The Tao in a Cup

I am a lover of all things tea-related. Not only growing and blending and drinking tea, but in what is known as The Tea Life. Or as the ancient tea masters called it, The Way of Tea. There aren’t really words to fully describe what The Way of Tea is. It could perhaps be called a path of discovery – feeling nature’s incredible healing potential and our own body’s intelligence. But The Way of Tea is beyond physical. Aaron Fisher, in his book The Way of Tea, refers to it as the Tao in a cup.

In a cup of tea, the four basic elements combine. The plant matter of Earth is steeped in Water and Fire, and in the rising steam of the Air element, our spirit is drawn upwards. The world of earth and sky merges with the world of the human body and psyche. We catch a glimpse of the ways the universe without mirrors the universe within. In the pause of a daily tea ritual, we remember that there is more to us than this; there’s a reality beyond the confines of this dimension. It’s the same something more that whispers to us in dreams, in silence, in music, in paintings, and in stories. As Wordsworth wrote, our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting, and our life’s Star had elsewhere its setting.

The Seven Bowls of Tea

The first cup moistens the throat;
The second shatters all feelings of solitude;
The third cup purifies the digestion,
reopening the five thousand volumes I’ve studied
and bringing them to mind fresh;
The fourth induces perspiration, evaporating
all of life’s trials and tribulations;
With the fifth cup, the body sharpens, crisp;
And the sixth cup is the first step
on the road to enlightenment;
The seventh cup sits steaming –
it needn’t be drunk, as one is lifted
to the abode of the immortals.

Lu Tong

If you care to read more on The Tea Life, check out some of the links below!

Also, once a month, I send out a letter with any latest poetry pieces or stories, and any works of art I’ve found that have nourished my mind and soul. The subscription link for that letter is at the bottom of the page. Please subscribe if you’d like to keep in touch!

Here’s to The Tea Life. Cheers!

A Tea Blending Life… Tea has a way of softening us, making us vulnerable and receptive, writes Frank Hadley Murphy in The Spirit of Tea. If we take the time and continue to sit quietly in our chairs, savoring the taste and the moment, we may remember not only where we mislaid our spectacles but also where we have mislaid our dreams.
Wherein a Coffee Addict Falls Into a Teacup… I used to be a coffee addict. I drank it black, I drank it often, and the stronger the better. Coffee fueled the world, I said. Coffee cafes were glamorous and energetic. And tearooms? Well, they were silent and proper, crowded with florals and china teacups with fragile handles, practically mandating I break something. But the elixir of tea had a surprise in store for me…


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