A Brief Glance at Immaculate Practice

Immaculacy can be divided into many branches, but the largest and most important branch is the Immaculate Philosophy, the branch recognized by the Scarlet Empress as the state religion of her Realm.

The Immaculate Philosophy can be divided into many different lineages, defined as a set of practices and beliefs which share a recognized canon, share rituals originating from the same sacred manuals, and recognize the same historical lineage of its priests. On the Blessed Isle, the most widespread lineage is the Rainbow Gate of Wisdom lineage. The second-most prominent is the Earth and Heaven Harmonious Orthodox lineage, mostly practiced by the Tepet territories.

This section will present a brief overview of some practices of the Rainbow Gate of Wisdom lineage and some of its non-practical traditions.

Some Daily Routines

Physical Wellness

The Order teaches that spiritual and physical wellness are deeply connected to one another. Because of this, they encourage all followers to take a few moments every day to stretch and practice a sacred form. These physical routines have been carefully designed over centuries to promote good health and increase the cultivation of positive energy in the body.

For Dynasts, these routines are focused on genuine martial practice, serving as a reminder that all Dragon-Blooded are warriors in some capacity. Many of these sacred forms focus on the use of weaponry and serve as a practical grounding in the techniques that the Legions use to drill their soldiers and the Order uses to teach martial arts. These routines also encourage free Essence flows through the body.

For peasants, these routines are simpler and focused on breath. The breath is a powerful manifestation of the soul and good breathing improves your spiritual energy. Monks often suggest certain sacred forms to perform in the morning, with the goal of aligning the body’s energy to the work of the day.

A Daily Routine of a Prince of the Earth: Morning Exercises

Cathak Wren wakes up in the morning and starts her day with her morning exercises. She performs several katas with her sword, moving through three of the sacred forms. After that, she practices with shield, through three other sacred forms. She spars with her partner and then refreshes herself.

A Daily Routine of a Peasant: Morning Exercises

Morningflower wakes up in the morning with her family. She, her sister, and their mother take a few moments to stretch and move through the sacred form that the monk gave them – he said it would bring them more energy during the day. It also helps Mother and her old joints, so she insists on doing them daily.

Household Shrines

Almost all Immaculate households maintain a household (or family) shrine. This sacred space is a focus of spiritual energy and an anchor point for meditation practices.

A household shrine is composed of many parts, but the most major are the lineage stone, the cultivation bowl, the incense dish, the noisemakers, and the offering tray. Family shrines are usually strictly forbidden from featuring conography of any kind, although Dynastic shrines – often consecrated as a temple by a monk of the Order – frequently feature iconography of the Five Immaculate Dragons.

The lineage stone represents Earth and the connection between the practitioner and all of their ancestors and fellow practitioners. In many shrines, the lineage stone is a smooth, round stone polished to a glistening sheen and carved with the characters for “rainbow gate,” “wisdom,” “virtue,” or other such positive sentiments. In temples and more luxurious households, the lineage stones are often slabs carved with many records tracing the family’s spiritual heritage through generations, the important dates of the calendar, and more.

The cultivation bowl represents Water and the practitioner’s soul. The bowl is usually a small metal bowl with a pleasant pattern, although in the shrines of wealthier families with larger shrines, it is often a very big bowl with a pleasant pattern. The water in the cultivation bowl is infused with positive energy from meditations performed at the shrine, and is used for a variety of purposes during meditations and in cleaning the shrine.

The incense dish represents Fire, unsurprisingly. Burning incense is often used as a concentration aid during meditations and as part of infusing the whole space with the shrine’s energy. Many shrines have candles and lanterns as part of their arrangement, but they must always feature a dish for receiving incense.

The noisemakers represent Air and the outside world. These might be chimes, bells, a drum, or any other small and convenient noisemaker. During meditations, the practitioner uses the noisemaker to set a rhythm for their chants and to signal the beginning and end of verses. This not only builds a clear pattern focus for your energy, but also transfers the energy of the shrine to the outside world, sharing the good fortune with all.

The offering tray represents Wood and is usually a flat slab of wood used to present offerings at the shrine. Offerings fulfill a variety of purposes. On days for which there is no calendrical worship, the offering serves as a reminder of abandoning attachment to physical goods. On days when the calendar specifies worship, the offering is dedicated to the god receiving that day’s worship. Offerings usually include fruits and vegetables, a convenient representation of Wood nature.

The duty of tending to the household shrine is traditionally assigned to the oldest child of the youngest generation living in the house, as long as they are old enough to perform their duties respectfully. The tedium of this chore is often a bonding point for children from pious families.

A Daily Routine of a Prince of the Earth: Maintaing the Household Shrine

As the oldest child of the youngest generation still living at the compound, it is Cathak Wren’s duty to maintain the family shrine. On this compound, the shrine is a sizeable pagoda near the entrance to the gardens.

Cathak Wren gathers up her servants and heads to the shrine. The lineage tablet stands at the rear of the shrine, up against the far wall. The floor is rattan mats arranged in lucky patterns. The space is spotless.

First, she makes her way to the cultivation bowl, a huge brass basin to the left of the lineage tablet. The household servants have made sure that the bowl is full of fresh water. Cathak Wren performs a standing meditation to cultivate positive energy, and releases it into the water. Now prepared, she washes her hands, making sure not to drip back into the basin, and the servants do the same.

The next step is to prepare the lineage tablet. It is a huge black marble tablet, taller than she is, with silver engravings tracing the heritage of her family’s spirituality back to Master Rain. She and the servants use the prepared water to clean the stone so that it shines.

She then lights the coiling incense snake to the right of the lineage stone, making sure to arrange the incense dish beneath to catch the ashes. Today’s incense was prepared in the far-off satrapy of Astragal and smells sweet and fresh.

She consults the open calendar scroll on the table in front of the shrine, and notes the gods being revered today. She cross-references their names with the offering notes in the sacred manuals, and has the servants gather up the required fruits and vegetables. She arranges them carefully on the offering tray in accordance with the specified geometries and sets the tray on the protrusion before the lineage stone.

She has now prepared the shrine and is ready for the morning meditation.

A Daily Routine of a Peasant: Maintaining the Household Shrine

As the oldest child of the youngest generation still living in her home, it is Morningflower’s duty to maintain the family shrine. It is located in the corner of the kitchen, standing on a little table with a mat on the floor in front of it. She removes the cat from sleeping on the mat and brushes it clean.

Morningflower starts by taking the cultivation bowl and filling it with water from the pitcher she keeps under the shrine. The bowl is actually a drinking cup that her father acquired in the big city before he passed away; they make sure that no one’s lips have ever touched it. She rushes through a standing meditation.

Her family’s lineage stone is a pretty gray riverstone that has been handed down in her mother’s family for many generations. It was originally shaped and blessed by Abbot Cherry herself, the old old Dragon-Blood who tends the central shrine in the big city. It is an ancient relic touched directly by a Prince of the Earth and one of the most valuable things her family owns. She dips her fingers into the cultivation bowl and sprinkles a couple drops of water onto the lineage stone.

She takes a stick of incense and lights it in the hearthfire, cupping her hand beneath to catch the ash. This incense was made by the local incense-maker, and smells a little off; it might be getting old. She places it in the little circular incense stone.

Lastly, she grabs an apple from her family’s meager pantry and a small scoop of rice. She puts the apple on the offering board and arranges the rice in a little pile next to it. Mother gets very annoyed if the offerings don’t look pretty.

Meditation and Chants

The Immaculate orthodoxy reserves prayer as a thing directed at gods during their scheduled worship. In the personal practice, the emphasis is not on prayer, but rather on meditation for personal achievement.

Meditation takes many forms, the most common being sitting meditation and standing meditation. The goal of these meditations is to cultivate positive energy, free the mind from misconceptions, and exercise the soul in the way one would exercise the body. Regular meditation is essential to spiritual wellness.

Sitting meditation is performed with the legs crossed, and the hands folded in the lap. Many mudras are available for the hands to encourage certain kinds of energy within the body; unless instructed by a monk, few devotees use these specialized signs. Many simply fold their hands. Seated meditations require a clean seat; meditating in squalor is harmful because of the negative energy that unclean environments produce.

Standing meditation can be performed on one’s feet anywhere that one desires. The hands are pressed firmly to the solar plexus, again either simply folded over one another or in a specific mudra if the practitioner desires a more specific kind of energy.

While meditating, the practitioner focuses on her breath and her thoughts. The goal is to focus the mind singularly on duty and wisdom, and to avoid stray thoughts. The breath is the manifestation of the soul into the world, so it is vital that the meditating Immaculate concentrates on her breathing, on mindfulness of her place in the universe, and on the flow of Essence within her body.

Having cultivated positive energy within the body, one may either store it within themselves, disperse it into the ambient environment, or direct it to a specific target. Dispersing energy to the environment is done with wide gestures and sharp exhalation of breath. Positive energy can be directed through the fingertips, as one does when preparing a cultivation bowl.

Chanting is also an important part of Immaculate practice. Countless chants and mantras are recorded in the Immaculate Texts and sacred manuals, each with a different purpose. These chants are often reminders of duty and good behavior, reminders of specific teachings, or other reminders of important aspects of the Immaculate Philosophy.

Chants are musical and liberating, often accompanied in temples by the beating of drums, ringing of bells, clapping of hands, and other sources of sound. Chants are also very physical, involving bowing, rotating to face specific directions, prostrations, raising hands in mudras, and other involvements. Where meditation is about personal energy, chants are about communal energy.

The line between prayer on the one hand and meditation and chanting on the other is often unclear, especially to more casual Immaculates. Although prayer to the Dragons is not condoned, many Immaculates do so freely as part of chanting and meditating, often in a way that they themselves would not even really consider “prayer.” As with all things in spirituality, these things are personal, complicated, and subject to interpretation.

A Daily Routine of a Prince of the Earth: Morning Meditations and Chants

Cathak Wren and her retinue of servants grab their cushions from the bin on the righthand wall. Each cushion is a small personal square that will keep their knees from getting sore on the floor. Cathak Wren takes her place in front of the lineage stone; she is the only Prince currently in the shrine, so she has the front half of the space to herself. The servants arrange themselves into neat rows in the rear half of the shrine. One of them takes her place at the drum in the back left corner.

Cathak Wren signals for the chants to begin by ringing the bell hanging beside the lineage stone. The drummer beats out a simple rhythm to signal every few syllables, so that all of the servants are in sync. They begin facing the north, toward the lineage stone.

Everyone takes a bow, bending at the waist on their feet. When the drummer hits the third beat, they stand back up. In time with the rhythm, Cathak Wren calls out the first line of the chant. The servants reply with the second and third line. She replies with the fourth and fifth. Then, they all make five prostrations: they descend to their knees on the cushion in front of them, hands in prayer position. In time with the drums, they press their foreheads to the floor with hands outstretched, hold for one beat, and rise on the third, returning the hands to prayer position. They repeat this for five total prostrations before they rise to their feet.

Cathak Wren rings the bell, signalling the end of the prayer. The group now turns to face east and repeats: striking the bell, a bow, a chant, and five prostrations. They complete this for south and west.

At the end, Cathak Wren faces toward the center of the shrine, and the servants arrange themselves in a semicircle around the center point, still within their rear half. A final ring of the bell, bow, chant, and set of five prostrations closes the ritual by facing the center.

All present take a seat on their cushions for a few moments of seated meditation. Cathak Wren is the first to leave. As a Prince of the Earth, when she stands, so do the rest. She faces the semicircle of servants and releases her positive energy to them, then departs for her daily affairs. Many servants follow; a few settle back onto their rears for more meditations.

A Daily Routine of a Peasant: Morning Meditations and Chants

In the corner of the kitchen, Morningflower stands before her family shrine and is eager to be finished. Mother is watching, however, so she must be mindful.

Her family shrine’s noisemaker is a small wooden block. She strikes it to mark the opening of the chants. She turns to face North, the lineage stone at her left due to the arrangement of the kitchen.

She bows from the waist, returns to standing, and recites five syllables for her chant. She repeats this for east, south, and west, ignoring the cat which is pressing his head against her leg. For the center, she stares at her feet and recites the five syllables, then directs her energy toward the shrine. The cat stares up at her quizzically and leaps up onto the windowsill, then out the window. She strikes the wood block again to mark the end of the chants.

Mother’s joints have been causing her paint recently, so Morningflower asks the Dragons to send good health and good fortune. She extinguishes the incense and bows to her mother, who nods sternly and exits the room.

The Devotional Act of Living Your Life

A unique benefit of the Immaculate Philosophy is that the simple act of existing happily in your station can be a devotional act. After all, there is nothing more meritorious than living your life according to your position in the Perfected Hierarchy.

For this reason, Dragon-Blooded can accumulate merit in their day simply by being wise, just, and compassionate rulers. Farmers can accumulate merit by farming. Potters can accumulate merit by spinning clay.

The Order encourages everyone to go about their day with mindfulness, taking moments here and there to pause and really internalize the act they are doing. This kind of momentary on-the-fly meditation helps to ground the soul in its proper place. They teach that striving to live your life the best you can and being happy with what you have are, themselves, acts of devotion.

In addition to this ad-hoc meditation, practitioners are encouraged to take time out of their day to meditate. All practitioners are encouraged to attend their household shrine or some other sacred space for a few minutes every day, using that time to meditate or chant the mantras. Practitioners are also encouraged to chant when they feel the desire, especially in connection to powerful emotions; the act of focusing on the chant should suppress those strong feelings and lead to a more clear-headed judgement.

Conclusion

Daily practice in the Rainbow Gate lineage is focused on cultivating physical and spiritual wellness through ritual behavior. The family shrine is a focal point, and not only provides a sacred space for clear-headed meditation, but also acts as a reminder of daily practice. Plus, the ritual of maintaining it is a good disciplinary tool for the kids!

Meditation and chanting are the focus of daily practice. Used in conjunction, they promote spiritual energy and focus the mind on its position within the Perfected Hierarchy.

The degree to which these practices are observed is, of course, subject to very strong personal variation. Most Immaculates don’t attend to the full course of their practices, because they don’t have the time, or because they are tired, or any of the other excuses that humans use to avoid their responsibilities. For many practitioners, the Philosophy is a somewhat distant thing, and they are content to merely live their lives in accordance with their station and sometimes go to the temple for advice or service. They trust that monks and spiritual leaders will direct them on the right course.