Tea and Zen
A Different State of Mind
There is, sadly, little that I do that does not involve a lot of thinking. Even if the purpose of what I’m doing is to have “fun“, then I pursue that with the idea that I need to have fun, that I need to relax. I think about it. When I spend the evening reading, there is a nagging somewhere in my mind about laundry, checking accounts, and work.
I am working on conquering this “over-thinking” tendency as a student of Lost Coin Zen. Through that wonderful group, I am learning to focus on my state of mind.
There are two times when I manage to feel completely and magically free of the mind of pursuit, the mind of purpose, the mind of gain.
- when I enjoy tea
- when I sit zazen (meditation).
Whether having tea or sitting zazen, there is a process that eases me into a different state of mind.
No Mind
The water is set to flame and tea is measured out.
The temperature of water, the steep time, the tea vessel, and the presentation of the tea all matter very much to me.
The beauty of the leaf, the smell of the blend, and the color of the liquor are experiences themselves, separate and distinct from actually drinking the tea, but also wholly part of the drinking experience.
So perfectly interwoven that one is the other.
And then there is the flavor, the temperature, the tightening of the taste buds in reaction. Time stands still. The whole process can be as long or as short in duration as I wish, but that has more to do with space to focus.
The experience itself is outside the experience of time or reason.
Tea, Zen, Mind, No Mind
White porcelain, auburn glow
No thing exists here
I suspect that this is what I was supposed to be feeling during all of those martial arts classes, but while I love martial arts, I rarely transcended thoughts of body, sequence, time, improvement, and gain. Tea is, for me, something else entirely.
When I sit zazen, I have monkey-mind of course, but there are also the moments where there is just sitting. Not thinking, not anything. That state of being defies explanation or definition.
What do you do to change your state of mind? Please share by leaving a comment below.
Photo of rolling green tea fields by MK Media Productions
10 Comments
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Love the tea haiku. Beautiful blog entry Rebecca.
Hi Rebecca!
Asking what I´m doing to change my state of mind and reading your poem really inspired me. Of course it´s mainly meditation now, but this came up as a reminder on former times:
The wind brings the smell of freshly mowed grass
Feet start tripping on that red-colored lane
Suddenly vigorous steps of increasing velocity
at last forming the rhythm of preparing the climax
In an explosion of strengh
I am the javelin
flying trembling through the sky.
(hope it doesn´t sound to bad in english)
Love from Düsseldorf
I´m so glad to see you again soon!
@Annette Thank you for stopping by this blog! I love your poetry on the javelin. I felt like I was there feeling the moment with you! Your English is perfect! Looks like I’ll miss Dusseldorf this year but hopefully we’ll see you before the end of the year one way or the other. Love, Rebecca
What a beautiful post. You perfectly captured the slowing down that comes along with the ritual of making a cup of tea–and how true that that stillness is similar to the stillness of zazen. Lovely haiku, too! Wow, now I can’t decide in what order to sit, drink tea, and write a poem. Thanks for the inspiration!
Rebecca, this is a beautiful post and your haiku is wonderful! I wish I was better at sitting zazen…my monkey mind is very powerful. The two things that really help me are photography and writing. Funny, you would think that writing requires thinking. But for me, as I become focused on typing, I follow the flow of the words as they spill from my mind onto the page. Nothing else seems to matter then, and that brings me much peace.
It’s nice to have such a ritual to consciously engage one’s self in each action we undertake. We can feel each breath, each motion, and each sensation and learn to take those moments of the Now into everyday life.
Happy Tea Drinking
Natural Moments’s last blog post..As I Reflect Upon the Water
Suddenly watching reality TV seems to be a trivial zen-moment, yet, it’s all I have. I’m going to go reflect on the state of my life… right after I watch “The Soup.”
@Tawni Thanks for the kind words. As an attorney, you know that we are valued for our thinking rather than our being. Finding value in our creative mind is a leap for me! Maybe we can start SLC tea and haiku club
@Caroline I think that is a sign of truly doing something that is right for you. If writing falls from you like water from a cup, you must be born to write! And I’ve seen how gorgeous your photographs are. You’ve created a better world by sharing your talents!
@Natural Moments Bernie, your poetry is beautiful. You are drinking the clouds; you are feeling the shape under the stars; you are digesting the colour and beauty of the flowers- you are the essence of Life already
@Jake Jake, you are so incredibly talented and creative that you probably find inspiration in all things, including “The Soup.”
Seriously, Jake is the KING of fashion photography, and is a comedian and restauranteur as well. Check out his stuff
http://jakegarn.com/
I appreciate the comments from everyone. I love hearing from everyone about the things they do that strike so deeply and close to the heart that time, reason, and fear are no match! Please, share more- it is beautiful!
Great post – tea is a great zen experience! And the photograph at the beginning of this post is absolutely beautiful!
@Brian: Hi Brian. Thank you for your comment and for spending time checking out our blog. I am glad that you liked the post and that you like the photo- it is truly sumptuously green isn’t it?!!! (Thank you to MK Media)