Japanese Tea Ceremony: "Harmony, Respect, Clarity and Silence" is the Essence of the Tea Ceremony

The beauty of the tea ceremony is a blend of artistic and aesthetic values that must be felt and experienced with the nose, tongue, body, eyes and ears. In the gentle wind and rain, the master's footsteps in and out of the tea room, the lingering fragrance of flowers and incense, as well as carefully crafted food, simple and elegant tea utensils, in just a few hours, so that the master and guests to complete a ritual.

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Tea people in Japan throughout the ages have spent several years practicing in the midst of Zen temples, from which they received their Dharma names and were instructed by Zen masters throughout their lives.

The Japanese Tea Ceremony culture is rich in cultural forms that support the same spirit, which is the idea of the Tea Ceremony of "Harmony, Respect, Clarity, and Silence".

Harmony

The "Harmony" in the tea ceremony represents harmony and pleasure, and it is the spirit that governs the entire tea ceremony process. Harmony focuses on the form, while harmony focuses on the inner emotions.

In the tea room, the good atmosphere is reflected through the "and". In the process of tea, touch, taste, sight and sound have their own "and" standards.

A good tea bowl, regardless of its shape, must have a good feel, so that the guests do not feel too cold, too heavy or too light when drinking tea, this experience is the "and" between people and things.

The aroma in the tea room should not be too strong, pungent, to be gentle and diffuse diffusion in the room, this is between people and the environment "and".

The location of the window distribution determines the light in the tea room, filtered through the white and windowpaper, the light cast into the tea room should be gentle, inviting meditation, which is between the sense of light and tea "and".

When the wind blows through the old trees outside the tea room, the sound of rustling leaves and the gurgling sound of boiling water converge harmoniously, which is the auditory "and".

The beauty of the harmony of the environment and the beauty of the personality of the participants converge, and the music of "and" is played in the tea room, which is mesmerizing.

The Japanese tea ceremony in the "and" requires that everyone in the tea room to maintain the appropriate performance, thoughtful arrangements for the tea room, thoughtful care, speech and behavior and expression of harmony, such as the breeze, soothing.

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The tea ceremony in the "respect" is also derived from Zen Buddhism, in the Japanese tea ceremony, the most embodied "respect" this idea, it should be the tea soup in the "a build" idea.

The "one building" idea in the Japanese tea ceremony is the best expression of this idea.

"A" refers to all the people involved in the tea ceremony, and "a build" means that the participants will be treated equally, people respect each other, *** enjoy a harmonious atmosphere in the tea room. The mutual respect and love between guests and hosts is out of the heart of the flow, so as to achieve a natural, irrational blend.

In Zen Buddhism, all human thoughts and desires come from this, and if one wants to become a Buddha, one needs to realize a transcendental experience, that is, the unconscious inner self-enlightenment, and one of the prerequisites for this transcendence is "respect". This self-realization shows the respect between the tea ceremony and Zen Buddhism, which is inextricably linked.

Kiyoshi

"Kiyoshi" refers to cleanliness and neatness, and is a highly prized element of cultivation by the Japanese people. In the Japanese Tea Ceremony, "qing" refers more to the cleansing of the soul.

In the tea garden, which is called the open ground, the tea master should always sprinkle water to clean the ground. When they welcome guests, they also clean the trees and stones in the courtyard.

The tea room is even more required to be spotless, even the charcoal used to boil water should be washed in advance to remove floating dust. It is through these behaviors that we can achieve the goal of getting rid of dirt outside the body and purifying the heart.

The Japanese tea ceremony has always been committed to suppressing or abandoning those evil thoughts, so that the tea ceremony becomes a clean world, so that everyone who enters the tea ceremony to maintain the concept of purity, so that the heart of the slightest dust and dirt can not surge up.

There is indeed something in this notion that the tea ceremony is divorced from the requirements of the real world, and the purity of being in the tea room is like being already about to become a Buddha.

Silence

"Silence" is the ultimate state of the tea ceremony, and it defines the meaning of the tea ceremony. Conceptually, the Japanese Tea Ceremony is closely related to Zen Buddhism, and "Silence" in Sanskrit means "stillness, peace, tranquility".

In the Japanese tea ceremony, "寂" is close to "至纯，孤绝", which means that the practitioner or tea person, after completing the denial of all matters, enters a world of nothingness, where there is no sound and no color.

Tea people negate all the inherent aesthetic values, abandon the original thought of the bondage, a new form of artistic expression also came into being.

The "silence" in the tea ceremony is the elimination of delusions and worries in the mind, to achieve the state of thoughtlessness, which is also the ultimate goal of the tea ceremony.

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The tea ceremony is a pursuit of the perfect mind, the Japanese tea ceremony requires that the tea ceremony can not be noisy, to be silent, in order to seek the mood of peace, the tea ceremony cultivation requires the tea people to experience and acquire their own.

"And, respect, clear, silent" expresses the spirit of the tea ceremony of Zen enlightenment, and and respect is the master and guest of the tea ceremony, clear and silent is the tea ceremony, the tea court and the tea utensils of the experience.

The Tea Ceremony gives tea people a posture of being, a heart, and integrity, prudence, benevolence, courtesy, cultivation, contentment, seeking kindness, purifying the mood, recognizing right and wrong, responding to the season, dividing the lightness of being, and being generous to friends are all daily lessons taught by the Tea Ceremony, used to cultivate and nourish oneself, and to help the world.