A recording from the files of Thomas Reed, Veteran Avatar of the Chronicler: An interview with a rather knowledgeable stranger about China, the Brotherhood of Harmonious Repose, and other things…

Sun Hop Chinese Restaurant, Mott Street, NYC – August 2007

Thomas: Testing, testing. Alright, this is my 1st interview with….

Speaker (a much quieter voice, male): Thomas i thought we agreed – no names. After all, your only asking about a bit of history.

Thomas: Sorry chief. Force of habit, after all a good Chronicler always tries to get his facts nailed down. Anyway, i’m here at Sun Hop on Mott street, the time is 3 PM and we are in a private booth. And for the cost of dim sum and a diet Coke, my source here will be answering a few questions about the Asian Occult Underground.

:Background noise, a shrill female voice calls out the contents of her cart while passing by the table:

Speaker: Before we begin, I just wanted to ask who exactly will be listening to this?

Thomas: Beyond a few close friends? Not many people at all. New York isn’t Chicago or Los Angeles in terms of the number of dukes around. Besides, I’m hoping to write a book for those of us active here in the States to get a better perspective of things. Like i said, historical with a few current events tossed in here and there. General trends, you can leave out specifics.

Speaker: Fair enough. Just don’t pull a Dirk Allen on me and we should be fine.

Thomas: You really hate him don’t you?

Speaker: He’d be dead if it wasn’t for the Godwalker of the Mystic Hermaphordite…

Thomas: About that, you’ve had a very interesting rela-

Speaker: (Coughs)

Thomas: Alright alright i get it already. So let’s start, what’s the one thing you want impress upon us folks living in the States about the OU in Asia?

Speaker: First point? Up until the twentieth century the “occult underground” did not exist in Asia, you see..

Thomas: That’s a little hard to buy chief, I mean if any place screams mysticism besides the Middle East, its sure as hell that continent. I mean Indian yogis, Daoist sorcerers, tribalistic shamans, secretive cults…

Speaker: Ah, you didn’t let me finish Thomas. The Occult Underground did not exist as a social phenomena. I think someone else wrote a fairly good history of the Underground and its relationship to Western civilization. The key point he hit upon was that it was essentially an urban movement that usually involved people at the fringes of society that were generally rejected by the prevailing norms of that society.

Thomas: And Asia would be different how then?

Speaker: Well, circumstances do vary from country to country, but in the most general sense? There was no Occult Underground – because it was quite Overt. Let me try and illustrate this with the best example, the one you are probably aching to know about – China.

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Segment 1: China and the beginnings of the Occult OverGround

Speaker: My people tend to be a tad boisterous about our history. Granted, i think as a civilization we have a lot to be proud about, however speaking to a Chinese nationalist you’d think he or she was the one who built the Great Wall, created gunpowder, and came up with the cosmological concepts of Yin and Yang.

Thomas: It ain’t much better with Americans chief.

Speaker: (a chuckle) I guess your right. In any event, i’ll spare you the textbook facts of early Chinese history and start with the parts relevant to your research.

The elements that you might recognize as belonging to the Occult Underground coalesced during the Spring and Autumn period. Prior to that time, under the Shang and Zhou dynasties, you would have undoubtedly seen a number of people channeling avatars. Actually, when one comes to think if it, the Shang ancestor may have been the first True King given that the early Chinese recognized a strong cosmological relationship between the moral and physical attributes of the ruler and the state of affairs that prevailed upon his people, nature, and the universe at large. This may have also been the reason why the Shang ancestral ruler was deified as “Shangdi.”

If i’m right, then many of the descendants of “Shangdi’s” household were also True Kings, perhaps even the Godwalkers of their day. Somewhere along down the line though, a decline began.

Thomas: The heir to the throne started breaking taboos?

Speaker: That’s assuming they were capable of channeling the True King at all. As it stands, the dynastic line went sour and the last Shang King was eventually overthrown by the Ji family, the leaders of the Zhou state, who had the overwhelming support of the people. The reason given was that the Shang had lost the Mandate of Heaven. The proper Divine ruler’s characteristics per that mandate, at least from our standpoint, seems suspiciously close to the characteristics that a True King should display.

I could be wrong of course. Gilgamesh, if he actually existed, would be another strong contender for the first True King. However, if that’s the case than perhaps Great Yu, who predates the accounted historical dynasties, may have been the first True King since his who life reads like an instruction manual for the archetype.

Thomas: So what happened to the Zhou?

Speaker: Bit of a different fate than the collapse of the Shang. The feudal lords who swore fealty to the Zhou rulers eventually accumulated more military power and usurped his authority, but not the position. Funny to think about isn’t it? The True Kings, despite their legitimate claims, could only exert a feeble ritual power that was overwhelmed by the physical and economic might of their former vassals. In effect, they became nothing more than the trophy one fights for doing a competition. And eventually, they were forcibly removed from the stage when the struggle for power grew more contentious.

Thomas: The Spring and Autumn and later the Warring States period? That’s when all the great Chinese philosophers start coming out of the woodwork right?

Speaker: Yes, the chaotic times caused a ferment of ideas. But the part you probably don’t learn about in your World History courses is that the rulers of the various contending states engaged in a sort of “Guest Warfare.” “Guests” would mean men of skills, people who were trying to the find or bring about the return of “dao,” the Way. I should emphasize that this “dao” is a generic Way and not necessarily what you folks would know as Daoism. Its the Way to get the world back on track since ritual authority broke down.

So aside from all the philosophers arguing about what is “the Way” to fix things, you had a number of other skilled people who fit roles you might find familiar such as agronomists, masters of dirty political tricks, extraordinary administrators. And then you had some oddities, like a man who could yell so loud that all on battlefield could hear him, or a thief capable of fooling others into thinking he was some sort of dog, or even a rather umm…. “well-endowed” person capable of seducing a the rival ruler’s mother/sister/cousin/whatever.

And then there were the Fang-shi, the men of Secret Arts. Sages who could divine the future from hearing the whistling of the winds, alchemists capable of overturning the rulings of the Ministers of the Underworld, Yin/Yang and Five Phase theorists who engineered changes in luck, environment, and vitality. And of course, Shamans who could call down curses, bring forth catastrophic weather, and hurl ghosts and demons against his employers foes.

Thomas: Well, this sounds familiar.

Speaker: Except for the fact Thomas, that they weren’t hiding. They were employees of the State, or in that particular situation – various states. Keep this trend in mind, for it will occur and reoccur again and again and again. You should also bear in mind that this isn’t a China-specific phenomena as many other Asian countries utilized the same model. The adepts and avatars of those times, while acknowledged as not belonging to normal society per say, still had a place in that society. Of course, that place was usually at the foot of the ruler of the state.

And when a persecution against sorcery did occur, it was not because sorcery as a category of action was illegal as it was in say Medieval Europe. Rather, those in power…

Thomas: Let me guess. Its the equivalent of using a dirty bomb or selling nuclear secrets to Osama bin Laden…

Speaker: Precisely.

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Segment 2: The Brotherhood of Harmonious Repose

Thomas: Doctor, i’m sure you could say alot more about the occult scene in Chinese history, but i did have a spe-

Speaker: (extremely perturbed voice): Thomas! No names.

Thomas: I’m sorry, i’m sorry. But, its only a title. You can’t be the only doctor in the underground. I’ll be sure to keep it out of the book. Anyway, i had one very specific quesiton regarding my research into the Sleepers. The Eastern Branch of that organization, the Brotherhood of Harmonious Repose, they seem to be a bit older than the official “Sleeper history” don’t they? And i’m sure their genesis did not start with some witch trials in Europe.

Speaker: (heavy sigh) The truth of the matter is actually rather complicated, for you see the origin of….

Speaker: Sorry about that. Caused a bit of a disturbance by accident. Went through the wrong restroom door while the young lady was changing.

Thomas: Oh? You seemed to know her and her friend

Speaker: Actually i know her father. That was him on the phone. :clink of a dish heard in the background: He was joking about how if I had seen her exposed I would have to marry her.

Thomas: (laughter) Really now? Is that how it works?

Speaker: Well, seeing a woman exposed is like knowing some of her most sensitive secrets. A gentleman wouldn’t gossip about her measurements, unless he wanted to earn the ire of the whole family. And if he’s not too careful, he might find himself forced into the proverbial shot-gun marriage…

Thomas: I don’t get your drift. :sound of tea slurping:

Speaker: Nevermind. Where was I? Ah yes, the Brotherhood. Its origins are shrouded in history. To be frank Thomas, i’m surprised you knew the name. Most of the dukes in Europe and the States seem unaware of the distinction between the Brotherhood and the Sleepers. You can make an educated guess however that when representatives of both groups met each other they found common cause and willing partners. There really isn’t much of a discernable difference these days.

Thomas: Yeah, but from what i’ve heard they are not treated as the same by the older cabals in the East.

Speaker: (laughter) That’s because old hatreds die hard. The Brotherhood of Harmonious Repose was an outgrowth of a social structure that was a combination of the First Emperor’s vision of a bureaucratic state and Master Kong (Confucius)’s ethical teachings. In essence they were literati bureaucrats who practiced both the technical occult sciences of the Fangshi and the folk superstitions that grew up amongst the common people. And like their Fangshi forebearers, they too were also tools of the state whenever the current “Son of Heaven” was aware of their existence and had enough personal power to bring them to heel. In effect, he joined them.

On the upside they were at the top of the social strata of Chinese society, capable of using the machinery of the government to block or eliminate external foes, and had direct backing from the regime whenever the emperor was a member of their organization.

The downside? Well, the Brotherhood was kind of like a microcosm of Imperial China. From their perspective, all of civilization rested on their shoulders. Those in the “undergrounds” of Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Tibet, and Central Asia have a different viewpoint. To them the Brotherhood was one giant pain in the neck.

Thomas: And they haven’t forgotten it i take it?

Speaker: Nope. To be fair though, the Brotherhood had to undergo countless challenges to its authority, even within Chinese society. The rise of religious Daoism brought into existence a sect of spirit manipulators who did not necessarily share the socio-political concerns of the Brotherhood. To our mandarins, the Celestial Master Daoists and those sects that came afterward were simply a bunch of uncouth peasant interlopers. They obviously ignored the fact that there was great overlap in the arts both groups practiced since they were based off the same cosmological principles.

Then the Buddhists came. Or to be precise, the esoteric Vajrayana/Tantric Buddhists with their arcane rites. Strange rituals, new archetypes from India, and an alternative vision of Chinese society that shifted away from the Confucian model, these were the types of things that erroded the power of the Brotherhood. There was already enough discord between the normal Confucian literati and the incoming Buddhist monastics, enough for the Brotherhood to eventually drive a wedge between the Tantric Buddhist disciples of Amoggavajra and the Tang court. An alliance of convenience between the literati and the Daoist clergy bore fruit and they were able to convince the mid-Tang Emperor Wuzong to destroy the major Buddhist monasteries and temples.

Thomas: So they wiped out their ideological competition using their mundane counterparts and the Imperial Court?

Speaker: (laughter) Yes and no. They also absorbed them. The Brotherhood of Harmonious Repose has always been a practical organization. They saw their competition wielding powers they did not have access to and simply “adjusted” their cosmology to incorporate them. Think about Renaissance Hermeticism for a second. It was a hodgepodge of various different schools and cosmologies that initially had nothing to do with each other but was slowly interwoven so that a duke of that age could use all of those skills.

Such a synthesis these days seems impossible with all these Postmodern schools running around, i mean, can you tell me what the hidden connection between Herpemancy and Mechanomancy is? And what both of their connections are to Anagram Gematria?

Well, in any event, after the two title bouts against the indigenous and foreign threat, the Brotherhood started exerting themselves against the foreign sorcerous enemies of the Chinese state. That’s where all the bad blood emanates from, that’s why the whole Asian underground cheered when the Imperial Japanese army’s actions practically routed the Brotherhood.

And that’s why to this very day from Bangkok to Singapore, Seoul to Tokyo, the Brotherhood meets with very stiff resistance when engaging in “policing actions” that their parent organization can pull off with ease in America or Europe.

In fact, the Sleepers as a whole have, for all intents and purposes, given up trying to monitor the Occult Underground of Japan. That’s mostly due to the workings of the Onmyōryō.

Thomas: The what?

Speaker: The Bureau of Onmyodo. Onmyo is like Yin and Yang and “do” is the Japanese equivalent of “dao.” You shouldn’t confuse this with “Daoism” either.

Thomas: Wait wait wait! Doc, are you saying there’s an actual government in this day and age that has a Bureau set up to deal with the Underground? Sounds a little like the Japanese Men in Black.

Speaker: Yes and No.

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Segment 3: The Bureau of Yin and Yang

Speaker: Historically speaking, the Onmyōryō came about during the Nara period of Japanese history. Mostly the organization dealt with matters relating to making sure the calendar was correct, astrological divination, and making use of various yin-yang and wuxing (Five Phases) to pull off a number of sorcerous effects on behalf of the Yamato Court.

The Bureau’s history is also spotty, although I’m pretty certain that many of their techniques were simply occult imports from China given a very curious Japanese twist. The cosmological doctrines and “technologies” if you will are the same, but the ideological or philosophical aspects evolved quite differently from the religious Daoist sects who also have the same origin point. Bits and pieces of liturgical Daoist as well as esoteric Buddhist practices, mostly rites related to spirit control, made their way into the Bureau’s records as well.

Remember what I said about that trend? You know, Occult Power in the Service of the State? Japan pretty much follows the same trajectory.

Thomas: But how does that relate to our present era? I mean, you said they are still around.

Speaker: You can blame Douglas MacArthur for that one. The Bureau’s fortunes rose and fell with that of the Japanese court, and when political power shifted to the Shogunate system they almost died out completely.

That was until the Meiji restoration. The Onmyōryō, or should I say its descendant organization, survived by becoming part of the Imperial Household Ministry.

Now I don’t want you to get the wrong idea that they somehow manipulated the Imperial Japanese government to attack a weakened Qing China. That was always going to happen.

But what they did do was take the opportunity to stick it to the cabal that always regarded the adepts of the island of “short bow-legged hairy barbarians” as being uncouth peasant interlopers.

Thomas: Let me guess, they took whatever wasn’t nailed down during the Japanese Occupation?

Speaker: And a couple things that were. You could say that the Bureau has preserved a very good portion of the legacy of Chinese magic, simply because they own it.

After Imperial Japan’s defeat however, MacArthur chose to preserve the Emperor. In doing so he preserved the Imperial Household Ministry which in turn…

Thomas: Preserved the Bureau. I get it. But, I mean, aren’t you essentially saying there’s an official part of the Japanese government that governs the Underground?

Speaker: Hold on a second, I’m getting there.

Kunaichō or the Imperial Household Agency (what the Ministry became) manages the day-to-day affairs of the Imperial family, their land holdings, and a number of archaeological sites of great importance such as the designated Imperial tombs stretching back to the Kofun era and beyond. They are actually quite jealous of their control over these sites and generally restrict access to them.

All the important positions, from the Grand Steward downward are hereditary. That means the families that were part of the Meiji Restoration, 1930s Imperial Japan, etc. are still in “power” if you will.

They also exert enormous influence over the Imperial family itself. This isn’t like the Windsors in Great Britain. Kunaichō has the ability to pick out the wardrobe, set the appointments, and deny the requests of the Emperor and his family. Ironically, they are almost like prisoners.

To top it all off, Kunaichō is legally a special agency within the Japanese government. Up until 2001, they did not report to anybody but the Prime Minster’s Office. Essentially they are self-governing, with one specific flaw: funding.

That’s the ironic part of the Onmyōryō. They are perhaps the last example of the old-style model of cooperation between the State and the Underground. They are organized, they have a unifying purpose. They have to a certain degree, government sanctioning and legitimacy as they can still pull favors from the Japanese government. And Heaven only knows the type of artifacts and rituals still at their disposal hidden in the Imperial archives.

They just don’t have the cash. I suppose they have an operating budget better than Mak Attax at least. But that isn’t really saying much.

Thomas: Then how do they govern the Japanese Underground?

Speaker: Simple. They do the same thing a desperate person does when they are in need of money. They got in bed with someone, or should I say got in bed with an organization that did: the Yamaguchi-gumi.

:End Tape 1: