Tea ceremony
The tea ceremony, or chanoyu, is an aesthetic pastime
unique to Japan
that features the serving and drinking of macha, a
powdered green tea.
Though tea had been introduced into Japan from China
around the
eighth century, matcha did not reach the country until
the end of the
twelfth century. The practice of holding social
gatherings to drink matcha
spread among the upper class from about the fourteenth
century.
Gradually one of the main purposes of these
gatherings, which took place
in a shoin (study), became the appreciation of
paintings and crafts from
China in a serene atmosphere.
Under the influence of the formalities and manners
that regulated the
daily life of the samurai, who were then the dominant
class in Japanese
society, there developed certain rules and procedures
that the participants
in these tea parties were required to follow. This was
the origin of the
tea
ceremony. The form of chanoyu that is practiced today
was established in
the second half of the sixteenth century, during the
Momoyama period,
by the tea master Sen no Rikyu.
Chanoyu involves more than merely enjoying a cup of
tea in a stylized
manner. The ceremony developed under the influence of
Zen Buddhism,
the aim of which is, in simple terms, to purify the
soul by becoming one
with nature. The true spirit of the tea ceremony has
been described by
such terms as calmness, rusticity, gracefulness, and
the "aestheticism of
austere simplicity and refined poverty." The strict
canons of chanoyu
etiquette, which at first glance may appear to be
burdensome and
meticulous, are in fact carefully calculated to
achieve the highest
possible
economy of movement. When performed by an experienced
master, they
are a delight to watch.
Chanoyu has played an important role in the artistic
life ofthe Japanese
people. As an aesthetic pursuit, the tea ceremony
involves the apprecia-
tion of the room in which it is held, the garden
attached to the room,
the utensils used in serving the tea, and the decor of
the setting, such
as a hanging scroll or a flower arrangement. Japanese
architecture, land-
scape gardening, ceramics, and flower arranging all
owe a great deal to
the tea ceremony. It was the spirit of chanoyu,
representing the beauty
of studied simplicity and harmony with nature, that
molded the basis
of these traditional forms of Japanese culture.
Moreover, the kind of
formalities observed in the tea ceremony have
influenced the develop-
ment of the manners of the Japanese in a fundamental
way.
After the death of Sen no Rikyu in 1591, his teachings
were handed
down from generation to generation by his descendants
and disciples.
Different schools were established and have continued
to be active to the
present day. Among them, the Urasenke School is the
most active and has
the largest following. These schools differ from one
another in the details
of their rules, but they maintain the essence of the
ceremony that the
great master developed. This essence has continued to
the present day
unchallenged, and respect for the founder is one
element that all schools
possess in common.
.
Panyaro - the Korean Way of Tea
In Japan, the Way of Tea has become a very rigidly
codified Tea Ceremony of immense complexity.
Commercial institutes instruct housewives in each
minute gesture at great expense, and the spontaneity
of simple human companionship that the samurai valued
in the ceremony is submerged under layers of
ritualism. In Korea this has not happened.
Koreans feel that it is very important to remain
natural while drinking tea together. At first the
different steps may seem complicated, but it does not
take long to master them and for the drinking of tea,
alone or with others, to become a part of life. There
is no end to the list of benefits attaching to the
drinking of green tea. It is good for you in almost
every way, unless you drink too much of it on an empty
stomach, when it can be irritating.
Yet more than its health benefits, there is the
dimension related to the Spirit of Tea, a
quasi-religious dimension typified by the name of the
tea made by Chae Won-hwa:Panya-ro, the 'Dew of
Enlightening Wisdom'. In Korea, the tea revival
initiated by the Venerable Hyo Dang has had a great
impact. The Venerable Hyo Dang, Ch'oi Pom-sul, might
be considered to be "the Ch'o Ui of the 20th century,"
for he wrote the first full length study of tea to be
published in modern Korea and taught many people about
the various aspects of tea. He was a remarkable man:
active in the Independence Movement, he founded
several schools and a university after 1945, as well
as being the teacher of virtually all the leading
figures in the modern Korean tea revival. There are
now tea rooms in most cities and even quite small
towns, there are innumerable tea study groups and
research centres, several reviews exist consecrated
entirely to the various aspects of tea culture and the
Way of Tea.
There are a number of very famous tea masters, who
give regular lectures. One of the most important of
these is Chae Won-hwa. She studied history at Yonsei
University and soon became interested in the history
of Korean thought. It was while she was preparing her
final graduation thesis that she first met the
Venerable Hyo Dang. In the ten years that followed she
learned from him every detail of the Way of Tea as
well as the method of making the tea he called Panyaro
(The Dew of Wisdom).
After his death in 1979 she remained as his recognized
successor. In 1981 she launched a study- association
devoted to the Panyaro Way of Tea with a small number
of like-minded associates. In 1983, the Panyaro
Institute for the Promotion of the Way of Tea (see
below) was launched in a room in Seoul's Insa-dong
(Tel. (82) 02 737 8976) and since then she has
instructed hundreds of persons in the Way, including
all the leading Korean masters of tea. Several years
ago she went back to Yonsei University and did a
Master's degree, writing her dissertation about Tea.
She is recognized as Great Tea Master and was honoured
by being included among the six hundred exemplary and
notable citizens of Seoul whose names were placed in a
time capsule buried on Namsan on November 29, 1994 to
mark the 600th anniversary of the founding of the
Choson Dynasty with Hanyang (now Seoul) as its
capital. In another four hundred years, the capsule is
destined to be opened and the citizens recalled, on
the 1000th anniversary of the city. We cannot know
what will be the standing of tea in the world of that
time, but it is good that one of modern Korea's
greatest tea masters should be among those whose names
will be transmitted to distant posterity.
The Panyaro Institute for the Promotion of the Way of Tea
(An English translation of the Institute's own text)
The Panyaro Institute for the Promotion of the Way of
Tea was founded to perpetuate the lifelong work of the
celebrated Korean Tea Master, the Venerable Hyodang,
who devoted some sixty years of his life to a study of
the teachings of the great Korean spiritual master
Wonhyo and to the elaboration of methods of using tea
in meditation.
The Venerable Hyodang contributed to the culture of
tea in three major ways:
First, he published the first Korean book consecrated
to the Way of Tea, "The Korean Way of Tea", a work
that continues to inspire readers interested in our
tea culture. In that book, Master Hyodang expressed
the fruit of a whole lifetime's research and
experience.
Second, he transmitted the particular method of making
the green tea known as Panyaro.
Third, he founded the first association of Koreans
interested in the study of tea, the "Korean
Association for the Way of Tea". That association was
not destined to outlive him, but it performed a vital
role in the launching of the present day association
which pursues similar goals.
The Venerable Hyodang was also the first to give
ordinary readers an awareness of the significance of
the life of the Venerable Ch'o-ui, the early 19th
century tea master, through a series of articles
published in a popular newspaper. It may not be too
much to say that, just as the Venerable Ch'o-ui led
the revival of interest in tea in his time, so the
Venerable Hyodang led the modern revival. Thanks to
the fruition of a favorable karma, Chae Won-hwa was
enabled to assist the Venerable Hyodang in all these
undertakings.
The Venerable Hyodang departed from this world on July
10, 1979 and after a few years spent immersed in other
activities, in 1981 Chae Won-hwa was able to launch a
study-association devoted to the "Panyaro Way of Tea"
with a small number of like-minded associates. On July
2, 1983, she founded the Panyaro Institute for the
Promotion of the Way of Tea and since then she has
had the privilege of meeting and instructing several
hundred persons in this Way. The Venerable Hyodang
always used to insist that tea was to be drunk quite
naturally, in the course of daily life, and should not
be made the subject of unnecessary constraints. Many
people simply came and went in the course of the
years, but in November 1995 Chae Won-hwa established a
formal graduation ceremony for those who had completed
the full course of study. Such ceremonies are now held
each year.
It is her hope that each one can discover that the Way
is not some remote idea, but a reality hidden very
close by, in the midst of the activities of ordinary
life.
Photographs of Panyaro tea being made in May 2000,
near the temple called Tasol-sa, where the Venerable
Hyodang lived and developed his practice of tea.
Adapted from:
http://ccsun7.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/kortea10.htm
http://www.sogang.ac.kr/~anthony/kortea.htm
