By Sen no Rikyū, 1522-1591
When both the host and guest
have exchanged their minds,
only then does the water truly boil.
Since the garden path is a way
beyond this transient world,
why not shake off the dust
which soils the mind?
What is Tea? Simply boiling water,
making Tea, and drinking it.
Know that this is fundamental.
The garden path, the hut,
the hosts and [...]
Can you guess what company I consider to be the most powerful company in all of history? Microsoft maybe, with an annual income and cash stores that surpass the GNI of most small nations? The company that has their foot on the necks of the vast majoriy of personal and corporate computer system owners throughout [...]
When I first signed on at T Ching as Editor, I was so inspired by this post by Donna Fellman that I rhapsodized about it on my personal blog. Since then, a funny thing has happened. People who google “sage tea” are ending up at my blog.
This got me curious. I was previously unaware of [...]
IN JAPAN, Continued from Part 6
One historian avers Rikyu’s fall came about because he was “not indifferent to money” and abused his unrivaled skill as a connoisseur of tea wares to enrich himself and curry favor with the great. Others think it was Rikyu’s irksome appearance of saintliness that event ally provoked Hideyoshi. (After all, [...]
Merry Christmas! We’d like to share with you Tom Hegg’s poem about how a cup of Christmas tea can transform obstacles into miracles, keeping the traditions of hearth and home alive.
Wishing you and yours all the best on this holiday,
The T Ching editorial team
Can I surrender to my teapot?
a little Chinese purple earth
clay called yixing
a little teacup, so small
and a pot, faithfully shaped by hands
hands steeped in tea culture
beckoning me to steep myself
into tea
I rise to meet tea in the midst of my day
and, like the tea steam
rising to dissolve into this moment of daylight
I first settle into [...]
I’ve been scratching my head trying to understand why more people in the U.S. aren’t drinking tea. We know that it’s the most widely consumed beverage in the world. Why is the U.S. lagging so far behind the rest of the world? I like to think of us, here in the states, as being trend [...]
Do you have a holiday tea tradition? Want to start one?
Check out these inspired ideas for celebrating the holidays with tea parties–written especially for the novice. Marie Younkin Waldman, talk show host and newspaper columnist, shares her philosophy and practice of creating meaningful, memorable [...]
IN JAPAN, Continued from Part 5
Hideyoshi loved tea and he practiced chado after his own fashion. He sponsored probably the greatest tea party of all time, the invitation being in the form of an official edict, which is still preserved. All the tea lovers of the empire were summoned to assemble near Kyoto and [...]
We encourage you to consider this message from The Sole of Africa’s director, Charlie Gay:
If you could solve one problem facing the world this Holiday Season … what would it be? Would you: Wipe out poverty? Guarantee that every child gets a first-rate education? End homelessness? Make war ravaged lands safe from landmines that blow [...]
