What if we told you that, in China, using both hands to drink tea is a sign of respect, gratitude and surrender to that moment? Let us guess: I had never stopped to think about this. Did we get it right?
There are drinks that unite people people, and tea is one of them. In China and Japan, the custom of drinking it makes part of a somewhat spiritual and cultural vision, but at the same time sophisticated and pleasurable. It is part of the Chinese tradition to perform the tea ceremony every day, because this gesture is seen as something meditative.
Symbolizing the union between Chinese and Japanese culture, the tea ritual is based on Buddhist ideological pillars, intending to celebrate the importance of values such as respect and purity of spirit, combined with a search for peace and harmony. This means that, in civilizations like these, drinking tea is much more than boiling flavored water, to drink while we dedicate ourselves to any other trivial task.
Love for Nature, humility and tranquility began to integrate the philosophy associated with tea at the beginning of its consumption in these countries. And the relevance attributed to this ceremony is so high that the Chinese population ended up creating some basic pillars to be part of it:
- The choice of tea (made through aroma and flavor);
- Water selection;
- Choosing the right crockery;
- The environment, which must be calm, clean and comfortable;
- And the attitude (of confidence and happiness).
Where did this concept come from?
In ancient times, tea served as an excuse for social gatherings. Tastings were organized where I tried to discover the origin of the various types of tea that were served at the table. As time passed, the appreciation of the drink improved and the ritual evolved, starting to look at the gestures that accompany it as something as important as tea itself.
What are the rules?
There is a story ancient story that says that, thousands of years ago, a tea ceremony took place in a modest house, whose door was so low that guests were forced to take off your shoes and bend down to enter. This attitude symbolized humility and predisposition to accept life.
Translating literally, tea ceremony means “the way of tea”. It is there that honors the Ichigo-Ichie philosophy, whose basic principle is based on the belief that «each encounter is unique and valuable». These unique encounters are also these celebrations, as each one can only be experienced in that way only once turn.
This celebration is an art, requiring a lot of concentration on movements and posture, just like meditation. In addition to silence (you cannot speak during the entire ritual), there are four basic principles to keep in mind:
- Harmony ( Wa ) . We must have a humble and unpretentious attitude, creating a calm environment around us and interacting with Nature. It is believed that through this state of mind one can understand that everything in life is temporary and changeable;
- Respect ( Kei ) , which represents understanding and acceptance of others. All things and people must be looked at in the same way, with equality and consideration. This posture leads to gratitude, one of the strongest energies in the Universe;
- Purity ( Sei ), keeping the mind and heart open. The purification of the environment and people happens when the space itself is clean and organized;
- Tranquility ( Jaku ) , a state that only a few can achieve. Silence and stillness are the golden rules for being calm, something that is much deeper than you might think.
How to simplify it and apply it in our daily lives?
The purpose is simply to create a peaceful moment, of surrender to the harmony that this drink exalts, through a set of gestures and factors that influence this sensation. But if in Asian culture this celebration lasts four hours and is seen with extreme rigor, we could adapt it our frenetic life and try to transform it into a simpler ritual, in that we take the liberty of focusing all our energy on this mental break that leads us to balance.
