The TRUE Tea Party

Traditional Japanese Tea House
Come with me to the Japans and learn of Cha No Yu - or the Way of Tea. It's four main principles are: harmony, respect, purity and tranquility - precepts we shall look for in our would today. The undisputed master and cultivator of the tea ceremony was Sen no Rikyu, 1522-1591, who elevated it to a high art, spawning three schools of thought on the practice of the tea ceremony.

Simple, unadorned objects should be used
Over the centuries, the tea ceremony gained refinement: The tea ceremony developed as a "transformative practice," and began to evolve its own aesthetic, in particular that of wabi. Wabi, meaning quiet or sober refinement, or subdued taste, "is characterized by humility, restraint, simplicity, naturalism, profundity, imperfection, and asymmetry [emphasizing] simple, unadorned objects and architectural space, and [celebrating] the mellow beauty that time and care impart to materials." Ikkyū, who revitalized Zen in the 15th century, had a profound influence on the tea ceremony.

The Way of Tea requires
humility, restraint, simplicity, naturalism, profundity
Rikyu composed this poem to explain his philosophy of tea:

"Though many people drink tea,
"If you do not know the Way of Tea,
"Tea will drink you up.
"Without any spiritual training,
"You think you are drinking tea,
"But actually tea drinks you up."

ichi-go ichi-e is a philosophy that teaches
each meeting should be treasured,
for it can never be reproduced
Toyotomi Hideyoshi ruled Japan in the late 16th century. He was a patron of the tea ceremony and Rikyu was his tea master. Hideyoshi learned well:

"When tea is made with water
"Drawn from the depths of the mind
"Whose bottom is beyond measure,
"We really have what is called cha-no-yu."

There is an old Latin saying,
'Ars est celare arlem'.
This means that true art is so subtle
that it looks quite natural and simple -
it does not look contrived.

If man has no tea in him,
he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
Japanese Proverb

"In the common parlance we speak of the man ‘with no tea’ in him,
"when he is insusceptible to the seriocomic interests
"of the personal drama.
"Again we stigmatize the untamed aesthete who,
"regardless of the mundane tragedy,
"runs riot in the springtide of emancipated emotions,
"as one ‘with too much tea’ in him."
Okakura Kakuzo (1863-1913), Japanese scholar

For those who practice true wisdom
Each movement is measured

Come with me on a journey to actual tranquility.