Special Record • On Bearing One’s True Self
As this month unfolds and lotus blooms reflect across the still waters of the Cloud Recesses, we take pause to acknowledge what is often left unspoken: the quiet strength it takes simply to be.
In this spirit, the Lan Clan recognizes this lunar cycle’s worldly observance—known beyond our borders as Pride Month—as a time of remembrance, resistance, and radiant truth.
While excess pride is cautioned against in our teachings, they do not require the self to be hidden. The cultivation of virtue, after all, demands honesty—not only in word and deed, but in being. It encompasses the many forms the self may take: in body, in spirit, in expression, in desire.
As keepers of stories, we must record not only the joy but also the struggle to honor the roots from which it has grown. While some are fortunate to live openly, in many lands, the cultivation of peace is obstructed by ignorance, fear, or cruelty. It must be said clearly: to speak one's truth is courageous—but so too is silence when it is chosen for safety, peace, or privacy. Whether one wears their colors like banners in the wind or folds them gently away like treasured silk, all are worthy of preservation. All are worthy of respect.
Yet one must not forget the soil from which such growth has arisen. The joys many now experience are rooted in a long and difficult history—one shaped by resistance, endurance, and the courage of those who stood firm when silence was expected. Their offerings of effort, clarity, and life itself may not always be recorded in formal scrolls, but their legacy endures, etched in the foundation of the present. They deserve remembrance.
And so too do those who walked beside them: allies who offered shelter, voices that spoke in solidarity, hands that cleared a way forward when the path was overgrown.
Though the teachings carved upon our walls number no fewer than four thousand, none forbid the heart from seeking its mirror in forms as diverse as the stars themselves. May your journey be protected, your light remain unshadowed, and your love endure as steadfast as the immortal mountains—may the scrolls record your name in gold.