Aug 8, 2007

Haven’t you learned how to make tea yet?

I have friends who have asked me if I have completed my study of tea. They also ask if I am a tea master yet. I laugh and tell them that chado is a lifetime study and I will always be a student.

Little did I know when I took my first 10 weeks of tea ceremony class that I would be hooked for life. Even after 10 years of study, I was only hungry for more. My husband says that it ceased to be a hobby with me and instead became a lifestyle.

Chado encompasses so many aspects of Japanese culture: flower arranging, calligraphy, gardening, cooking, architecture, ceramics, Zen, history, literature – any one of which could be a lifetime study, so I need several lifetimes to explore them all, and then perhaps several more before I could call myself a master.

The former grand tea master’s wife would come to talk with us when I studied in Kyoto. She made a statement that describes what happened to me, “Aren’t we the lucky ones, those of us whose hearts were stolen away by tea?”

2 comments:

  1. Yes, you are the lucky ones. Those with such a passion and interest are very lucky. Always more to know, to discover. Isn't that the meaning of happiness?

    Judith

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  2. And I am lucky to have met you. Thank you so much for stopping by and making comments. It inspires me to know that someone is reading these entries.

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