Incense Gathering Ritual
The incense gathering is the elegant etiquette of appreciating incense: there are the rites between host and guests, the order of passing the censer, the three rounds of smelling incense, and the evaluation of incense afterward.
The incense gathering is an elegant assembly for appreciating incense. Chinese literati have long had etiquette for burning incense; today, as people revive incense practices, the "incense gathering" is mostly used as a form for gathering to appreciate incense and to savor it.
Basic Ritual
- Purity and Stillness: The environment should be clear and the mind still; before an incense gathering, avoid alcohol, meat, and pungent odors.
- Rites Between Host and Guests: One seat host is appointed to manage the incense; guests are ordered by rank, and there must be no clamor.
- Passing the Censer: The censer (or incense box) is passed from the host to the guests' hands; hold the censer with both hands close to the nose.
- Three Rounds: First appreciate its distance, then its closeness, then its breath—divided into three rounds: initial fragrance, main fragrance, and tail fragrance.
- Fragrance Evaluation: After appreciation, either in silence or in hushed words, evaluate its charm by 'sweet, bitter, clear, turbid, moist, cool.'
The Spirit of the Incense Gathering
The incense gathering is not a performance, but a shared practice—withThe Ten Virtues of IncenseThis echoes 'becoming friends in stillness' and 'stealing leisure amid dust.' It shares origins with the 'kumikō' of Japanese incense ceremony, yet Chinese incense gatherings place greater emphasis on the ambience of a literati study and do not establish elaborate rituals.