Tea Of The Sages

The Japanese tea ceremony is generally identified with chanoyu and its bowls of whipped, powdered green tea served in surroundings influenced by the tenets of Zen Buddhism. Tea of the Sages is the first English language study of the alternate tea tradition of sencha. At sencha tea gatherings, steeped green leaf tea is prepared in an atmosphere indebted to the humanistic values of the Chinese sages and the materialistic culture of elite Chinese society during the Ming and Qing dynasties. Although sencha once surpassed chanoyu in popularity, it is now overshadowed by chanoyu, despite the existence of more than a hundred sencha schools throughout Japan. This exceptionally well-illustrated volume explores sencha's philosophy and arts from the seventeenth century to the present. Introduced by Chinese merchants and scholar-monks, sencha first gained favor in Japan among devotees of the Chinese literati. By the early nineteenth century, it had become popular with a wide spectrum of urban and rural residents. Some took up sencha as a subversive activity in opposition to the mandated protocol of chanoyu. Others enjoyed sencha because of its connections with elite Chinese culture, knowledge of which indicated intellectual and cultural refinement. Still others relished it simply as a fine tasting beverage. Sencha inspired painters and poets and fostered major advances within craft industries from ceramics to metalwork and basketry. Sencha aficionados, many of whom became serious connoisseurs of Chinese art and antiquities, hosted some of the earliest public art exhibitions. Tea of the Sages opens with a chronological overview of tea in China and its transmission to Japan before situating sencha within the rich milieu of Chinese material culture available in early modern Japan. Subsequent chapters outline the multifaceted history of the formalization of the sencha tea ceremony, drawing upon sources such as treatises and less formal writings as well as analysis of tea gathering records, utensils and their prescribed arrangements, paintings, prints, and sencha architecture.

By setting traditions and thinkers such as Zoroaster, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle side by side, we are able to see more clearly the questions with which they struggled, their similarities and differences, and how their ideas have influenced religious thought down to our day.

Iwasa Katsumochi Matabei (1578-1650) is one of the most controversial figures in Japanese art history. For more than half a century, historians have argued over Matabei's role in Japanese art: Was he, as he asserted, "The Last Tosa" (the school of painters who specialized in Yamato-e, a kind of classical courtly painting) or, as others characterized him, "The Founder of Ukiyo-e," the style of painting associated with the urban commoner class. In this highly original and convincing study, Matabei emerges as both - an artist in whose work can be seen elements of both Yamato-e and Ukiyo-e. Extending its analysis beyond the individual artist, The Last Tosa examines the trends and artistic developments of a transitional period and makes heretofore unexamined connections between the world of the aristocrat and the merchant as well as the two artistic schools that reflected their tastes.

The stereotype of Zen Buddhism as a minimalistic or even immaterial meditative tradition persists in the Euro-American cultural imagination. This volume calls attention to the vast range of "stuff" in Zen by highlighting the material abundance and iconic range of the Soto, Rinzai, and Obaku sects in Japan. Chapters on beads, bowls, buildings, staffs, statues, rags, robes, and even retail commodities in America all shed new light on overlooked items of lay and monastic practice in both historical and contemporary perspectives. Nine authors from the cognate fields of art history, religious studies, and the history of material culture analyze these "Zen matters" in all four senses of the phrase: the interdisciplinary study of Zen's matters (objects and images) ultimately speaks to larger Zen matters (ideas, ideals) that matter (in the predicate sense) to both male and female practitioners, often because such matters (economic considerations) help to ensure the cultural and institutional survival of the tradition. Zen and Material Culture expands the study of Japanese Zen Buddhism to include material inquiry as an important complement to mainly textual, institutional, or ritual studies. It also broadens the traditional purview of art history by incorporating the visual culture of everyday Zen objects and images into the canon of recognized masterpieces by elite artists. Finally, the volume extends Japanese material and visual cultural studies into new research territory by taking up Zen's rich trove of materia liturgica and supplementing the largely secular approach to studying Japanese popular culture. This groundbreaking volume will be a resource for anyone whose interests lie at the intersection of Zen art, architecture, history, ritual, tea ceremony, women's studies, and the fine line between Buddhist materiality and materialism.

A Bowl for a Coin is the first book in any language to describe and analyze the history of all Japanese teas from the plant’s introduction to the archipelago around 750 to the present day. To understand the triumph of the tea plant in Japan, William Wayne Farris begins with its cultivation and goes on to describe the myriad ways in which the herb was processed into a palatable beverage, ultimately resulting in the wide variety of teas we enjoy today. Along the way, he traces in fascinating detail the shift in tea’s status from exotic gift item from China, tied to Heian (794–1185) court ritual and medicinal uses, to tax and commodity for exchange in the 1350s, to its complete nativization in Edo (1603–1868) art and literature and its eventual place on the table of every Japanese household. Farris maintains that the increasing sophistication of Japanese agriculture after 1350 is exemplified by tea farming, which became so advanced that Meiji (1868–1912) entrepreneurs were able to export significant amounts of Japanese tea to Euro-American markets. This in turn provided the much-needed foreign capital necessary to help secure Japan a place among the world’s industrialized nations. Tea also had a hand in initiating Japan’s “industrious revolution”: From 1400, tea was being drunk in larger quantities by commoners as well as elites, and the stimulating, habit-forming beverage made it possible for laborers to apply handicraft skills in a meticulous, efficient, and prolonged manner. In addition to aiding in the protoindustrialization of Japan by 1800, tea had by that time become a central commodity in the formation of a burgeoning consumer society. The demand-pull of tea consumption necessitated even greater production into the postwar period—and this despite challenges posed to the industry by consumers’ growing taste for coffee. A Bowl for a Coin makes a convincing case for how tea—an age-old drink that continues to adapt itself to changing tastes in Japan and the world—can serve as a broad lens through which to view the development of Japanese society over many centuries.

Chapter Zero The Substitute Preface Ⅰ. The Wuji and the Taiji Ⅱ. Polar Relativity Ⅲ. “Slice up a Watermelon” Ⅳ. The “Most Precision Instrument” Ⅴ. The moment one dharma arises, all dharmas will follow. Ⅵ. Things, based on causes and conditions, do not really exist. However, as conditions arise, they shouldn’t be considered non-existent. Ⅶ. The Absolute Truth Ⅷ. Every Dot is the Whole. Chapter One Enter the Culture of Sages and Worthies from Natural Science Ⅰ. Know the culture of sages and worthies again. Ⅱ. The Relationship of Matter and Emptiness in the Mass-energy Equation 1. Matter itself is emptiness 2. Strange sparks in the air 3. Attach importance to traditional Chinese Culture III. What is a Quantum? Ⅳ. The experiment of “Water Knows” verifies the relationship between the internal appearance and the external appearance of the mind. Ⅴ. Two Types of Spontaneity in Nature 1. The value and meaning of a human life exist in wisdom. 2. How to use the two spontaneities in everyday life. 3. The ten Dharma Realms and the transmigration of a life. VI. The Infinite Divisibility of a Particle 1. The relationship between matter, energy and information 2. Because of the sensory dusts, we produce knowledge. Because of the sensory organs, we find appearances. Inside and outside have the same noumenon. Chapter Two The perpetual motion machine Neutralization Ⅰ. How to Make a Perpetual Motion Machine? 1. A perpetual motion machine cannot be made by a dissipative structure system. 2. The software civilization and the hardware civilization 3. The information structure of the software 4. The one appearance is the “perpetual motion machine”. II. Middle is the great root under heaven. 1. The neutralization of carbon 2. Depolarization leads to neutralization. III. The phenomenon of neutralization and their applications. 1. The stability of the structure of the octet. 2. Like things repel and unlike things attract. 3. Develop a harmonious society Chapter Three Ecological Civilization and Psychological Civilization Ⅰ. The Present Situation of the Environment. 1. The destruction and pollution of natural environment. 2. The situation of social environment. Ⅱ. Mental pollution leads to environmental pollution. 1. The scientific experiment of “Water Knows” 2. Mental pollution Ⅲ. Ecology and Psychology Lecture One Effects of Psychology on Ecology 1. Is there an “I” (a self)? What is an “I” (a self)? 2. Ecological civilization 3. The polluted psychological civilization 4. The mind is the environment and the environment is the mind. Restore psychological civilization Lecture Two The oneness of the mind and the environment Chapter Four Matter and field Ⅰ. Matter and the field 1. No separation of subjectivity and objectivity; no separation of matter and energy. 2. Matter is from energy. Matter, energy and conservation. 3. The modes of motion. 4. Period and cycle is the fundamental law in the physical world. 5. Energy comes from information structures. 6. The pure information structure of zero, “destiny” and the still and changeless state. Ⅱ. “Discoveries are made according to one’s own karmas.” 1. Strange sparks in the sky; Zhuang Zhou’s dream and the butterfly’s dream. 2. Wave-particle Duality and discoveries made according to one’s own karmas 3. Understand the mechanism of “Discovery” Chapter Five The Original Source and Origins of the Universe Lecture One The Original Source of the Universe Ⅰ. The universe’s noumenon is the one appearance that has no appearance. Ⅱ. Understand the Mind and See the Nature. Verify the one appearance that has no appearance. Ⅲ. Carry Yin and Embrace Yang. Restore the one appearance. IV. The false appearances and the actual appearance 1. The relationship between the one appearance and the two appearances 2. Learn from the Great Wisdom of Sages and Worthies V. The Value of Life 1. The pursuit of knowledge requires daily accumulation. The pursuit of the Dao requires daily exhaustion. 2. Be content with poverty, keep to the Dao and make the pursuit of wisdom the sole occupation. Lecture 2 The Origins and Evolutions of the Universe Ⅰ. The Origins of the Universe 1. The big-bang theory and the most fundamental law of birth, growth, completion and death. 2. Origins of the universe in Yi Jing, Lao-zi, Zhuang-zi and Buddhist sutras. 3. The String Theory 4. The Genesis of the World by God in Christianity Ⅱ . Several fundamental laws of the universe 1. The Unity of Opposites: Carrying yin and embracing yang; 2. The structure of core formation 3. The Law of Spontaneity 4. Evolution and Development. Chapter Six Motion and Change Lecture One Where Do all Motion and Change Occur? Lecture Two Change and Changelessness Chapter Seven Polarity and Non-polarity Ⅰ. The Characteristics of Polarity and Non-polarity Ⅱ. Non-polarity does not have Appearances. Ⅲ. Non-polarity that Has No Difference and No Time and Space. Ⅳ. The Independence of Non-polarity Ⅴ. Transcend Polarity and Enter the Advanced Form of Life. VI. “Without That, There would not Be ‘I’.” “Turn All Things into the Self.” Chapter Eight Theory of Dissipation Structure Ⅰ. The Phenomenon of Self-organization Ⅱ. All of Self-organization is United in Information. 1. The open system. 2. Be far away from the state of equilibrium. 3. The nonlinear effect 4. The fluctuation effect 5. How to master the effect of nonlinear fluctuation in daily life. Chapter Nine Some problems About Time and Space Lecture One Two Different Views on Time and Space Ⅰ. Newton’s and Einstein’s views of time and space Ⅱ. The Experiment “Water Knows” Verifies the Oneness of Subjectivity and Objectivity as well as the Mind and the Environment. Ⅲ. Time and Space are False Notions. Originally Time and Space do not Exist. Ⅳ. The Buddhist View on Time and Space Lecture Two The Infinite Time, Space and Velocity Chapter Ten Human Cognitive Channels Ⅰ. Human Cognitive Channels 1. The sense organs and the sense dusts are simultaneous. 2. Different sense organs lead to different cognizance. 3. Study the Teaching of sages and worthies and know the absolute truth. Ⅱ. How to Go into the Desireless Condition? 1. Discrimination leads to comparative manifestations. Non discrimination leads to the direct manifestation. 2. The direct manifestation of Happy Bodhisattva Ⅲ. Ever Having No Desires, One will See the Wonder. 1. Ancient Chinese sages’ great wisdom of direct manifestation. 2. Spot the real great perfect mirror 3. Sudden enlightenment in scientific inventions and creations. IV. Zhuangzi’s Wisdom on How to Find the Recondite Pearl Chapter Eleven Turn Consciousness into Wisdom Ⅰ. The Equal Mind of the One Appearance Ⅱ. The One Appearance is Wisdom. The Two Appearances are Consciousness. 1. The mechanism and principle of the eight consciousnesses 2. Turn consciousness into wisdom and you will have the wisdom of the one appearance. 3. With the wisdom of the one appearance, one will serve all living beings. Ⅲ. The One Appearance Has Nothing. The Two Appearances Have Everything. Chapter Twelve Experience the Noumenon and the Actual Appearance I. Get to Know the Original Source That Has Nothing. II. “It’s neither the wind nor the banner that is moving. Humane ones, it is your mind that is moving.” Ⅲ. Matter and Emptiness; Phenomenon and Essence. Ⅳ. The Flower Case and the Moon Case Ⅴ. Get to Know the State of Non-duality. Ⅵ. Two Chickens by One Cut Chapter Thirteen Know the Great Wisdom of Ancient Sages and Worthies I. Return to the Original Source II. The Discrimination and Attachment of Living Beings 1. Finiteness and Infiniteness; polarity and non-polarity 2. What are discrimination and attachment? 3. False Appearances of the sensory organs and the sensory dusts; the appearances of subjectivity and objectivity. 4. The sensory organs and the sensory dusts have the same source. The emptied empty thusness III Lao Zi’s Great Wisdom IV. The Sixteen-character Guiding Principles. 1. Their Mind for the Way is faint and slight. 2. People’s mind is dangerous and perilous. 3. “Only by being pure and being one will people keep to the Middle.” 4. “Keep to the Middle.” V. The Innate Eight Trigrams of Fu Xi. Chapter Fourteen The Grand Unified Field Theory I. Elementary Particles and the Eight Trigrams. II. The Grand Unified Field. 1. Researches made by modern scientists. 2. In what location is the grand unified field unified? 3. All movements and change return to emptiness and stillness. 4. Trueness and falseness are non-dual. They are the grand unification. Chapter Fifteen A Comprehensive Aggregation The Phenomena of self-organization The dissipation structure Perpetual Motion Machines Two Types of Civilization The “S” Lines and the Cosmic Strings Information Structures Consciousness “The Software and Hardware” Discoveries made according to one’s own karmas The mind and the environment are the same thing. The Theory of Hologram There is no thought Transcendence Everyone Has a Unique World. All are manifestations of the thusness. The Mind and Things Move towards the Proper Enlightenment from the Six Sense Organs. The seeing is always there. View all as mirror images. View the world as a dream. The Relationship of Matter and Emptiness There is only “This”. Originally there is not time and space. The Conscious Mind is Empty and False. The Mind and the Environment Sincerity and Brightness See through the appearances and spot the nature. Material, energy and information Finiteness and Infiniteness Two types of spontaneities The Sense Organs and the Sense dusts Movement and Non-movement “Bubbles” “I” is the only honored one. Originally, there is neither birth nor death. The direct manifestation of the mind. Remove the “S” lines. Carrying yin and embracing yang The dependent and proper retributions in the Dharma-ending age The homology and simultaneity of the sense organs and the sense dusts The wonderfully pure and bright substance Food and Sex Establish a positive outlook on life Superconductivity Scientific technology and civilization In the one appearance there is no death. Originally, there is not nebulous wheel in the eyes. Quantum Existence and Non-existence (Being and non-being) Speak right Dharma to right people. The “recondite pearl” and the “Dao” The Zero One dharma and all dharmas All are manifestations of the consciousness. Activity “Transparency” Appearances are what are manifested in front of the sense organs. Yi Jing (The Book of Changes) and chemistry. Science and Religion Glossary

Clarity. Health. Peace of mind. These are the goals of The Way of Tea. In this book, readers will learn more about all aspects of tea--from the practical to the spiritual--and how they can implement the accompanying ancient traditions into their modern life. With The Way of Tea, you'll start by tapping into the wisdom and insights of the Chinese tea masters, learn more about the distinct practices of the chanoyu ("tea ceremony"), and delve into the healthful and holistic benefits of drinking tea. With its antioxidants, polyphenols and amino acids, tea reduces the risk of cancer and heart disease, lowers blood pressure, relieves stress, can help prevent diabetes and eye disease, and improve dental health. Readers will also gain an appreciation for the meditative properties of tea and tea rituals. By engaging with and incorporating these mindfulness practices, you can journey down a path leading to calm and quietude, marked by a greater self-awareness and presence of mind. This new edition includes: An in-depth look at the health benefits of tea A brewing guide for beginners detailing the simple "leaves in a bowl" method Step-by-step introductions to the Bowl and Teapot tea ceremonies 48 pages of color photos, prints, and paintings from the author's extensive collection With the help of this book, you will develop a new appreciation for this soothing beverage as a means to both physical and spiritual wellness.

Volume 2 of the fullest, most useful compilation of herbal material. Gigantic alphabetical encyclopedia, from aconite to zedoary, gives botanical information, medical properties, folklore, economic uses, more. 161 illustrations.