Japanese Tea Ceremony
•What is it? •What is done during it? •Why?
Japanese Tea Ceremony
• Drink green tea from tea bowl as ritual. • This everyday activity is grounded in spiritual discipline from Buddhism. • “Every act of daily life is a potential act that could lead to Enlightenment.
Japanese Tea Ceremony
• Tea sharpens mental and physical acuteness and fosters physical and spiritual health. • Upon entering the ceremony, a spirit of gentleness presides and distinction between self and others vanishes. • It teaches respect, modesty, discipline, peace, purity, and tranpuility.
Japanese Tea Ceremony
Japanese Tea Bowls
•Describe what you see. •What do they have in common?
Japanese Tea Bowls
• Sabi- lone beauty • Wabi- simple,
unpretentious
beauty
Imperfect, irregular beauty Austere, stark beauty
Japanese Tea Bowls
Simple, unpretentious beauty How would you feel if everything you owned was taken away and you lived the rest of your life in poverty? Can you think of anyone who chooses to live in poverty?
Japanese Tea Bowls
Imperfect, irregular beauty
The incomplete is more beautiful than the perfect
Japanese Tea Bowls
Austere, stark beauty
Beauty in age and experience Cold and withered beauty
Japanese Tea Bowls
To those who wait Only for flowers, Show them a spring Of grass amid the snow In a mountain village. By Fujiwara no Letaka
Japanese Tea Bowl Criticism