Zen on the tip of your tongue

Toomey with Uk Hyung Lee at his tea room.

Manote Tripathi

The Nation

 For the uninitiated, a Zen tea ceremony seems like a stiff and quiet affair at first. But to John J Toomey, the only foreigner appointed head of a tea school in the Far East, the rite is a doorway to intimacy, harmony and tranquillity. It might be governed by formality, but the Zen way of taking tea is far from pretentious.

 Toomey, a 64-year-old American from Chicago, served as the head of a Seoul tea school in the Korean-style Choam tradition for many decades before his recent retirement and move to Bangkok. His teacher gave him the honorary name Dami, "he who can see the beauty of the tea".

 At his tea room in his home in Klong Song, Pathum Thani, Toomey hosts both Korean and Japanese tea ceremonies for friends.

 Recently he hosted the "Hatsugama", the Lunar New Year tea ceremony in the 700-year-old Japanese Urasenke, at his Kei-An tea room. This was followed by a Korean ceremony hosted by Uk Hyung Lee ("Mr Lee"), the founding head of the Choam tradition from Seoul.

 The idea of the New Year tea ceremony is to wish guests happiness, long life and prosperity, says Toomey. As we sit down, I am more interested in finding out whether the Chinese maxim that  "Tea and Zen are one taste" is true.

  The Japanese tea experience starts with the host selecting the chief guest (or most experienced in the Way of the Tea) and the "last" (least experienced). 

 "The chief guest is expected to help the ceremony run smoothly with his/her expertise while the last guest is expected to return tea bowls and utensils to the first guest or the host after the drinking of tea," says Toomey.

 Experienced guests gather in the hallway where they may be offered a refreshing drink made of salted plums or cherry blossoms if it's summer, or a warm sweet drink in winter. Then they are invited to sit in the pavilion of the outer garden where they hear, but don't as yet see, the splashing of water.

 At the invitation of Toomey, I join the other guests in the tea room to quietly observe the orderliness of the unfolding outdoor ceremony.

 Normally, at a bow from the host, novice guests are led from the mundane outer world across the earthen "Bridge of Dreams" into "The Pure Land", a symbolic realm of unity in the inner garden. They then purify hands and mouth with water at the stone basin, stooping in an attitude of humility that prepares them for what lies ahead.

 Only then are they permitted to enter the tea room, where the tone is set by a calligraphy scroll painted by a Zen master and symbolic objects like a small willow tree (long life) and model of Mount Meru (the centre of the universe).

 In what seems like a choreographed procession, each of us walks over to the host's seat to inspect the hearth of burning charcoal and the incense and utensils laid out around it. Then we settle in our seats and still our thoughts in preparation for the host's arrival.

 With hearts prepared for a communal experience of "harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity" - the four virtues of tea -- we are ready to take part in this ancient exercise in enlightenment and the cultivation of the inner self.

 "Keeping the intimate relationship between the host and the guest is the most important part of any tea ceremony," explains Toomey. "It's the kind of relationship in which the guests can experience the four virtues.

 "It's important not to make anybody feel uncomfortable. Otherwise, something is wrong with the host. Usually the guests don't discuss politics and religion at the ceremony."

 The four virtues of tea emerged in the 16th century when Japan was being torn apart by civil war. The government began promoting the tea ceremony as a way of teaching people how to get along with each other and have respect for authority. 

 After sliding the door open in three movements, Toomey enters the room on his knees, bows and greets each guest individually. Then, the chief guest asks the host to read the scroll and explain its meaning, as this will be the theme that determines every detail of this gathering. The flowers, the fire, the incense and the utensils are discussed before the host brings in the tea bowls and the small cakes. The host then purifies the tea scoop and caddy and warms the tea bowl.

 "In this symbolic purification of already clean utensils, you experience the inner purification of Zen. You are acutely aware of the "wind in the pines", as the sound of the boiling water is referred to, and the wake-up call to enlightenment of the bamboo whisk striking the ceramic bowl, the calming sound of ladled water, the soothing swish of the tea whisk, the dripping of poured leaf tea or the closing of ceramic caddies."

 The rhythmic rise and fall of the host's movements is one way of achieving harmony with nature, says Toomey. Just before tea is served, we inspect our tea bowls and other utensils. The host lifts the scoop to pour a precise amount of powdered green tea into the bowl, and then sets down the scoop as if it were heavy. The Japanese consider powdered tea more refined because of its association with the emperor's court.

 After adding hot water Toomey whisks the infusion and serves it to guests in order of age, status, or seniority in tea. The same bowl is passed around and each of us bows before taking a sip.

 The host may offer to refill the guests' individual bowls. When all have had enough, he purifies the utensils to show proper reverence for these ceremonial works of art, which are then removed from the room. The ceremony ends with a bow.

 As well as offering new friendships through a tea ceremony, Toomey sees tea as a way of "mental cultivation, a comfort in solitude, a companion to poetry".

 Then there are the medical benefits. Studies have shown that the anti-oxidants and polyphenols in tea have anti-ageing and anti-cancer properties as well as protecting against tooth decay.

  "Black tea has half the caffeine content of coffee and green tea a third," notes Toomey. "So green tea has only one sixth the caffeine of coffee. That small amount of caffeine helps brighten the mind. Buddhist monks use it to help them stay awake during meditation."

  The spiritual and physical benefits of tea have been recorded since ancient times: "Tea takes away tears and calms the mind, clears both head and heart and endows the drinker with manners, etiquette and godliness," according to one account.

 As part of a ceremony, it contains a flavour of enlightenment, too, soothing the senses with natural sounds and the mellow tang of the dark green universe whirling in your tea bowl. Perhaps this is what Zen tastes like.