Aptira

Aptira's perception was perfect, though not all-encompassing. The outline of every river, every crevice of every rock, and of every mote of soil was known to him. No living being, however microscopic, escaped his awareness. The life energies of every bit of flora and fauna, and even the whispering imprints of those entities flitting into the threshold between dimensions, was known to him all at once.

Freed from the normal limitations of his body, his mind was amplified by the translation into the adytum device, his consciousness expanded to a godlike scope which held the details of his world and the surrounding solar system as closely and intimately in his mind as if each planet were the appendages of his own body.

The cost, however, would be dear. The energies of the turquoise orb would forever change his body. What's more, all that he had learned would in no way be possible to relay once he disconnected from the artifact. The privilege would be the sullen, deranged genius of every proctor and a lifetime of mental training meant to cope with his past deification. All of this would be the beginning of his troubles.

Bodhisattvas Listed in The Lotus Sutra

Here is a comprehensive list of the bodhisattvas explicitly named in the Lotus Sutra:

1. Manjushri (Mañjuśrī) – Bodhisattva of Wisdom.

2. Avalokiteshvara (Avalokiteśvara) – Bodhisattva of Compassion.

3. Samantabhadra – Bodhisattva of Universal Virtue.

4. Maitreya – The Future Buddha.

5. Bhaiṣajyarāja – Medicine King Bodhisattva.

6. Bhaiṣajyasamudgata – Medicine Superior Bodhisattva.

7. Prabhūtaratna – Many Treasures Bodhisattva.

8. Sarvanivaraṇaviṣkambhin – Remover of Obstacles Bodhisattva.

9. Vajrapāṇi – Protector of the Buddha.

10. Padmapāṇi – (Alternate name for Avalokiteśvara in some traditions).

11. Viśiṣṭacāritra – Superior Conduct Bodhisattva, one of the four leaders of the bodhisattvas from beneath the earth.

12. Anantacāritra – Boundless Conduct Bodhisattva.

13. Viśuddhacāritra – Pure Conduct Bodhisattva.

14. Supratiṣṭhitacāritra – Steadfast Conduct Bodhisattva.

15. Gadgadasvara – Wonderful Voice Bodhisattva.

16. Satatasamitābhiyukta – Ever Diligent Bodhisattva.

17. Mahāpratibhāna – Great Eloquence Bodhisattva.

18. Mahāsattva – A title meaning Great Being or Bodhisattva, used for prominent bodhisattvas like Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri.

19. Dhṛtarāṣṭra – A bodhisattva mentioned among the protectors of the Dharma.

20. Aksayamati – Inexhaustible Mind Bodhisattva.

In addition to these specifically named bodhisattvas, the Lotus Sutra describes an incalculable number of other bodhisattvas, especially the great assembly of bodhisattvas that emerge from beneath the earth, led by the four primary leaders: Viśiṣṭacāritra, Anantacāritra, Viśuddhacāritra, and Supratiṣṭhitacāritra.

Alternative Genesis

http://www.goldenageproject.org.uk/genesis.php

Genesis 1
1. In the Beginning, the Shining Ones looked (down) with pleasure upon the Highland pastures and the Lowlands.
2. But the Lowlands were an empty area - being uninhabited and unexplored, lying below the level of the Sea. And the aerial craft of the Shining Ones hovered over its waters.
3. The Shining Ones said, 'Let us enlighten ourselves' [concerning this land] and they explored it.
4. The Shining Ones saw that their exploration was successful [suitable for settlement]; and the Shining Ones distinguished between the explored (land) and the unexplored.
5. The Shining Ones named the explored land yom, and the unexplored land they named layah. There was evening and there was morning - a first day [stage].
6. The Shining Ones said, 'Let there be [built] a wall in the middle of the [river] waters, and let it separate the [upper] waters from the lower waters.' And it was done.
7. The Shining Ones constructed the dam wall to separate the waters that were spread out below the wall from waters that were above the wall.
8. The Shining Ones called the wall ha'shemim (the Heights).
There was evening and mor-ning
- a second day [stage].
9. The Shining Ones said, 'Let the waters gathered by the wall form a reservoir so that dry land appears' (below).
10. The Shining Ones named the part that had dried out, 'arez', and the waters in the reservoir they called 'yamim'; and the Shining Ones were pleased with the result.
11. The Shining Ones said, 'The earth is green with fresh new grass, and seed-producing plants of (various) kinds. Let us plant the land with trees of [different] kinds that have fruit with seed'. And it was done.
12-13. The earth was green with fresh new grass and seed-bearing plants of various kinds. And there were trees of several kinds bearing fruit with seeds. The Shining Ones were well satisfied [with their labours]. There was evening and there was morning - a third day [stage].
14-15. The Shining Ones said, 'On the dam wall, from the Heights, we shall observe the luminaries by day and by night. We shall measure time in fixed intervals, in the direction of the two seas - from the High Wall where the Sun shines on the land'. And this was done.
16. The Shining Ones were occupied with [observations on] the two great lights - the greater light [Sun] ruling the day, and the lesser light [Moon] ruling the night - and on the Stars.
17-19. On the High Wall, the Shining Ones observed them as they shone on the land, ruling day and night, and distinguishing between light and darkness. The Shining Ones saw how suitable they were. There was evening and there was morning - a fourth day [stage].
20. The Shining Ones said, 'Let the waters teem with life, and let there be wildfowl flying over the land, and over the surface within the High Wall'. And it was so.
21. With pleasure, the Shining Ones watched the great dolphins and every living thing - the wild animals, the teeming species in the water, and all kinds of birds. And the Shining Ones found them a delight to behold.
22-23. The Shining Ones protected them, saying 'Thrive and become abundant - fill the waters of the reservoir; and let the birds be plentiful on the land'. There was evening and there was morning - a fifth day [stage].
24. The Shining Ones said, 'Let the land be a sanctuary for all living things - all domestic animals, reptiles, and every kind of wild beast'. And it was so.
25. The Shining Ones busied themselves with (cared for) all kinds of wildlife on the land, and with all kinds of domestic animals which were plentiful on the ground. The Shining Ones took a delight in them all.
26. The Shining Ones said, 'We must produce men in our image - in the likeness of ourselves - so that they may be responsible for the fish in the reservoir [inland waters], the birds on the Heights, and for all the cattle that are so abundant in the land'.
27. The Shining Ones made Men (Akkadian - lullu) - in their own image and likeness they made them; they made male and females.
28. The Shining Ones cherished them and said to them, 'Be fertile and thrive; fill the land and manage it; take into your hands the supervision of the fish in the reservoir, the birds on the Heights, and all the cattle that are so abundant on the land'.
29. The Shining Ones said, 'Look we give you leave to take every seed-bearing plant that is on the land, and from every fruit-bearing tree, to serve you as food'.
30. 'And to all animals, all the birds on the Heights, and all the small creatures that live on the land, they shall have all green plants, vegetation and cereals, as fodder'. And so they had.
31. The Shining Ones studied all that they had accomplished, and found it very good. There was evening and there was morning - a sixth day (stage).

Genesis 2
1. And so the struggle against the Heights and against the land below was completed.
2. With that sixth day (stage), the Shining Ones completed all the work that they had to do After that seventh day (stage), they ceased working, with their labours completed.
3. The Shining Ones were thankful for the 'seventh day' and made it a holiday - a truly complete day of rest, because they saw, with pleasure, that the work was done.
4. Such is the documented history of the development of the Heights and the Lowlands.

Tepeh Sah Ainuktan

Tepeh Sah Ainuktan looked up into the cloudy haze above her. In the darkeness, the haze glowed a dim electric purple, and flashes of lightning could be seen in the haze from far above. She kept her footing on the rocky slopes as she moved up from the small valley nearer to the haze. Below, Aipah, her sister and cousin stood in her robe, compact and silent as she stared above and minded the rucksacks beside her.

"Tepeh," Aipah called out as her kin's ascent drew nearer to the haze. "Do you suppose..." She stopped, hesitant, eyes directed upwards and mouth agape. "Do you suppose that we should be here? The priests will be angry, and the gods—" Tepeh stopped and turned her head to the side to cut her off. "The gods are the priests and the priests are not here. Those eunuch lechers have no concern for anything outside of their whitewashed vault anyway."

Tepeh strode upward again, as always, with the strident confidence more worthy of a man than a woman. Aipah, thoughtful and curious, was not so easily deterred. After a short pause, her eyes still transfixed upon the haze and occasional flashes of lightning, let out a retort.

"Yes kin, but... there is strong energy here. The knowledge of the priests is ancient and my technical training within the temple clearly demonstrated that these forces can be leth—" Again, Aipah was cut off. Tepeh turned around and stood akimbo, her ponytail, hide tunic and the knife in her belt all giving her the appearance of an adolescent man rather than of a woman.

"What are you going to do about it? Throw your abacus beads at me?" Tepeh stood looking down at Aipah belligerently. Aipah looked down from the haze at Tepeh in discomposure. Tepeh's gaze bore into her and Aipah stood silently, bereft of a response.

Tepeh turned around, heading back up the slope as Aipah, resigned to the inevitability of the outcome, took a seat on the rucksacks, swaddling herself in her own robe for warmth as she looked at the ground, ruminating over the implications of the vague references made in her training. She was never certain whether she hadn't properly understood the implications of what she was being taught or whether those implications were being deliberately obscured. Or both.

As Aipeh turned to watch her kin climb nearer to the haze, she was startled as Tepeh seemed to dissolve with a flash of light before reaching the haze. No lightning struck, and she had not reached the haze. Aipeh blinked and stood up. She called out, but no response. Suddenly, Aipeh was struck with the panic of a child. She pulled an orb from her robe and shook it, and as the phosphorescent blue glow began to emanate from the orb, she began to run, ditching their rucksacks and picking up the skirt of her robe and chanting incomprehensible prayers as her sandals clacked down the trail down the side of the mount.

It was said that dangerous forces followed her ancestors from the exodus of Aloma, and as she fled, clacking in small steps and reciting in focused concentration, she couldn't be sure that something ghastly wasn't trying to overtake her from within. Had she not been taught better, she would have squealed or likely fainted.