Paul Wei was a popular religious teacher, social media commentator and authority on the Common language during the mid to late 21st century. A colourful figure, while unknown in Britain, he is a household name in the New World Order. He has had a lasting influence on the Order's religious/philosophical landscape, public discourse, and on the Common language itself. Wei claimed to be a living Buddha and founded the modern religion of Weism (in Common, na Weifisa), a variety or offshoot of Buddhism depending on who you ask.

While Weism is a relatively respected belief system in the New World Order, counting a number of members of the elite class amongst its adherents, Weism and Wei himself have seen ups and downs in their fortunes over the years. Weism counts the largest number of its adherents amongst the educated, professional class, and is found globally, especially in cities and in highly Commonised populations.

The key differentiating belief of Weism is that while Weists accept the Four Noble Truths and an interpretation of the Eightfold Path, they deny the existence of samsara, the cycle of rebirth. According to Weists, all beings achieve Nirvana on death regardless of their spiritual merit. As Paul Wei himself said, 'Yr cul zra roxájyn se ikky an upána naz zra atuin, haj yr cul was yn upána naz was yn. A Buda epis a sihka se hun. Ijaz awken a 'Nirfana', a miran ro na sih e na let nox' - translated roughly as 'There is no reward for the good, or punishment for the wicked. The Buddha and the unenlightened one are the same. All will achieve "Nirvana", or freedom from dukkha in death.' To a Weist, there is literally no point to awakening other than to be awakened.

Wei famously never wrote a book, neither an autobiography nor a book of teachings. When one of his students suggested he should write a book of his teachings for posterity, Wei famously said 'Je hap ikkaw cet yr cul fehet - a onpa sete pajko taj' - 'I will never write a book - the world has suffered enough'. Wei's teachings are known to the world mainly through collected records of his conversations online and recorded recollections of his followers and those who encountered him. In terms of its holy writings, it has been compared to Islam, if Islamic teaching was composed solely of the hadiths.

Early Life

Paul Wei was born in na Xallottawn, na Epekwit, or as it was known at the time, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, then a part of Canada, on March 25, 2020. He was part of the generation that went through the Global Collapse in their childhood years, who had some dim memory of the comparative pre-Collapse affluence as well as a childhood experience of continuously falling living standards.

His father was a defrocked Buddhist monk and Chinese national, Wei Qiang, who defected from a Chinese Buddhist monastery situated in the eastern part of the Island. His mother was an Indian immigrant, Sania Chandra, working in a popular, Indian-owned chain of pizza restaurants. When Wei defected, he sought employment at the pizzeria where Chandra worked, and that's where they met. Neither were ever Canadian citizens, although as the Canadian state started to unravel by the late 2020s, that started to matter less.

Paul Wei came of age while the Global Collapse was in full swing. Prince Edward Island enjoyed relatively good food security, but like the rest of the region, experienced a catastrophic collapse in its standard of living, as well as access to trade, technology and modern healthcare. The Island remained politically united when the neighbouring provinces were collapsing in anarchy, and it inherited some military hardware from the revived military base in Summerside (na Somersajt). After suffering a number of raids from pirates from Newfoundland, Cape Breton and the Magdalen Islands, it developed an increasingly aggressive and expansionistic stance with the intention of assuring its security.

Wei joined the Island's nascent army at the age of sixteen and fought in the battles that slowly established Epekwit's control over Nova Scotia and south-eastern New Brunswick, securing its southern shore and expanding its resource base. He left the army at the age of 19, before the conquest of western Newfoundland, and at the age of 20, enrolled in engineering at Dalhousie University in the newly conquered Nova Scotia, taking advantage of veteran benefits. Despite the interruption of his schooling as a teenager, Wei proved a gifted student and excelled in his studies.

Globalism and Later Army Service

From an early age, Wei was a dedicated Globalist. He was captivated by recordings of the Hillbillies screenshow and actually learnt to speak Common before he even began to gravitate towards the Globalist community. Globalism was always an acceptable political opinion in Prince Edward Island and later Epekwit, and Wei was an open Globalist activist. When the New World Order was founded in 2044, around the time Wei graduated from university, Epekwitys Globalists saw this event as the hopeful re-emegence of the storied Globalist past and passionately went to work to try to dominate Epekwitys politics and bring about accession to the Order.

Wei was part of the movement seeking to get the Prince Edward Island government to join the Order. He is actually credited, albeit probably apocryphally, with coining and popularising the Common name 'Epekwit' for Prince Edward Island and the areas under its control from the Mi'kmaq First Nation's name for the Island, Epekwitk, a deep irony considering the shabby treatment the Mi'kmaq people received from Epekwit over the ensuing years.

In 2046, Wei was again in the army, this time as an army engineer participating in the Pyrrhic invasion of Labrador. Wei likely had no involvement in the Epekwit government's decision to make a deal to accede to the New World Order in exchange for urgent assistance against Quebec in Labrador, but the Epekwitys Globalist faction most certainly did and Wei is publicly on record as favouring Epekwit's accession.

Wei demobilised and was living with his parents while looking for work back in Charlottetown when the Middle East War broke out and devastated southern and western Asia, killing hundreds of millions in the space of a few weeks. Wei was deeply affected by this unimaginable tragedy, and in his own words experienced a spiritual crisis, searching for any possible meaning in the horror that had overtaken the world.

Paul developed a deep curiosity for his father's abandoned Buddhist faith, as Wei Qiang himself turned to his old Buddhist beliefs to help make sense of the world's downward spiral. Paul went further, seeking to join a monastery, but he was not welcome at the Buddhist monastery on Epekwit Island due to his family background. Instead, Wei decided to travel to far-off Cascadia to seek a Buddhist congregation to join.

Cascadia, Monastic Years, and Enlightenment

Wei set out for Cascadia in 2049 with almost nothing, a small bag of clothes and personal items and some Cascadian credits and New York dollars he was able to buy with his Epekwitys dollars. Epekwit's old rival New York had just joined the Order a few years earlier, and in fact had been instrumental in projecting the Order's power in Labrador, but Canada, Quebec and Chicago were not in the Order, and they controlled all the territory between Epekwit and Cascadia.

He decided to make his way across New York and Canada and head towards Cascadia's central 'Lower Mainland' region. In those days this was a very dangerous journey that was not possible to complete all the way by train, with roads and railroad tracks in much of the continent in very poor condition. Wei had to do the journey in stages by train and bus, and occasionally even by foot or hitching rides with others travelling in the same direction.

Wei managed to arrive safely in the Lower Mainland, but with basically nothing to his name. He drifted south, towards Seattle, looking for a Buddhist community and doing agricultural work for bare survival until he encountered the Bellingham Sangha Society in the former state of Washington, north of Seattle, a more recently founded community in the Chinese Chan tradition. He found a place as a lay person in that community for a couple of years, and managed to establish himself as a Common translator, managing to connect with the newly formed Akkatemi na Xafen Zisse (Common Language Academy) located in nearby Burnaby.

The AXZ was engaged in a massive project to coin new vocabulary for Common and to translate millions of important documents, in order to allow Common to be a viable replacement for English and had hired a small army of translators and technical experts to carry out this exercise. Wei managed to join this effort, contributing to debates on terminology in his field of civil engineering and translating documents. This was not a highly lucrative existence, but it was enough to sustain him.

After two years, in early 2052, Wei became ordained as a monk, and stopped paid work in accordance with the normal Buddhist monastic practice. While there, however, he was tasked with translating a number of Buddhist scriptures into Common. Wei's translations remain popular today, and Wei is popularly credited with coining some of the language around Buddhism in Common, such as the use of the word 'sih', 'dream' to mean 'dukkha'. He remained a monk for five years before, by his own account, becoming awakened, a living Buddha, and leaving the monastery in 2057.

By Wei's account, 'Two Contemplations' (Nar Kawa Fisa) were key to his awakening.

1. Na Sih na Triju. 'Na sih na triju' literally means 'the dream of vision', sometimes translated as 'the Ubiquity of Dukkha'. It is the scientific observation that our senses do not, in fact, give us an unvarnished view of reality, but that our perception of reality is constructed by the brain to achieve purposes including but not limited to providing an approximation of physical reality. Essentially, Weism asserts that we live in a virtual reality constructed by our brain, subject to inevitable corruption by our desires and cognitive limitations. Since the very organ that would be required to see through any illusions is the organ creating the illusions, and these illusions are the seeds of dukkha, dukkha is much more baked into human cognition than the ancients understood and simply paying attention to your present experience is not sufficient for awakening. Enlightenment requires understanding this limitation and that techniques of objective inquiry such as those used in science be learnt, practised and applied to all areas of life. This practice is integral to the Weist understanding of Right Effort.

2. Na Sajnno Ate Xulyn. 'Na sajnno ate xulyn' means 'the just one life'. It is sometimes translated as 'the Repudiation of Samsara'. Wei observed that for every being, its unique genetic combination creates a space of possible states that it can have, which is likely to never again be exactly duplicated in the existence of the universe. Furthermore, science tells us that all perception and cognition are explainable as manifestations of the activities of the brain, which in turn is in constant flux, determined by its environment and experiences and constrained in its possibilities relative to other brains in the genetics that created it. Where in this is there room for a soul that can transmigrate? Wei concluded that there is none, and the only supportable conclusion is that a being is a system in constant flux, and when that system collapses, the mind it produced is done. In other words, all beings achieve Nirvana and there is no special work that is required, and each existence is unique, finite and irreplaceable. There are no do-overs of any kind.

What follows from these teachings is that Weists take somewhat of a soft line on dukkha, or as they would say, 'sih' - they believe it exists for a purpose, is not fully escapable, and doesn't need to be fully eliminated, that furthermore, the attempt to achieve the complete cessation of sih simply generates more sih.

The Weist take on immortality is that time is just another dimension that only seems to be distinct from space based on our perception. As we live, our lives trace out a kind of four dimensional solid through space-time. When that life ends we are full, perfect and complete, and exist forever in space-time as the sum of our whole existence. Therefore, it falls on us to make that existence a good one, and to extend that effort to other existences. Following the Noble Eightfold Path, 'na Ulua Opetkas Kaje', is the key to accomplishing this objective.

Wei publicly declared himself a living Buddha and started teaching his decidedly heterodox Buddhism to anyone who would listen. He was politely asked to leave the Sangha community, which he did, with a small but significant group from the community following him.

Active Teaching Years

For most of the remainder of his life, Wei worked to support himself by doing Common translation work, and he contributed to the overall project to build technical vocabulary for Common. He continued to produce Common translations of Buddhist writings as well. These are not considered the best translations of these writings today, as Wei worked from English translations rather than from Pali originals, but because of Wei's popularity, these translations remain influential.

With the help of his followers, Wei was able to buy a small house in the town that also eventually served as a makeshift temple and community centre. Here he stayed for the rest of his life, working, teaching, and serving the local community by helping to organise charitable activities. His temple was incorporated as a charity and operated in a financially transparent way - Wei allowed the temple to cover some of his expenses but generally lived simply and relied on his paid work for his personal expenses.

Wei provided what he felt were essential stage-of-life-acknowledging services to his followers, conducting ceremonies to introduce new babies to the community, investitures into the congregation, ordinations of trained Weist ministers, weddings and funerals. Wei's rituals were performed in Common and formed the basis of Weism as it is practised today.

Holding down a day job was not the only unusual thing Wei did for someone declaring himself to be a living Buddha. He also took a number of lovers throughout the rest of his life, both women and men, and was quite open about this practice. Wei taught that there was no special benefit in terms of enlightenment from abstaining from sex, and as he colourfully put it when speaking in his Epekwitys English, that you can 'fill your boots', but remember that the root of all sexual enlightenment is respect for others and yourself.

In 2058, Wei took up with a woman in his congregation, Maria Alvarez. They were together for seven years and had a daughter, Sophia Wei, in 2060 who is alive today and is an active Weist minister living in central Cascadia. I actually got to meet her. Paul and Maria split amicably in 2065, both remaining very active in Sophia's life, and Paul next took up with a male lover, Robert McIsaac, in 2066.

Wei famously insisted that he would never write a book. His famous quip was that 'the world has suffered enough'. Despite being a translator of sacred texts himself, Wei taught that 'Ja Kiput hanne ikkaw cet yr cul fehet' - 'God has never written a book'. He felt that sacred texts were less of a path to enlightenment than a distraction from it. Instead, the holy writings of Weism consist of anecdotes and recollections of people who interacted with him, compiled into volumes and rated on quality and likely authenticity, and his numerous dialogues, postings and interactions online, similarly compiled for posterity by his followers.

There are numerous books on Weist belief by Weist ministers, including by Sophia Wei herself, and Wei never discouraged this activity, considering it a valuable exercise in reflecting on what one knows and conveying it to others. He just refused to write his teachings down definitively himself.

Wei and Globalism

Wei remained a Globalist throughout his life, a position he was more than willing to defend when challenged. Wei's central argument was that the Global Collapse, global warming, global ecological collapse and the Middle East War have taught us that humanity as it is today cannot hope but to destroy the earth and ourselves with it without a central authority to outlaw war and to solve the Tragedy of the Commons. Wei was a critic of many aspects of the Globalist state and the New World Order, a stance that would eventually get him in trouble, but he strongly argued that perfection was too much to expect and not worth potentially sacrificing the world and all its people and living things to pursue. Therefore, he taught, people should obey the law and support the state within what their conscience would allow, and work for improvement patiently and incrementally.

His stance won him both admirers and detractors from across the political spectrum, both within and outside the Globalist movement. Wei was not shy to make a political argument, another factor differentiating him many other spiritual teachers.

Wei fell on the affetritfisa side of the Globalist political spectrum, 'public rule belief', a publicly legitimate and tolerated branch of Globalism that holds that Globalism serves the public interest, and therefore, should seek to have broad public engagement, buy-in and participation in decision making, especially from the educated class. Affetritfisa falls well short of belief in democracy, which was highly discredited at that time and remains well outside the mainstream today. It is contrasted with uluatritfisa, a more authoritarian strain of Globalism which has been the dominant viewpoint throughout most of the NWO for most of its history.

However, Cascadia in the 2060s was enjoying something of a resurgence of affetritfisa, and Wei had attracted elite affetritfisakas admirers in Cascadia who protected him from others who were offended by his comments.

There are suspicions that Wei may have secretly been an atuinfisaka, or 'humanist', that shadowy Globalist faction that believes in returning to an early 21st century-style fully codified human rights regime, and even radical ideas like instituting a return to democracy with legal non-Globalist participation. However, this is only implied in his writings, which very much aligned with support for human rights. There is no evidence that he ever worked with or belonged to an atuinfisa faction.

Downfall and Death

Wei lived something of a charmed life for nearly twenty years of teaching, from 2057 to 2075. However, a number of events came together to bring to an end this protection from being held to account for his frank and public statements that were sometimes critical of the state. After 2075, Wei faced increasing state harassment culminating in his arrest and trial in 2080.

In a sense, Wei was a victim of his own success. Weism had caught on in other states outside Cascadia as Weists travelled beyond Cascadia and started new congregations which flourished. Wei became a very popular and much-followed commentator online, and attracted many new adherents purely through the internet. Something about Weism captured something of the spirit of the times in urban Globalist circles. Being an adopted Cascadian helped as well, as Cascadia itself had a certain cachet globally and its culture was admired and copied. This, however, brought negative pressure from outside Cascadia to bear on the New World Order authorities to address Wei's putative transgressions.

It was one thing when Weism was a purely Cascadian phenomenon and Wei was protected by local potentates. It was another thing when leaders of other states, and the Order as a whole, which were much more in the uluatritfisa mode, began to be irritated by the public statements of Wei's followers. Pressure mounted to make a public example of Wei as a message to his followers, and eventually Wei's benefactors could no longer protect him.

In 2080, Wei was charged with seditious statements in a Global court and put on trial in Seattle. The trial was publicly streamed on Wicat, on a paid channel accessible to the professional classes. Although not publicly advertised, it was closely watched - this was a result of pressure from the affetritfisaka faction, as the uluatritfiska who wanted Wei put on trial preferred a closed trial.

The trial itself ranged over two decades of Wei's public statements and teachings which could be interpreted as disrespectful to the state, introducing witnesses to bring these statements into the record and make the Order's case that they amounted to criminal sedition. Wei himself was called to the stand and over five days questioned by prosecutors. The trial itself and Wei's defence of his positions, in which he defended himself calmly but did not try to back down from anything he had previously said, is considered a classic dialogue by Weists today and is extensively studied.

Wei was convicted but never sentenced. At the time of his trial, Wei was suffering from advancing brain cancer. Between his conviction and sentencing, Wei was allowed to return home, an unusual act of kindness commonly attributed to the influence of the affetritfisaka and a sympathetic judge. Once home, Wei made a decision to undergo an assisted suicide and leave on his own terms. He died peacefully in his home on Sept. 15, 2080 at the age of 60, in the company of his daughter, Sophia and his closest friends.

Wei's example reinforced Weists' existing strong support for assisted dying, and Sept. 15 is still celebrated annually as the most important Weist holiday, the day that Paul Wei achieved transcendence.

Writing Style

Paul Wei was considered a very articulate and skilled writer and speaker in Common, even though he was a native speaker of English. Wei learnt the language during its late early period and middle period, when it was transitioning from being primarily the domain of hobbyists and fans of the Hillbillies screenshow to a popular code language amongst young Globalist activists. Therefore, the Common he had originally learnt was in a transitional stage between Old Common and modern High Common, but closer to Old Common.

In terms of his language use, Wei was ahead of his time and his Common is surprisingly modern and readable for modern High Common speakers. He was an early adopter of David Chang's new official Common standard that set the tone for the modern language, as well as being an influential writer in that standard. There are only a few glaring archaisms in his speeches and writings from his teaching period and in his translations. His choices around idioms for possession and the grammar of noun definiteness and the irrealis are essentially the modern forms with just a few occasional phrasings and word choices that would seem strange to the modern eye. Although he learnt gendered Common, his writing by this time exhibited the complete transition to genderless modern High Common.

While Wei's writing is relatively friendly and accessible to modern readers compared to some of his contemporaries, which may contribute to his enduring popularity, his writing does have a distinct style that sets it apart from modern writers. As an advocate for Common as a world language to replace English, Wei tended to have purist sentiments. He employed relatively few loanwords from English and other languages in his speech and writing and tended to prefer 'native' words and expressions where possible. This tendency along with the aforementioned few archaic holdovers and an overall very direct and 'clean' writing style make Wei's writing instantly recognisable.

Contemporary Weism

Weism has grown exponentially in the last thirty years, and in the years following Paul Wei's death, the status of Weism ameliorated in the New World Order. Weists are often accused of collaborationism with the Globalist state, which is a fair assessment, as Weists have a relatively comfortable relationship with the New World Order authorities, and when they touch on politics, preach a message which is supportive of Globalism, albeit with a distinctly affetritfisas slant.

Weism has adherents in every state in the New World Order. It is especially popular in the land of its birth, Cascadia, and the land of its founder's birth, Epekwit, with significant concentrations in Russia, South America and New Zealand. It has received a significantly less friendly reception in east Asia, where local varieties of Buddhism enjoy a supportive relationship with the local states, and the state governments often legally harass Weists.

Weists are most often found in cities, and in areas under firm NWO control, as they are non-violent and typically don't last long when exposed to the adherents of other religions without the benefit of security forces to protect them. They are found in all classes but have a particular preponderance from the sifres soxot, the professional class, which makes the elites nervous - however, they have elite adherents as well.

The famous quip about Weism goes, 'Weists are to Buddhists as Mormons are to Christians'. I.e., the former are certain they are a type of the latter, but the latter aren't so sure. The parallels go on - both were founded in modern times by colourful figures in North America, and both are evangelistic, seeking new followers.

Contemporary Weism has the following characteristics:

• Ironically, for a Globalist religion, it is decentralised, with no global governing bodies or recognised authorities.
• It operates almost exclusively in Common.
• It uses a congregation model, with community temples, called 'horocosto', or 'gathering houses' if less established, or 'trufa', 'temples', when more established, which are like churches (including providing community services) and ministers, called 'zra rezyka', or 'good servants', who teach, counsel, lead ceremonies, lead the trufa, serve the community, and often hold down some other job if the community is not able to afford to support them. Structurally, trufa resemble Christian churches much more than Buddhist monasteries.
• It does have monasteries, called 'fisacosto', or 'thought houses' (note this is the same as the word for 'bank'!), or for the largest, sometimes 'tor' ('town'), which are not sex segregated and function more like communes than monasteries. People study and discuss Buddhist and Weist writings, the writings of other philosophies and religions, and critically, they are required to study science and logic, based on the Weist belief that this is part of the meaning of 'right effort' and a higher standard is required of monastics. They also spend time meditating. Although tor take donations to help support themselves, the monks, or 'fisaka', also can and often do work for a living, and are expected to do chores to help maintain the community. A fisacosto is led by an 'ulua rezyka', or 'top servant'. There is also often a leadership group of zra rezyka assisting the ulua rezyka who have spent some time out in the field and are helping to run the tor. These tor are closer to a traditional sangha and are often associated with a lay community.
• The unofficial order of rank in the Weist community is 'xafenka' (lay person), fisaka (monk), zra rezyka (minister) and ulua rezyka (abbot). Many zra rezyka are fisaka first and ordained by an ulua rezyka, but not always. Zra rezyka who follow this route typically are sent to understudy with a zra rezyka in the field for a time before ministering on their own. The other typical path is to apprentice with a zra rezyka for a time as a lay person (sometimes called a 'tilka', or 'student'), and then either go to a tor as a fisaka to complete their training, or to be directly ordained by their master rezyka.
• Meditation has an important place in Weist practice, but in comparison to the wealth of practices within the Buddhist tradition, meditation has become less developed and important for Weists. Weists practice a very simple meditation intended to produce mental focus, develop mindfulness, awareness and clarity and to teach and remind the adherent of the needlessness of mental clamour. Some Weists maintain more advanced practices, but that is not regarded as essential.
• The term 'rezyka' can be used as an honorific for Weist clergy, a particularly humble affectation in the acutely class-conscious NWO society. Paul Wei himself is always referred to with the simple honorific 'sy'.
• A Weist minister has to be ordained by another Weist minister, and is considered to have more credibility if they studied in a fisacosto and were ordained by an ulua rezyka. To a recognised by other Weists, a Weist minister has to have a teaching lineage that goes back eventually to Paul Wei.
• Weist transmission does not require in-person teaching. It is highly preferred, but Weists will proselytize on the internet and teach new adherents, occasionally but very rarely up to and including ordination, online.
• Weists are generally nonviolent and vegetarian or vegan, especially monastics and clergy, following the example of Paul Wei. However, being Weists, they don't believe in principles without exceptions.
• Heterodoxy is allowed. A Weist is expected to have a good knowledge of mainstream Weist beliefs and the explanations thereof but is allowed to differ. They are expected to have an argument to back up their position. How the congregation as a whole views particular heterodoxy varies depending on its nature.
• Weists are not avowed atheists, but are definitely atheism-adjacent, and tend to offend other religions with bold pronouncements like 'God has never written a book'.

The most highly-regarded fisacosto is 'na Weifisas Tor', literally 'the Weist Town', led by Sophia Wei, the daughter of Paul Wei and author of 'na Kaje na Wei: na Xulyn epis naz Cel na Paul Wei sy', 'The Way of Wei: the Life and Times of Paul Wei'. This book is partly a personal memoir and biography of her father, but also Sophia Wei's explanation of how she interprets her father's teachings and her own philosophy. Sophia Wei herself is a highly regarded ulua rezyka. The pun in English is deliberate, as Sophia Wei speaks fluent English, although she preaches in Common. Na Tor is an actual little town in central Cascadia, between na Seáttyl and na Fankúfer.