Zen & Tea: A Docent Retreat at Green Gulch Farm took place on May 16, 2002 at Green Gulch Farm in Marin County. The following are Deb's notes on a Meiya Wender, Tea Teacher at Green Gulch Farm

There is a saying: "Zen and tea are one."
How does it work for someone who is a Zen Buddhist and also a tea practitioner?

• Place
  
  • In Zen need a safe place to practice, according to old texts this can be a tree to sit under
    
  • Same is true in tea — the tea room is a special environment
    
    • Tea house modeled after Vimalakirti's hut-small, about 10 feet square but expands to be able to hold all the humans and heavenly beings. For more on Vimalakirti, who was lay person, see Robert Thurman, Holy Teaching of Vimalakirti: A Mahayana Scripture.
      
  • In both meditation hall and the tea room there are prescribed ways of entering, exiting, and being in the space to reflect a consciousness of the space as being sacred or separate from the world outside.

   

• Mental Attitude
  
  • Zen not doing it just for oneself, but for benefit of other s
    
  • Same in tea room, always thinking of others, host takes care of guests, guests appreciate host and help each other

   

• Zen Guidelines for ethical conduct and how they manifest in tea
  
  1. Giving in Zen becomes making a bowl of tea
     
  2. Just enough — (a middle way) becomes wabi in tea, which was great contrast from earlier (13-14th century) style of tea as showing off Chinese utensils, eating and drinking wild parties. In wabi tea, gathering takes place in smaller space, less light, emphasis more on relationship of practitioners rather than utensils. Rikyu said a tea hut was good if the roof did not leak. Serving only enough food to stave off hunger.
     Buddhism says suffering is caused by desire, to just be content with what you have is the antidote to this
     
  3. Be present in mind body and speech
     Conversation in tea room should be "enlightened," this often intimidates people into silence. The scroll is often the starting point for conversation, which should not wander to what one had for dinner the night before, nor should certain topics be discussed (money, sons in law, speaking badly of others, etc). Participants should stay focused on each other and not have side conversations.
     
  4. No gaining idea
     —Rather than trying to get something out of it, just let things happen. When recognize "I want something", bring into awareness and then leave it. In tea it is good to continually ask yourself: 'What is my intention in being here?' 'How do I appreciate just this?'

   

• Particular Procedures for Doing Things
  
  • In Zen monastic practice, there are forms. Tea is a lay practice that draws on forms from monastic practice.
    
  • Tea as we know it is not practiced by monks as part of the regular schedule, however, many educated Zen monks have individually studied tea, often taught by wives or sisters of Abbot.
    
  • Song dynasty monastic practice has informed tea practice with the Buddhist concept that how we do these mundane acts is itself our spiritual practice.

   

• Question: What is relationship of tea meal (kaiseki) with Oryoki ("just enough") the meal taken in the Zendo using special bowls and ritual handling of the bowls and utensils?
  

  —In both, everyone eats in unison, in tea, the bowls are opened together creating a wonderful moment of togetherness

• Question: How do tea schools differ?
  
  • Three main schools that grew out of the Sen family in Kyoto:
    
    • Urasenke (literally back of the lot)
      
    • Omotesenke (front part of the lot)
      
    • Mushanokoji (named for a nearby street?)
      
  • Rikyu's grandson Sotan had four sons (three of whom established the schools listed above)
    
  • Differences between these schools seem a matter of just being different for difference' sake. In Urasenke right foot is used to enter tea room; Omotesenke is the left. These differences point out that the forms do not have hidden meanings or symbolism. There are other forms of tea as well.

   

• Question: Isn't Zen about breaking the rules (outside the sutras etc.)? How does this match up with these forms of practice that seem to have so many rules?
  

  Bodhidarma did not say 'do away with sutras completely', but that you had to read them and study them, THEN you could go beyond them. It is the same in tea.

• Question: Were samurai responding to a sense of inferiority with Chinese culture in establishing tea practice?

  Not sure whether they felt inferior or not to China. However, wabi tea actually came from the merchant class not the samurai. Rikyu's family were merchants who had fish warehouses in Sakai (a port city near Osaka that had it own citizen council that ran the city). Because of the wars in this period the merchant class became wealthy. All famous tea people of this time came from the merchant class, which had no status in Japanese system, so tea became an outlet of expression for them. It was they who introduced simple huts (thatched roof style), use of Japanese utensils, some of which were originally meant to be disposable (e.g. bamboo scoops) rather than ivory scoops that were used previously.

• Question: What are good books to find Rikyu's writings and read sutras for beginners?
  
  • Wind in the Pines: Classic Writings of the Way of Tea as a Buddhist Path. Edited by Dennis Hirota. Asian Humanities Press in Fremont. Is a great resource on Rikyu although there is not that much from Rikyu. [Note: this book seems to be available in paperback from Barnes and Noble: http://www.bn.com]
    
  • Vimalakirti Sutra (translation by Robert Thurman see above) is a good one to start with. The main protagonist is a lay person. But best to browse a bookstore and find something you will read when you get it home.

   

• Shingi or rules of practice
  
  • The Eihei Shingi is the book of rules of Chinese monastic life, where tea was served in a formal way, and which served as a basis for tea practice. The forms are a way to lead life without distinction between mundane and sacred. In tea begin tea preparation by cleaning the garden and the tea room yourself, not servants. This is important just like other aspects of tea.
    
  • Shingi based on Confucianism and imperial court forms before they were adopted by monasteries.
    
  • Dogen (13th century) founder of Soto Zen, brought back the Shingi.
    
  • Soto is associated with peasants, based in the countryside.
  • Rinzai Zen associated with warrior class and is closely associated with tea, especially Daitoku.