Cha Dao: The Way of Tea

By Solala Towler

Using one’s intuition and soul to experience tea fully, as both an artistic expression and a Tao, is what “gong fu” tea is all about. Aaron Fisher (Wu De)

The simple act of serving tea and receiving it with gratitude is the basis for a way of life called Chado, the Way of Tea. With a bowl of tea, peace can truly spread. The peacefulness from a bowl of tea may be shared and become the foundation of a way of life. Shiatsu Sen XV My partner Shanti and I often invite friends over for tea. We find it is a more simple offering, yet one that allows us to drop deeply into conversation. We have tea and snacks and often spend hours visiting. Yet our tea party is a little different than what most people think of as a tea party.

Our type of tea is called gongfu cha. Gongfu (goong foo) is one of those misunderstood terms in Chinese that most people associate with martial arts (called wushu in Chinese). Gongfu actually means anything that you study, practice and get good at. It can be gongfu gardening, gongfu painting and yes, gongfu martial arts.

Another name for what we are doing here is pin ming lun dao or “savor tea, discuss Dao.” Usually, when we talk about drinking tea we would say he cha but here we use a different term, pin. Pin means something more than just drinking tea. The character for pin is made up of three squares, which represent three mouths, as in the three sips we take at the beginning of the ceremony. Not only that but it has a quality of savoring or going slowly or really letting not only the flavor of the tea but the energy of the tea enter our being in a deep way.

In classical Chinese culture, Pin is also the way of study and the achievement of Enlightenment.

The next character, ming, means high quality tea or a special kind of tea. This can be an expensive tea or just one that carries a lot of meaning for us. In this way we are offering our guests much more than just a cup of tea. We are sharing something deep and profound.

To quote Master Wu again,

If we pick up the teacup and just swallow the tea without paying any attention to the tea, then drinking the tea will be meaningless to us. With heartfelt observation during our tea drinking, we can learn the Dao of tea, including the knowledge of the tea, the healing and cultivation functions of the tea, and the philosophy behind the drinking of the tea.

The last two characters in the phrase we are discussing, lun dao, refer to lifting the conversation into the realm of philosophy or some other high minded conversation. I find when I do Daoist gongfu tea ceremonies that the tea really opens people up to be better able to grasp the Daoist teachings that I share as well. There is just something that is relaxing yet also stimulating about this simple ceremony.

Another term for tea in Chinese is chayao or “tea medicine.” Yet another term is yang sheng yin liao or “the drink for nourishing life.”

In gongfu tea we use a special tea table, which either has a moveable tray underneath it a place to catch waste water and tea or a tube running down to a bowl under the table. This is because gongfu tea is a lot like water play (and who didn’t enjoy water play as a child)? Also, we use tiny little teapots and even tinier little cups. Actually it’s a lot like playing with a child’s tea set, except the tea utensils are made of special clay called yixing, a very porous clay that has been used for tea utensils for hundreds if not thousands of years. It is very porous clay that works well for tea steeping. This clay is so porous that it is said that if you use a pot for a number of years you will be able to just pour hot water into it and out will come tea!

We first pour hot water into the pot and then pour it out, much like the English do, to warm up the pot. We also pour hot water into whatever cups we will be using as well. This is why we have the tray or tube, to catch all the water we are pouring out everywhere. We also shower the outside of the pot before each steeping.

Then, we put a measure of tea into the pot, let it steep for just a few minutes, and then pour that out as well! This is called “washing the leaves” and gets rid of any dust left on the leaves. I also call it “waking up the leaves.” It allows the flavor and goodness of the leaves to really open and improves the flavor of the tea.

Then we add water again and let it steep a few moments more and pour the tea into the small cups. We pick up the cups, holding them with our thumb and first finger on the sides and our ring finger on the bottom and align them with our heart (middle dantian) so that the cha qi or qi of the tea can align with our heart or shen energy.

First we admire the color of the tea. I often use small glass gongfu cups so that the color of the tea is easily seen. White cups work for this as well. When we look at the color we are connected to the tea medicine through our eyes to our shen or spirit. This also happens when we hold the tea in front of our middle dantian or heart center.

Then we lift the cup to our noses and take a deep sniff, allowing that cha qi to enter our bodies via our nostrils and go right up into our head. Each tea has a unique smell and often each cup will have one as well. In this way we connect the smell of the tea to our qi or vital energy body.

After this we take one sip and let it sit in our mouths, if it’s not too hot, to once again allow the qi of the tea to enter our whole being. This also connects the energy of the tea to our jing or original essence body. To continue, we take three small sips. The first one we taste with the tip of our tongue, the second with the middle of our tongue and the last with the back of our tongue. You may be amazed at how different each sip can taste.

When we drink the tea, we need to slow down and feel the different kinds of energy in each small sip of tea with different parts of the mouth and the heart.

Zhongxian Wu

This tea is a plant (wood), which is grown in the ground (earth), up towards the sun (fire) and watered by the rain (water). In this way it represents the five elements. The yixing teapot represents the minerals in the earth or the element metal.

The Japanese tea ceremony, chanoyu, is a much more formal, sober affair and the tea master takes much longer to serve the tea. The Chinese tend to be more informal and so the Chinese tea ceremony, while allowing for meditation on the five elements, the character, and the spirit of the tea and the joy of sharing the tea and the moment together, is much shorter and quite informal. Traditionally the time of sharing tea is a time for catching up with each other, perhaps sharing some poetry or calligraphy or just enjoying each other’s company. As I said, a few hours goes by in a flash. Whenever I teach qigong classes we always have a tea session and practice pin ming lun dao.

Tea has many health benefits as well. Tea is full of antioxidants, is detoxifying, helps with metabolism and the digestion, and stimulates clear thinking and mental alertness. Puerh tea especially is good for digestion. One friend of ours had to do a three-month session of antibiotics, which wrecked his digestion. After months of taking probiotics and eating a lot of yogurt, the situation did not change. Then he started drinking lots of puerh tea and his digestion cleared right up.

This is because puerh tea is fermented. When I was first served pu’erh tea I did not really like it. I was used to much milder green teas like Dragon Well (still my favorite first tea of the day). The dark coffee-like color and the earthy taste made me feel like I was drinking a cup of mud. But after trying it a few more times I really developed at taste for it and now I drink it all the time and really appreciate its earthy flavor. Puerh is often pressed into round cakes, called bings, and will keep for many years. As a matter of fact, the older the puerh is the more expensive it is. Some rare and aged cakes can go for thousands of dollars!

There are two basic types of puerh tea, called raw (sheng) and cooked (shou). In the olden days all puerh tea was processed and then stored for 20 years or more, during which time it took on many healing qualities. But today, even in China, no one wants to wait that long to drink the tea! So instead the raw tea is “composted” or forced into a more rapid fermentation.

The tea, some of which grows on ancient tea trees (which is how tea was originally grown) is picked, dried then heated in a wok to remove the raw flavors of the tea, called sha ching or “kill green”. Then it is rolled or kneaded and dried. After this it is put into storage if it is to be allowed to fully ferment on its

own or else it is piled, wetted down and covered with thermal blankets to ferment more quickly. Sheng puerh can take up to 70 years to fully mature, which is why really old tea can command ridiculous prices. Shou puerh, on the other hand, is ready in one to two months.

This kind of tea has many beneficial microbes, which is why it is so good for digestion. Some of these microbes grow naturally in the tea as it is piled and left to ferment. But sometimes the tea growers introduce microbes from an older batch of tea. Both kinds of tea are often steamed and then pressed in stone molds into various shapes. Most often the tea is pressed into round cakes, though there are other more fanciful shapes such as melon shapes, bricks or squares. Then the tea is dried and will keep well for many years if properly stored.

I drink both sheng and shou puerh and they certainly each have their own flavors and qualities. The most important thing to remember in brewing sheng or raw puerh is to not over–steep, it as this can produce a tea that is very bitter. The trick is to steep it just 20-30 seconds tops. Some people feel there is more vitality in raw puerh but I enjoy both kinds. When doing a tea session or class I often serve both kinds as well as another kind of tea such as an oolong (one of my favorites is called Golden Horse Eyebrow), which allows the attendees to go on a bit of a tea journey. There is even a term called “tea drunk” when after drinking a lot of tea you get a little light headed and giddy, this is a very different feeling than a caffeine rush.

You can, of course serve gongfu tea with any type of tea – puerh, oolong, red, green etc. The most important aspect of the Daoist gongfu tea ceremony is the spirit and attention you bring to it. I have told my students that you could do this kind of ceremony with nothing but hot water if you bring the right focus and intent to it!

There are many Chinese teas to choose from but I would strongly suggest that if you are interested in gongfu tea that you never use tea bags. They are usually filled with the dregs of the tea processing and very inferior tea. There are a number of good teashops in any big city or else you can find them online. Spend the money to get good quality as well. The qi of inferior tea will do you no good. See my tea business: Xin Dao (the Way of the Heart) tea.

Of course you don’t have to do a whole gongfu tea ceremony every time you want to drink some tea. But brewing and drinking tea in a conscious way can have a great impact on your being. Brewing and drinking good quality tea is a whole cultivation practice in itself. This is not just about drinking tea. It’s also about something I call Tea Mind. This goes back to the slowing down practice. By going too fast we zip through life without ever coming upon the interesting detours that suddenly arise when we don’t have blinders on. The funny thing is that even though we call it the Way, there are actually many ways to and through that Way.

When we brew and share tea in this way we allow each moment to deepen our experience of the tea and our company. Indeed, the Japanese have a term called ichigo ichie, meaning “one time, one meeting.” This moment that we share in exploring the deep realms of tea and spiritual bonding can only truly happen in this special way for one time. Each time we brew another pot of tea, share in a deep moment of friendship and lun dao, is unique unto itself.

We each have our own unique and sacred path to follow. Comparing ourselves to others is a waste of time.

In Daoist temples in China each member is free to pursue their own aspect of Daoist studies. Some study martial arts, some taiji and qigong, some calligraphy or religious texts, some pursue meditation or chanting, some do the bookkeeping or the cooking and cleaning. Most of their cultivation practices are done alone. Except for when there is a ceremony or it is a holiday everyone follows Dao in his or her own way.

Likewise, each pot of tea is different, even pots of the same tea. Each steeping is different, each time you fill the pot is different, and the company you share the tea with even makes it different.

If you approach your life like you are pouring a pot of delicious and rare tea and you are sharing that with others, your life will be full of sweetness and delight.

Tea Mind is not rushing through each day as if it were a race and a losing one at that. Tea Mind is savoring each moment to the fullest of one’s capacity. Tea Mind is being open to change in each moment. Tea Mind is being awake to each step of the way, each revolution of the great wheel of life, each breath we take and each breath we give back out. Tea Mind is being thankful for each day, for all the blessings as well as the challenges. Tea Mind is not being attached to outcomes or goals but enjoying each part of the journey. This may be a cliché but when we are hiking up the many stone steps on our way to a temple in China we look around at the overhanging trees all around us or at the mountain peaks off in the distance, and are happy to be there, treading like pilgrims from ancient days.

Tea Mind is not minding that sometimes life is difficult and hard and challenging and we don’t always live up to even our own expectations, never mind those of society at large. Tea Mind is enjoying the absurdities of life and being able especially to laugh at ourselves. Tea Mind is having an enjoyment of nature and natural forms. In Japan there is an aesthetic called wabi sabi, which is an appreciation for old and worn and imperfect things. Tea Mind contains wabi sabi and enjoys the simple unglazed tea utensils, made from the sturdy yixing clay.

Aaron Fisher, in his fine book The Way of Tea describes wabi this way:

“Wabi also was an attitude of unpretentiousness, simplicity, and direct communication of the heart. Through simplicity and emptiness, even tea can be transcendent and lead to enlightening insight.”

Tea Mind is being open to making mistakes and not minding or at least not being torn up about them. Tea Mind is learning to have our emotions or energetic states in balance. Tea Mind is making the time to sit and enjoy a good cup of tea with our friends and loved ones and even just with ourselves. It is in savoring each mouthful that we give silent thanks for the opportunity to enjoy the tea, the moment, the company, the chance to connect with the plant world and all that is natural within us.

When we live our life with Tea Mind we trust that we have all the time we need to accomplish any task, we can call upon assistance from the spirit realm, we can study the words of the ancient teachers, those men and women of Dao who have so much to offer to our modern, fragmented society. We can take their words and their teachings deep into our own heart/ minds and utilize them for our own cultivation, our own evolution, our own expression of Dao.

To learn more about the history of tea in China and Japan as well as the healing aspects of tea please see my book Cha Dao: The Way of Tea, Tea As a Way of Life, published by Singing Dragon Press. If you are interested in acquiring some low-cost, high-quality tea please see our online store, Xin Dao Tea (tea from the heart) at https://abodetao.com/store/#!/ Xin-Dao-Tea-tea-from-the-heart/c/33090049/ offset=0&sort=normal.

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