Compared to the underground, Gensokyo sure is a peaceful place.

Peaceful? I wonder...

It may seem idyllic at first glance, but there's a hint of danger swirling around in the air. Well, it's just the right atmosphere for gathering faith.

You call it peaceful, but due to the constant threat of youkai I can't imagine the human villagers being comfortable with it. And the youkai never cease quarreling amongst themselves. And we can't assume that an even more destabilizing being won't appear in the future....

Aren't you all talking about yourselves?

Well, we can't do anything about the increase. Because one's existence in Gensokyo depends on the outside world.

It doesn't for humans. Because humans are a special kind of being in Gensokyo-

A special being?

Aren't they? The youkai and the like are beings who have been forgotten or are no longer needed by the outside world, while humans exist just as much in the outside world. So if humans only exist to keep the youkai alive... then they become the same as beasts or fish.

You're trying to make it sound like they're just food, but if beasts or fish didn't exist it would also trouble the humans, they have that kind of cooperative relationship. For example, if I couldn't receive faith from humans then I wouldn't be able to use my powers. So in order to obtain faith, I have to support the humans' livelihood, and we enter a give-and-take relationship. So even if the youkai of Gensokyo continue to quarrel, there shouldn't be any chance of the humans disappearing.

So essentially you're saying that even if the humans are completely helpless, they should have peace of mind simply because there's no risk of them disappearing.

Huh? Didn't you say earlier that humans were being threatened by youkai? And there really are stories of people being abducted or attacked by youkai.

The lack of risk refers not to individual humans, but to the human species. Individual humans will of course continue to live in fear.

What's up with that? What a meaningless peace of mind.

That's how humans and some youkai think, but most youkai don't feel any fear at all of being attacked or defeated.

Is that so?

"Even if I die, I'll just be reborn, and if I can't be reborn I'll be fine as a yuurei." That's surely how they think. Rather than that, what they're scared of is their existence being denied completely.

When it comes to survival I believe that's true... However, a defeated youkai finds it hard to impress anyone, so it's not a pleasant thing to experience...

Really? I thought they'd be more concerned about not disappearing, like humans are.

I teach Buddhism to youkai so that they won't disappear.

Oh...

In the Buddhist world, even death does not cause humans to disappear. I teach that way of thinking to youkai, so that even if they are forgotten they can become beings that preserve their own ego.

I see, so that's why the youkai at your temple all seem so old-fashioned.

Did you say something?

To be honest, I think of Buddhism as a political tool. It corrects the disorder in human nature, it accepts anyone into ascetic training, it's no exaggeration to say that this is all for the benefit of statesman. From my perspective, teaching Buddhism to youkai is nonsense. It's just playing house.

Buddhism is a philosophy that denies your existence and then reaffirms it. To the strong-bodied yet heartless youkai, shouldn't it be quite easy to teach them this philosophy? It is most unfortunate that you cannot understand the bright future for both humans and youkai that this would result in. To use this only for political ends is evidence of the user's immaturity.

But there are many stories of youkai showing up at temples. Like the Shoujou Temple's belly-drumming tanuki(*1), or the Morin Temple's Bunbuku tea ceremony(*2).

1: The story about a tanuki with high attacking skills who hits the belly until it breaks.

2: The story about a tanuki with high defensive skills who half-transforms into a tea kettle.

Did you intentionally choose only stories about tanuki? Well, it is true that we've also had a bake-danuki settle down in our temple.

Somehow it seems as though tanuki have an affinity for temples. I wonder if they have many in the forests.

You could say the same about shrines and foxes.

And about dojos and zombies.

She's not a zombie, she's a Jiang Shi. And couldn't you have at least thought of an animal?

(Laughs)

By the way, at your temple you've got a youkai who projects a different atmosphere than the other monks. I've been wondering about her for a while now.

Who could that be?

You know, the one like a Buddhist statue

Shou Toramaru? She certainly is different from the other youkai. Actually, in the beginning she was just a tiger.

Just a tiger? Not a youkai?

I must say calling her just a tiger is a bit weird, but as you know tigers have never lived in Japan. Back when scholarship was coming in from the continent, the fact that an animal called a tiger existed was known only through words. The imagination of people wondering what they looked like gave birth to Shou as a result.

That is not just a tiger.

Ahem. But she wasn't like the named youkai. It wouldn't have been strange for her to disappear at any moment. But when Lord Bishamonten and I asked her to guard our temple in our absence, her existence became unshakeable.

That sounds great and all, but basically she's just your house-sitter then?

Well, she is... but because she also became an avatar of Bishamonten and now exists to gather faith... if I had to label her I'd say she's the same as Ms. Kanako.

I figured it was something like that. Unlike the other youkai-in-training, she has the scent of a business rival....

I guess you're sensitive to faith.... But still, she's the avatar of Bishamonten? That's quite a change(*3)...

3: Miko believed in Bishamonten in the ancient past. Though it is now one of the Seven Fortune Gods who gives wealth, it was the protector god of the state and the god of victory at the time.

It's because he's one of Seven Gods of Good Luck. I may have no choice but to brace myself.

Speaking of which, what is Ms. Kanako's divine virtue(*4)?

4: The actual jobs that gods do. The results of their jobs become their divine virtues.

M-me? Umm... because I'm a mountain god I guess I can create terrain and stuff?

That's extremely vague.

Unlike youkai, gods are fine even when their natures are changed by themselves. The stories that are created to change their natures are called "myths". Using these, we can freely change our own natures. Currently, the humans and youkai of Gensokyo are in the middle of creating my myth together, but because I'm not receiving faith well as a mountain god, I'm gradually becoming the god of technological innovation.

Gods can change their divine virtues that easily?

Well, if they're at my level.

Wouldn't it have been better to choose a divine virtue that could gather faith more easily? If you were granting them blessings of things like free food without having to work,(*5) you'd definitely be brimming with faith.

5: A divine virtue of NEETs, she seems to be saying.

In order to bestow large blessings, naturally you have to work just as hard. Moreover, of course I can't do what I can't do.

I know what you mean.

But anyway, things might be realized if I have more faith. Like a youkai shrine maiden, even.

A youkai shrine maiden?

They could head into town to start rumors of a youkai showing up, and then head back to the shrine to accept the extermination requests(*6).

6: It's what's called a matchpump. Lighting a fire with a match in one hand, extinguishing it with a pump in the other.

Isn't that the same as what the Hakurei shrine maiden does?

Well, she doesn't seem like someone who could turn that many heads. And although I said a shrine maiden gathers faith, since the one gathering the faith is human, it'll be useless for her to do it, I guess she's just working for a meager salary.

Even though she makes her living off of donations, she never tries to gather faith with anything but youkai extermination.

I know. Although if she somehow gathered enough faith, maybe she could become something like a god?

But as she is, she looks like she's a being close to a youkai.(laugh)

By the way, what's the difference between gods and youkai?

From the Shinto perspective, gods are the true natures within all things. Originally, gods exist namelessly in nature or in tools.

Doesn't that contradict the fact that you yourself are named?

When gods are named their powers are restricted, but they receive an ego. They lose the ability to exist within anything, becoming no different from youkai, but in return receive an ability related to their myths.

So basically, gods are youkai whose ability changes depending on myths.

However, if they lose all their faith, they return to their former existence. As for youkai, they disappear when forgotten, but they prevent that through threatening people or causing disturbances, rather than through faith. If a god who did nothing but threaten people lost its faith, it would become an ordinary youkai.

Now that you mention it, I met a harvest god before, but I couldn't tell her apart from youkai.

Stray gods without shrines(*7) often get reduced to youkai. Because it's difficult to gather faith like that. By the way, who was this harvest god?

7: Gods who lost their faith and became feral.

Um... I think it was Minoriko Aki.

Ah, that feral god... I believe she had a sister(*8), a god of autumn colors, but honestly it's because there are so many famous harvest gods. Like Ukanomitama... So all the faith ends up going to them. There isn't much competition in the god of autumn colors market though, so it's probably easier to gather faith with that. Combining fallen leaves and potatoes, you get the gods of roasted sweet potatoes, so if they set up a nice kiosk in some corner of the human village I think they could gather a lot of faith(*9).

8: Shizuha Aki, turns red when angry.

9: ......? Allowance?

Is that so? I'm sure they'd love to hear that. They've been in a slump since winter came in.

It seems there are quite a few other gods who have become stray.

It's because even though humans nowadays easily attach names to gods, they don't have faith in them.

That sounds like our earlier conversation about youkai.

Maybe humans have come to lose their interest easily. Getting to who's left, I'm interested in Ms. Miko. What are you aiming for?

Eh? What I'm aiming for?

Now that you have power surpassing humanity, what do you want to do? Earlier you said you wanted to become a statesman, so you want to rule humanity?

Ah, no, I said I wanted to become a statesman when I thought Gensokyo might collapse if left alone. If it's going to be okay without me then I want to.... I haven't given it much thought. In order to fulfill my desire to pursue the Cosmic Truth called Tao, I guess I'll be training.

Is Tao something like Truth?

Yeah. The fundamental principle of Taoism is that by knowing the Tao you can increase your own power. Humans who have obtained enough power are called hermits. I plan to use my immortality to continue training beyond that and someday become a celestial.

A celestial, eh? I've been to Heaven but it didn't seem that great a place.

Eh? You've been there?

For a bit.

I envy you. That will be another goal of my training.

Now that you mention it, wasn't there another hermit who showed up with Ms. Miko? Ms. Seiga Kaku? I've felt an extraordinarily strong evil from her, but what exactly is she...?

She's the one who taught me Tao, you could call her my master.

She manipulates corpses as she pleases and disrupts the providence of nature with her actions. I can't bear the thought that she's also a hermit....

In the end, the Tao is the Cosmic Truth. How to use this Truth isn't something that Taoism teaches. It is evil when used by the evil, and good when used by the good. That is something Seiga taught me through her actions.

Are you saying it's up to the person? I could only think that when you obtain power, you just get yourself destroyed by desires. Personally, that is what I've come to deeply understand, I differ from you.

Desires are also a part of one's self. The truth is that it is impossible to separate from them. Even by chanting as many sutras as you like, a mature priest can't understand this?

Actually, Ms. Seiga has been going around bothering people. At this rate, it wouldn't be surprising if someone destroyed her. If other people don't, I might do it myself...

Definitely. Recently she snuck into my house and surprised me. I almost murdered her by accident.

What did she sneak in for?

She took a veil. It was beautiful so I made it mine, but geez what a waste of time.

A veil... Seiga's veil?

Yeah.

How foolish are you-

-to reap what you sow.

Well, let's leave that aside. Even though we went through the trouble of gathering three religious figures, this topic hasn't advanced at all. I can see you've all been going back and forth, exchanging mutually exclusive opinions, but in the end what exactly is religion?

I believe it's a philosophy. To free us from suffering.

I have the same idea, it's a philosophy. To guide us towards improving ourselves.

Then it's a philosophy. Somehow or other.

What's a philosophy?(laugh)

Jokes aside, religion is a method of understanding the world. Science and magic are also the same, they're all forms of scholarship.

Then why are there so many? It starts a lot of fights.

There are so many because they're using their words differently, it's at that level. If the words differ, the principles will be distorted through transmission, which can cause fighting. But for all religions there is but one desire. To avoid experiencing hardships. In order to protect themselves, people rely on gods or cling to Buddhas.

That may certainly be true. Even if it may sometimes cause religious wars, those are also ways that people protect themselves.

I don't see how bothering other people is protecting yourself, but does that mean that all religious people are pacifists?

Yes, the youkai that live in my temple won't fight unless necessary. It's never necessary to fight unless you've been harmed.

That's certainly a commonality. If I had to say it, humans without ideologies or religious faith tend to hurt others with their short-sighted greed or jealous rivalries.

It would be nice if everyone in Gensokyo could live together in peace.

Ah, Ms. Reimu. Could you please wait for a moment? I am still collecting data...

Oh? If it isn't Reimu! What's up? What's with the angry look?

From what I've heard, you're all just saying whatever you like! I'll show you exactly how troublesome you really are!