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Chado:
The Way of Tea as a Practical Buddhist Path Towards Peace
Rev. Ryofu Pussel
Soto-Zen-Buddhism, Japan
(fully licensed monk/priest)
Urasenke Chado, Junkyoju
(“Assistant professor” of the Urasenke School of the Way of
Tea, Kyoto, Japan)
 I
am reflecting very much these days about how chado,
the Japanese Way of Tea, can actually play its part in
promoting and supporting harmony, understanding and world
peace. Because more than ever, this is what is needed most
now, or as Dr. Sen XV, the past Grand Master, said: “Peace
through a bowl of tea”.
So, this paper
mainly analyses the Buddhist philosophical aspects that
underlie the Way of Tea
This paper then shall outline the world of
the Way of Tea, its history, and explain why it is
fundamentally a Buddhist path: a rigorous spiritual Buddhist
discipline that trains body and mind in awareness,
collectedness, and insight (what people of the Way of Tea
call ‘tea-samadhi’), and tea aspects known as wa
(harmony), kei (respect), sei (purity),
jaku (tranquility), wabi sabi (imperfect beauty),
and suki (egoless, unconditioned loving-kindness)
will be explained.
I just used the term “Tea Ceremony” because
this is how chado is mostly known in the West, but
this implies that it is something like a show or an
entertainment, and this would not hit the point. Therefore,
the Way of Tea is the appropriate translation for
chado; cha means tea, and do means
way. Such a plain term for such an elaborate art form
should ring a bell to any Buddhist, and indeed it was the
founder of the Way of Tea, Buddhist monk Sen Rikyu Soeki,
who answered, when asked about how to excel in practicing
the Way of Tea, “Just heat water, prepare tea, and drink.”
This “just” shows similarities and parallels to Buddhism—for
example, the founding patriarch of Soto-Zen Buddhism, the
Japanese Dogen Zenji’s, shikantaza, “just sitting”
meditation.
There are not so many books published about
the Way of Tea, and to my knowledge no book can be
found which actually instruct any tea procedures past the
beginner’s level. This is because it does not rely on
written-down words, but on oral instruction directly from
teacher to student, or as my late teacher Sochi senseixe
"Sōchi sensei" would always say, “Tea cannot be
learned from a book, only from the heart.” This way of
instruction can be found in xe "Buddhism:Zen"Zen Buddhism,
too, and both share the same teaching philosophy:
ishin-denshinxe "ishin-denshin" (transmitting
from my heart/mind to your heart/mind).
Arguing in this direction, Sen Rikyu’s
grandson, the Grand Tea Master and Buddhist monk xe "Sōtan"Sotan
wrote in 1600:
The Way of Tea
is conveyed through the mind,
through eye
and ear—
without a single stroke of the brush.
Also similar to xe "Buddhism:Zen"Zen
Buddhism, is, the training and instructions of the Way of
Teaxe "Way of Tea:training and instructions on"—should one
aspire to master it—are very long, requiring much
discipline, much physical labour (samu), only to
realize the “becoming one” with the Way of Tea. For example,
practitioners must clean the gardens and wipe each and every
leaf clean before a tea gathering, so that the kimonoxe
"kimono" of the guest might not become dirty when
accidentally slightly striking against a leaf while walking
through the garden path to the assembly rooms.
At a formal tea gathering (chaji), the
host will prepare and serve two kinds of tea: thick teaxe
"thick tea" (koicha, let’s say like espressoxe
"koicha") and thin teaxe "thin tea" (usucha,
like mild coffeexe "usucha"), with some sweets
served before and in between them; the procedure of which is
called temaexe "temae". He will also serve
some simple foods. The two kinds of tea vary in the
utensils, the tea bowls, the amount of powdered tea used,
and also in the manner of partaking them.
Students first learn thin tea before they
embark on thick tea. Altogether, there are eighty-five
different types of temae known in the Urasenke school
of tea—each perfected in fixed rules, which bring out the
most beautiful forms possible in using the different
utensils, preparing tea, and partaking it. Some movements
are slow, some fast, some appear light, some appear heavy;
the positions of the utensils, and the sequence of actions,
are absolutely defined.
But: a tea preparation, temae, cannot
be measured in how good the student can remember the
different steps of preparing and serving, but in how much he
himself has become the spirit of “drawing hot water
from the kettlexe "kettle",” the spirit of “whisking
green tea,” and so on.
Characterizing tea gatherings, Tea Master and
Buddhist monk Sojixe "Sōji" wrote in the 16th
century:
Even though it may be an ordinary tea
gathering, we must be respectful to the host—from the moment
we enter … until we depart—as though it were a
once-in-a-lifetime gathering.
This describes the underlying spirit of a tea
gathering: one time–one meetingxe "one time–one
meeting" \t "See ichigo-ichie": “ichigo-ichie;,
this also means that no two tea gatherings will ever be the
same; the person who prepares a bowl of tea, as well as the
person who receives it, will never be the same again because
the body changes, the character changes, the circumstances
change, and so on. Really, in my experience, although the
same bowl, the same powdered green tea, and the same
utensils are used, the taste of tea is always different
because the mood in which the tea is prepared and received
changes constantly.
For any tea gathering, it is
important that the time of the day, the time of the year,
the weather, the guests, the food, the sweets, the tea
bowls, tea caddies, the garden, and all other utensils and
equipment are harmonious for a particular theme and setting
of tea. It is mid-summer now, and the Buddhist monk
Sen XV gives an example from his tea
experience, and maybe you all close your eyes and imagine
and picture in your mind what I will be saying:
A hot summer day’s tea gatheringxe
"tea:gathering:summer day" inducing the feeling of a
tranquil refreshing coolness:
* The hot water in the portable kettle has
thin walls and a small mouth, which emits the sound of wind
sighing in pine trees.
* The xe "hanging scroll"hanging scroll in
the alcove for artxe "alcove for art" depicts a waterfall.
* The single flower in the alcove is
brilliant white.
* The xe "containers:incense"incense
container in the alcove depicts an angler.
* The xe
"containers:water:freshwater"freshwater container is shaped
like a well-bucket and has fresh cold water in it.
* The light tea bowlxe "tea:bowl" depicts
Mount Fuji, with its summit covered with white snow, and has
thin walls, allowing for the tea to cool down soon.
* The xe "tea:scoop"tea scoop has the poetic
(artistic) name Mountain Wind.
History of chado
Now I would like to talk very briefly about
the history of the Way of Tea in relation to
Buddhism.
Green teaxe
"green tea" has always been associated with Buddhism; in the
6th century, xe "Bodaidaruma"Bodaidaruma (xe
"Bodhidharma" \t "See Bodaidaruma"Bodhidharma), as
the myth goes, came to xe "China"China from India and sat
unmovable in zazen meditationxe "meditation"xe "zazen:meditation"
\t "See meditation" in front of the wall of the
Shorin-jixe "Shōrin-ji" templexe "Mount Sūzan" for nine
years until his legs fell off; and as the legend says,
during these nine years, in order not to fall asleep, he
tore out his eyelids, which fell to the ground and sprang up
as the first xe "tea:shrub"tea shrubs. This myth illustrates
that there has been a connection between Bodaidaruma,
Buddhism and xe "green tea:connection between Bodhidharma
and Buddhism"green tea, and it is therefore fair to assume
that tea has been consumed in Chinese Buddhist temples in
the 6th century.
In the 12th century, Eisai
Zenji, of Rinzai Zen Buddhism, returned from China and
brought back with him tea seeds and, convinced of its
benefits, strongly propagated tea drinking in Japan. He also
administered green powdered tea to the powerful shogun
Minamotoxe "Minamoto" for relief of his frequent hangovers.
xe "Eisai Zenji"Eisai Zenji had the head abbot
of the Kozan-jixe "Kozan-ji" Buddhist temple in Kyotoxe
"Kyōto" plant his tea seeds, and this is the exact
beginning of tea growing in Japan. However, because of its
growing exclusively in Buddhist temples, tea was only
available to Buddhist monks, court noblemen, warriors, and
families of high rank.
In the 13th century, xe "Dōgen
Zenji"Dogen Zenji
from Sotoxe "Sōtō" Zen Buddhism brought back from
Sung China a ceramic caddy for xe "tea:powder"tea powder,
called xe "koga kata-tsuki"koga kata-tsuki,
which became the model for tea caddies used for thick green
tea even until now—more than 750 years after Dogen.
In the 14th century,
xe "Muromachi period"the head priest of xe
"Daitoku-ji"Daitoku-ji temple in Kyotoxe "Kyōto", the head
monastery of Rinzai Zen Buddhism, xe "Ikkyū Zenji"Ikkyū
Zenji, loved tea and coined the phrases “The Buddha’s
law also exists in Tea” and
“Tea originated out of Zen”. Thanks to Ikkyū Zenji,
chado has ever since been directly connected to
Daitoku-ji and xe "Rinzai"Rinzai Zen-Buddhism; indeed, all
Grand Tea Masters have ever since been ordained at xe
"Daitoku-ji"Daitoku-ji, have been fully trained and licensed
as Buddhist monks there, and are all abbots of Buddhist
temples.
In the 15th century, the Buddhist
monk and tea-obsessed xe "Shukō"Shuko (also sometimes
pronounced xe "Jukō" \t "See Shukō"Juko) Murata said
remarks like “I do not like the moon in a cloudless sky”,
referring to the sensible aesthetic beauty of the
“imperfect” moon shining through rents in the clouds rather
than the “perfect” moon shining brightly in the cloudless
sky. This preference for the “imperfect” and “incomplete”
led him to develop simple, farmer-style thatched tea huts,
set in simple xe "tea:garden"xe "tea:hut"tea gardens, and he
promoted the use of simple Japanese utensils, which were
much cheaper than their Chinese counterparts, which allowed
for common people with limited financial means to engage in
the Way of Tea, too.
xe "Sen Rikyū"In the 16th century,
the uncompromising Buddhist monk, Sen Rikyu Soeki, wiped out
the distinctions between rich and poor, high and low. He was
the most active, most powerful, most controversial, and most
extraordinary grand tea master ever, who developed,
completed, perfected, and codified the rules of the Way of
Tea and its etiquette of preparing and receiving a bowl of
tea, as still practiced today. It is fair to say that only
because of Sen Rikyu we have the practice of chado as
it is today.
Finally, it should be noted that xe "chadō"chado
was exclusively for men until recently. The
Sino-Japanese War in the 19th century saw the
unfortunate death of many men, and the thirteenth grand
master of Urasenke, Buddhist monk xe "Ennosai (Techū)
Sōshitsu"Ennosai, taught the remaining womenxe "women" and
widows and introduced the Way of Tea in the curricula of
secondary girls’ schools throughout Japan. Chado in
schools was further developed by the fourteenth grand
master, Buddhist monk xe "Tantansai (Sekosō)
Sōshitsu"Tantansai; and the fifteenth grand master, Buddhist
monk xe "Daisōsho (Hōunsai) Genshitsu"Hounsai, the father of
the present Grand Master, established chado at
credit-level courses in universities and colleges and was
the first to actively expand the Way of Tea abroad outside
Japan.
The Philosophy and Buddhist Spirit
Underlying the Way of Teaxe "Way
of Tea:philosophy underlying the" \r "u":
Wa, Kei, Sei, Jaku, Wabi Sabi, Suki
The philosophy of the Way of Tea is based on
these principles: waxe "wa" (harmonyxe
"harmony"), kei (respectxe "respect")xe "kei",
sei (purityxe "purity")xe "sei", jakuxe "jaku"
(tranquilityxe "tranquility"), wabi sabixe "wabi
sabi" (imperfect beautyxe "imperfect beauty"),
and sukixe "suki" (egoless, unconditioned
loving-kindnessxe "egoless, unconditioned loving-kindness").
Wa (Harmony),
Kei (Respect), Sei (Purity), Jaku
(Tranquility)
Waxe "wa"
(harmony) is a feeling of onenessxe "oneness" with nature
and people—a harmonious spiritxe "harmonious spirit" between
xe "host:harmonious spirit with guest"host and guestxe
"guest:harmonious spirit with host", guest and guest, but
also between the seasons, weather, and utensils chosen for
this particular event: If you could please recall the two
tea gatherings that I mentioned before: for example, light
equipment that evokes a feeling of coolness in summer or
heavy, earthen ware that gives the feeling of warmth in
winter. Like everything that is bound to change, weatherxe
"weather" is unpredictable, and one should always be
prepared for rain even on a sunny day. Man is not separable
from naturexe "nature", and nature from man.
xe "kei"Kei (respect) arises
out of a feeling for gratitude, goodwill, friendship, and
includes respect for the worthiness of other people,
acceptance of their individuality, respect for both cheap as
well as expensive utensils, and indeed for everything in our
daily life. In the Way of Tea, kei is manifested in
the hospitality and mutual concern of the host and the
guests, and the quiet and careful handling of the utensils
and equipment. What we, in the West, would call xe
"democracy"democracy is also reflected in kei, since
participants respect and value their worthiness as
individuals: for example, Rikyu’s crawling entrance (xe "nijiriguchi"nijiriguchi)
made everybody equal—the king, the nobleman, the samurai,
the merchant, the farmer—through the same degree of bowing
and crawling when entering the tearoom. Kei sees
karma as individual responsibility. Tea-samadhi
cannot be attained by outward means, but can only come from
inside by a reformation of the mind, and manifests itself
outwardly in ethical actions, such as respect for other
people and careful handling of xe "tea:utensils and
equipment"tea utensils; this is meant by the term kei.
xe "sei"Sei (purity) includes
cleanlinessxe "cleanliness" and orderlinessxe "orderliness",
both physically and spiritually. In xe "Buddhism:Zen"Zen
Buddhism, xe "samu"samu (bodily work,
especially cleaning) plays a very important role in the
spiritual development, and the guestxe "guest:cleaning of
heart and mind"s of a tea gathering first wash their hands
and rinse their mouth before entering the tea hut, which
symbolizes the cleaning of their heart and mind as well as
of their body; the host, when xe "tea:utensils and
equipment:purifying"purifying the tea utensils with a silk
cloth, also cleans his spirit at the same time. After the
tea meeting, having sat in reflective silence for a while,
the host will put all utensils back to their original places
and clean the tearooms because a clean heart manifests
naturally a clean and orderly room. Through calm insight,
the true reality and purity will only be perceived in a life
where everything is “clean” and “in order,” both spiritually
and physically. This is why sei is important.
xe "jaku"Jaku (tranquility)
refers to the Japanese term xe "nehan"nehan
(xe "nirvāņa"nirvana). This is a state of mind
– at least this is how I, well, “see” it - of oneness,
stillness, enlightenment, eternity, happiness, pureness,
transcendence (of mind-body, object-subject, host-utensil,
guest-host, etc.), and a state of complete and harmonious
bliss and peacefulness. Constantly practicing wa,
kei, and sei realizes jaku.
xe "wabi sabi" \r "s"xe "imperfect
beauty" \r "s"Wabi Sabi
(Imperfect Beauty)
Wabi sabi is not
really appropriately translatable into English, but the term
“imperfect beauty” might come near. Better than any direct
translation that might lose some of the deep meaning of
wabi sabi, Tea Master Sotakuxe "Sōtaku" wrote in his
work Zen-cha Rokuxe "Zen-cha Roku":
Always bear in mind that wabi involves not
regarding incapacities as incapacitating, not feeling that
lacking something is deprivation, nor thinking that what is
not provided is deficiency. To regard incapacity as
incapacitating, to feel that lack is deprivation, or to
believe that not being provided for is poverty is not wabi .
. . Pine pillars, bamboo joists, left as they are, curved
and straight, square and round, up and down, left and right,
new and old, light and heavy, long and short, broad and
narrow, repaired where chipped, patched where torn.
Everything at odds, nothing matching.
One is reminded of xe "Shukō"Shuko’s remark
as quoted above: “I do not like the moon in a cloudless
sky”—which means that imperfect, irregular beauty is
preferred to perfection; the moon behind some clouds is more
beautiful than the perfectly shining full moon in a bright
sky.
Sōkei Namboxe "Sōkei Nambō" posted these
rules regarding wabi sabi and suki outside of
his Nanshū-ji in xe "Sakai"Sakai City, and Rikyu is said to
have approved it:
Concerning the water in the stone basin, it
is wholly the cleansing of heart and mind that is crucial to
the way. The hostxe "host" will emerge to invite the guestxe
"guest"s in. He is poor; the utensils for tea and rice,
irregular; the food, lacking any refinement in flavor. The
trees and rocks in the garden are simple as in naturexe
"nature". Anyone who finds this incomprehensible should
leave forthwith.
Wabi sabi
incorporates the Buddhist ideals of finding spiritual
freedom in a situation of material insufficiencyxe
"insufficiency", not to be bound to material things,
expectation, or worldly values, but to transcend them; a
broken but repaired piece is completely acceptable at a tea
meeting, and insufficient equipment can still be used
sufficiently by a calm and improvising heart. Wabi sabi
is the realm of true sincerityxe "sincerity". In short, the
Buddhist ideals of being and acting simple and
unpretentious, the beauty of a lotus flower blooming above
mud, purity and perfection, and detachment are included in
the meaning of wabi sabi.
xe "suki" \r "t"xe "egoless,
unconditioned loving-kindness" \r "t"Suki
(Egoless, Unconditioned Loving-Kindness)
Suki is also a
term whose meaning is difficult to grasp—and even more
difficult to translate! In Rikyu’s times, it was used as a
synonym for the Way of Tea; suki-chaxe "suki-cha"
or suki-teaxe "suki-tea" \t "See suki-cha"
was the phrase of the day. Suki means, in its literal
translation in English, “to like” or “to love”; and Rikyu
has used this term to illustrate that without suki,
combined with purity of heart and mind, there is no “life,”
only abstraction, in the practice of the Way of Tea. Tea
without suki is just a form, an empty vessel, some
robotlike rules. I therefore propose to translate the term
suki into English as “egoless, unconditioned
loving-kindness.”
To reflect upon, and prepare for, the guests’
well-being, serve them as good one can, and to regard
people’s welfare should at least equal to one’s own; this
attitude of “service” is also included in suki. This
is very similar to Rotary’s ideals.
In the Way of Tea, this means that the hostxe
"host" must try to understand the guests’ characters and
needs when he is preparing for the tea gathering, and the
guest must try to understand the host’s character and
spirit; by respecting and thoughtfully serving each other,
together, they will produce true human relationships. In the
realm of wabi sabi and suki, “to be of service
to one another” induces true “happiness.”
In other words, the Way of Tea sees the
development of harmony and world peacexe "world peace" as,
first of all, being established and developed within oneself
through continuous devoted practice. From there, it will
spread over to fellow beings and all over the world,
ideally. Likewise, it does not try to change a nation,
ideology, or system per se, but starts with the
individual.
A society based on Buddhist ideals that are
labeled in the Way of Tea terms as wa, kei, sei jaku,
wabi sabi, and suki results in individual as well
as world peace.
Wabi sabi
(imperfect beauty) includes acting unpretentious and
possessing a simple but calm mind that does not regard
incapacity as lacking something, but as something that
transcends material things and worldly values and that has
thus realized spiritual freedom; a mind that is not
irritated when something unexpected happens, or when
something is insufficient, and which prefers living quietly
and happily with only what is really necessary rather than
in a palace of luxury, so to speak. Living in wabi sabi
is being freed from illusionsxe "illusions".
The Japanese term sukixe "suki"
(egoless, unconditioned loving-kindnessxe "egoless,
unconditioned loving-kindness") is related to the ideal of
service above self, for example, benevolence and feeling
happy for the success of others, engaging in voluntary and
humanitarian service, implementing suki in one’s
daily life in one’s family, community, and even
business—such friendliness and egoless, unconditioned
loving-kindness as developed through the practice of suki
are the basic ingredients for harmony and world peacexe
"world peace", unconditionally accepting race, colour,
religion, etc.
xe "sei"Sei (purity) includes
physical and spiritual cleanlinessxe "cleanliness" and
orderlinessxe "orderliness".
xe "wa"Wa (harmonyxe "harmony")
is a feeling of harmonious oneness with an individual and
with people and nature. Respect for nature
follows naturally out of the wa and sei
attitude, and this includes gratefulness for, appreciative
use of, and caring for, the gifts of nature such as air,
water, and plants. Purity and harmony (within and without
oneself) is realized through generosity, hospitality,
compassion, and wisdom; whereas “pollutionxe
"pollution"” (literally!) and disharmony (within and without
oneself) is produced by greed, hatred, and delusion. Thus,
naturexe "nature" \r "nature"’s pollution and destruction is
caused by, as well as maximizes, human “pollution”:
demoralization, greed, and violence. As the opposites of
sei and wa, unpure and disharmonious morality
leads to deterioration of man and nature, whereas purity and
harmony leads to improvement of the quality of man and
nature.
Such an understanding and practice of the Way
of Tea leads to harmony and oneness of people and nature,
which could work as an antidote to us being alienated from
ourselves and from nature and to moral degeneration
resulting in the destruction of our nonrenewable, natural
resources and indeed of our whole world; this could also
result in us living peacefully in this world without harming
it and ourselves, thus supporting the development of
harmonyxe "harmony" and world peacexe "world peace".
GASSHO
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