Asian Geographic Issue 05/2017 (127) | Page 3

timeless
The Way of Tea
By Chiao Jan
A friend presented me
With tender leaves of Oolong tea,
For which I chose a kettle
Of ivory-mounted gold,
A mixing-bowl of snow-white earth.
With its clear bright froth and fragrance,
It was like the nectar of Immortals.
The first bowl washed the cobwebs from my mind –
The whole world seemed to sparkle.
A second cleansed my spirit
Like purifying showers of rain,
A third and I was one of the Immortals –
What need now for austerities
To purge our human sorrows?
Worldly people, by going in for wine,
Sadly deceive themselves.
CHIAO JAN was a nobleman during the Tang
Dynasty (618–907) in China. He became a
Buddhist monk at 38, and later settled near
Chu Mountain. He gained renown for his
poetry and theoretical writing. He died at
70 while meditating.
IMAGE © SHUTTERSTOCK