
                     Fish Head Buddha: Logic Beyond Reason
                     -------------------------------------


I Can't believe its not Buddha
------------------------------

As stated in the manual, F.H.B. has been created as a gamic allegory of
Buddhism, by taking the basic aspects of this theology and converting them
into elements of gameplay.

So, heres a brief look at the fundamentals of Buddhist wisdom and how they
relate to the game.

Buddhas Ring
------------

Central to Buddhism is the idea of "Samsara", an endless cycle of rebirth in
which the actions of a creature in its life, good or evil, effect its future
incarnations. You can only break this ring by attaining enlightenment i.e.
ridding yourself of all suffering and craving. This state of non-rebirth is
called "Nirvana".

In the game you CAN NOT DIE, you're stuck in the game till you reach the
end. How quickly you reach the end depends how good you are. You require
good "Karma" to progress, you get this by being virtuous (skillful) and
loose it by being bad (shit).

The Truth
---------

About life there are 4 noble truths:

1. Life is suffering (the game is a bugger).
2. Suffering is caused by craving (your wish to progress).
3. Suffering CAN end (so can the game).
4. There is a path which leads to the end of suffering...

The Truth Of The Path
---------------------

The fourth noble truth can be acheived with THE NOBLE EIGHTFOLD PATH, which
is a simple guide to correct living.

Schools Of Thought On The Meaning Of Fish
-----------------------------------------

In the game each Karma Fish and Prize awarded represents one of the steps in
the eightfold path. These are:

           Step                    Karma fish           Prize awarded
           ----                    ----------           -------------
Wisdom     1. Correct View         Red Fish             Karma Up
  "        2. Correct Resolve      Blue Fish            Karma Down
Morality   3. Correct Speech       Brown Fish           Highlight Zone
  "        4. Correct Action       Green Fish           Shadow Only
  "        5. Correct Livelihood   Yellow Fish          Slomo
Meditation 6. Correct Effort       White Fish           Fastmo
    "      7. Correct Mindfulness  Black Fish           Supersights
    "      8. Correct Meditation   Bubble Fish          Reverse Controls

By adhering to these steps you will ultimately attain enlightenment. Each
step is good but you must do them all with equal effort.

In the game getting one fish is good but getting them all equal is best.


On Meditation
-------------

Meditation is important to attaining enlightenment. The literal application
of the word is "Making oneself what one wishes to be". Its an altered state
of conciousness induced in a controlled manner. People do it all the time,
when they daydream or drift off into reveries. Buddists just control this
state and use it to clear their minds of mental detritus to concentrate
fully.

This can be achieved in many ways, but in F.H.B. the plasma backgrounds and
especially the Calmer Screen may help to focus the mind.


                                    ***


Finally aiXS would like to stress that it has the utmost respect for
Buddhist ideals no matter how fundamentally flawed they are and if this
program or documentation seems to belittle, mock, be irreverent to or
generally take the piss out of its subject matter it is entirely
unintentional. Honestly.

Cheers,
         Matt

