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| U R A S E N K E SEATTLE BRANCH Transmitting the living art of Chado, the Way of Tea, through harmony, respect, purity and tranquility |
POEMS
As I look about,
Neither flowers nor autumn-tinted leaves
Near the grass-thatched hut
That stands alone by the shore.
The autumn dusk.
Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241)
***
For those who long for
the flowers of spring
Show the young grasses
That push up among the snowy hills.
Fujiwara no Ietaka (1158-1237)
***
There are many ways to put into practice in our own lives the teaching of the
great masters of the past. In Zen, truth is pursued through the discipline of
meditation in order to realize enlightenment, while in Tea we use training in
the actual procedures of making tea to achieve the same end.
Sen Soshitsu
15th Grand Master
Urasenke Tradition of Tea
***
Tea has the blessings of all the deities, promotes filial piety,
drives away the devil, banishes drowsiness, keeps the five viscera in harmony,
wards off disease, strengthens friendships, disciplines body and mind, destroys
the passions, gives peaceful death.
Myoe Shonin
Buddhist priest
(1173-1232)
***
Wa...is the complete harmony of all elements; its definition includes sincerity.
Kei...gives a sense of profound reverence toward all things, and is used by tea
men to identify characteristics of humility and respect.
Sei...contains the thought of orderiness in life, cleanliness, and purity.
Jaku...means tranquillity, calm. These four are essential to tea.
Rand Castile, The Way of Tea
***
If the water of our tea is drawn from the depths of mind
Then we have true cha-no-yu.
Sen Rikyu
***
The real Way of Tea has degenerated in the hands of so many who seek to use
it as a toy, a plaything of their prosperity. What we see now coming is a shallow
tea, and if I live long, I alone will enjoy the tea of the grass hut, and no one will
come to share it with me. How sad it is.
Sen Rikyu
***
Tea is in all pure and takes joy in meditation and delight in the dharma.
Murata Shuko
Tea master
(d. 1502)
***
Surely there is nothing easy about practicing seated meditation and
understanding each other's minds or about achieving oneness through a bowl of
tea. The main thing is the human mind seeking peace, whether in the spirit of
seated meditation or sitting to drink tea.
Sen Soshitsu XV
Hounsai Oiemoto
(b. 1923)
***
Tea, like cleaning, is not a skill to memorize but one that is acquired slowly by
the body and the spirit.
Soshitsu Sen XV
Hounsai Oiemoto
(b. 1923)
***
Remember that fine houses and rare food are mere panaceas of this mundane
world, for shelter is enough if it protects from the rain, and food is sufficient if it
satisfies hunger. These are the teaching of the Buddha and the Way of Tea.
With your own hands bring wood and water, heat the water and make tea. Offer
it to the Buddha, to others, and then partake of it yourself. Arrange flowers and
burn incense. These actions are taken together for the purpose of following the
example of the Buddha.
Sen Rikyu
***
Tea is naught but this: First you heat the water. Then you make the tea.
Then you drink it properly.That is all you need to know.
Sen Rikyu
***
The original purpose of Tea has at its core the acceptance of the insufficient.
***
To those who aspire to follow the Way of Tea, guard against jealousy. To place
yourself at the center, to envy others, to tempt others--these are unpardonable.
Know your duty, and as you immerse yourself daily in the Way of Tea, you will
be rewarded with happiness. The more you look up to others, the clearer your
own position in relation to them will become. Whenever something untoward
happens, people try to make themselves look as good as possible. But if we
remember the humble heart of the host in the tearoom, for he knows the spiritual
taste of tea, then this persistent clinging to power for its own sake will be seen for
what it is. Know what you know and know what you don't know, for only then will
the limits of your strength become evident. To attain spiritual power, seize the
chance when it offers itself; devote yourself to study and practice. In life are
many who feign knowledge and lead others astray. No action can be more
reprehensible. The Way is never exclusive. It is open to all to follow, but those
who set out upon the path perforce need the help of those who have passed that
way before.
Sen Soshitsu XIV
Tantansai Sekiso
(1893-1964)
***
I have toured the world with the goal, "peace through sharing a bowl of tea."
Taking a bowl of green tea in your hands and drinking it, you feel one with
nature, and there is peace. This peace can be spread by offering a bowl of tea
to another. I hope you will drink and share this peace with me.
Sen Soshitsu XV
Hounsai Oiemoto, Tea Life, Tea Mind
***
Tea is a miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health. Tea has an
extraordinary power to prolong life. Anywhere a person cultivates tea, long life
will follow.
Eisai Zenji, Kissa Yojoki
(d. 1211)
***
The spirit of cha-no-yu is to cleanse the six senses from contamination. By
seeing the kakemono in the tokonoma and the flower in the vase, one's sense of
smell is cleansed; by listening to the boiling of water in the iron kettle and to the
dripping of water from the bamboo pipe, one's ears are cleansed; by tasting tea
one's mouth is cleansed; and by handling the tea utensils one's sense of touch
is cleansed...thus...the mind itself is cleansed of defilements.
Nakano Kazuma, Hagakure
(c. 1710)
***
In the summer, impart a sense of deep coolness, in winter, a feeling of warmth;
lay the charcoal so that it heats the water, prepare the tea so that it is pleasing
–these are the secrets.
Sen Rikyu
***
It is the mind that aspires to enter the path that is my own true teacher.
Sen Rikyu
***
See with your eyes, hear with your ears, and smell the incense. While asking
questions, arrive at understanding.
Sen Rikyu
***
The sun, Lord of the East, grinds the fragrant dust of tea. Bejeweled nectar on
the teeth, revives me. A pure wind envelops my body. The whole world seen in
a single cup.
Kokan, Zen priest
(1278-1346)
***
The real essence of tea –
...a tea house beneath the bamboos with water and stones, trees and shrubs, a
place for burning coals, kettle, flowers and the tea utensils; being able to taste
the joy of nature in a single tea house. Such a heaven on earth, in the spring
with white cherry blossoms everywhere, of nature in the fall – the moon, in
summer – its breezes, and winter – snow, the delicate changes throughout the
four seasons.
***
House and dewy ground. Guest and host both joined as one, share a cup of tea.
In tranquil meditation, no margin divides their hearts. The roji is a way apart
from this bustling world and its many cares. How will that path sweep away the
dust from within our hearts?
***
Let your manner be natural and unobtrusive.
Arrange flowers as befits the room, with an air of lightness.
When you burn incense, light it so that it does not billow
upward as though it were all there was.
The utensils used should be appropriate to the
person’s age, to old and young, respectively.
Upon entering the tearoom, it is important above all else
that both host and guests compose their frame of mind
so as to be completely free of extraneous thought; this attitude should be
harbored within and not displayed outwardly.
Murata Shuku
***
Of the two characters with which the word "roji" is written, the first means "to
reveal or expose." The second means "heart." Thus, together they mean "the
revelation of one’s essential being." We call it "roji," because it reveals the
innate self as it truly is, apart from all one’s evil passions....Based on this
definition, the significance of the tea room is that it is a hall of spiritual training
where one reveals one’s innermost essence, and we call it "roji." Thus, "roji" is
one name for the tea room itself.
Jakuan Sotaku, Zen-cha Roku
***
Tea is not play; it is not technique; it is not entertainment.
Murata Shuko
***
Chanoyu should be made with the heart, not with the hand. Make it without
making it, in the stillness of your mind.
Hamamoto Soshun, senior instructor
Urasenke tradition of Chado
***
The way of tea: trace it, and ever deeper it goes; like the fields of Musashi
where the moon is lucent, its depths draw us on.
Sen Soshitsu, VI
Rikkansai Taiso
(1654-1726)
***
Chanoyu is conveyed through the mind, through eye and ear–
Without a single stroke of the brush
***
If asked the nature of chanoyu say it’s the sound of wind-blown pines
in a painting.
Sen Sotan
Third-Generation Grand Master
(1578-1658)
****
Neither flowers nor autumn-tinted leaves
Near the grass-thatched hut
That stands alone by the shore.
The autumn dusk.
Fujiwara no Teika (1162-1241)
***
For those who long for
the flowers of spring
Show the young grasses
That push up among the snowy hills.
Fujiwara no Ietaka (1158-1237)
***
There are many ways to put into practice in our own lives the teaching of the
great masters of the past. In Zen, truth is pursued through the discipline of
meditation in order to realize enlightenment, while in Tea we use training in
the actual procedures of making tea to achieve the same end.
Sen Soshitsu
15th Grand Master
Urasenke Tradition of Tea
***
Tea has the blessings of all the deities, promotes filial piety,
drives away the devil, banishes drowsiness, keeps the five viscera in harmony,
wards off disease, strengthens friendships, disciplines body and mind, destroys
the passions, gives peaceful death.
Myoe Shonin
Buddhist priest
(1173-1232)
***
Wa...is the complete harmony of all elements; its definition includes sincerity.
Kei...gives a sense of profound reverence toward all things, and is used by tea
men to identify characteristics of humility and respect.
Sei...contains the thought of orderiness in life, cleanliness, and purity.
Jaku...means tranquillity, calm. These four are essential to tea.
Rand Castile, The Way of Tea
***
If the water of our tea is drawn from the depths of mind
Then we have true cha-no-yu.
Sen Rikyu
***
The real Way of Tea has degenerated in the hands of so many who seek to use
it as a toy, a plaything of their prosperity. What we see now coming is a shallow
tea, and if I live long, I alone will enjoy the tea of the grass hut, and no one will
come to share it with me. How sad it is.
Sen Rikyu
***
Tea is in all pure and takes joy in meditation and delight in the dharma.
Murata Shuko
Tea master
(d. 1502)
***
Surely there is nothing easy about practicing seated meditation and
understanding each other's minds or about achieving oneness through a bowl of
tea. The main thing is the human mind seeking peace, whether in the spirit of
seated meditation or sitting to drink tea.
Sen Soshitsu XV
Hounsai Oiemoto
(b. 1923)
***
Tea, like cleaning, is not a skill to memorize but one that is acquired slowly by
the body and the spirit.
Soshitsu Sen XV
Hounsai Oiemoto
(b. 1923)
***
Remember that fine houses and rare food are mere panaceas of this mundane
world, for shelter is enough if it protects from the rain, and food is sufficient if it
satisfies hunger. These are the teaching of the Buddha and the Way of Tea.
With your own hands bring wood and water, heat the water and make tea. Offer
it to the Buddha, to others, and then partake of it yourself. Arrange flowers and
burn incense. These actions are taken together for the purpose of following the
example of the Buddha.
Sen Rikyu
***
Tea is naught but this: First you heat the water. Then you make the tea.
Then you drink it properly.That is all you need to know.
Sen Rikyu
***
The original purpose of Tea has at its core the acceptance of the insufficient.
***
To those who aspire to follow the Way of Tea, guard against jealousy. To place
yourself at the center, to envy others, to tempt others--these are unpardonable.
Know your duty, and as you immerse yourself daily in the Way of Tea, you will
be rewarded with happiness. The more you look up to others, the clearer your
own position in relation to them will become. Whenever something untoward
happens, people try to make themselves look as good as possible. But if we
remember the humble heart of the host in the tearoom, for he knows the spiritual
taste of tea, then this persistent clinging to power for its own sake will be seen for
what it is. Know what you know and know what you don't know, for only then will
the limits of your strength become evident. To attain spiritual power, seize the
chance when it offers itself; devote yourself to study and practice. In life are
many who feign knowledge and lead others astray. No action can be more
reprehensible. The Way is never exclusive. It is open to all to follow, but those
who set out upon the path perforce need the help of those who have passed that
way before.
Sen Soshitsu XIV
Tantansai Sekiso
(1893-1964)
***
I have toured the world with the goal, "peace through sharing a bowl of tea."
Taking a bowl of green tea in your hands and drinking it, you feel one with
nature, and there is peace. This peace can be spread by offering a bowl of tea
to another. I hope you will drink and share this peace with me.
Sen Soshitsu XV
Hounsai Oiemoto, Tea Life, Tea Mind
***
Tea is a miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health. Tea has an
extraordinary power to prolong life. Anywhere a person cultivates tea, long life
will follow.
Eisai Zenji, Kissa Yojoki
(d. 1211)
***
The spirit of cha-no-yu is to cleanse the six senses from contamination. By
seeing the kakemono in the tokonoma and the flower in the vase, one's sense of
smell is cleansed; by listening to the boiling of water in the iron kettle and to the
dripping of water from the bamboo pipe, one's ears are cleansed; by tasting tea
one's mouth is cleansed; and by handling the tea utensils one's sense of touch
is cleansed...thus...the mind itself is cleansed of defilements.
Nakano Kazuma, Hagakure
(c. 1710)
***
In the summer, impart a sense of deep coolness, in winter, a feeling of warmth;
lay the charcoal so that it heats the water, prepare the tea so that it is pleasing
–these are the secrets.
Sen Rikyu
***
It is the mind that aspires to enter the path that is my own true teacher.
Sen Rikyu
***
See with your eyes, hear with your ears, and smell the incense. While asking
questions, arrive at understanding.
Sen Rikyu
***
The sun, Lord of the East, grinds the fragrant dust of tea. Bejeweled nectar on
the teeth, revives me. A pure wind envelops my body. The whole world seen in
a single cup.
Kokan, Zen priest
(1278-1346)
***
The real essence of tea –
...a tea house beneath the bamboos with water and stones, trees and shrubs, a
place for burning coals, kettle, flowers and the tea utensils; being able to taste
the joy of nature in a single tea house. Such a heaven on earth, in the spring
with white cherry blossoms everywhere, of nature in the fall – the moon, in
summer – its breezes, and winter – snow, the delicate changes throughout the
four seasons.
***
House and dewy ground. Guest and host both joined as one, share a cup of tea.
In tranquil meditation, no margin divides their hearts. The roji is a way apart
from this bustling world and its many cares. How will that path sweep away the
dust from within our hearts?
***
Let your manner be natural and unobtrusive.
Arrange flowers as befits the room, with an air of lightness.
When you burn incense, light it so that it does not billow
upward as though it were all there was.
The utensils used should be appropriate to the
person’s age, to old and young, respectively.
Upon entering the tearoom, it is important above all else
that both host and guests compose their frame of mind
so as to be completely free of extraneous thought; this attitude should be
harbored within and not displayed outwardly.
Murata Shuku
***
Of the two characters with which the word "roji" is written, the first means "to
reveal or expose." The second means "heart." Thus, together they mean "the
revelation of one’s essential being." We call it "roji," because it reveals the
innate self as it truly is, apart from all one’s evil passions....Based on this
definition, the significance of the tea room is that it is a hall of spiritual training
where one reveals one’s innermost essence, and we call it "roji." Thus, "roji" is
one name for the tea room itself.
Jakuan Sotaku, Zen-cha Roku
***
Tea is not play; it is not technique; it is not entertainment.
Murata Shuko
***
Chanoyu should be made with the heart, not with the hand. Make it without
making it, in the stillness of your mind.
Hamamoto Soshun, senior instructor
Urasenke tradition of Chado
***
The way of tea: trace it, and ever deeper it goes; like the fields of Musashi
where the moon is lucent, its depths draw us on.
Sen Soshitsu, VI
Rikkansai Taiso
(1654-1726)
***
Chanoyu is conveyed through the mind, through eye and ear–
Without a single stroke of the brush
***
If asked the nature of chanoyu say it’s the sound of wind-blown pines
in a painting.
Sen Sotan
Third-Generation Grand Master
(1578-1658)
****
study |
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