Komuso

The Immaculate monk Melodic Insight, who had once borne the name Komuso, was the founder of the Immaculate sect known as the Melodic Insight Heresy. Few records of Komuso survive, including his temple of origin and aspect, but it is known that during the mid Shogunate Era he was amongst the Immaculate hermits dwelling on the upper slopes of Mount Meru above the Shogunate capital.

At this time, he was considered a respected sage, consulted by other monks seeking him out on the slopes, but he encouraged an approach to the Immaculate Faith that diverged from the more orthodox lines of the heads of Meru’s temples and the Temple of Immaculate Incandescence, diverging not only in interpretation of scriptures such as the Geya of the Bamboo Grove but in the proper structure and behaviour of monks. Komuso did not believe in reliance or devotion to writings, meaning his theological arguments remain in the historical record only through the accounts of his opponents or later followers… more readily available are accounts of his strange behaviours and non-verbal approach to communicating his arguments.

One day the monks Melodic Insight of the Mountain and Calm Waters of the Dawning 
Spire Temple went to a vegetarian banquet given them by an Immaculate adherent at the 
Shogunal Court. During it, Waters asked Insight: "’A hair swallows the vast ocean, a 
mustard seed contains Mount Meru'. Does this happen by workings of the Celestial 
Order, or is it an inherent trait of Essence?"
Melodic Insight kicked over the table. Calm Waters said: "Rough fellow." Inight 
retorted: "What place is this here to speak of rough and refined?"

The next day, they went again to a vegetarian banquet. During it, Calm Waters asked: 
"Today's fare, how does it compare with that of yesterday?" Melodic Insight (as before) 
kicked over the table. Waters said: "Understand it you may – but still, you are a rough 
fellow." Insight replied: "Blind fellow, does one consider the roughness or finesse of the 
Dragons?"

Later in his life, Komuso took up a mendicant lifestyle, leaving his cave on pilgrimage to Immaculate temples across Creation. He did not preach, but his beliefs attracted several followers over the centuries. Perhaps because of the disrespect Komuso and his adherents showed to established Immaculates, they sometimes received sponsorship and backing from various daimyo and Shogunal officials, as well as other monks who sought to resist the increasingly strict orthodoxy promulgated by the Mouth of Peace, though Komuso’s life ended before the sect’s purported rise to serve as an intelligence organ under the Shogun Daizhong and its condemnation as heresy.