If Taoism/Confucianism/Buddhism were magic...

[Muqtada]

I'm planning for a fantasy novel which I am beginning to write on November 1st but I haven't been able to think of a good system of magic to use. The problem is that so many novels these days use a generic magic system akin to the Force and I want to stay as far away from that as possible. I was thinking about the 'mentor' in my novel, a woman who has been around for hundreds of years but will slowly begin to die when she teaches another, and it hit me. I've been thinking this whole time about how I want her to have a Tao outlook on life and the long, isolated wait she's had anyway (although I don't know if I'm well-versed enough in the Tao to pull that off) and I started thinking... what if magic was FROM her belief in the Tao?

 

This original idea might not impart the same meaning to you as it did in my mind, at least not written in those words. But I continued thinking. I also wanted a couple other magic users left--these would be the last 'witches' in existence, and I was thinking maybe they could have Eastern beliefs as well. Perhaps one is Confucian, and one is Buddhist. I was thinking about how when I meditate on the Tao I feel the edges of vast... things. Pure emotion, or ideas that just fit with how I think. I was thinking to myself, "Maybe in this world, it's that earnest belief that opens you up to using magic." The setting begins in a technologically advanced society where everyone is constantly plugged into 'the Hub' (which is their internet) and no one really believes anything. I was thinking to myself, maybe this is why there are so few magic users in this world. Maybe in this world, all you need for magic is true belief.

 

I continued thinking and imagined a perfect scene where the main character gets frustrated at his teacher for constantly spouting Tao parables and demands to learn the rules of magic, to which the teacher responds that you can't learn magic until you've mastered your philosophy (or something along those lines). Obviously I would not call these philosophies Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism, but the stories they teach would parallel some of the teachings for these religions. Which leaves me with just one problem:

 

What would their magic do?

 

I want each philosophy to allow the use of magic differently, but what sort of magic would Tao be? Would it be the ability to shapeshift, or see very far away, or always know which direction is north? Each philosophy would have to have a distinct ability, different from the other philosophies, although they could all share one or two common abilities. For example, maybe all philosophies allow the believer to leave his/her body for a short time while meditating, but someone taught a Buddhist philosophy could shapeshift while a Confucian couldn't shapeshift but instead could fly (or something).

 

Any ideas? If Taoism/Confucianism/Buddhism were magic, what would it do?

[Sloppy Zhang]

They would give you the power to not steal ideas from other people for your nanowrimo activities

[deci belle]

[Muqtada]

They would give you the power to not steal ideas from other people for your nanowrimo activities

 

I found out that nobody I ask anywhere has the answers I want anyway haha but it was worth a shot.

And it's not stealing if they know why I'm asking for it

[Protector]

Read Journey To The West, it has Buddhas, Immortals, Sages, my version even has Jesus for some reason. And they use magic and there's training for it and all that.

 

 

oh and you can find it on-line for free

Edited October 28, 2011 by Sinfest

[Aaron]

I can answer this question for you, watch Tokyo Majin, it will explain all of this in great detail. You can find it on Netflix.

 

Aaron

[Cat Pillar]

I can answer this question for you, watch Tokyo Majin, it will explain all of this in great detail. You can find it on Netflix.

 

Aaron

 

I started watching that awhile ago but only got a couple of episodes into it...is it worth continuing?

[Aaron]

I started watching that awhile ago but only got a couple of episodes into it...is it worth continuing?

 

 

Actually I just started watching it too, but I'm enjoying it. They mention Taoist and Buddhist sorcery a lot in the series, so it's the first thing to come to mind when the OP mentioned Taoist and Buddhist magic.

 

Aaron

[manitou]

This doesn't qualify as magic, probably, or maybe it does. It was the direct result of a Tao mindset.

 

I don't expect anybody to believe this. It's too incredible. But it happened just like this.

 

Last summer, there was a little black stallion living across the highway from me and down about 1/4 mile. I would walk down there daily and give him a carrot, scratch his ears, and sometimes run back and forth with him along the corral fence so that he would get some exercise.

 

On this one occasion he got really excited that we were playing, and he ran the length of the corral and sailed over the fence. I was panicked, I was sure he'd get hit by traffic. Sure enough, he crossed the highway and went to a 100 acre farm and started running. I could hear his hoof beats retreat way into the distance.

 

At that point, I crossed the highway and hurried up a small hill to see if I could see where he'd gone. I could hear his hoof beats coming back some minutes later. sure enough, he was headed back my way at full speed. He ran huge circles around me at top speed, just playing with me.

 

At that moment, I remembered the Tao. I set my intent on roping him, although I didn't have a rope and wouldn't know how to use one if I had it. I emptied my mind of all fear and anxiety, started breathing deeply, and just hoped that there was a memory somewhere in his horsey brain that would remember being roped. It was that I wanted to tap into.

 

I held a large pretend rope and started swinging it. I threw it out towards him and then pretended that I was a cowboy coming up on him, pulling the rope closer and closer. IT WORKED! He stood in one spot. But then my next problem was how to get him back across the highway.

 

I put my fist down at the base of his neck, between his shoulders, as though I was holding him tightly with a bridle and rope. He marched alongside me just as though I had him tightly gripped, and he even arched his neck as though he was being held tightly. I got him back across the highway, stopping traffic. But he was being taken by an invisible halter and invisible rope.

 

When we got back to his corral, I could see that there was an old cable of some sort laying out in the woods. I wanted to get him over to the cable so I could contain him in a real way. The funny thing is, that the closer I got to the cable with him, the more anxious I got. My confidence with the invisible rope eroded when I saw the real cable. Fear crept in. And sure enough, as soon as the fear started creeping in, the horse pealed off to the side and no longer stayed with me. Luckily there was a patch of grass that he was more interested in, so he stayed off the highway until I could run and get the cable over his neck.

 

'Pretending' seems to be a pretty powerful magic trick if it's done with full confidence, which I had at first. When the confidence started to erode, so did the magic rope. But all came out well.