On tea and meditation
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This post was last edited by yinkuilin6868 on 2015-11-23 08:32. Confucians use tea to cultivate virtue, Taoists use it to refine the mind, and Buddhists use it to nurture their nature. Whether it is a purple clay teapot or a porcelain teacup, they are all containers for brewing tea – vessels for those green leaves and red liquid； Whether it’s a blue-and-white cup or a green-glazed bowl, they are all vessels for holding tea, serving as mediums through which the bitter taste of tea is experienced. Whether brewed or boiled, it’s all to satisfy the desire for a clear drink and to enjoy the pleasure of tea.
Good tea and the mood in which it is consumed are like desire and ideals: the end of desire lies in possessing material things, while the ultimate goal of ideals is spiritual fulfillment. No matter how good the tea is, there will come a time when it’s exhausted; yet the desire to drink tea is endless. Rather than endlessly seeking the best tea, it’s better to always be prepared with the right mindset for drinking tea.
Good tea and the mood in which it is consumed are like desire and ideals: the end of desire lies in possessing material things, while the ultimate goal of ideals is spiritual fulfillment. No matter how good the tea is, there will come a time when it’s exhausted; yet the desire to drink tea is endless. Rather than endlessly seeking the best tea, it’s better to always be prepared with the right mindset for drinking tea. If one can grasp such truths while drinking tea, then it is no longer merely drinking tea.
In the video, Huo Yuanjia discusses tea with a Japanese expert: Each tea leaf is the essence of heaven and earth; it is merely humans who classify tea into different grades. In fact, this depends on the drinker’s mood. When Zhu Yuanzhang was in poverty, the \"Pearl, Jade, and White Jade Soup\" he drank was extremely delicious, but once he became emperor, the same soup seemed like nothing more than dirty water. One should calm one’s mind before drinking tea.