Sunday Tea -- Digital Kinsugi and the Way of Tea

Cup in Hand

Some thresholds open easily, others stay shut no matter how we knock. And sometimes the most intriguing ones are those that appear open, yet do not move when pushed. I’ve learned not to fight these doors. Often they are keepers of timing — reminders that not everything is meant to be entered in the same way, or at the same moment.

The Garden Path Unfolds

Recently I found this to be true not in a garden, but in web design. A small element I intended as a passageway refused to behave as planned. On one screen it opened as intended, on another it remained static. At first I thought of it as failure, a problem to be fixed. But after sitting with it awhile, I saw it differently: the so-called broken way was actually better — a kind of digital kintsugi. What I had planned as a feature became something richer: a threshold that revealed itself only in certain conditions, asking patience of the one who approached.

Tea is much the same. Some leaves reveal themselves instantly; finer teas often wait. The more mature the leaf, the more it seems to hold its own counsel. It will not yield to impatience, yet in the right hands, at the right time, the cup suddenly overflows with fragrance and depth.It may be the same with technology. What doesn’t work at first glance may simply be inviting us to slow down, to enter differently, or not at all — to look upon our world anew, as we might after a visit to the garden. Some thresholds are open for everyone. Others keep their mystery, offering passage only when the time, or the seeker, is ready.

Why Seek out Old Tea?

Old tea is a discipline unto itself within the culture of Tea. The first thing to remember is that good tea has the potential to become good old tea, but that simply being old doesn't necessarily mean its good. Some of the saltier among us recall the appraisal of people -- which I apply here to aged tea -- that wisdom comes with age, but most often age simply comes alone. Having heard this line from a well seasoned Yoga teacher, I take it to be more or less spiritually sacrosanct. The second most important lesson to keep in mind is that words, either written or spoken on behalf of a tea, mean very little. Those of us who've been around a while generally pick up on the fact that most people (particularly tea vendors) that have to go on and on explaining why a tea is great, expensive or rare, are most often best avoided. With truly great teas, as with true experts in Vintage tea, words are often few. Some guidance is perhaps appreciated and most experts will answer any questions as best they can. That being the case, a truly good tea requires no explanation as to why it is good. We can miss out on a great deal of what a good tea has to say by gabbing on about it. In my experience, as with that of countless others, the inclination to quantify a tea by the measuring sticks of tasting wheels, flavor chart, scores of ten -- or ten thousand -- are functionally meaningless. My venerable teacher of tea once said: words can deceive, wrappers can mislead and the mind can play tricks upon us, but the energy of a tea never lies. How then do we tap in, tune into , the energy of fine tea. The simplest answer is perhaps to listen not so much to the presenter of tea, or to what others or even ourselves say about a tea. Instead it is suggested to listen to the tea itself. This process of settling down, of entering into and unifying with the process of the tea session, will guide us beyond the capacity of any books on the subject. It is a natural feature of human nature to try and possess a thing by obtaining knowledge of it. While this may work in some aspects of life, it is far too limited when it comes to the world of tea. Tea is a kaleidescope experience, an adaptogen, a touchstone. It changes within each moment and will appear different to each person who drinks it. Any attempts to pin and mount it like a butterfly in a frame is to miss the mark entirely. Creating reviews of teas is a necessary act in the art of sales. At best though  it can only allude to the experience of the thing. It is a bit like putting on makeup in the dark. It, perhaps, can be accomplished by some -- though these are already well practiced at doing it while looking into a mirror.

Tea, Zen, and other Inside Jokes

An Ode to Zen, Tea, Tao, and other things…

The Phoenix rising not from from flame, but from the oceanic sky. To see life bursting forth from fire, from ash, rocks, trees, clouds, all things. To see the world smiling back from you, and at last be in on the joke — for ever and for the first time. This was, in essence the viewpoint of the Taoist. though Taoism was arguably at its peak about a thousand years ago, it never really goes away. Culturally it may appear to ebbb and flow, but this just means that cultures — at times — take themselves too seriously. Many Taoists traditionally chose to leave life in the cities and wander the mountains, pursuing the way of the wind. This passage, this process, can just as easily be wandered within. Without bothering to ramble on as to whether there is any separation between the two, wander we must — be it in darkness or illumination. Tao need not be referred to by any particular name, the only point of affiliation is that you be switched on. Achieved in all manner of ways, it is Nature, or more importantly the act of naturalness which best inspires our purpose. Neither seeking to control nor be controlled. Traditionally, Zen has been pursued through various disciplines such as archery and flower arranging, poetry and painting, with the goal being to achieve the essence of the poetic, or the dance, within our selves. Tea is often fuel poured upon the flames of this process of achieving the great ultimate — using the term from Taichi (the definition of Taichi). In the post Alan Watts age the Western reductionist, fully automatic model of the Universe stands on increasingly crumbling ground — even to square types. We are increasingly inviting ourselves to embrace the infinite and discover the inter connectedness of all things, regardless of what histories tell us.

The path of the Taoist is, at once, solitary and united with all things. It is a path which listens to the heart-song which guides us to our distinct outcomes. Be it by leaves of grass or leaves of tea, Nature beckons us to her embrace. For many, over countless centuries, Tea has offered passage to a wider world of experience. A world which is both large and small, self-contradicting and yet not, like all things Tea and Tao, an enigma.

Cloudwalker — E.S