Disclaimer: Boku no hero Academia/My hero academia doesn't belong to me.
Sorry if this is difficult to read, I still learning English and I don't have a beta reader.
This is part of a Tumblr prompt called "Yantober."
Warning: I'm not a Buddhist or learn from any of them, so if this offends you in any way or I make a mistake, I'm truly sorry.
Enlightenment
Iida was in the lotus position, trying to relax his body the best he could while thinking how he needs to stop thinking. It was obviously not working.
He sighs; it had been some time since he meditated, what it was obviously wrong because he thought it would not be surprising how letting down the spiritual aspect of his life was partially to blame how other aspects of the same one were also crumbling. Yeah, he could have to take care of the school, sparing, being the president of the class, and trying to organize a bunch of teenagers who for some reason didn't have any caregiver in the dorms. It wasn't an excuse, but still.
Well, that was the reason he was like this.
He grew up in a Buddhism home, as many other families none of them were deeply religious, but his parents and brother taught him the about the wisdom of Buddha, in hope that it would let him to a good path to become a great hero, the same way it had helped the rest of the family.
To this day he believes it was for the best, and it was true he follows the Noble Eightfold Path to the heart.
The Right View; see the world as it truly is, no sugarcoat or extremely negative. Remember how karma works and the way the universe does, the death is not the end but another step in the path to the Nirvana.
The Right Thought; the way you apply this in your mind. Follow words you couldn't understand is as useless as remember words in a language you don't know; it was necessary to reflect on the teachings.
The Right Speech; speak with truth yet no malice, choose the right words and no promoting gossips. Basically, not be like Bakugou.
The Right Action; no killing or injuring, no material desires or taking what is not yours. This one was difficult as a kid, knowing that heroes fight and sometimes means harming others; maybe Buddha would not like the idea of fighting, yet it was foolish to believe everybody would follow his teachings to make this earth truly perfect; some gray actions must be done.
The Right Way to Live; having what is truly necessary. That was actually important in his family, that even having a good quantity of money they were living like the middle class for this idea; having more than one needs is being greedy, especially thinking how other people would use that money for things that actually matter. He applied the same in his room, only keeping what he thought it was important.
The Right Effort; was using their energies to perpetuate good deeds and prevent the arising of evil. It was not a surprise that his family was also a family of heroes for following this idea; after all, that was the perfect path to prevent the evil into society.
The Right Mindfulness; is the application or arousing of attention in regard to the activities of the body, feelings or sensations, the activities of the mind and mental objects.
And last but not least, The Right Concentration; the state on meditation in order to lead to the unification of the mind. The one he was trying to practice right now.
So many things in his mind, he should be able to let the things go away at this point; he knew how worldly things were the reason he had his fall months ago, when decided to pursue revenge to Stain. It was a betrayal to the hero path, his beliefs, the values of his family and the way he decided to live with Buddha's teaching.
He had so much to learn, like the need to help others like Midoriya, the loyalty of Kirishima or the bravery of Todoroki; so many things to pick up from his classmates.
Remembering the last name, a special sparkle was in his eyes, helping him to relax and have a small smile on his face. Oddly enough, he found back to his spiritual life thanks to him and a revelation he gives him.
Enlightenment was something any Buddhist was looking for, and in his point of view, everybody who was looking for the answer in life should try to do the same. Siddhartha let humanity with the clues to get to the most glorious state, how to end the suffering and go the Nirvana; yet nobody said that was an easy path, people had died trying to be enlightening, without getting there.
His eyes go to a little table in a corner, one who had a little stone statue of Buddha, one in a similar position as him; and at his side, was a photo of Todoroki-kun. He put those things there to remember his beliefs and what he was truly aiming for; it was thanks to the dual user he could grasp what so many people could only dream.
How else he could explain this feeling? Looking forward in the morning to see him, how he was always in his mind, how to make him so worried that he would learn to read his expressions in order to know how he was feeling; so much happiness in his life, so blessed, it was the only explanation for him.
Todoroki-kun was his path to Enlightenment, the way to let suffering away was in the form of being at his side all the time, it was easy to forget materials desires when the only thing you need is the one you truly love, and he knew how the younger one would get his way out just to help others like a true hero, as he did for him before.
He got to the conclusion that there are many ways to follow Buddha's path; and his way to do it, was being with the heir of the Todoroki's family.
"My beliefs and my morals, all had led to you" He thought, seeing the photo he printed some days ago to put it in his room "You will be my way to nirvana."
He believed that with his body, mind, and spirit.
I'm truly, truly sorry for mess up with this-I'm sure I did it-; I have a book of Buddhism and I had read some, but I'm sure was not enough; I did my best, not to mention that I needed to twist Iida's vision in order to make this "yandere". I think is not really that much, but the fact that he considers somebody the way to something religious is enough for me to considered yandere.
Look, because the prompt for this was "religious yandere" I needed to do Shinto or Buddhism-because these are the prominent religions in Japan-technically there is still a Jewish population there; but I didn't think any with my religion to apply with this; and sorry, but this jew-by-choice is too stubborn to use Christianity for this one.
Also, after what I read, I think he actually could be Buddhist.
O well, that was at all, sorry again. The next prompt would be..."Yandere blaming himself/herself"...if I fuck my way out with the other ones, I'm sure I can do it with this.
See ya.