DRINKING the TEA

Text adapted by Shun Kanda

Pick up the tea bowl with your right hand and place it on the palm of your left hand.
Place the fingers and the right hand around it, with the thumb facing you, and
make a small bow for politeness.

With the bowl still resting on the palm of your left hand,
grasp the rim of the bowl with your forefinger and thumb and
turn it ninety degrees clockwise.
Look into the bowl, and slowly, take a sip.

Drink the remaining tea in small sips and
with the last sip, inhale deeply, making an audible sound and finish the tea.

After drinking,
wipe the rim of the bowl lightly with the tissue paper provided from left to right,
as you hold the bowl between forefinger and thumb.

With the bowl still resting on your left palm,
turn it counter-clockwise, returning to its original position
with the thumb at the edge of the bowl and the other four fingers underneath it.

Place the bowl down on the outside of the tatami border and,
with your hands on the mat, gaze at the bowl to appreciate its shape.
The bowl can be picked up with both hands to view it more closely.

Turn the bowl twice with 180-degree rotation so that
the front of the bowl faces the host.

 

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Calendar

This month’s digital calendar brings the elegance of the Sado zen tea ceremony to wherever you are: as your desktop, laptop, or tablet background; or as the background or lock screen on your smartphone. Or print the PDF to hang on your wall.

Right-click the links below to download your June 2017 calendar:
Desktop (printable PDF with clickable links)
Mobile (JPG, works best as lock screen image)

Instructions for changing your background image:
Computer background: PC / Mac
Smartphone background: Android / iOS

Come back each month for a new calendar corresponding to that month’s skyMEMO, to carry another aspect of the POWER of PLACE wherever you go.

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The slow, careful movements of a Japanese tea ceremony are a practiced dance, a window back in time yet continuing forward. Have you experienced this meditative practice?

Are there other traditions in your own culture or in your community where you have similarly experienced this kind of Power of Place, at the small scale of the tiny details here and now?

Share your experiences through the contact page, Facebook, or on social media with the hashtags #teaceremony #powerofplace #skyMEMO #eTOPOS. We will continue adding ideas as they come in.

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Photo credits from above images:
1 / Public domain
2 / “Japan, Kyushu Region, Fukuoka Prefecture, Fukuoka, Girl (14-15) holding cup of green tea” by Stacey Bramhall (Getty Images)
3 / “Green tea” by Night and Day Images (Getty Images)
4 / “Woman holding a large tea cup for the Japanese tea ceremony” by violet-blue (iStock)