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The Book of Tea, Thoughts, Reactions and Ideas by Tony Ferguson 2005©
My initial search in ceramic history for the history of wood fire led me to research and read about China, Korea (where I had lived for almost 3 months) and Japan. My initial idea for this article had to do with history of wood fire but in my readings I discovered the effect tea had on Chinese, Japanese, and modern day ceramics. I found the history of tea to be fascinating and contributed if not was solely responsible for the abstract expressionist movement in the West. This is to be further explored. The Influence of Teaism, with its roots in Zen Buddhism and Taoism (also some Confucianism) has had a profound impact on ceramics. The book of primary focus, The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura, describes the history of tea with its connection to the tea masters who were potters. I originally bought and read the book, but found and have decided to use an Etext for quoting purposes prepared by Matthew and Gabrielle Harbowy. I've included a link to the etext for primary source reference and link to amazon.com for an inexpensive soft cover. The format of this article is a reaction style paper detailing my thoughts, direct quotes, and reactions to the reading--with some thoughts and ideas somewhat broken and confusing even to me now after re-reading and correcting. It, none the less, provides my intense interest in Eastern aesthetics and their effects on Western aesthetic ideals. Heavy laden with the philosophy of the East, this reaction paper style article attempts to communicate my thoughts and responses, questions raised, some answered, others left for another day, while reading the book. ~ After reading the Book of Tea, I was left with tears in my eyes with the book ending with the story of Rikiu, to whom Japanese art and pottery and arguably all pottery the Japanese influenced with their own, owes a debt of gratitude. For essentially it is the Zen of aesthetics we have received in the form of abstract expressionism from the tea masters for the tea master “strove to be something more than the artist--art itself (30). The tea masters taught that the creation we live in is perfection if we only chose to recognize it. What is essential to the Tea Masters place in Art History? First, let us not forget it was tea that brought about the tea masters and their contribution--that it was tea that came first in order for us “to arrive at what is fully present.” Let us examine the origins of tea to understand its place in history and its surmounting effect on aesthetics. In all cultures tea was medicine and grew into a drink, a beverage, something taken everyday or on some regular basis. It was no until the 15th century tea became Teaism. That is “Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence” (1). At this time in Japan, life was hard as it was pretty much anywhere in the world. It was in fact a feudalistic society where we see shogun in constant civil war, samurai warriors, starvation, etc. In the author’s section on, The Cup of Humanity, he describes the philosophy of tea and that it was not mere aestheticism. Because of the long isolation of Japan, Teaism, its philosophy, permeated the entire culture “Our peasants have learned to arrange flowers, our meanest laborer to offer his salutation to the rocks and waters“ (1). Teaism was not just for the monks or the wealthier classes but for all, and with it, the philosophy of Zen. Tea was not just a medicine, although full of many beneficial health, but was a physical metaphor for the elixir of humanity, of balancing. In essence tea and everything surrounding it became holy, or perhaps a better word would be sacred, as it imparted the reminder of our impermanence and the value of the now, the movement. Tea is the leaf of nature, that part of the tree of nature which provides sustenance for the rest of the plant. It is not only physical sustenance but a spiritual one--as it nourishes us, heals us, it also serves as a reminder of our finiteness, that like the leaf plucked from the tree, our native spirit when it is time will be purged from this body--it is the here and now and seeing the perfection about and within us that is our potential as our true nature is part of the infinite. The tea master recognized this--that tea--the leaves of nature, the medicine of man, the beverage of remembrance, could further be enhanced by the context of the tea room for the tea served was a drink in as much as a was a metaphor for something greater than ourselves: that art and life are one. History The tea plant is native to southern, China. “Known in botany and medicine. It is alluded to in the classics under the various names of Tou, Tseh, Chung, Kha, and Ming, and was highly prized for possessing the virtues of relieving fatigue, delighting the soul, strengthening the will, and repairing the eyesight”(6). It was crushed and used as a poultice to heal wounds. Buddhists used tea to help keep them awake and the Taoists saw tea as the “elixir of immortality.” So as long as there has been writing, tea is a record as something of value for us on a spiritual/philosophical level as it was the driving force behind Japanese aesthetics. What can be more highly prized than something that heals us or makes us whole again? It was not until the T’ang dynasty where Lu Wu during the 8th century wrote Ch’a Ching which formulated the first code of tea. We have our first apostle of tea for he saw in the tea service “the same harmony and order which reigned through all things “ (6). It is with Lu Wu that tea is picked up, developed, and brought to its real light through the tenants of Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. As a poet, Lu Wu in his 3 volumes describes the nature of the tea plant, implements for gathering leaves, selection of leaves, equipage, method of making tea. In each aspect of code Lu Wu’s description of how and why of the various aspects of the code reflect his expression of Taoist symbolism. The author also tells us it is “interesting to observe in this connection the influence of tea on Chinese Ceramics”(6). The creation story of the Taoists (Chinese) tell us of the “the great beginning of the no-beginning, spirit…heavens. It is from the creation story that the Chinese are known for their celestial porcelain--for it was an attempt by the Chinese to create a porcelain that represents the solar vault and the blue dome of jade. The attempt to create this celestial color resulted in its T’ang dynasties blue glaze of the South and the white glaze of the North. These attempts and their subsequent colors were no doubt due to the use of the local materials and their unique qualities contributed to different glaze colors. It is said that Lu Wu found blue ideal for the tea cup as it enhanced the greenness of the tea (which he boiled) representing the first stage of tea making. His preparation of the cake tea caused the white glaze of the north to be colored pink and it was perceived as distasteful. Later, the Sung dynasty tea masters used powdered or whipped tea representing the second stage of the evolution of tea. They preferred heavy bowls of blue-black and dark brown. Representing the third stage of tea development, the Mings used white porcelain and steeped their tea, which is the contemporary way of preparing tea. It was the Emperor T’ai Tsun (763-779AD) who befriended LuWuh and elevated whipped tea reflecting the second school or stage of tea development with changes in preparation and changes in tea equipage. Lotung, Tang poet, described tea poetically as if it were a life enhancing & purification experience: “O nectar! The filmy leaflet hung like scaly clouds in a serene sky or floated like water lilies on emerald streams” (7). It was such a beverage that Lotung further wrote: "The first cup moistens my lips and throat, the second cup breaks my loneliness, the third cup searches my barren entrail but to find therein some five thousand volumes of odd ideographs. The fourth cup raises a slight perspiration--all the wrong of life passes away through my pores. At the fifth cup I am purified; the sixth cup calls me to the realms of the immortals. The seventh cup--ah, but I could take no more! I only feel the breath of cool wind that rises in my sleeves. Where is Horaisan? Let me ride on this sweet breeze and waft away thither” (7). It is here we see a contemporary familiarity via Raku tea ceremony with powdered tea, its whipping in hot water with a whisk made of split bamboo. What we also see is the dawning of the neo-Confucianism mind that did not seek to symbolize but rather actualize their notion of life. How did they achieve this? Through tea. How can we understand this mind set as Westerners? Perhaps we can try: “To the Neo-Confucian mind the cosmic law was not reflected in the phenomenal world, but the phenomenal world was the cosmic law itself. Aeons were but moments--Nirvana always within grasp. The Taoist conception that immortality lay in the eternal change permeated all their modes of thought. It was the process, not the deed, which was interesting. It was the completing, not the completion, which was really vital. Man came thus at once face to face with nature. A new meaning grew into the art of life. The tea began to be not a poetical pastime, but one of the methods of self-realization (8). What was once poetical pastime was now a method of self realization. It is no wonder that the Southern Zen Chinese sect of Buddhists which had adopted many Taoist principals made tea into a spiritual ritual. It is said about the origin of tea ceremony that one night the monks gathered in their usual way. There sat a bowl “with the profound formality of a holy sacrament” and they drank from it. The monks Zen ritual set the foundation for the tea ceremony of the 15th century (8). Japan had nearly always followed the Chinese culture, its developments, its fancies and certainly its development of tea. Due to civil and outer unrest, China had lost much its culture of tea. The Japanese have tea in all its stages as they would bring back tea and seed from China and for the most part, were absorbed in their own civil unrest. Many tea gardens were planted and for the priesthood and aristocracy of tea prevailed. It was under the support of the shogun Ashikaga-Uoshinas “the tea ceremony is fully constituted and made into an independent and secular performance” (9). Because of Chinas internal strife, nomadic invasions, Mongols, much of the ideals of tea were lost. Japans successful defeat of the Mongols allowed Japan to actualize the ideals of tea. “Tea with us became more than an idealization of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life” (8). It is no wonder when the patronage of the movement of tea in his battle weary violent life of strife, a cup of tea and all that it meant with its attempt to actualize life, affirm one‘s existence, would have been an act of rejuvenation, the tea house, an oasis in the desert of war. No wonder the samurai were proponents of tea ceremony. From a Western perspective, the ceremony absolved their sins. The beverage grew to be an excuse for the worship of purity and refinement, a sacred function at which the host and guest joined to produce for that occasion the utmost beatitude of the mundane (9). It is as if the tea-master is the priest, the visitor, the soul seeking absolution, the tea room, the church. “The tea-room was an oasis in the dreary waste of existence where weary travelers could meet to drink from the common spring of art-Appreciation” (9). The ceremony itself perfected the drama of life. The tea, flowers, painting, al harmonized in idealized perfection. “Not a color to disturb the tone of the room, not a sound to mar the rhythm of things, not a gesture to obtrude on the harmony, not a word to break the unity of the surroundings, all movements to be performed simply and naturally--such were the aims of the tea-ceremony. And strangely enough it was often successful. This behavior of natural and direct action reflected a subtle philosophy--Teaism was Taoism in disguise.” (9) Why would the Shogun adopt Tea culture? What is Taoism? What is Zenism? What’s their historical value with respect to their effect on the arts of Japan or the world? What about the effect on tea ceremony as an art form? Are these the roots of abstract expressionism in the East and how did the make their way to the West? Could the tea ceremony, embodying Taoism and Zen Buddhism, have a direct influence on Abstract expressionism? I suspect it did but that is perhaps altogether another paper. What I do understand is that without Taoism and Zen Buddhism, there could be no Teaism, no tea house about the tea room, no garden, about the tea house, no tea master or wayward or invited traveler. In my research, Tao translated literally means “the way.” The Tao comes from Lao-Tzu, a Chinese philosopher who likes to speak in paradoxes and has a sense of humor. Lao-Tzu writes "If people of inferior intelligence hear of the Tao, they laugh immensely. It would not be the Tao unless they laughed at it" (10). The Tao can also be thought of as a path. It is an act of acting or behavior that is natural or nature. It is the absolute, Supreme Reason. It is a total act of being and becoming a Path of being & yet the Way. It is, in Christian terms, a silent God which is omni-present, omniscient, omnipotent. It is infinity and eternity, it is the creation, it is time, the universe coming in and out of being creating new forms for a time and returning upon itself. It is the folding and unfolding of creation. “The Tao might be spoken of as the Great Transition. Subjectively it is the Mood of the Universe. Its Absolute is the Relative.” (10). Taoism was the independent forethought response to the confines of an old dynasty, the Chow, and its Confucianism. It was Lao Tzu & Sushi (Chuang-Tzu) who carried the mantel of The Way. For the Tao, right and wrong are relative. They label or define is a limitation on the ever-changing nature of the Tao. It was to attempt of Confucianism to fix laws and leave societies characteristics unchanged. “The observance of communal traditions involves a constant sacrifice of the individual to the state. Education, in order to keep up the mighty delusion, encourages a species of ignorance. People are not taught to be really virtuous, but to behave properly” (11). It was Taoism that contributed to the Chinese unification during the Shin dynasty and the overall formation of the celestial character “giving to it a certain capacity for reserve and refinement as "warm as jade." Chinese history is full of instances in which the votaries of Taoism, princes and hermits alike, followed with varied and interesting results the teachings of their creed“ (12). Taoism’s greatest contribution is in aesthetics for Taoism deals with the present, our actions in the relativity, “the present is the moving Infinity, the legitimate sphere of the Relative. Relativity seeks Adjustment; Adjustment is Art. The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings“ (12). Taoism tries to see the beauty in all aspects of life. Like Shakespeare who said we are all actors on the stage of life, part of the great play, Taoism says we must know the play, understand it in its totality in order to play our parts. Here the author writes “the connection of totality must never be lost in that of the individual. What does this mean? We will use the human body, in Taoistic terms to illustrate. Think of the body as a vacuum of space--it is not the constant of the body, its outer appearance gives it a sense of a reality, but that space and therein contained; that is, the reality is the space enclosed by the body. If we take a tea bowl--the usefulness of the tea bowl is not the tea bowl itself, but in the emptiness where tea may be placed within the bowl. “The reality of the room” lies in the walls of the bowl, the space or room and its capacity for motion. Back to the human form. The author tells us “One who could make of himself a vacuum into which others might freely enter would become master of all situations. The whole can always dominate the part” (12). This reminds me of Akido and other such philosophically energy field approaches to action and reaction, cause and effect relationships of motion. This approach, this way of thinking about the nature of reality of action & interaction with matter reflects aspects of quantum physics. This thinking, when applied to Art, the artist creates a work of art that is nearly whole. The artist, because he is of the Tao, learns something of the artwork unsaid. It is the whole wanting to be completed by the viewer who brings through the artists subtle suggestions, completes the whole. This aesthetic experience reflects the views as part, artist’s work as a whole. And so the whole dominates the part. The artist sets up for the viewer “the Way” for he or she to complete the work. The reality of the room of the artwork--is in the viewers bringing into the artwork via the artist’s suggestion, a connection, some aspect of the viewer’s energy, thought, feelings, hopes dreams, sentimentality, which becomes the final voice in the work that makes it in fact real, alive, understood, simply felt. The work is a vacuum for “you to enter and fill up to the full measure of your aesthetic emotion” (13). It is interesting to know that it is in fact the perception of the Tao that “living” is an art form. It could be said, it is the ultimate artwork, and so the reality of the “Real Man” is he who masters living. It is he who sees the process of living as no doubt an action but an action of reality of space. Life is the 4 walls, man is that entity filling up the space within the walls of life. If he is a true Taoist, the body is merely a temporary housing, an opportunity of right action and living is the suggestion of something to be completed, a path to tread upon--as man is himself the aesthetic viewer completing the artwork that he has in fact engineered. Later we will see how the tea masters took the metaphor of the 4 walls, the house, to create the tea house, but first, to understand Teaism in its philosophical aesthetics and art historical context, we must first see the contribution of Zen for Taoism needed what Zen could only provide: meditation and its communion with nature. Zen translated = meditation. The very basis of this philosophy is meditation. The notion of supreme self-realization is a Buddhist concept and is the word Zen from Sanskrit (East Indian Hindu tradition of dhyana). It was the Bodhi-Dharma who in the 6th century came to China because its first patriarch (of Chinese Zen). After the succession, it was Baso who established rituals and regulations or the government of China based on the Zen tradition. If we read Lao Tzu’s “Tao-Te Ching” notions of breath regulation and self-concentration are part of the meditative process. These are key aspects of Zen meditation and reflect the relationship & commonality of Taoism & Zen. In respect to relativity, Zen & Tao observe relativity as the focal point from which “relativity” is observed. Through an opposite, north, south, light, dark, top, bottom, each relative aspect is in contradistinction to the other. For Zen & Tao can only be seen through the understanding that reality as we see it, exists via the perception of the individual. “Nothing is real except that which concerns the working of our own minds” (14). There are various stories that illustrate this point of how reality is perceived and for which perceptive action or thought or feeling is being acted or acted upon. A quote that illustrates this: “Nothing is real except that which concerns the working of our own minds. Yeno, the sixth patriarch, once saw two monks watching the flag of a pagoda fluttering in the wind. One said "It is the wind that moves," the other said "It is the flag that moves"; but Yeno explained to them that the real movement was neither of the wind nor the flag, but of something within their own Minds.” (14). Another example “Hiakujo was walking in the forest with a disciple when a hare scurried off at their approach. "Why does the hare fly from you?" asked Hiakujo. "Because he is afraid of me," was the answer. "No," said the master, "it is because you have murderous instinct." (14). For Zen, even language or words was a border for pure thought. And from this awareness of the duality or even multiplicity of accurate perspective, the Zen (literally meaning meditation) understood the nature of things through communion with them. And it preferred those things that were cleaner, uncluttered, for the wayward accession of things only obscured the truth. In the arts, the Buddhist liked black & white sketches with some embracing iconoclassy to avoid fixation on hermitage of an outward Buddha. This is the attempt to realize the Buddha within--without any outward impediments to cloud their visualization and thought. A very important contribution of Zen through our perception was the value of every living thing, no matter how mundane, as they saw all things equally of spirit for the seeing of the diving was present in all things and only had to be realized. We will see later how this thinking affected Teaism. Zen held that “in the great relation of things there was no distinction of small and great, an atom possessing equal possibilities with the universe. The seeker for perfection must discover in his own life the reflection of the inner light“ (14). The author tells us that even in their own monastery the most mundane task was assigned to the advanced monks reflecting their conception of greatness to smallness. And because everything possess “equal possibilities” the Zen sought to develop each action perfectly, let each action reach its perfection and so imagine as each monk carried out their devotions the discussion and refinement surrounding each task and how best to enact it? It is now that the Zen concept of “greatness in the smallest incidents of life ”Taoism furnished the basis for aesthetic ideals and Zenism made them practical” (14). It is the conception of the tea room we see the development of the Zen/Tao philosophy. The Sukiya or tearoom is a simple cabin, cottage, straw hut. It is simple because it does not want to distract from what is to happen inside. The conception of the tea room changed according to how each tea master substituted his ideography. The tea room has been referred to as the abode of the Fancy, Abode of he Unsymmetrical and Abode of Vacancy. The author writes: “The tea-room (the Sukiya) does not pretend to be other than a mere cottage--a straw hut, as we call it. The original ideographs for Sukiya mean the Abode of Fancy. Latter, the various tea-masters substituted various Chinese characters according to their conception of the tea-room, and the term Sukiya may signify the Abode of Vacancy or the Abode of the Unsymmetrical. It is an Abode of Fancy inasmuch as it is an ephemeral structure built to house a poetic impulse. It is an Abode of Vacancy inasmuch as it is devoid of ornamentation except for what may be placed in it to satisfy some aesthetic need of the moment. It is an Abode of the Unsymmetrical inasmuch as it is consecrated to the worship of the Imperfect, purposely leaving some thing unfinished for the play of the imagination to complete. The ideals of Teaism have since the sixteenth century influenced our architecture to such degree that the ordinary Japanese interior of the present day, on account of the extreme simplicity and chasteness of its scheme of decoration, appears to foreigners almost barren.” (15). It is why today when we think of the Japanese house or room as simple, uncluttered, a host seemingly scarce in contradistinction to our western cluttered notion of arrangement & decoration--the influence of tea room since the 6th century. The first independent tearoom on record outside the Zen monasteries was created by Senno-Soyeki 16th century or Rikiu--known today as Raku. It is unfortunate that modern man’s conception of this great man is limited to a copper flash glaze and firing process which stand in complete contradistinction to the philosophy of Teaism. Rikiu made so poplar that it affected not only Asian art & aesthetics, but even our contemporary notion of abstract expression. For it is in the roots of Teaism & Zen we see the birth of Abstract Expressionism. However, let us return to the Rikiu for he was the greatest of all the tea masters and with the help of Taiko-Hideyoshi, brought the formalism of tea ceremony to its perfection. These formalities include the construction/physical layout of the tea room, the garden around the tea room and the tea room itself. The proportions of the tea room itself was determined b Jowo, a 15th century tea master. The tea room is no doubt ably modeled after the Zen monastery which differs in that it is only a place to live, a dwelling place, an environment that is scarce where attention is focused upon learning and meditation. It is nearly bare with the exception of the statue of the Bodhi Dharma: “The founder of the sect, of shakyamuni attended lye Kashyapa and Ananda, the two earliest Zen patriarchs which sits behind an altar where they sit among flowers and incense as offerings of remembrance of their contribution to Zen. It is from this altar that the Japanese inherited this “place of honor” refereed to as the Tokonama--where flowers and paintings are placed for quests. The tea room of ages past, orthodox in its originality, was “four mats and half, or ten feet square. Derived from a passage in the sutra of Vikramaditya which displaced the allegory of the non-existence of space--to the truly enlightened through the invitation of the Buda & 84,000 of his disciples. About the tearoom was the roji or garden path--this pathway or passage reflected the process of meditation of focusing the energies of the body and mind in one direction--the roji represented the first stage of meditation which the meditator moves his attention from the outside to the world inside. The roji, the physical path one walks along to the tearoom “produced a fresh sensation conducive to the full enjoyment of aestheticism in the tea room itself” (17). The roji was intended to break connection with the outside world, and produce a fresh sensation conducive to the full enjoyment of aestheticism in the tea-room itself” (17). One who has trodden this garden path cannot fail to remember how his spirit, as he walked in the twilight of evergreens over the regular irregularities of the stepping stones, beneath which lay dried pine needles, and passed beside the moss-covered granite lanterns, became uplifted above ordinary thoughts” (17). The tea room, even though in the city, was a refuge of serenity and purity--a house of peace, a place to calm and revitalize the spirit for even the samurai would leave his sword on the rock beneath the eaves. Each tea master wished for his guests to arise various sensations as they moved via the roji (garden path). Rikiu aimed at loneliness as this motivated one toward searching for truth, Koburi-Enshiu arrived at creating the sensation of a newly awakened soul and yearning “for the freedom that lay in the experience beyond” (17). Each had their own style so to say yet were still held to Tao tenets. None the less, to enter the tea room, one must enter with humility via a 3 foot door thus bowing and almost kneeling when entering. There is an order of progression--carefully thought out and determined while they rested in the machiai or portico (porch) after walking the path. Each guest enters one by on, quietly, showing a nod of respect to the flower arrangement (ikebana) on the tokonama and then they take their seats and wait in silence. “The kettle sings well, for pieces of iron are so arranged in the bottom as to produce a peculiar melody in which one may hear the echoes of a cataract muffled by clouds, of a distant sea breaking among the rocks, a rainstorm sweeping through a bamboo forest, or of the soughing of pines on some faraway hill” (17). The atmosphere is filled with little light for the eaves of the tea room slants and creates a sober mood, and limited in light, even the guest wear un-colorful garments--nothing to intrude upon the tune the tea master wishes to set “The mellowness of age is over all, everything suggestive of recent acquirement being tabooed save only the one note of contrast furnished by the bamboo dipper and the linen napkin, both immaculately white and new” (18). However, wabi sabi (possessing an ancient quality, full of wisdom, humility) everything is clear in the tea room. There will be no dust to be found as the tea-master is a master in “the act sweeping, cleaning, and washing for even the most mundane of tasks or activities always possessing the capability to be carried out as an art form which is in conjunction with nature and beauty. The tea-master progresses this art form in the ceremony, delivering tea in the prescribed manner, every action, blocked as a director rehearsing a play, purposeful and with intent. This “sukiya” when referred to as the abode of Fancy really means “a structure created to meet some individual artistic requirement” (18). The tea room is ephemeral and is made for the tea master. It is as if the tea room is the canvas, the tea master the coordinator of the event (canvas) and the elements of the composition (the tea, utensils) with the guests to elicit a work of art which goal lies in providing experience that provides transcendence. The tea-room is made for the tea master, not the tea-master for the tea-room. It is not intended for posterity and is therefore ephemeral. The idea that everyone should have a house of his own is based on an ancient custom of the Japanese race. In the past, Shinto superstition ordained that every dwelling should be evacuated on the death of its chief occupant. Perhaps there may have been some unrealized sanitary reason for this practice. Another early custom was that a newly built house should be provided for each couple that was married. It is on account of such customs that we find the Imperial capitals so frequently removed from one site to another in ancient days--these building literally were taken down, moved, and rebuilt. The rebuilding, every twenty years, of Ise Temple, the supreme shrine of the Sun-Goddess, is an example of one of these ancient rites which the Japanese still retain to this day. The observance of these customs was only possible with some form of construction as furnished by our system of wooden architecture, easily pulled down, easily built up. A more lasting style, employing brick and stone, would have rendered migrations impracticable, as indeed they became when the more stable and massive wooden construction of China was adopted by us after the Nara period” (18). Zennism’s tea house represented the tea room as the
body, a temporary housing for the spirit and through tea ceremony the notion of
master of sprit over matter could analogously be conveyed. The tea house was
meditation. The guest of the tea master, could, retreat to the temporary refuge
of meditation from ordinary life. “The body itself was but a hut in the
wilderness: Art, to be fully appreciated, must be true to contemporaneous life.
It is not that we should ignore the claims of posterity, but that we should seek
to enjoy the present more. (19) The author describes The Adobe of Vacancy which refers to changing the decorative elements that required continued change--no doubt derived from nature as “always in flux.” The tea room outside of ceremony is empty, the value of the space in reality is what it offers. The space represents the possibility of an occurrence. “Tea Ceremony” and all its elements are placed there by the tea master to satisfy the desired aesthetic mood. The tea master will come himself with a an art object and each consequent item brought in will enhance the beauty having a pleasing relationship with the principal theme. Generally it is the special art object that serves as the theme. Again much within the tea room, the path to the tea room, the physical area of the tea room are supporting elements for what will take place in the space of the tea room. Even within the tea room the special art object sets the tone--with the purpose of directing the attention to one thing--associative this is meditation--there is aesthetic and art via the composition of not just one main art object, but other lesser elements that are utilized to support the aesthetic experience of the special art object. Even the those in attendance are objects required for the overall composition. Teaism is philosophy and aesthetics in action. It is itself an art form in that it attempts to bridge the physical world with the spiritual, the beautiful, and the process of the spirit ascending. The author goes on to describe what is called the Abode of the Unsymmetrical which has its shaping by also the Taoist, Zen concept of perfection which much like the artist who stresses creative process so did “their philosophy lay more stress upon the process through which perfection was sought than upon perfection itself. True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally completed the incomplete. The virility of life and art lay in its possibilities for growth.” (19). Such symmetrical approaches reflected completion and repetition which would be seen as devoid of growth for everything is always changing around us and we are also constantly changing. Zen & Taoism saw life as a creative process. But this philosophy saw the human being as an element in nature that could change & grow--become something better--ascend like the Buddha. It is in the tea room where every guest is left in their imagination “to complete the total effect in relation to himself” (20). There will not be repetition in the tea room, no suggestion of monotony as two objects that “match” would suggest monotony & these forms would be devoid of growth or be devoid of looking in a forward movement of dynamic of change. The simplicity of the tea room we know is derived from the monastery--this tearoom is in fact, a sanctuary from the vexation of the outer world. ‘The simplicity of the tea-room and its freedom from vulgarity make it truly a sanctuary from the vexations of the outer world. There and there alone one can consecrate himself to undisturbed adoration of the beautiful” (20). It was no wonder the shogun supported the tea master for in the 16th century Japan was gong through unification and restoration. The tearoom was a safe haven outside of time and strife, a place for the soul to rise in its “making” connections, associations of the oneness of nature and spirit. The room “afforded a welcome respite from labor to the fierce warriors and statesmen engaged in the unification and reconstruction of Japan. In the seventeenth century, after the strict formalism of the Tokugawa rule had been developed, it offered the only opportunity possible for the free communion of artistic spirits“ (2). The author described the aesthetic experience within the tea ceremony in The Mystery of Art Appreciation: “At the magic touch of the beautiful the secret chords of our being are awakened, we vibrate and thrill in response to its call. Mind speaks to mind. We listen to the unspoken, we gaze upon the unseen. The master calls forth notes we know not of. Memories long forgotten all come back to us with a new significance. Hopes stifled by fear, yearnings that we dare not recognize, stand forth in new glory. Our mind is the canvas on which the artists lay their colour; their pigments are our emotions; their chiaroscuro the light of joy, the shadow of sadness. The masterpiece is of ourselves, as we are of the masterpiece” (21). The mystery is in the merging and the approach to viewing as an artwork & its inherent beauty, relationship, experience affect us. The work requires both artist & viewer to be completed. I find this very interesting that in order for a work to be truly completed, it must also be viewed. The author writes “Nothing is more hallowing than the union of kindred spirits in art. At the moment of meeting, the art lover transcends himself. At once he is and is not. He catches a glimpse of Infinity, but words cannot voice his delight, for the eye has no tongue. Freed from the fetters of matter, his spirit moves in the rhythm of things“ (22). The author’s words are too concise, full of brevity & poetry. And so for the Japanese, art is akin to religion--as ushers, man via the aesthetic experience to something larger, enables him, transforms him and connects him to the Tao which is himself. The value of artwork was so high that the generals of Taiko would prefer an art work over land as a reward for a victorious battle. How odd this value upon the artwork as a transcendental sacred vehicle contrasted to the killing of war. Such strange value…I recall the story of the samurai who cut himself open and placed an artwork in his body (a painting) to protect it from a burning building. Art offered man a glimpse of the infinite and through art the infinite, for that brief moment, provided a glimpse of the Tao, a glimpse of themselves in the infinite. However, because of our finite nature--at least as long as we are entertained in the vehicle of the body our individual cultures, social customs & identity, the value of art is of value “only to the extent that it speaks to us” (23). For we are in essence have limited perception or capacity for artistic enjoyment--as many of us our purely consumers and not artists and caught in the modern day web of survival. Perhaps entertainment is a base form of artistic enjoyment and true artistic enjoyment is being engaged in a creative process. This enjoyment is, however, solipsistic in that we view the world is our own lens, “own our particular idiosyncrasies dictate the mode of our perceptions“ of the world of beauty (23). As Shakespeare said “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” We can broaden or cultivate our apparent understanding of the world, behold the multitude of expression of beauty, deepen our art appreciation, but in the Tao, we are left, in the end, looking at ourselves. The tea master saw the ceremony as a veneration of the creation. The entire event could be said to be an audience participation performance piece. The tea master the artist, those individuals invited for tea, the action--all is the great composition of artistic form giving rise to the awaking of spirit, to the awareness of the Tao, to not only an observation of beauty, but being the beautiful, the infinite for a moment. The tea bowl is the metaphor for the human body, the tea, the elixir of life, metaphor for housing the spirit--green, alive, growing, healing, cleansing, revitalizing--the tea room itself, an extended metaphor of the body, the vehicle placed within the garden of the Tao--the way, not only a refuge for the soul from the harshness of the world but also it is its liberator, if even for a moment, from the body. The way to infinity is from inside. The Zen tea master’s vehicle was meditation--tea ceremony was an introduction to the Tao in the most concrete practical means (a form of sustenance) through a seemingly everyday activity of drinking tea. But it was something so much more as we have learned in the context of the tea house. Through the use of the sacred art object which all objects were subjugated to, people learned about the Tao & Zen through the process of attending and taking part in the ceremony. They also learned that the human being is the sacred art object, the spirit from which meditation focuses and radiates back onto itself. Through understanding of the self comes understanding of the world of the infinite. The human being is the ultimate art object for we invented ourselves some eastern mystics say--the artwork represented an expression of the infinite that made its way through the artist into the work--the work is a vehicle, for holding a glimpse of the infinite for the infinite is ultimate beauty, it is the way of truth. It is Tao. And so what grain of wisdom of are we left with? What application if any can the student of art (the artist) enact upon their artwork, enact upon the world or his or her self? Certainly understanding of Zen, Tao, Japanese culture and the tea masters paves the way for understanding that creative activity has to do with process, the act of doing and the in the “how” or way of doing things has something to do with the quality of the experience or final manifestation of the artwork (that which the artists shapes and the degree of development by which the process shapes the artist). It is my belief that Teaism is the foundation from which abstract expressionism springs and I seek to understand how and when this eastern ideal made its way into Western aesthetics and by whom. This eastern way of perception has allowed the artist, taught the artist that he can perceive the self in having access to the infinite via the “right” way of action, through refined action and intense focus and meditation. For the way out is from the inside and in through the out door. Could it have been music that first brought this to the West?
On Flower arrangements-- There was much developed in the inclusion of flowers and their various schools of arrangement. The flower, in essence, continued the “vehicle” metaphor. It showed us that all is waning in this physical world and so is physical beauty--which has its association to Truth, the infinite, which is continually beautiful. Tea Masters gave us the Now, that in Art (the entire tea ceremony is an artwork) “the present is the eternal” (30). These high standards of refinement showed a way of being that raised above the brute, that recognized man as an element in nature and part of nature and that this was a path through creation (is creation) as much as there is a path through a garden--we need only to recognize how to ebb and flow with nature’s elements as opposed to working against it. The tea master strove to be “something more than the artist--art itself. It was the Zen of aestheticism. Perfection is everywhere if we only choose to recognize it. (30). Art is perfection because of what I (the vehicle) contains (essence of perfection). The tea master as art itself represented yet another extended metaphor within. Japanese culture, after the 16th century, is full of the influence of the tea masters, the tea room, and garden, architecture, the Japanese home, the palace monasteries, castles, villas, gardens. The Zen & Tao of the Tea masers permeated the culture with a new way of thinking about how to live and act, how to approach a flower, the beauty of humility, and how to treat each other. Within art their influence is unmistakable in textiles, paining, lacquer, and of course, pottery. The author tells us “Our pottery would probably never have attained its high quality of excellence if the tea-masters had not lent it to their inspiration, the manufacture of the utensils used in the tea-ceremony calling forth the utmost expenditure of ingenuity on the parts of our ceramists“ (30). Side reading: “The World of Japanese Ceramics.” Anagamas are called dragon kilns because of the creation story--the kiln itself is mouth and body of the Dragon (research more). --shapes of tea bowls, summer, winter, feeling, form, looseness, nature Understand the nature of form: Tea contribution: --conduct of life, formal & informal interactions --domestic details including the serving & creation of culinary delights --approaching a flower, demonstration of respect for living things\ --natural love of simplicity & beauty of humility.
Conclusion What has the history of Teaism, its influence on art, given to us: Creative process of living--that life itself is a process of creative choices. We refine these choices to succinct movements as would a musician in refining his song and yet also react and adapt to the condition of change the symphony may display. The tea masters were not about teaching something static as one from the outside may perceive the ceremony--the act of the ceremony took into account the individual mood the tea master wished to elicit, the weather outside, the season, the current honored artwork from which all other elements were subordinated as supporting elements. What tea masters gave art was this approach at composition, an awareness of the elements of the whole form which the whole always dominates. This aesthetic approach of Teaism in the “unsymmetrical” contributed to the looseness of Japanese pottery in its Zen/Teaism influences period to now. Even today, the spirit of Zen reigns supreme in dynamic asymmetrical pottery forms of the majority of Japanese art pottery among studio artists for the potter attempts at being in the now and embodies the dynamic energy of the moment of its creation and its fusion in timelessness with the other elements present in the glaze & in conjunction with the firing process. It is why the dollar value of Japanese pottery is so high: the artist attempts to “capture” the now, the infinite in the form of clay. What people are paying for, or willing to pay such high dollar amounts has to do with the perceived “capturing” and embodiment of the infinite in the artwork of the Japanese master potter. It is this energy that Japanese pottery is so widely known for. The “Zen” approach developed by the tea masters is Abstract Expressionism in its primordial form--the Zen referred to the infinite, the unseen, the nameless, and so, like the great artwork on the Tokonama, they seeked to imbue through the capturing a glimpse of this energy--a moment in time caught through or in the repetition of forms--meditative where the infinite mind transcended itself---made its way into the work and later become realized in that aesthetic experience that the energy of the infinite was not only present in the work, but also present in the viewer--that the viewer was in fact, a part of the infinite, not for just a moment, but for an eternity (as was all things in nature). The task now was “right” living. The self as “artist” and “artwork” in the making. The contribution of Tea aesthetics and Japanese potters, their aesthetics, I think are only beginning to be understood in terms of their impact on contemporary aesthetics. Other books in my book case referenced in the reading of The Book of Tea: Shino & Oribe Ceramics, Sawers, Ashmolean Museum Ceramics, A Potter’s Handbook, Glen Nelson The World of Japanese Ceramics by Herbert Sanders Decorative Arts of Japan, Kodanshaw International, Japan Art Through The Ages by Howard Gardner Wood Fired Stoneware and Porcelain by Jack Troy |
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