is remarkable in its potential to create
elevated communication pathways
between people. I can’t even begin
to describe how exciting it is to serve
tea to people I don’t know, and who
don’t know each other. It is a unique
and charged situation that can take so
many beautiful directions!
Fine teas are also so simply deli-
cious, and if brewed well, at the very
least, guarantee everyone will enjoy
some hearty laughs and happy times.
However, that doesn’t necessarily
mean that people will always gener-
ate a kind of radical peace by drinking
tea. If it did, given how many people
enjoy tea, it seems we would already
have world peace! This raises the
question: Can tea be a tool for creat-
ing peace between people who do not
agree and are considerably different?
Tea as social medicine
Some wise person once said: “Stop
projecting and start listening.” It may
be obvious that we are most often liv-
ing in a state of projecting our wants,
desires, and fears onto our surround-
ings, people included. Or it may not
be obvious, and so it has become an
important point I contemplate before
serving tea. Each moment holds
profound possibilities. However, if
we are habitually projecting all of our
issues and concerns upon others then
potentially remarkable moments
become trapped.
Tea is a chance to liberate this
bondage of our own making. We cre-
ate space to observe and taste clearly
without judgement or bias, and then
cultivate emergence from a balanced
place of understanding to meet situ-
ations appropriately. This underly-
ing tone of self-cultivation becomes
important when serving tea, because
the level of development of the server
along these lines is what helps guide
the experience towards more pro-
found intentions.
An honest inner dialogue with
clear markers for developing one’s
own narrative, and therefore life, is
profound medicine that tea in this
context offers us. Then, extending that
level of care into dialogue with others
over tea lays at the heart of bringing
the refreshing quality of tea to life. We
might actually exist, and experience
something truly new together. I think
that possibility is actually amazing!
The ritual
In terms of gongfucha, the first step
is simply doing everything you can,
within your understanding, to serve
the best cup of tea to your guests in
the spirit of generosity. If we could
humble ourselves to give first, without
agenda or bias, then the model for
social ritual has potential to shift from
competitive interest to shared inter-
est. By coming from a place of sincere
intention and openness, we bring our-
selves forward in a kind of vulnerabil-
ity, which then serves as a new model
for establishing communication.
Tea philosophy, like all philoso-
phy as it was originally practiced, is
something to embody. Hence there
is a focus on returning to our senses
through the taste of tea. Allowing the
past to go, and not expecting some-
thing in the future, we find ourselves
in moments of refined sensibility
through tasting not only the tea but
what emerges as the taste of our own
nature, shared together. After having
tasted such a profound delight, the
potential for magnificent inspiration
can easily well up in a group of people.
Once this type of peace is established,
imagine what heights we might col-
lectively rise to!
Profound questions
To inquire deeply both within our-
selves, and in relationship with others,
provides the basis of tea as philosophi-
cal artform. We struggle so much with
reality as we have inherited it, and
as we perpetuate it. Tea is one option
among many that wisdom traditions
have kept alive for us as tools for self-
cultivation and for exploring hidden
possibilities in ourselves.
Tea serves as a place where we
can meet each other face to face
and realize we aren’t so different. It
engenders the simplest values in life
like generosity and communication,
and the power of its resurgence in our
world helps us peacefully return to
our needs as human beings.
It is my sincerest hope that
humanity returns to more simple
lifestyle practices that foster our
interconnectedness and make visible
the gems of our human nature. These
gems are already there, we don’t need
to get them from some place outside.
You just may find them revealed from
the peace of mind that emerges from
sharing a simple cup of tea.
Kenneth Cannata has been importing, serv-
ing, and teaching about tea since 2006 and
has a B.A. in Chinese Studies from Dharma
Realm Buddhist University, where he is cur-
rently pursuing his M.A. degree in Buddhist
Classics. DRBU is a small private school
dedicated to liberal education in the broad
Buddhist tradition—a tradition characterized
by knowledge in the arts and sciences, self-
cultivation, and the pursuit of wisdom.
IMAGINE l Spring 2017 29