Tea...is a religion of the art of life.
Okakura KakuzoRead
Tea is a work of art and needs a master hand to bring out its noblest qualities. We have good and bad teas, as we have good and bad paintings - generally the latter.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Tea, like art, requires skill and mastery to reveal its best qualities.
Okakura Kakuzo compares the preparation of tea to the creation of art, asserting that both require a master to unlock their fullest potential. Just as paintings can vary in quality, so too can teas, indicating that the appreciation and execution of both necessitate expertise and discernment.
Themes
TeaArtMasteryQualitiesPainting
In practice
Example use cases
I often share the quote about tea being a work of art during my tea-tasting workshops.
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Meanwhile, let us have a sip of tea. The afternoon glow is brightening the bamboos, the fountains are bubbling with delight, the soughing of the pines is heard in our kettle. Let us dream of evanescence, and linger in the beautiful foolishness of things.
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For life is an expression, our unconscious actions the constant betrayal of our innermost thought. Perhaps we reveal ourselves too much in small things because we have so little of the great to conceal. The tiny incidents of daily rouitine are as much a commentary of racial ideas as the highest flight of philosophy or poetry.
Okakura KakuzoRead
The ancient sages never put their teachings in a systematic form. They spoke in paradoxes, for they were afraid of uttering half-truths. They began by talking like fools and ended by making their hearers wise.
Okakura KakuzoRead
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