Editing Arhat

An '''Arhat''' is a [[Kindred of the East|Wan Kuei]] that has reached the final step on the Road Back, and gained Enlightenment.  For them the cares of the Mortal World have fallen away, and with their Kharmic debt repaid they have earned the right to return to the direct service of the August Personage in Heaven.  

Many don't hesitate and enter the Thousand Clouds the moment they are able to, but a rare handful linger on in the mortal world, for one reason or another, despite the gradual arrival of the Sixth Age.

==Meta==
Arhats are ''supposedly'' the mechanical equivalent of a Cainite [[Antediluvian]], though seeing as many of them have probably spent millennia meditating on forlorn retreats far from other mortals or ''shen'' to gain Enlightenment, it's a good bet that they're not going be the ten-dot Discipline [[Rip and Tear|murder machines]] that the average Antediluvian seems to be seen as. Then again, most Antediluvians have spent the last few millennia sleeping, so perhaps it's a wash.

==Notable Arhat==
* '''Xue''': The first Arhat. Former Wan Xian, he reached Enlightenment as he wandered the Middle Kingdom in the wake of the fall of Mount Meru.  He is the author of the Fivefold Path, which became the foundation of the five orthodox Dharmas followed by the majority of Kuei-jin.  Xue had two students -- the first, '''Zao-Lat''' (aka [[Antediluvian|Saulot]] of the Salubri) was a disappointment, as he couldn't rein in his P'o, but his second student '''Ki''' was the one who codified and compiled his teachings for posterity.
* '''Piyau Payung''': Possibly the most formidable South-facing Thrashing Dragon in history, she led the reclamation of the remnants of the Scarlet Phoenix Court from the ''akuma'' that infested it, and from her teachings the scandalous and hyper-feminine culture of the Golden Courts took shape.  Though she departed for the Thousand Clouds in the 1700s, her legacy remains in the savage ''penangallan''-queens that rule the nights of Southeast Asia.
* '''Thousand Cranes Mother''': Arhat of the Thrashing Dragons, she is direct founder of the Laughing Rainbows sect, and indirect founder of all the others.  She sticks around in the Mortal Realms, changing retreats every four years.  She still regularly consults with adherents of the Dharma on matters of enlightenment, though she'd rather talk with low-ranking jina than mandarins these days.
* '''The Most Serene Black Pearl Mistress, Mother of Shadows''': Arhat of the Bone Flowers, who also happens to look like a sixteen-year-old girl.  Hard to find, and guarded by a formidable retinue of followers and their summoned spirit servitors, she is nonetheless willing to share her wisdom with those who do manage to find her.  Her sincere wish is to preserve as much knowledge as she can in preparation for the coming Sixth Age. 

[[Category:Kindred of the East]]
[[Category:White Wolf]]
[[Category:Vampire: The Masquerade]]

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