Not giving up; just backburnering for now – April 14th 2008

The art of the Japanese Tea Ceremony is itself very difficult, and takes about 15 years to master.

but i shall achieve this, some day…

...in my “youth”, i used to be very anti-rituals, becasue all around me i saw nothing but blind alligence to them, & people that had no idea as to why they did what they did. Now, 30 yrs later, as a result of my religious studies, i am deeply fascinated with the concepts of rituals, for their power and subliminal impact. We live in worlds too defined by linear thinking, but we’re not robots…and rituals are one way to address that “Other side” that we cannot get to by mere logic alone.

Anyways! i’ve only been able to do a few classes in Chado (again, taught by a student of a student of a master,,,,as is everything esoteric in cincinnati, it seems), but this is one of the key methods of training and deepening practice i long to develop. My few experiences were just enough to get a taste, but it establishes a concentration, a deep attention to everything, and a very aware prescence—where it is so easy to just become numbed out in our stress, blaring TV’s, and yes, LCD screens…

Notes from Urasenke Foundation_{Transmittting the living art of Chado,
the Way of Tea,
to affirm our shared humanity through harmony, respect, purity and tranquility}

Study Tea with a Pure Heart

Studying Tea under the guidance of a teacher, the student is part of a tradition rooted deep in Japanese history. Like other disciplines in the arts, the tradition is passed on in a one-to-one encounter of teacher and student similar to that of a Zen master and novice. In Zen, truth is pursued through the discipline of meditation in order to realize enlightenment. In Tea we use training in the actual procedures of making tea to achieve the same end.

In the study of Chado, body, mind, and spirit are integrated by combining the practice of tea procedures with the knowledge of utensils, the lives and thoughts of the masters, and the discipline of the spirit and heart.

Your tea practice can be great or small depending upon your purity of heart and sincerity of mind. With all your might, cultivate a clear mind and pure heart and so achieve “pure tea.” Make this your goal.

~~Urasenke Grand Master XV