“A monk once asked his master, ‘No matter what lies ahead, what is the Way?’ The master quickly replied, ‘The Way is your daily life.’” — Sen Sōshitsu XV, Tea Life Tea Mind
I’ve gotten to sit with my mom and brother for tea nearly everyday this week in Massachusetts and the season here has been unexpectedly sublime magic — from sun and snap showers to wind storms and gentle breezes, the days and nights have been everything you could wish for from an east coast late summer. The low canopy of this oak tree in my mom’s side yard made for a perfect teahouse, which even required a bow to enter. This is the only recording I took, and living this moment with
@bohdon felt simply like ‘tea’, but from this perspective I see nature itself joining us here.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the nature of my (and everyone else’s) city life these days, and what stands out to me centers around the importance of and need for experiences such as the one I felt here. Of course ‘tea’ can happen anywhere — in the same book Sen Shōshitsu states, “any place that is peaceful is the place where you can find your own spirit” — but there is something to note about the degree of ‘peaceful’ of our places, and the degree to which we only have the peace within ourselves (despite our environment) to inhabit.
I see a world where our daily lives not only have space for moments like these, but where all of the moments we care about — our passion work, social times, small breaks in the day — are saturated with the same invisible support from the natural world Bo and I experienced here. This to me is the greatest art: the alignment of nature, self-nature, and self.
