Jun 5, 20205 min read

Journeying deep... on tea

Sitting still, quietly

I reflect with tea on what I'd love to see

A moment to just be

At one with Nature yet seeing our Divinity

A heavenly place builds beyond you and me

All within in peaceful harmony

No hate just a state of conscious co-creativity

No craving, no clinging, pure simplicity

Fears are slayed compassionately

Present in a state so healingly

Too often the human world is a painfully harsh reality

Within our hearts though we live lovingly

If only we could find that Divine loving essence and set it truly free

The best way for all to be

Relating to others more consciously

There's no need to see anything other than family

Too often we lose our common humanity

If only we could live more meaningfully

Helping each other non-judgmentally

In that we could free

A love that melts even enemies

Growth that evolves the best of me

A loving force of reciprocity

So too you can truly be

“Tea is an act complete in its simplicity.

When I drink tea, there is only me and the tea.

The rest of the world dissolves.

There are no worries about the future.

No dwelling on past mistakes.

Tea is simple: loose-leaf tea, hot pure water, a cup.

I inhale the scent, tiny delicate pieces of the tea floating above the cup.

I drink the tea, the essence of the leaves becoming a part of me.

I am informed by the tea, changed.

This is the act of life, in one pure moment, and in this act the truth of the world suddenly becomes revealed: all the complexity, pain, drama of life is a pretense, invented in our minds for no good purpose.

There is only the tea, and me, converging.” ― Thich Nhat Hanh

Sencha by Chris Sukut

Tea can be extended to a social and spiritual art form - contrary to my usual mission for medicinal effects - for harmony and connection and as a vehicle for spiritual fulfillment through communing with nature, expressing individuality and sparking intellectual curiosity in morally uplifting pastimes: each person should develop his innate talents and inclinations as a way to reach their moral center.

In our current quick gratification age, many just grab a tea bag and pop it into a cup of hot water... It's quite nice making your own blends, putting some thought into it. Some intention. Some art. Culture. Appreciation and science.

Tea is part of the spiritual activities of being properly engaged and aware, both of self and others [1]. As J. Norwood Pratt relates:

“As an elixir of sobriety and wakeful tranquility, tea was also a means of spiritual refreshment and spiritual conviviality, a way to go beyond this world and enter a realm apart.”

Tea is an equaliser, the approach to tea as an aid to meditation, and the emphasis on beauty in simplicity.

It allows a Daoist concept of returning to a state of rustic simplicity.

"Tea seeks social harmony through self-discipline and personal discovery and personal desire for salvation. Whereas Tea requires a degree of contemplation of, and concentration [it also] invites the participant to look into himself or herself, to discover a self that is no longer separate and potentially antagonistic but in harmony with the environment and all

others.

Freedom is sought not in large space or in unrestricted behaviour but, on the contrary, by accepting and “overcoming” restrictions. There is freedom through meditation and other forms of self-discipline.

It invites humility, that is, a negation of self in the absorption in something else as expressed in the Buddhist notion of muichibutsu. This concept can mean many things. It points to the Buddhist notion of “nothingness,” “emptiness,” or the original unity of all things.

...tea is at once the center of the universe and a means to harmonise with the essence of things." [2]

You grow the intellectual and noble character by being away from the worldly concerns, having a cup of tea, practice art or writing , and having a peaceful state of mind.

Tea can be centred around harmony, respect, purity, tranquility and "beauty in imperfection", appreciation centred on the acceptance of transience and imperfection.

The concept of WABI-SABI 侘寂 reached out to me to embrace

"This is a space of acceptance.

This is a space of no judgment.

There is no perfection or imperfection

There is no past or future.

There is no beauty or ugliness

There is no right or wrong

There is no name or title

In the space of now, we hold nothing. Just pure self" [3]

You could grab some roses:

I enjoyed connecting with the roses and within, making and sipping my manly fairy juice for awhile

Each day I collected some roses - with each plant having significance to me - liberated the inner earwigs and embraced what the brew conjures - I admit, initially it was concepts of chemical constituents but each day there's a softening of that need to break apart analytically and kindling of a more emotional world that wants to connect

It's such a gentle, warm way to relate to a safe space to lovingly break down walls keeping you from forming true connections with yourself, or relationship with others.

It's like a mirror of a Healthy Feminine essence to respect, admire and appreciate

It's softening for the hardened, abandoned heart.

It's a way to deepen self-love and begin to radiate love outwards

Normally I totally shut women out of my world, deny any commonality until they are alien 'others' or put up walls to actual connection

Too often plants are seen as objects to be used, not subjects existing in complex relationship with us. For me, plants are a proxy and a mirror to deepening connection to the human world, so while relating to them as objects, so too the human world relationships lack depth and mutual equality of healthy relationship

Or soak up tea in a ceremony outdoors:

When it all gets too intense, it's nice to take a moment of still silence and connecting within and to my surrounds with some tea outdoors in the sun. Slowing down, sanctifying and savouring with the all the senses.

We race out to connect with the world around us but in that easily lose touch of our healthy selves. Chase more and more while losing touch with our inner whole loving essence

After a busy morning, it's nice feeling the sunshine, grounding to the Earth, merging with the tea, soaking up moment

Connecting to and soaking up the loving kind compassionate and grateful aspects of Self

It's the sort of meditation which I find rapidly does something beneficial through a more creative, ritualistic approach unlike more popular meditations that leave me bouncing around in my mind.