It was a raining night in 1984 in Taipei, that night I worked again overtime
and left the office with an empty stomach. In that period I enjoyed pretty successful ride with career and it seemed I have great confidence in self; but as matter of fact, I was bothered by many unspeakable worries which I did not what to tell and how to deal.
I was urged to take a break at a small food stand because of hungry. While I was waiting for the rice noodles, I raised my head and saw a poster of vast from JiGong (known as “Crazy Monk”) , Don’t get angry. When reading the text, a light of enlightenment stroke in that freed the unknown fear and worries in my heart instantly.
We are surrounded by many people who are doing their best and everyone came across in our life all has his/her unique values; if we thought we could protect ourselves better by building walls around us to isolate others, perhaps the one being isolated and blocked away from potential opportunities is ourselves.
Instead of placing self in the middle of a small universe, instead of letting the negative energy disturb the peace in mind, perhaps it would be better to take a break by closing eyes, slowing down breathing and whispering a simple ‘thank you’ in silence; because it’s such a joy to have you in the world; doing the best because it brings joy and comfort to the mind.
Having a cup of tea is the first step into tea learning;
Learning what and how to identify and distinguish and eventually is able to free from impulsive differentiative mind when we learn what and how to distinguish different profiles and unique characters in flavors and tastes from the pure and authentic quality tea.
Willingness to submit self to the earning of accurate information and knowledge to the ecological Nature, Chinese traditional tea cultures and tea is necessary.
Making a cup of tea seems simple, but learning what and how to bring out the best of tea is a lifetime journey.
With tea, we learn more about how to enjoy tea to sustain a healthy lifestyle, but most importantly to learn how to become a better person while enjoy a healthy daily living with ease、 calm and tranquility in life.
Mei Lan Hsiao, Chinese Tea Master, started to promote Chinese authentic and fine quality tea based in Belgium since 1995. Based on nearly 30 years diligent efforts, Mei Lan deeply recognized the efforts have to go beyond tea and Chinese tea culture, it is necessary to understand what and how to satisfy the needs for humanistic and civilization development for a more peaceful society and a world.
A cup of fine, pure and authentic quality tea can in- and directly encourage civilization dialogues:
Dialogue between tea trees with ecological Mother Nature;
Encourage dialogue between people with Nature through tea trees and ECO environment;
Stimulate dialogue between people with civilization traditions while enjoying a cup of tea;
Encourage indepth appreciation to the efforts of sustaining culture heritages and nameless heros behind tea leaves while enjoying a cup of tea;
Encourage non-violent dialogues with inner self and others when sensing the fine flavors and tastes;
Stimulate the civilization dialogue through the joy of sharing and respects in the process of preparing, serving and sharing a cup of tea.
Therefore,
What is tea? Living !
How to enjoy living? Simple ordinary !
What is Chinese tea culture? Learning & actions in one, embrace honestyly exchange and respect equality in humanity and having inner dialogue through reflection, Let’s share a cup of tea !
Gloominess is from within,
Unity is to include everyone based on respect to humanity.
Indeed movements in tea ceremony, either from Gongfu Cha (功夫茶艺 gongfu cha yi) from China, Tea Art (茶艺 cha yi) from Taiwan or Chadao (茶道）from Japan, looks very Zen, somes even are pretty facy, however, it is nothing but a way of presentation of tea. Even though fancy movements are very attracting and eye catching，particularly to those who participate the tea setting; it, however, still is nothing but a way of tea presentation for us to explore the flavors and tastes in tea.
Often many people thought since the Japanese named it as ‘chadao （茶道）’, so it is same as what Cha Dao （茶道） is, well, the answer will be “Yes and Not quite exact”, and each step does have scientific rationality in the seemed philosophical movement.
Actually Cha Dao is much simplier; it does not emphasize the fancy movements, even though each step still has specific scientific and philosphical meaning but it guides you further into the learning path with tea by disciplining self with ease and calming energy and state of mind.
Movements in Cha Dao are slow, simple and gentle, the essence of tea preparing process focuses on the inner dialogue through tea when enjoy a tea moment.
When your body and mind are in the Chan (禅 Zen) state, the time stands still, the aroma and taste are no longer for appealing but for comforting.
The learning of tea opens a door of life time learning, there are different side doors to enter the path. It does not matter which door you choose to open, it all goes back to the root of tea in your heart.
Probably you will laugh with this question, but it’s a real question from a young man who would like to purchase tea for her girl friend as Valentine’s gift. I first encouraged him for his nice intention, and told him honestly that he has looked for wrong solutions from tea.
Yes, in the market, we do can find tea with the label on tea box as ‘Relaxation tea’, ‘Immunity tea’ or even ‘stress free tea’, suggest to check the description of ingredients used in the tea; if it contains tea from Camellia sinensis v. sinensis (or O. Kuntze), regardless which type of tea , because tea leaves from Camellia sinensis tea trees all contain caffeine; either caffeine or theine these are the same substance, and tea caffeine often used the term as theine. Right amount of caffeine actually is good for our health. (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/9-reasons-why-the-right-amount-of-coffee-is-good-for-you)
One must examine the cause of stress, anxiety or nervousness before searching for solutions from tea. Yes, tea has many health benefits, but tea shouldn’t considered as medicine to solve health or mental problems.
Intuitively speaking, the cause of stress mainly starts from unfulfill desire to satisfy the anxiety or desires that further affects the nervousness level in brain; while the direct of tea drink starts from mouth, to stomach and then disinterested further.
It is time and relaxation process one is willing to take and the calming in state of mind can link the body and mind in one.
So what’s my suggestions to that lovely young man?
” Enjoy a walk with your girl friend by holding hands together, or give her a good hug, or to enjoy a lovely moment together, and don’t forget to tell her that you truly appreciate and love her”, of course, if you really have that much money, can also try with “A diamond jewelry, 99 roses and 66 money bills”.
It seems a rather simple question, but it is a question that hardly can get a perfect answer.
To make it short, there are 3 to drink and the primary key words will be
The Taste
Again, there are 3 tastes to explore by individual preferences which is subject to respective willingness and capabilities:
The taste of various chemical or mineral substances in tea
The taste of culture and values behind tea leaves
The taste of truth deep in the soul
So which level do you want to reach when drinking a cup of tea?
The joy
Drinking tea is a pleasant and joyful experience not only to body but also provide satisfactory feeling that everyone can enjoy. You do, however, need to learn the importance of taking time out to enjoy it and are able to listen and respect the choice of own body. Therefore right attitude to understand what and how to maintain balance in body and mind is important for health.
The enlightenment
There is no other alternative than tea that turns a small leaf to become a great civilization culture. Without recognizing the nature in tea, morals represented in tea would be hard to comprehend; without embracing the moral values represented in tea, how can we be enlightened in the learning of Cha Dao 茶道? The essence of Cha Dao in Chinese tea culture emphasize the harmony and balance between heaven, earth and mankind. simply because we are part of the Nature, same as tea trees. Collective existence because of harmony linkaging, that’s the nature in tea and that’s what we hope to perused in life when we enjoy a cup of tea.
The verticle thinking urges us to distinguish high or low in between material vs. spsiritual world. But can we really divide these two in our life? Can we say which is more important than the others? How to prioritize and can we judge which is the right answer? The answer is not far but right in our heart.
Drinking a simple cup of tea,
embracing a moment to be enlightened by the extraordinary wisdom in life.
