by Wu De
From Global Tea Hut: Issue 38 / March 2015...
We’ve received some
requests to return to the basics, exploring the foundations of all tea brewing
from a practical level. Returning to the practical foundation of tea brewing is
important for us all. Every now and again we have to renew our contract with
the most essential principles in order to make sure that the ground on which we
build our mastery is strong. Though these principles apply to bowl tea as well,
they are primary in gongfu brewing. Over the next five issues, we plan to
explore the Five Basics of Tea Brewing one by one, adding depth for the more
experienced brewers and covering the foundations for those of you who are new
to Tea.
At the center, we
often teach that “repeat” is a dirty word. It is much better to say, “renew”.
The Sanskrit word for wisdom is “prajna”. “Pra” means “before” and “jna” is
“knowledge” so prajna is that which
is before knowledge—the “beginner’s mind” as it is often translated. When we
think we know something, we shoot ourselves in the feet, crippling our ability
to learn from the lessons all around us. The enlightened mind is humble, open
and receptive. There is an old Chinese saying that “everything which is not me
is my master”. When we dismiss things as “basic” we interrupt our learning, our
humility and heart growth. We get in our own way. Our heads prevent our hearts
from being fully present, from realizing that this lesson that is returning in
our lives is a chance to renew our contracts with positive support. We miss the
chance to deepen and refine our relationship to the foundation of our art and
practice. This applies to Tea as much as to life.
We also often have
the bad habit of assuming that mastery is an extravagant, difficult skill. Real
mastery is in the simple. Advanced
techniques are basic techniques mastered. In life, it matters little that
we achieve exalted spiritual states if we cannot be happy in the simplest ways;
if we cannot connect to this moment fully, it doesn’t matter what satori we had in the past. And if we
cannot connect heart to heart with the people, places and things around us, all
the wisdom cultivated in meditation or at seminars is lost on us. We must brew
tea with heart to master this art!
There is a great Tea
story that expresses this: A man once walked across Japan because he heard that
the great Zen master Rikyu was accepting students. After some time, he was
allowed to study tea with the old master. He worked hard and progressed. After
about a year of study, he asked Rikyu: “Master, now that I have been here a
year, would you initiate me into the essence of Cha Dao?” The master smiled,
“Of course, I would have done that on the day you arrived… “The essence of Cha
Dao is this: draw the water, lay the coals, boil the water and steep the tea!”
The man scoffed, “That’s it! I could have realized that at home.” Rikyu looked
at him in askance, shaking his finger. “The day you can do that, I will walk
across Japan and lay my head at your feet and call you master!”
With the right spirit
of heart—knowing that the path from the mind to the hand travels through the
heart—and a beginners mind, let us then return to the Five Basics of Tea
Brewing, starting with the first: Separate
the tea space in half and do everything on the left side with the left hand,
and everything on the right with that hand.
A lot of the basics
of tea brewing arise out of the need for fluency and remaining centered while
brewing tea. Lefties are usually more centered, having grown up in a
right-handed world. The rest of us, however, are often off balance in our daily
lives. Our right hand is usually much stronger than the left, and we go about
our day as though the left hand is some kind of evolutionary vestige, like the
tailbone. Through Tea, we return to
balance. We should be able to do every movement proficiently with both hands.
This brings our whole body to the center, and the movements will then flow from
our heart. We will be more present, more engaged and brew from the core of our
being—the “dan tian”, as it is called in Chinese. This is the navel-point we
breathe from when we are relaxed and focused. Using both hands will bring tea
brewing to that space.
Being energetically
and physically front and center to your tea and your guests promotes
mindfulness. This simple aspect of tea brewing cannot be overestimated. There
is a profound change in brewing with both hands, without swiveling from the
center of your space. It changes the way you handle each implement, promotes
dexterity and availability to your guests.
In Asia, it is rude
to turn your back on your guests when brewing tea. When you reach over the
center with either hand, you will invariably lose your center to your tea implements
and turn your back on some of your guests. This is a minor reason for this
principle, but it is important. By staying upright and facing the center, you
will find concentration easier. You will also find it easier to connect to your
guests, whether energetically if it is a silent tea session or in heartfelt
conversation if you choose to have a discourse over your tea. Staying oriented
towards the center honors your guests, showing that you are fully present to
the moment.
The simple, most
practical and maybe most important reason for dividing the table and doing all
movements with the corresponding hand relates to protecting your teaware. In
decades of tea brewing, the number one reason I have seen teapots, cups or
other implements knocked over or broken (by beginners and advanced brewers
alike) is reaching across the table with the opposite hand. If you reach over
your pot and cups with the left hand to get something from the right side of
the table, when you return to a centered position, the pot and all your teaware
are now in a blind spot. Tea brewers are encouraged to wear loose-fitting and
comfortable clothes, and if your sleeves are long, it will be easy for you to
catch them on your tea cloth, tea tray or even the pot and knock something over.
It happens a lot! If you try reaching across in this manner, you will see just
how blind you are to the placement of things on your tea table.
You will have to
practice using both hands in tea brewing if you are to achieve gongfu, which
you know by now means “mastery”. This will mean that many times you have to
pass things from one hand to the other. Make a habit of this. It is always
amazing to see this unfold in Japanese or Chinese tea ceremonies, as it inspires
clarity, purity of movement and mindfulness/presence in host and guest alike.
In Japanese tea rooms, for example, there is often a sliding door that the host
goes in and out of to bring supplies from the back room. If you have the chance
to attend a ceremony, or watch a video of one, you will notice that the host
opens the door halfway with the left hand and then finishes opening it with the
right. She then goes out and closes the door in the same way.
This month, try
putting your hands together in a good Namaste over your heart. Then extend your
hands together to the center of the table and commit to do everything left of
that line with the left hand and everything on the right with the right hand.
There are, of course, many deeper levels to this practice that we haven’t
covered here (like the movement of Qi in the body). We encourage you to renew
this practice even if you are a seasoned brewer! As always, we are excited to
hear your insights. Contact us with any ideas, comments, wisdom our questions: globalteahut [at] gmail.com
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