Meditation in the Way of Tea

In giving an in-depth experience of Chan (Zen) Tea for the members of the Buddha’s Light International Association (BLIA) South Island, Fo Guang Shan (FGS) NZ Venerable Abbess Manshin specially hosted a Zen Tea Ceremony on the 30th of May. BLIA South Island President See Shen Lee, Director Benny Wong, BLIA North Island President – Stephan Yu, Staff – Kok Wei Low are the Chan Tea practitioners serving 20 members of the BLIA, demonstrating the noble way of preparation and consuming in Chan Tea ceremonies.

In guiding the ceremony, the Abbess started in detailed of meditating the heart, continuing with flower offerings to the Buddha, ways of adoring tea, preparing tea in the Way of Chan, silent tea savoring, and many more. The meaning of Chan Tea was clearly introduced and connections in between Chan, tea and Buddhism were explained.

With a tranquil heart as the members adorned tea, practitioners respectfully ended the tea ceremony with “BLIA Four Line Verse”. The abbess encourages tea ceremonies like this as it could create another level of experience in meditation, in understanding the art of Chan Tea and cultivate the heart.

FGS South Island NZ Temple Supervisor Venerable Jue Xi expresses that Chan Tea is a kind of practice and learning towards life, as tea leaves should be brewed in hot water for it to have aromatic tea, the heart should also be soaked into Dharma to develop compassion and wisdom. Participants in the end shared their experiences towards this ceremony and felt care into their deep thoughts using the Way of Tea.

Abbess then told, in the beginning of the month, a Chan Tea Ceremony was given to the NZ Police Force in FGS North Island and it received warm response. In propagating “Three Goods and Four Givings”, Abbess would host another Zen Tea Ceremony at the Humanistic Buddhism Cultural Festival for the teachers, wishing that it would help in their deep thoughts. The abbess hopes that with this ceremony, participants would be more delicate to themselves, more serene, and become a better quality Humanistic Buddhism practitioner.