EASING THE BEAST

Breaking the Curse: The Quest for Enlightenment

It turns out that there seems to be a spiritual cure for all aspects of the vampiric curse. But
to get these stories, you have to go into the way back, and I mean the way way back machine and
tread in realms of myth that are just slightly younger than gravity. I should point out that these
stories could be complete and total crap. That said, I like them, and there is a compelling ring of
something that might sound a little like truth to them.
The First
The first one begins with the first vampire. Now, there are many first vampires. There are
Chinese, Greek, Indonesian, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Hebrew, and Slavic vampires. And each
of these cultures has a different first vampire. So I should point out that I have no reason to
suspect this myth is any better than any of the others. I have picked it for no other reason than it
has reference to a cure to the vampiric condition. Hows that for selection criteria? Its the only
one that has anything close to a happy ending. In every other story, the vampires are demons who
just have to die. So if I were a gambling man wagering on the truth of myths, Id bet that you are
screwed. But heres the one that has a potential happy ending.
It starts with the murderer Cain. You know the beginning of that tale. Cain bashes in
Abels head. God doesnt like that, so Cain (though some vampiric scholars prefer Caine) gets
cursed and wanders the land miserably. It isnt clear exactly how the curse gets laid. Some
versions say the initial curse from the Almighty was the whole package. Other versions say that
Cain shacks up with some woman (the first Verbena, actually) and she grants him power and as
part of that power he gets three curses from three angels while hes tripped out on a seeking. The
curse of fire, the curse of sunlight, and the beast within, which makes him want to dine on blood.
Our buddy Cain also gets visited by a fourth angel who tells him that as much as his life sucks,

EASING THE BEAST

there is a way out. A way called Golconda. A way of forgiveness, salvation, light, and life that
will break the other three curses.
Sadly, Cain doesnt seem to get there. Some stories say Cain tells God to fuck off. Others
stories say Cain tries but fails. Either way, the OG vampire never breaks his curse. Further
searches on him go cold.
The Demon-Saint
BUT, we are armed with another word. Golconda. Back to the drawing board. Recasting
the search we find reference to a dude named Saulot. Im unclear on the genealogy, and Im not
sure it matters for our purposes. Saulot was a prophet, and unlike the rest of his kind he sorta
hated being a vampire. He was into meditation and other spiritual exercises to overcome his
condition while also serving his kind as healer. He disappears for a few centuries, some say Asia,
and turns up with a third eye and preaching about Golconda. His tale gets weird after that. Some
say hes a hero-saint. Other people say hes a soul-eating monster. Theres this whole thing with
some lich-mage that Saulot may or may not have been eaten by. I tried to find him directly and
ask about Golconda (because vampire; he could be alive!), but my cursory search failed.
This Golconda thing has been a bit of a myth. Some vampires claim they have achieved
it. It is associated with various boons: the lack of anger or fear, the ability to learn any vampiric
power, staying up during the day, and losing the vampiric condition entirely.
How to get there? Mixed reviews. Some say you need a teacher or mentor. Others say
you need to foster a saintly demeanor. Others say you need to go on quests to prove your
commitment. Others say you need to atone for literally every wrong youve ever done. I cant
find the truth of it, exactly. It all seems like a pseudo-Christian veneer stretched over vampire
lore. Some say that Golconda is preceded by a state called Suspire, which is like a nearly perfect

EASING THE BEAST

state. I like the myth that says the Suspire vampire (which is fun to say) goes on one final
mindquest, and afterward either goes into a final frenzy or reaches Golconda.
And thats where the trail runs cold.
For amateurs.
Any armchair historian listening to the myth of Saulot should be asking him or herself
one very simple, very important question: What the fuck happened in Asia? Goes off and comes
back with a third fucking eye spouting some new mystical mumbo jumbo and maybe eating
souls or maybe causing enlightenment? Saulot 1: shy prophet boy, Saulot 2: .. Saulot 3:
Wacked out Demon King or Saint.
So Asia. Come on. Does that even classify as a mystery?
What went down in Asia? No mention of Saulot, but there is some foreigner who gets
referred to as Zao-lat. Really? Ive had more trouble with Blues Clues. Anyway, what do the
legends say about this mysterious Zao-lat? Ill quote: Zao-lat was a student of Xue, a thief, a
despicable creature who benefited from Xue's compassion, learned Ch'iuh Muh, sat at the feet of
the master and stole his wisdom.
Oh-kay. No mincing words there. Now, one of the things we look for in historical records
is convergences. If things get mentioned the same way in different sources who didnt copy each
other, they probably happened. Do we have convergence here? I did some looking into Ch'iuh
Muh. Its a magical power of the eastern vampires. It translates roughly into Dragon Tears.
Badass, right? Do you know what Ch'iuh Muh bestows on its practitioners? A third fucking eye.
Id call that some convergence. The greatest thing Saulot did for you? His thievery lead me to
Xue.
The Master

EASING THE BEAST

Grand Arhat Xue is a super renown Kuei-jin (its what they call themselves) mystic
who articulates in the text the Blood Sutras a philosophy he calls the Five Dharmas. Heres the
gist. Vampires are demonic creatures, but they can get to enlightenment and return to the karmic
cycle. By behaving a lot like a mage (following a mystic path, having bursts of insight, and
striving for enlightenment), vampires can slowly subsist on more sublime chi. If you are not
enlightened, you draw chi out of blood. As you become more enlightened, you draw it out of the
air. Super enlightened vamps can draw it out of the chi let of by the gently unfolding lotus flower
of the universe (no shit). These five Dharmas of Xues are five different ways of achieving
enlightenment. They have to do with resplendent cranes and thrashing dragons and all manner of
awesomeness. Heres a summary:

Resplendent Crane (Hun). The Way of the Resplendent Crane is a highly legalistic

collection of schools, dedicated to reversing the Wheel of Ages and restoring virtue.
Devil-Tiger (P'o). The Devil-Tigers believe that they are replacements for the
incompetent demons of ages past; they punish sinners and seek enlightenment through

pain and violence.

Song of the Shadow (Yin). The yin-aspected Song of the Shadow, also known as Bone
Flowers, are coldly logical necromancers who seek dispassionate reasoning and
enforcement of dharmic balance. They are also tightly tied to mortal society through their

descendants, and often assist their families even centuries afterward.

Thrashing Dragon (Yang). The often misunderstood Thrashing Dragon dharma
recognizes that they are dead, but seeks to achieve enlightenment by imitating and
interacting with the living. Despite the stunned disbelief of some Resplendent Cranes,
they are a fully recognized Dharma, even if they seem to eat and screw their way through
unlife.

EASING THE BEAST

Thousand Whispers (Balance). The Thousand Whispers live a sequence of masks, new
identities they construct after death in order to understand mortal life and hopefully
transcend it.
There are other Dharmas created by other people, but those five are Xues. Id stick with

the OG if I were you. Xue goes on to say that vampires have various souls. A wind soul that is
your directed, harmonious, rational Hun soul. But you also have a Po soul, which is what you
might call the Beast, and it has three subparts, the fire, wave, and shadow soul.
Heres some real advice. According to Xue, even though the Po soul is bad news and
unharmonious, you cant just ignore it or stifle it. If you over crush it, you become cold and dead
and too fucking rational. You need to be in harmony with your disharmony. No shit. You need to
accept, understand, and assimilate your Beast. Your Beast, according to shen philosophers, even
has a nature of its own. Which you need to learn and understand. It can be a bandit, deceiver,
demon, fool, or any number of seemingly bad but useful and ultimately not bad in that you have
to let it be disharmoniously harmonious (or harmoniously disharmonious, Im not sure, my
translation was unclear) with your rational nature.
The eastern vampires have an elaborate list of activities that basically move you forward
and backward on your quest for Dharmic enlightenment. The nice list includes:

Being taught by a Kuei-jin who has mastered a higher level in your Dharma.
Being taught by a Kuei-jin who holds a higher rank than yours; but in a different Dharma.
Receiving instruction from a bodhisattva (super vampire).
Understanding a master's koan.
Receiving instruction from a Yama King or similar powerful spirit.
Journeying through the spirit worlds (for the first time).
Understanding a master's koan.
Doing something within the tenets of your Dharma that costs you something important.
Meditating for at least one week with one of the training methods.
Coming very near to death.
Understanding a master's koan.

EASING THE BEAST

Receiving an auspicious omen.

The naughty list (they call them Acts of Blindness)

Violating some important tenet of your Dharma.

Attempting to follow the tenets of your path, but failing in some really costly manner.
Acting in an extraordinarily egotistical manner.
Losing yourself in mortal concerns and neglecting enlightenment.
Losing yourself to the P'o (even if you belong to the Devil Tiger path).
Discovering that a Dharma teacher lied to you.
Being banished by a priest or other person with True Faith.
Killing an ancestor or bodhisattva.
Meeting the Little Death.
Receiving a bad omen.
Conclusion
Heres the bad news. Kuei-jin are different from western vampires. I believe they are

metaphysically different. They arent made the same way, and there seem to be variances. So
maybe none of this stuff works on you at all. But there are a few reasons to hope.
One. The western Golconda myths correlate roughly to aspects of the Dharmic journey.
Find a mentor; taught by a master. Can learn any power; chi flows in a way that is magnified.
There are corollaries, which suggests it may work.
Two. The western version is ok, but Xues method is more complete. Which means you
have more things to try, more avenues to go down. Also, based on my academic intuition, Id say
Xues is the more coherent doctrine. I think the westernized version oversimplifies the Beast in
unproductive ways (influenced by Christianity, if you want my opinion).
Three. It worked for Saulot. It did. He learned the third eye trick. And he taught it. But
heres the very, very best part. You know how I mentioned that Saulot is known for being both a
saint and a soul eater? Some chalk this up to lich-mage propaganda. But it isnt. Heres the deal.
Ch'iuh Muh, the Dragon Tear, is a discipline that manifests one way when you are in your Hun

EASING THE BEAST

soul, and another way when you are in your Po soul. When in Hun, you can purify others and
coax their souls out and make give them enlightenment. When in Po soul, you can poison others
and coax their souls out and gnaw on their spirit bits. Saulot was just struggling with a spiritual
reality misunderstood in his geographical region. But in the east, he would be seen as just crying
another Ch'iuh Muh. That mystery Ill take a little credit for.
Where do you go from here? No fucking clue. Ive outlined three figures in mythology
that serve as guides for spiritually dealing with your condition: Cain, Saulot, and Xue.
Here are some ideas Ive drawn from the research that you use to go on a quest for
vampiric enlightenment:

Contact Angel #4 and get him to break Gods curse on you. Im only sorta joking.
Find Saulot and get him to teach you about Golconda.
Find another Golcondic (is that a word?) vampire and have him mentor you.
Travel to the far East and learn from the Bodhisattvas.
Learn about and meditate on the various paths of vampiric enlightenment and see if any

make you want to eat fewer people.

Repent for all your sins, seek atonement, and fix everything you ever broke.
Try to pull chi out of the air by breathing.
Sleep with a Verbena, get her to grant you enlightenment, and GIVE AWAY your power.
Find Cain, cure him of his curse, and break the curse for everyone.
Learn Ch'iuh Muh (or Saulots watered down version)
Fulfill your destiny, then let a Euthanatos kill you (the permanent solution).

I hope you find this as helpful as it was fun to come up with. There is more to learn, to be sure.
Be in touch if you have any questions.