Dear Readers,
Since I have covered the majority of Bleach lore in my first three posts, which you can find here:
Bleach 1,
Bleach 2,
Bleach 3. I will endeavor to point out some of the fun little details of the series, specifically the kingdoms. I will also include a fun little doctrinal surprise as pertaining to the Fullbringers. This post just implies basic knowledge of the series: what hollows and shinigami are. There are
SPOILERS for the Fullbring arc, so consider yourself warned.
I will begin with Soul Society, which is the realm, or dimension that the shinigami reside in. Though the spirit world is technically on earth with us (Gospel Principles Chapter 41) this other dimension or realm could be compared to the Kingdom of God. Some reservation needs to be included to this comparison. Though I am comparing the structure of this kingdom with God's Kingdom, the quality of life, and behavior of individuals in Soul Society do not reflect the glory of God's Kingdom.
In Soul Society, there is a place called Rukongai (wandering soul city) which is divided into districts. This is where those righteous beings and children of God would wind up after death. They exist as individuals in homes and as friends (again using the ideals of the Kingdom of God). Like how Christ said that there are many mansions in the kingdom of God (John 14:2). I would compare the Rukongai, or Rukon District as it is commonly referred to, as the lesser Kingdom of the Celestial glory. For, after the Millennium, the earth will become Celestialized and will be the home to Celestial beings for ever (Doctrine and Covenants 88:19-20). Yet, in the Celestial glory, "there are three heavens or degrees" (Doctrine and Covenants 131:1). The lowest degrees would reasonably include those who live righteous lives and are willing to abide a Celestial law (Doctrine and Covenants 88:22) but may not have entered into the covenants necessary for the highest degree (Doctrine and Covenants 131:2).
The Rukon District surrounds Seireitei (court of pure souls), which is a city that can be compared to the New Jerusalem (Revelations 21:2).
Seireitei is a walled city that houses the armies of the shinigami. These walls are made of sekkiseki (spirit reducing stone walls), which absorb any spiritual attacks, from shinigami and hollow alike. Thus making a city that can never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44).
This wall has four gates, one in each cardinal direction. The west White Road Gate, south Red Hollow Gate, north Black Ridge Gate, and the east Blue Stream Gate. The New Jerusalem has twelve gates, one for each of the tribes of Israel (Revelations 21:12-13). There are three gates in each of the cardinal directions, very similar to these gates of Seireitei.
At each gate there is a gatekeeper, usually portrayed as giants. These I will like unto the angels that stand as sentinels for the Kingdom of God (Journal of Discourses 2:31).
Inside of this walled city, are 13 divisions. Now, I realize 13 is traditionally an unlucky number and quite associated with the Friday the Thirteenth movie franchise, but it is quite close to 12. As in the twelve tribes of Israel. Thus every division or tribe, has its portion for an inheritance.
Then there is the Central 46. This is a group or council that resides within Seireitei and lead them. Making decisions and administering orders. I will admit, my comparison is a slight leap, but 46 reminded me of the 144,000 talked about in the book of Revelations (Revelations 7:4-8). The 144 thousand are High Priests chosen out of the tribes of Israel, 12,000 from each tribe, to be set as rulers and guide the rest of the "multitude" (Revelations 7:9) under the direction of Jesus Christ, who is to rule and reign upon the earth (Revelations 20:6, Articles of Faith 10).
Christ and God the Father will also reside upon the earth. I think that it is significant that the temple is compared and referred to as the House of the Lord. There will not be a temple in the New Jerusalem, for God the Father, and the Son Jesus Christ shall be their temple (Revelations 21:22). The temple could easily be compared to the Soul King Palace in Bleach. The deity in the Bleach universe has the title of Soul King. He is surrounded and protected by the Royal Guard who could be compared to those who will inherit the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom. For, they have power like unto Ichigo. Now, the Soul King Palace does exist in another separate dimension from Soul Society. This can be compared to those in the other degrees of the Celestial Kingdom not having an increase (Doctrine and Covenants 131:4). There is also a special key that is required to enter. This key was sought after by Aizen and was his main purpose for trying to destroy Karakura town.
The "key" is called Oken (Royal Key). The key's location is kept secret, and is only passed on verbally from one Captain-Commander to another. The Captain-Commander is the head captain of the 13 shinigami divisions. I think that there can be comparisons made here with the signs and tokens of the priesthood (Journal of Discourses 2:31). There is another way to enter the "world" of the Soul King Palace. They can create their own Oken. That is why Aizen wanted to destroy Karakura town. Like in the creation of his hogyoku, it would take sacrificing countless spirits of high spiritual strength. It was Aizen's evil plan to try to take over the Soul King Palace and place his thrown above God.
Now, back in Soul Society, the Central 46 distribute orders from the Soul King and the Royal Guard, as well as their own orders via jigokucho (hell butterflies). Now, the translation of "hell" from the name distracts from the point I want to make. I would consider these butterflies as promptings sent from God through His channels of authority unto us. Promptings can be light and gentle as a butterfly landing on your finger or shoulder, and can be ignored or shooed away. Or, they can be listened to, and you can receive and act upon the order or commandment you have been given, thus becoming and instrument in God's hands. Also, though the prompting is given through these means, it often comes by the voice of the Spirit.
These jigokucho also allow shinigami to pass between the Human World and Soul Society. The shinigami use their sword or ausuchi like a key to open a senkaimon (world penetration gate). This doorway allows them to enter the Dangai (parsing world). This "world" acts like a buffer dimension, void, or space between the effectual Kingdom of God and the other kingdoms (Luke 16:26).
Within the Dangai, there are two forces, the koryu (wrestling flow) and the kototsu (wrestling surge). The koryu causes the walls, floor and ceiling to flow and ooze, thus trapping beings who try to enter without a butterfly within its grasp. The flow also has a time attribute, which Ichigo exploited before his fight with Aizen. I will compare this to the time lost, or regret that we will have after this life, if we did not live our lives in a way that would allow us to enter the Celestial Kingdom.
The kototsu is nicknamed The Cleaner. It is almost an entity, more like a machine, that "surges" through the Dangai cleansing it of those beings that were stuck. Some aspects of the Dangai that do not have names include the tunnel system, which acts like a maze signifying the necessity to take the correct path or way back to God (Matthew 7:13-14) and the darkness that fills its corridors. The darkness is particularly significant, because the Cleaner is headed by a bright purifying light, like a charging train. Those who are unworthy, or unready to enter the Celestial Kingdom often fear the light. They fear God's presence because of their shame. Indeed, like Alma in his deepest despair wished that he could become "extinct" (Alma 36;11-15) so does the Cleaner dissolve or disintegrate those it cleanses.
There is also a Dangai for the hollows. Only, theirs is void and black. No ground, no sky, no restraints, just emptiness. This is very similar to the despair of those souls "in prison" (ADD Citation). For I have likened hollows to spirits who have fallen victim to sins and greed in life, and have become consumed by it in death. This Dangai is the void between their world and the Human world, and symbolizes what they pass through to enter their world. Darkness, loneliness, with no sense of direction or purpose.
The only way to cross this Dangai is to create a pathway using your reishi to cross on. Similar to having to use one's own will to cross and escape despair.
Hollows enter the dangai through a garganta (rip portal). Usually like a rip in space, it can represent the rip in their heart and soul. Or, for arrancar, it is almost like a mouth opening up. A great maw representing their hunger.
Now, this is where doctrine gets a little confusing. Though I have compared hollows to unrighteous spirits, and have described the entrance to their world in such a dark way, their world, Hueco Mundo, was originally compared to the moon. Indeed, in the beginning of the series the hollows seemed to manifest out of shadows on the moon's surface. Though Hueco Mundo is in a different dimension, it was continually compared to the moon, in a quite metaphorical sense. the hollows themselves live on the forest floor of Hueco Mundo. The Gillian counterparts wander around reaching the boughs because of their height. The canopy of the forest creates a shell that is covered in sand, creating the deserts and white complexion of the moon. Only the higher level hollows are found on the moon's face, or rather, Hueco Mundo's desert.
Since the Terrestrial Kingdom is compared to the glory of the moon, this is a fitting comparison... though, the requirements are off and need to be more expounded. For the final judgment, those who inherit the Terrestrial Kingdom are good righteous people, who do not accept Christ's gospel in their mortal lives when it is preached to them, but accept it after this life (Doctrine and Covenants 76:72-78). They are morally good people who don't delight in sins, but don't want to live the higher, Celestial law. These have the blessing of receiving Christ's presence from time to time, but not the Father's. Thus people could be in "spirit prison" and receive the Terrestrial glory if they repent.
A good comparison is Nelliel. Though she is technically an arrancar and not a hollow, Ichigo found that despite once being a hollow, and residing in Hueco Mundo, she was still a good person. Thus the hierarchy of hollows, though I compared them to the levels of corruption, can be compared to some kind of hierarchy within the Terrestrial Kingdom.
For those who are familiar with the Plan of Salvation, you might know that next comes the Telestial Kingdom, the lowest of the three degrees of glory. This I will compare to the Ether world, also called Hell or Underworld in this Bleach universe. The spirits who reside here are called togabito. They were once spirits who, because of such sinful unrepentant atrocities such as murder, they became hollows, and upon final judgment, when they should have been cleansed or judged, they are instead dragged into the Ether world.
Indeed, the very Gates of Hell manifest themselves, and a Kushanda, or hell guardian, impales the individual and pulls them into the depths.
The Kushanda also lurk throughout all the levels of Hell, munching and torturing the togabito, only to have the togabito raised again, still trapped. Very much like how spirits we allow to influence and possess us in this life, will do the same in the next life (Alma 34:34).
There are five levels to the Bleach Hell. Similar to the lore of Dante's Inferno and its nine circles of hell. In essence, both are comparisons to the degree in which the individual enjoyed their sins in mortality. The worst in the lower levels, and the lesser in the higher levels. A Satan influenced mirror or counter of power, reflecting the ascending power of Christ. Indeed, there is a diversity in glory, "as one star differs from another star in glory" (1 Corinthians 15:41).
Bleach's first level contains several white blocks, almost like apartment buildings, in which insane togabito wander aimlessly. These have given up fighting, and just live distressful forever. I would like to note that those in the Telestial Kingdom are never truly happy, for they have traded their chance at true joy for other delights. Renji described the reishi or spirit matter of this world as being so "strangled" that those with normal spirit sensitivity would go insane. I would like to compare this with placing a shaolin monk, who has been spiritually guided and sheltered all his/her life, and then place them in a war zone. How out of place they would feel? How horrified by the atrocities occurring around them? Indeed, it would drive them insane.
The second level includes stone lilies upon the surface of a vast ocean. At the center of each lily is the pierced skeleton of a Kushanda. If the Kushanda are the representation of the possessing spirits, then it can represent how the togabito stay dry from baptism with the false, frozen, imitation of beauty presented them by their false gods. For mammon, or the treasures and pleasures of the physical world, can become a cruel master (Matthew 6:24).
From here, the last three levels are rather redundant.
Yellow lava
A fiery stone temple with yellow clouds and rain
And red lava with pedestals and a re-spawning pool.
All of which can be compared to the pride and pains of hell, which have been compared to a unquenchable fire whose smoke ascends forever and ever (Revelations 14:10-11). Though they are in the depths of Hell, they raise themselves upon the mountains, in their holy places, and set themselves upon pedestals to bask in their selfish glory.
Some last few notes about Bleach Hell: the togabito' spirit rot for the light and knowledge they could have had is taken from them and they are left to become stagnant and decay. They are subject to the second death, spiritual death, or rather, they are dead as pertaining to things of the Spirit (The Guide to the Scriptures: Death, Spiritual)
They have chains binding them forever to Hell. They cannot be broken except by the celestial powered Ichigo, though, at that stage Ichigo also was given power over Hell that allowed him to manipulate the chains of hell that he broke. There are chains of Hell, which Satan uses to lead us slowly into hell (2 Nephi 1:13, Alma 12:6).
Lastly, the togabito can have power as well, indeed, compared to the power most of us have in mortality, it is beyond all description (Doctrine and Covenants 76:89).
So, now that I have discussed the different kingdoms, it is time for that doctrinal surprise I promised. The fullbringers are a group of humans that are able to manipulate spirit matter, or reishi. This gives them certain abilities like being able to manipulate water into their mouths (Above).
They can also influence the ground and air allowing them to leap great bounds, and even run in the sky. Interestingly this causes sparks or a flash of green light.
Now, this ability is based upon real laws and doctrines. I went into great detail on the subject of Intelligences in my blog post
Glory of God is Intelligence, so if any of you are interested in learning more about this doctrine, I advise you read that post.
In a quick summary directed for this explanation: Intelligences are described as the light of truth (Doctrine and Covenants 93:21-30) and are essentially raw consciousness. They are the little "I am" inside of each of us. Cogito, Ergo Sum, I think, therefore I am (Socrates). Brigham Young said that, "...matter is capacitated to receive intelligence"(Journal of Discourses 7:2-3). Spirit is matter (Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8). The earth, and all things were created spiritually before they were physically formed (Moses 3:5).
Thus, all things, the earth, air and water, all have spirit and intelligence. This means that the elements can obey (Helaman 12:7-8). This ability falls under the authority of God, for it was by His authority and His command that the world was organized (Abraham 4:1) and formed by the Son (Moses 1:33). That authority, or priesthood, is called the priesthood key of creation (The Keys and Authority of the Priesthood by Dallin H. Oaks). We will not hold that key in mortality. I am not sure if Christ held that key in mortality, though with His role in the pre-mortal life and the miracles he performed during His ministry leads some suspicion that He did.
It is absolutely clear that He and we can use that authority delegated from someone who does hold that key. For truly He had the ability to transmute water into wine, and multiply fish and bread to feed multitudes.
Thus, it makes a little more sense that Ichigo was able to learn how to fullbring after he comparatively received celestial glory. It is by the same principles, that Fullbringers are able to manipulate matter such a way. Though, they do not seem to need proper authority to do so.
Going beyond the ability of speaking to and influencing matter, they have the ability to awaken spiritual powers of and object. It is usually an object very close to them, that has had a great emotional impact on their spiritual welfare. Thus, the spirit of the object is influenced by the fullbringer's spirit and manifests in a power that is unique to the individual and the object.
For Ichigo it was the Combat Pass he received when he became a substitute shinigami. It was with him through thick and thin, and represented to him the power he had lost.
Now, Sado described awakening this power as having pride in the object, or pride in what it means to the individual. I also did a blog post on Pride, and I find that is a very improper term to use when talking about something you care much for. Indeed, a better term is honor. The fullbringer honors the object for what it has done, and the emotions embedded therein. In return, the object honors the user, and works more efficiently. For Sado, he honored the skin and strength of his body that God blessed him with.
Orihime honored the hairpins her brother gave her.
As Ichigo grew stronger with his fullbring abilities, the powers of the Combat Pass began to reflect Ichigo's former power of a shinigami,
And finally that of his wrapped Final Getsuga.
Then, when Rukia helped him regain his former shinigami powers, the fullbring power added unto him, making him even stronger... because of his honor.
"...honor, which is my power..." (Doctrine and Covenants 29:36)
I hope that you have enjoyed my Bleach blog posts, and that you have found them illuminating to your understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Part of why I have written these posts was to show that we can make those things we find interesting or entertaining into ways to further our understanding of gospel doctrines. I have also written them to invite people with similar passions to come closer to Christ and understand what miraculous blessings and opportunities the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us. If you do not have the gospel in your life; seek, study and learn from the scripture, including the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrines and Covenants. If you truly desire to learn and better your lives, you can also meet with the LDS Missionaries either through a local congregation or through
www.mormon.org
I truly hope that the understanding and testimony that I have gained over the years will help bring people closer to Christ, and bring happiness into their lives.
I close with a special thanks to
bleach.wikia.com for their detailed information, as well as Tite Kubo the creator of Bleach.
Love,
Jacobugoth
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