Water touches tea
releasing its sweet fragrance.
Today I receive
instead of serve. I find joy
in others’ first tastes of art.
This poem is linked to Poets United's Pantry of Poetry and Prose
Liner Notes For This Groove: I remember when I first started
tea lessons. There were so many terms to learn, so many small details of
movement and positioning to keep straight. I may have responded in Spanish a
few times when I was supposed to answer in Japanese. I may have mangled my
Japanese so I told my guests to finish cleaning up for me. But the older more
experienced students were there to give me tips on how to remember things, tricks for polishing my techniques, and just be generally helpful.
So recently I had a lesson where I was the most senior
student. I did advance clean up to make the lessons flow more smoothly, just
the way I remember some of the older students did for me. I lent out some of my
tea things so the newer students could practice with them.
Now I’ve been studying long enough to know I’ve made decent
progress in my personal practice. But being able to help really made me feel
like I was part of the tea school in a way I hadn’t experienced before. I was
part of the process of helping others learn, and that felt really cool. Sen
Rikyu (the founder of the Urasenke Tea School) wrote many famous poems
regarding the art of tea. In his 98th poem he wrote, “Mastery in chanoyu
is a matter of empathy, versatility, and experience. When these three are
present and in balance, the person is capable of true understanding.” I make no claims to mastery but I’m happy
in knowing I’ve made enough advances in all three to feel a new sense of place
in a larger tradition.
 |
| Yummy tea treats. One of the new students was helpful in finding the best angle to take the picture. |
So dear Groovers, what traditions are close to your heart? Talk to me about them in the comments section and do drop a link to
your cyberhome if you want to take the conversation to a deeper place.
Song Choice: Be True to Your School by The Beach Boys
How fascinating that you and others far from Japan train in this ancient art! I can imagine it must be very satisfying to go into something so deeply and with such ritual. I'm a coffee girl myself, so would not have sufficient appreciation of tea to make such a venture worthwhile. And I guess I'm not very traditional at all, now that you ask. I can't think of any that are close to my heart ... except the Pagan ones, but there is room for variation in the details of how those are observed.
ReplyDeleteLOL, oh I definitely have my personal variations of how I honor those rituals, but I've found that once something works for me, I stick with it.
DeleteWhat a glorious poem and wonderful backstory
ReplyDeleteThanks Jae
DeleteThe gentleness in this poem went straight through me. Lovely.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you enjoyed it
DeleteHow wonderful that you are now a mentor (or sensai?) to new students! I'm happy for you!
ReplyDeleteLOL... I'm light years away from being any sort of sensei (and I'd have to really, really think seriously about it before even attempting it), but I like that I can be a bit more of a help to newer students if the situation calls for it.
DeleteI love the journey of going from being apprentice to skilled into master... it's something I would love every one to feel in any subject.
ReplyDeleteTo find something from another culture to plunge into is even more fascinating.
I'm more of an enthusiastic intermediate-beginner. :D But I'm happy to have made it this far.
DeleteYeah, I'm not sure why I'm such a weirdo. LOL, but weird I am, and I love studying tea.
Brilliant line breaks, especially the third and fourth lines. So say we all (I hope).
ReplyDeleteI love so many traditions... My favorite ones are always attached to nature--the changes of the seasons, in particular.
Those are my favorites too. ;) To study tea formally is to also be very aware of natures cycles, so my interests dovetail quite beautifully.
DeleteI depend on my tea first thing every morning to start my engine! Tea making is an art!
ReplyDeleteThat's definitely true for me too. I usually start my days with a solid black tea, but if I have time I will prepare matcha for myself at home.
DeleteThere is a beautiful lesson in your poem for people who tend to always give and serve and have difficulty allowing themselves to receive. You illustrate what is true, that when you receive you allow someone else to taste the art, to grow their mastery, to develop their confidence and self-esteem, to share their love. And the bonus is, you get joy out of it at the same time. Win-win.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy this aspect of the poem came through.
DeleteBeautiful image of the water touching the tea. I've never heard it described that way before.
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the cool things about Japanese tea ceremony. We use powdered tea leaves to prepare tea. As you may expect, it's quite an intense taste! There are a lot of sensory aspects to performing the ceremony beyond the drinking of the tea. There's the sound of water pouring, the feel of the bowl. And when you first add water to the powered leaves, there's usually a scent that's released that gives you almost a tease of the taste to come. That moment is one of my favorites in the process.
DeleteI adore this poem and your passion regarding the art of tea!!❤️❤️
ReplyDeleteLOL, I get pretty hyped about my tea. :D
DeleteThis was a lovely read … fascinating, really … and a wonderful lesson-learned to apply to so many aspects of life.
ReplyDeleteSadly, most traditions that I enjoy and have shared with others are rooted in holidays … and this has got me thinking that that is a rather unfortunate omission. Actually there is one that I just thought of. My Mom was a fudge maker. She often made fudge of an evening, as a surprise for us. She made fudge for our birthday parties and packed it in candy cups in little boxes that our friends would decorate and take home. For one of my daughter's birthdays, I taught the girls how to make fudge and sent them home with the recipe. I've been told that all those girls continue to make fudge to this day. My daughter has taught many of her friends to make fudge over the years … and so it goes. It's a very cool treat because it does require a bit of a knack to set just-so and most people don't make it … so - yes - it has been a lot of fun, over the years, teaching others how to make this 'sweet' gift.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. It does feel a little like tea ceremony to me in that there's this idea of offering someone hospitality/ comfort in the preparation of something tasty. That's so cool that the fudge making continues on.
DeleteI've learned quite bit from your words, Rommy. I feel like such a neophyte regarding tea. Thank you for opening my eyes and imagining the sights, sounds and smells.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad I am able to share my love of tea with others.
Deleteempathy, versatility, and experience - that is a beautiful blend, indeed!
ReplyDeleteOne of the best blends ever
DeleteI drink strong black sweet tea, 2 bags in the first cup and two more in the second cup--then I drink a lighter black in the afternoon or an herbal--in terms of practices, I sing classical music, opera mostly, so I practice almost every day--there is a ritual sense to it I think--a sense of tuning into your breath, bodily sensations, and then to the music and artistry as the practice unfolds--discovering what the voice needs every day--I loved your piece and the liner notes!
ReplyDeleteOh wow! I took a semester of operatic voice back in college, and it was a challenge. While I'm not terrible at karaoke night, I have so much respect for people who devote themselves to cultivating their voice. I love your description of being in tune to what your voice needs to be its best.
DeleteHow patient you are to thoroughly immerse yourself in the art of tea making. Not for me though as I need a cup of tea quickly first thing in the morning when I wake up and without ceremony the teabag in quickly immersed in boiling water and I sip it promptly to wake up and check I amm still alive!
ReplyDeleteLOL, well morning tea has more of the feel of triage rather then a gentle feeling harmonizing myself with the universe that Japanese tea ceremony does. But I need that boost of rocket fuel to make sure I'm still among the living too. :D
Delete