Zen and Tea

Japanese tradition says that Zen and tea share one taste, chazen ichimi (茶禅一味). The way of tea, chadō, grew out of Zen monasteries, and its masters trained in Zen. The simplicity of the tea room, the attention given to each movement and the scroll in the alcove all carry the spirit of Zen into a shared bowl of tea.

From monastery to tea room

  • Eisai. The founder of Rinzai Zen brought tea seeds from China and wrote a treatise on tea for health in 1211, recommending it to the shogun.
  • Monastic tea. Zen monasteries used powdered tea to stay alert in meditation and served it in formal rites, offering it before images of the founder.
  • Murata Jukō. In the fifteenth century, Jukō, who studied Zen with Ikkyū, turned away from lavish Chinese tea gatherings towards a small, quiet room and humble utensils.
  • Takeno Jōō and Sen no Rikyū. Jōō deepened the aesthetic of wabi, quiet austerity, and his student Rikyū, who trained at Daitokuji, perfected it in the sixteenth century.

Zen in the tea room

  • The scroll. A line of calligraphy by a Zen priest in the alcove sets the theme of the gathering.
  • The bowl. Rough, asymmetrical tea bowls such as Raku embody the beauty of imperfection.
  • The moment. Ichigo ichie, one time, one meeting: each gathering is unrepeatable, to be met with full attention.

Collecting tea and Zen

Tea utensils with Zen associations, such as tea scoops carved and named by Zen priests, scrolls by Daitokuji abbots and bowls with poetic names given by masters, are the heart of the tea collector's world. See Glossary of Tea Utensils.

In the collection

Read Tea Utensils: Caddies, Scoops and the Tea Room and browse hanging scrolls. Our collector concierge can search Japan for tea utensils and calligraphy.

See also

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