Way of Tea: Health, Harmony, and Inner Calm

A Brief Introduction

Though there is information flowing through the lines you will read in this story, I write not to add to a growing list of scholarly facts on tea. I instead want to approach my reflections on tea—its history, development and preparation over time—from an intuitive perspective; that is, to inspire the heart not the mind. So much of what tea is about, from ancient to modern, water to leaves to liquor, takes place deep inside us where words can never hope to reach. Therefore, allow me, my friend, to breathe a bit of life—a bit of mythology—back into the story of tea, that it have the transcendent power it once had.

I have tried my best to use what knowledge I have of tea history, art, culture and preparation to paint a more spiritual landscape, based not on the logical, data-oriented criteria that one evaluates a scholarly book, but instead on the values that define art—the rules of the heart, mine to yours. Please don’t travel with me in intellect alone. Allow the coming chapters to be what any bit of ink, carefully drawn or f lung with artistic abandon, might be: a mere suggestion of the Tao of Tea, not a statement of fact. The best stories are performed in the brewing of tea—sipped stanzas that the minstrel but suggests, leaving us to imagine the rest.

CHAPTER ONE

The Tao of Tea

The gently lucent Tao, mysterious and transcendent beyond all words and thoughts—elegant and refined, magical and dreamy; and yet practical, flowing through the earth like the crystal waters of Chinese mountains, dancing down the scroll painting in fluid twists, turns and even leaps. And following the ancient silk scroll, saffroned with age, down past the wash of sky, mythically cyan, past the dancing mountains and waters that seem to fade in and out from the background, merging into misty nothingness—down to the foreground where a tiny bamboo hut sits in a grove, lending shade to the bearded sage there. Though we must squint to find him, being seemingly insignificant compared to the grandeur around him, we can nevertheless tell that there is more to his stillness than he’s letting on, and the slight flick of the brush that represents his eyes seems to allude to the emptiness that surrounds the whole composition.

It is very difficult to know where to even begin a discussion on something as elusive as the Tao. We all too often get caught up in the explanation of spiritual ideals, forgetting at once that the words and concepts referring to them are not really the principle itself; and sometimes our intellects can even get in the way of our experience. The first line of the most important book on the Tao is, after all, an admonishment that, The Tao that can be spoken, is not the Eternal Tao. And if we are to follow in the footsteps of such sages as lived these words in ancient times, all much greater than I, we will of course have to begin our understanding of the Tao by similarly paying homage to the fact that these words are but stones thrown at the stars—never actually coming close to that which they hope to inspire. It is my understanding that even the sages that are attributed as being the first to stroke these teachings onto paper or carve them into wood and stone were merely offering calligraphic suggestions of the Tao, rather than statements.

The vast and ineffable Tao is the Way all ways travel; the Principal and Virtue all principles and virtues arise from and proceed into, and the Truth that underlies all truths. In a more limited sense, Tao is the Way people may live in harmony with that One; or even more narrowly, the traditional Chinese understanding of Nature and man’s place in it.

Due to the basic understanding, since ancient times, that Nature’s Way follows the same guidelines no matter what level of understanding or aim one has, the Tao has throughout time been a map for myriad paths. The ancient sages of China believed that it didn’t matter how worldly or spiritual one’s aspiration, the Way to achieve goals was the same. Whether designing and ruling an empire or simply crossing a stream, the most skillful method wouldn’t change. It is therefore no surprise to find that even as Taoism has found its way into the West, we have books on everything from the Tao of Business to the transcendent Tao of the early mountain mystics, and all the poetry between. Neither the Tao as a philosophy, nor the vast Tao that is the universe, have any objection to this; for the celebration and participation in the particular is also the Universal. Finding the vast Tao in the humming of our kettle, that we perhaps just set aside to pick up this book, is to see that this crossroad of time and space is also a part of Eternity. And as we glide downwards towards the landscape of the winding path that is Taoism, far beneath thoughts such as these, we shouldn’t forget the feeling of open freedom we had while soaring on these loftier currents.

Taoism

Around 100 BCE the combined understanding that we now call Taoism began seeking its own roots, attributing its foundation to three great teachers and their texts: Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching, Lieh Tzu, and Chuang Tzu, whose books were named after them. At that time, however, these ideas weren’t thought of as any kind of ism. They were allusions of the Way, the Tao, in its ultimate sense and as a path. In none of them do we find any kind of practical beliefs, methods of worship, prayer—nor any priests or clergy. There is no dress, ornamentation or any other kind of organization to the ideas these masters expressed, often so paradoxical and contradictory by nature. The Tao, as such, wasn’t an organized religion, or even philosophy. It was but a loose method for interpreting the universe, Nature and the Road man may follow to live in harmony with it; and to these great mystics this was something experiential, beyond words or even the logic that they conceptualize.

Though these three teachers were considered the foundation of Taoism in its written, popular sense, the beginnings of the philosophy and practice have much deeper roots, and actually these texts, especially the Chuang Tzu, suggest that the Way was already ancient during their time. The earliest teachings are often attributed to the mythical figure of the Huang Di or Yellow Emperor whose legendary reign lasted a century, from 2697 to 2597 BCE. All such record of his teachings has been lost to the brush strokes of history, and his person submerged in folk religion, deified as a god of the Jade Emperor’s Palace. Whether there is an actual, historical figure behind the magnified and exaggerated stories of the Yellow Emperor isn’t as important, however, as the suggestion that these beliefs, meditations, and ways of thinking date back to such great antiquity, to the very dawn of civilization itself.

To pay tribute to the two most important figures in early Taoist thought, Chinese scholars have often referred to the early Tao teachings, as well as the sages that followed the Way, as Huang Lao, honoring the Yellow Emperor and Lao Tzu. For many centuries the Huang Lao would be handed down quietly in forest hermitages, escaping the gaze of future generations who, curious as we may be, are forbidden to see beyond the veil of such silent, unutterable truths less we cultivate them in our own breasts. Consequently, for all practical purposes our intellectual understanding of Taoist thought must begin with the three teachers Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, and Lieh Tzu and the texts that they have left us.

The modern scholar relies so heavily on their words not because they are really the founders of this thought, though they were attributed to be, but because their texts are all that remains of Taoism’s earliest days, other than inconsequential remarks here and there, folklore and art which but corroborate that the Taoist way of life dates back much further than we could imagine. Nor should we assume that Taoist thought, philosophy, or scholarship ended with them, for there were many equally great masters highlighting each age of antiquity, even into modern times. Similarly, there are a few other, lesser known texts dating from around the same age as these three masterpieces, like the Huai Nan Tzu or the Wen Tzu for example, though exploring them would take us too far afield.

Some scholars today believe that Lao Tzu and Lieh Tzu weren’t historical figures, or at least weren’t responsible for writing the texts that bear their names. Most likely, these great books were some kind of collective wisdom passed down from mendicant teachers to their students, and these mythic figures merely the ideal human expression of an enlightened master. In the book Historical Records, written by one Hsu Ma Chien sometime in the first century BCE, the author declares that he was unable to find any historical evidence or information about either Lao Tzu or Lieh Tzu, though he apparently did track down some facts about the person of Chuang Tzu. This doesn’t prove, however, that they weren’t actual people either. In fact, many experts have argued that the consistency of style within the Tao Te Ching suggests a single author.

Any kind of scholarly, historical approach to these early works is further complicated by the possibility that material was added to them over the centuries; and like so many other texts of the ancient world, Chinese intellectuals have spent the millennia since arguing about which parts were scribed by these saints themselves, which came later and by who at what time. As such, I think the point of the teachings is lost—in the court of Wisdom, provenance is moot.

Many of these scriptures are also completely anachronistic, often illogical, disorderly and, especially in the Chuang Tzu, sometimes blatantly absurd. To these masters, the world wasn’t measurable. It was not to be analyzed—especially in the sense that the sum total of all knowledge (Tao) is by definition unknowable. They believed that the Ultimate Truth could only be approached experientially, and challenge us to expand our ideas of the world and open our minds to new and greater forms of consciousness. Afraid of speaking in half-truths that would then be upheld by novice disciples, they joined the long list of saints and sages across the world known for acting and speaking like fools, yet somehow ennobling and enlightening their listeners.

In trying to be the good author and start with a more scholarly introduction to the Tao, we fumble around with names and dates, and like so much water, the Tao slips through our hands as soon as we try to wrap our minds, our thoughts, words, or our pens around it. The Tao Te Ching says (or perhaps unsays all we could say):

"Silent and endless,

Ever alone and permanent,

Yet pervading all and everything without fail,

It may be regarded as the Mother of the world.

I know not its name,

So I call it ‘Tao.’

Other times, in the absence of a better term,

I call it ‘The Vast.’"

—LAO TZU, TAO TE CHING, Verse 25

In essence, we are being taught to grope out for our understanding of the Tao not with a historical knowledge, like this, but with a kind of pre-logical, absurd intuition—a meditative stillness.

The story of the Tao and the changes it has wrought in Chinese art, culture, literature, society, and even mundane thought would be a library in the telling. Over time, Taoism would gather to it all kinds of rights, rituals, practices, and beliefs, changing as it meandered through different regions of China and later Japan and other parts of Asia as well, though none of it would ever stick with enough tenacity to form any kind of cohesive system of thought, practice, or life. Even the idea of the Tao was too elusive and ephemeral, and as such any practice meant to contain it like trying to catch the wind. Lao Tzu’s poetic warning that we hush in its presence wasn’t just a witty couplet; he was serious… And yet the shallower and deeper interpretations of the Tao both have brought beauty and an elegant refinement to the aesthetics and art of China, inspiring tremendous growth in painting, calligraphy, poetry, and even the art of living as expressed in the tea ceremony.

From the Naturalist poets to the legends and mythology of the Taoist immortals, the scripture to the morality and society of the times, even the ideas and philosophy of Taoism—though not the Way—would guide and move the history of China, beginning in earnest from the Qin Dynasty that united the several Warring States, and from which we get the name China itself. There are no less than 5,400 texts that can be called Classical books on Taoism—let alone modern commentaries—and it would take a lifetime to sift through even the most important of their teachings. Though exploring such vast halls would be an interesting historical quest, the deeper, experiential aspects of the Tao are more central to the idea of using tea as a Way. The real answers are in the cup anyway.

Let us then focus on the bamboo hut and tea-drinkers in the foreground of the huge unrolled scroll that is the Tao, perhaps remaining aware that above them is a great and glorious mountain chain that might be thought of as Taoism and its influence on the history and evolution of China; while still above and beyond that lays the veiled and thinning wash of blue, slowly cascading off the edge of the scroll to emptiness, which might represent the Tao itself, unspeakable and infinite.

The Grain Flowing Through the Wood

The wind rolled the trees down and up the valleys in broad combers, crashing against the distant beach of snow-clad giants. Like water it flowed—each branch a tiny eddy in the greater ocean of green. And gathering force, one perfect cyan leaf decided to leave its home, breaking free and for a few moments swirling up and down on the wind. At the climax of one turn, the wind whispered its parting and traveled on, leaving the small leaf to rock back and forth to a soft landing in the river’s hands. The current carried the smiling leaf forward, swirling round rocks, over small falls, bobbing below the surface and then coming up again in a loose and fey dance—the river providing the beat. Its edges curled in rapture as it spun around one dizzy turn after another, rolling over and coming to a stop against the old man’s leg, who sat twiddling his worn and cracked feet in the mud. He stroked his long beard and reached down to gently pick it up. What’s this? he said, smiling back at the leaf. A quite unexpected visit this is, Master.

We often forget that living amongst all our amazing creations, we are still the most marvelous of all: the computer is an astounding tool, capable of so much already and with the potential for more, but does it compare to the brain? Governments and large corporations are all organized in bafflingly complex systems, demonstrating our ability to stratify and cooperate; but can any of it compare to the infinitude of processes working in harmony to sustain each of our living bodies at this very moment? And expanding outward to the Natural laws that govern our Earth, and then the turning of the galaxies, one gets lost in awe, admiring the Way it all unfolds each moment of each day, and without any effort.

This natural course through which all things move—the entirety of all the eddies in this great current we call a Universe—is what the ancients called the Way (Tao). As we have done here, they often compared it to a Watercourse Way, using metaphors of rivers, lakes, and oceans to characterize the great movement of the universe. Like water, all events have a natural, innate predisposition to flow in a particular direction, including the lives of people. The Tao, then, is also the Way that a person achieves an accord with that river, for whether we fight the current or not, it carries us forward nonetheless. And yet, the man who turns about and acts in concordance with the river’s weight, acts with all its tremendous power surging through whatever he does. Thus, the Tao represents the ineffable, indescribable totality of the river—the movement of the entire cosmos itself—and also the way that one living being, on one small planet, might find a graceful accord with each step in its dance: as the Tao leads, we follow.

Based on these Taoist principles, the Chinese developed an aesthetic in all their arts that represented a creativity flowing in conjunction with the forces of Nature. This principle is called Li, originally referring to the grain in wood or jade. Li is the fluid motion of the brush that creates unannounced calligraphy, beautiful as much for the graceful dance of the characters themselves as for their meaning; the landscape paintings that predate anything of the kind in the West, often conveying the movement of the mountains and rivers over time; and even the polished stones scholars all have on their writing tables; or perhaps the wonderful array of bamboo, stone and, most importantly, natural wood tea tables. And sipping this cup, I look down at my table and wonder what could be more beautiful than the natural grains within a piece of wood? Such beauty arises out of the natural principles and movements of the growth of the tree, based as much on the sun, rain, soil—Earth and Heaven—as they were on the inner nature of the tree itself. Being in accord with the flowing watercourse of the Tao invariably leads to actions that are Li.

The movements of the wind are guided by similarly open and respondent principles, twisting and turning against and with anything it meets, and so refinement and beauty were also often characterized as being feng liu, literally flowing with the wind. As the wind responds to the subtlest gesture, so must the follower of the Tao; and as the wind gathers greater forces and currents to it and channels them into its own movements, so must we learn to skillfully harness energy—personally and as a society.

As a force the Tao is the principle field of Nature, the very universe as the sum total of all existence, as well as the void of space in which it rests; but as the Way it is the intentional and skillful following of the current or grain of nature, as we live through it. In that way, humanity is viewed as growing out of the earth, which in turn grew out of the universe, and we are an integral part of its movement, rather than an alien species visiting here from another plane—for even if such a plane existed, it would still be within the universe as seen as the totality of all Reality, and therefore still within the Tao.

Unfortunately, the scientific view of the world has for the last two centuries stressed the idea that the world is foreign to us, and that the best attitude to have towards it is one of detachment, cold and objective. But as the word itself implies, a universe of mere objects is objectionable, Alan Watts tells us with a Taoist whit beyond my own. And we are coming more and more to realize that the more we view the world in this way, the more it leads to a philosophy of dominance and conversion of Nature, attempting to force her to do our bidding and bend her will to ours. Such a distinction between the subject and object, however, is illusory since we are as much a part of the nature of this world as any mountain, stream, plant, or animal. Whatever we do to it, we also do onto ourselves. And even as our sciences progress into deeper and more elemental studies of the ways the universe operates on a fundamental level, we find ourselves returning to these ancient conclusions: that processes cannot be isolated from each other in actuality, only in the minds of the people observing them; and that all phenomena are deeply and integrally connected to all others.

Unfortunately, it’s easy for us to discard such ancient philosophy as outlandish, when actually nothing could be more practical than learning to go with the flow, cut with the grain, and more importantly find the natural Tao of each thing we use as well as our own natural course in life. Seeing all of Nature as sacred, and searching out the Tao of all the ten thousand things might just be the remedy for so many of our personal, and, by extension, greater social and environmental problems.

After all, every particle of every atom in all of us came from the matter of this universe. We grew out of it as naturally as the grains grew in the table on which I brew my tea. Isn’t this the very essence of evolution? And as we face more and more environmental and social problems that are founded in our own disavowal of our part in Nature, we come to understand that we need technology and lifeways that flow with the forces of nature, rather than against them, or forcing them to bend in ways they have no propensity to go. Similarly, on a personal level, we cannot live happy, productive lives if we don’t find our own inner current and learn to head its wisdom, as well as a way to be in accord with the greater movements of the people and world around us. To once more quote the Western Taoist who best expressed these sentiments in English, As human beings have to make a gamble of trusting one another in order to have any kind of workable community, we must also take the risk of trimming our sails to the winds of Nature. For our ‘selves’ are inseparable from this kind of universe, and there is nowhere else to be.

Harmony and the Way of Tea

While it is intriguing to explore the history, culture, and some of the philosophy of the Tao, however briefly, thousands of books haven’t ever grasped it, and the best we can do is apply it to the Leaf we adore. In relation to my personal understandings and interpretations of the Tao—which we all should form individually as we walk the Way—as well as in its relationship to tea, I think that it’s important for me to stress repeatedly that the Tao doesn’t really have anything to do with any kind of ism, as in "Taoism. To me drinking tea with Tao is relevant to all spiritual practices, though as you’ll soon see, it has shared an especially close bond with the teachings of the Far East. And even for those who practice nothing specific, the quietness and harmony in tea is there regardless of what insights are derived from it. A very famous ancient Taoist poem says there are three-thousand six-hundred gates to the Way, and who are we to say that any method is not the Mysterious and Shadowy Portal" that leads to the Ultimate?

I have briefly highlighted some of the background of the Tao as