Blood & Ink: Wednesday

I’ve written before about my interest in the Japanese tea ceremony, cha dao “the way of tea”, and the life of the chajin “tea people”… 

I was reminded this weekend of a statement I learned from my teachers over at Global Tea Hut…

Cha Dao is 80% Cleaning.

• You clean the tea hut before guests arrive.
• You keep the teaware clean before guests arrive.
• You clean the tea bowls in front of guests during service as a sign of respect.
• You clean the tea hut and teaware after a ceremony.
• Monks of the tea hut have a cleaning ritual every week.

In the middle of being grumpy about spending my peaceful Sunday morning sweeping cobwebs out of the rafters of our house, this came back to me. 

If you want the glory of the tea ceremony, you must embrace the reality of cleaning the house.

For the chajin, cleaning is also a deep way to demonstrate respect. Respect for the guests first and foremost, but also respect for the tea/nature, respect for one’s self, and respect for the community around them.

Inazo Nitobe, legendary scholar and author of the canonical book ‘Bushido: The Soul of Japan’ makes a powerful point about etiquette:

"It means, in other words, that by constant exercise in correct manners, one brings all the parts and faculties of his body into perfect order and into such harmony with itself and its environment as to express the mastery of spirit over the flesh"

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. 

Keep your house clean. Make yourself presentable. It is a source of respect for you, for all who you meet, and for the gift of life itself.

80% of cha dao is cleaning,
Eric Brown