Author’s note: This is an article that was published in my journal, The Empty Vessel. It is a good description of a modern tea ceremony at a Taoist mountain temple and Robert has been kind enough to let me reprint it here. For more information about Robert and his work see the author’s info at the end of the book.

A Taoist Tea Ceremony
Robert Santee

Qing Cheng Shan (Green City Mountain) is a famous Taoist mountain located outside of Cheng Du in Sichuan province. After taking a cable car up the mountain, we hiked past Jian Fu Gong (The Palace of Establishing Happiness), Shang Qing Gong (The Palace of Highest Purity) and arrived at Tian Shi Dong (the Cave of the Heavenly Teachers/Celestial Masters). Tian Shi Dong actually incorporates a cave, in the side of the mountain, as part of the temple complex. Legend has it that Zhang Tao Ling (2nd century CE), the founder of the first organized Taoist religion, Tian Shi Taoism, preached in this mountain and threw demons into its gorges.

After eating a Taoist vegetarian meal, a meal that was so far beyond anything that I had ever eaten in my life that I felt as if I was actually in a Taoist heaven, and sipping on Taoist elixir, Kiwi wine, we entered a hall to partake in a Taoist tea ceremony.

We all sat down, on cushions, at individual, low to the ground, tables. On each of the tables was a basin of water on a small mat, a thermos of hot water, a cloth on a small stand, a small tea cup, and a vertical tea cup with a saucer and a lid. In the front center of the room, on the wall, was a painting of the character Tao. On the left front of the room was an incense burner. On the right front of the room was a zheng (Chinese zither), also referred to as a guzheng, resting on a stand. On the left side of the room on the wall were five panels. On each of the panels were engraved characters and an engraving of an individual partaking in the five steps of the Taoist tea ceremony. The characters described the essence of the practice of drinking tea. On the ceiling, in various locations, one could see the Taiji symbol (yin and yang) with the ba gua (eight trigrams) circling around it.

The Taoist tea master sat in front of the room under the painting of the character Tao. A Taoist assistant, a male, was responsible for the burning of the incense while a Taoist musician, a female, prepared to play the zheng. Yin and Yang. The incense was lit, the music began and the Taoist tea master instructed the participants to wash their hands and face with the water in the basin and to dry off with the cloth. Thus, the external body was cleansed. The participants were then instructed to sit up straight, breath deeply and begin meditating. After a few moments the participants were instructed to pour some hot water, from the thermos, into the small tea cup and then drink it. Thus, the internal body was cleansed.

The participants were then instructed to remove the lid from the vertical tea cup. After looking at and smelling the dry tea, hot water from the thermos was poured into the cup. After watching the interaction between the tea and the hot water, noting the smell and the color change of the water, we were instructed to replace the lid. The participants then returned to their meditation. After a few minutes, the tea master instructed the participants to pick up the vertical tea cup by the saucer, tilt the lid back, note the color and smell, and take one sip. The lid was then placed back over the top of the vertical tea cup, and the saucer with the vertical tea cup and lid was placed back on the table. The participants were then instructed to return to their meditation. This procedure was repeated two more times with the cup being emptied with the final sip. The process of continual change was noted. The participants returned to their meditation. The tea master then said a few words and closed the tea ceremony.

This Taoist tea ceremony integrated all of the senses and the mind into the process of drinking tea in the here and now. The continually changing sounds of the zheng, the water pouring into the tea cups, the parts of the vertical tea cup contacting each other, the saucer, the tea cup and the thermos touching the table, and the voice of the tea master centered one’s very being. The continually changing smell of the incense and then the tea brought the participant into the here and now. The taste buds were tantalized by the hot water and the ever changing tea water. The sense of touch was expanded by the water touching the skin, the coarseness of the cloth, the smoothness of the tea cups, the body sitting on the cushion and the hands touching the body itself. To be able watch this entire dance before your eyes was a pleasure indeed. Yet, amongst the entire changing process, stillness permeated the hall.

The five panels on the wall in the tea hall, which explain the essence of drinking tea, each consists of 1) a four character phrase, describing a step in the tea ceremony, on the top of the panel and 2) a nine character phrase, explaining the step in the tea ceremony, on the bottom of the panel. In between the characters, is an engraving of an individual partaking in the tea ceremony. My translation/interpretation of the two sections of each of the panels follows

Panel 1
The participant, sitting on a cushion, is shown washing his hands in a basin while an attendant stands by with a cloth for drying.
Fragrant/incense water cleans the hands.
The water does not depend upon fragrance/incense, it depends upon cleansing.

Panel II
The participant, sitting on a cushion, is shown placing a lit stick of incense into an incense burner.
Continuously burn the fragrance/incense of the mind/heart.
The fragrance/incense does not depend upon form, it depends on the mind/heart.

Panel III
The participant, sitting on a cushion, is shown meditating.
Wash away the desires/dust of the mind/heart.
The mind/heart does not depend upon understanding, it depends upon washing.

Panel IV
The participant, sitting on a cushion, is shown meditating
Sit in forgetfulness (zuo wang) maintaining (shou) stillness (jing).
Stillness does not depend upon circumstances, it depends upon forgetting (wang).

Panel V
The participant, sitting on a cushion, is shown looking into the tea cup while holding the lid in his right hand and cradling the saucer with the tea cup in his left hand.
The three powers (heaven, earth and people) are united into one.
Heaven does not depend upon its vastness, it depends upon people.

To truly drink tea, in fact to really interact with any aspect of life, requires the individual to cleanse oneself, both internally and externally, and still one’s mind/heart. To still one’s mind/heart, however, does not mean to change one’s environment or to run away from the challenges of life. You cannot still your mind/heart by simply changing your circumstances. To still your mind/heart you must practice sitting in forgetfulness (zuo wang). To still one’s mind/heart is to forget the self-imposed and society imposed restrictions and judgments that fragment us from the process of Tao. It is to forget the superficiality, the fragrance which pollutes the mind/heart and drives its desires. When we are no longer fragmented, polluted and driven by contrived desires, heaven, earth and people are united into one process. At this point, we are sincerely interacting through all of our senses and mind with our environment and the people who populate it. This interaction is a continual process known as Tao.