middle of the pit
is a dais with a |a lithe female loboshigaru| pedestal holding a
scroll, which the |soars above a pit of deadly| monk has to grab
on the way across. |wooden spikes. Her eyes see| And of course, the
only light in the |only her goal: an ordinary-| room is from some
candles lit here |looking scroll perched atop| and there. This is
as near as I can |a small pedestal. The artist| tell, the hardest
exercise any monk |has embellished the sketch| will face in their
training. In fact, |with garish streaks of red| I never saw any of
the new disciples |tint upon the gratuitously| attempt the course
(though a fair few |sharpened spikes. He's even| hung around with
me to watch some |included a bare white skull| of the experienced
monks complete it) |of a canid humanoid, its eye| A young guy named
Brother Kark told |socket pierced by a spike.| me the Hall of the
Feline and Hall of +----------------------------+ the Leaping Tiger
are just training for this ultimate
challenge. The first hones your balance and agility, the next trains
your agility, and this tests all of those, as well as your speed and
courage. Kark didn't seem all that optimistic that he'd ever master
the Hall of the Lion's Embrace since he was still pretty unsteady on
his feet. He's the one I sketched falling off his perch in the Hall of
the Feline! Nice fella though. I wish him luck!
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ H A L L O F T H E F I S T ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
The last hall is another mercifully straightforward one. Stationed all
around the outer edge are a bunch of little stands supporting thin
stone slabs like the ones in the Hall of the Bear. They're like two-
legged tables with sturdy pylons driven into the floor and stone tops
sometimes stacked three or more high. As the name would suggest, the
Training Hall of the Fist is all about punching through stuff no sane
person would try to punch through.
This seemed to be +----------------------------+ a test for monks
from beginner to |The author has again drawn| expert, since each
could adjust the |himself poised to perform| difficulty of the
trial by adding or |the signature exercise of| removing slabs. Of
course, that did |this chamber. Dressed in a| not stop some of
the younger monks |flowing kata suit, the slim| from punching far
above their weight |loboshigaru stands with one| class. In just the
short time it took |paw raised and balled into a| for me to get a
good understanding |tight fist, his wide-eyed| of the exercise, I
watched at least |gaze locked on the stack of| three kids break
their paws either |eight or so stone slabs on| by trying to punch
through too many |the stand before him. A few| slabs, or just by
bad technique. I |other monks look on, their| could not do any
better, of course, |expressions horrified at the| but I know better
than to try. Again |tragedy about to unfold.| like the Hall of
the Bear, this is +----------------------------+ a tolerance test.
Instead of having pain inflicted on
you by your fellow monks, you inflict it upon yourself. And as before,
you allow it to pass over and through you. This chamber also generated
a ton of stone fragments for the rock garden, and more rock dust than
I cared to breathe. I did not stick around in this training hall for
any longer than I had to, because hearing the pups whimper over broken
paws was too much for my soft heart to handle.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ~ C O N C L U S I O N ~ |
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
The Toshan order as a whole doesn't seem designed to produce ferocious
warriors. My understanding of their purpose is still pretty limited,
but I think it's clear just interacting with these monks that they are
not aiming to form an army or join some underground fighting ring once
they reach enlightenment. I didn't really touch on the four tenets
taught by the Enlightened Masters here, but only one of them, Form,
lends itself to the physical honing that most of these training halls
are dedicated to. And since I didn't see Master Cuetal, Enlightened of
Form, leading lessons in every hall, I have to assume that these halls
serve the other tenets as well. Perhaps the violence borne in the Hall
of the Bear strengthens the Heart of the monks who perpetrate it, or
those who endure it. Could be the blind-fighting in the Hall of the
Focused Mind helps monks achieve a certain Clarity of senses. Or maybe
the scroll you grab in the Hall of the Lion's Embrace contains all the
secrets for purifying your Spirit.
These are all conjectures for another day, another scholar, another
book. I enjoyed my time with the Toshans but I don't see myself giving
up my life of Pleasure to pursue whatever form of enlightenment these
monks seek. Nevertheless, I wish them all the best on their paths!
+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
