mani grew up near gridania, and considered the shroud his back yard. he was raised in a small community of monks and nuns, dedicated to compassionately holding space for peace to one day be realized in eorzea.
his mother, for reasons unknown to him, left him in the care of the holy men and women of the order of "Avalokiteshvara"(an incarnation of the essence of compassion) shortly after birth.
his given name is not mani padme...
he was an unusual baby, in that he didn't really sleep more than a few hrs a day, and was typically upset unless being held, if he was held, he was quiet, but still didn't sleep much...
a few weeks after his arrival at the abbey, while sitting up late at night holding little mani in his arms, one of the monks sang a chant associated with their order. the chants words "Om Mani Padme Hum", the little miqo'te was enchanted with its simplicity and deep peace, and fell asleep almost instantly upon the first refrain. from then on, whomever was sitting with mani at bedtime, need only sing this song, and he would fall asleep.
from the time he began to talk, he would walk around all day long singing and chanting the sacred words quietly to himself.
the monks and nuns simply began referring to him as "mani padme", which means "jewel of the lotus", for his deep affinity with the mantra.
mani grew up, with relative ease, uninterested in the normal pursuits of others, and quite content to just tend the garden, sit, and listen to the sounds of the forest, particularly at night.
one day he was sitting in meditation, as he had been taught at an early age, and received only what could be termed as a vision of a preminatory nature, of a large crystal, in the vision it was made clear that mani should begin taking action to realize the peace his surrogate mothers and fathers were trying to create...
mani is eternally a child at heart, and yet is serious and exceptionally sensitive to the plights and struggles of others. as his teacher had once said to him: "suffering is an unfortunate thing that we, the races of form in this world, feel we need to go through, though i know u perceive the deeper truth to the misfortunes of the world, the truth that we have never been separate from that which we desire in our hearts above all else...and have always been free, whole, and complete in every moment..."
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