How you do one thing is how you do everything.

Tea flowers twice, once on the bush and a second time in our hearts.

- Frank Hadley Murphy

Plain water has flavor, subtly transcending the senses.

It precedes forms, though seeming endlessly to exist.

The Way is precious, though seeming massively to be foolish.

Inscribe designs on a jewel and it glory is lost.

A pearl even from an abyss naturally beckons.

Bracing air burnishes autumn's swelter;

Far away a single tranquil cloud divides sky and water.

- Bodhidharma

Gassho: Peter Matthiessen (1927 -2014) 7 Apr 2014 3:13 AM (10 years ago)

Zen is really just a reminder to stay alive and to be awake. We tend to daydream all the time, speculating about the future and dwelling on the past. Zen practice is about appreciating your life in this moment. If you are truly aware of five minutes a day, then you are doing pretty well. We are beset by both the future and the past, and there is no reality apart from the here and now.

- Peter Matthiessen (1927 -2014)

A luxurious house and the taste of delicacies are only pleasures of the mundane world.

It is enough if the house does not leak and the food keeps hunger away.

This is the teaching of the Buddha — the true meaning of Tea.

— Tea Master Sen no Rikyu

One day in the snow, I plucked a twig of winter plum

on the outskirts of town and took it home.

I slowly made a pot of tea then as I sipped the tea

I enjoyed the winter plum too.

- Wu Changshuo

Softly closing the chamber door,

Alone I await you in the empty room.

You never came.

Disappointed, I drink solitary tea

- Wang Wei (415-443)

Happy New Year 2 Feb 2014 10:06 AM (10 years ago)

It is difficult to express the mysterious fine details of tea.

The true and mysterious characters emerge only when physical being(water) and the spirit(tea) are intact,

one must be careful not to overdo it and miss the true harmony.

Only when the true harmony is not lost can the spirit and wholeness of tea be realized.

- Dongdasong

Special thanks to my friend Shane for visiting us from Taiwan and Global Tea Hut.

We were treated to several bowls of wisdom and joy.

Open 23 Dec 2013 11:45 PM (11 years ago)

A couple days ago the brick and mortar store front of Cloud Mountain Tea House quietly opened. Several months of hard work by many and several years planning have finally created this beautiful space.
Please stop by and visit us in beautiful Nelson, BC.

North Mountain

North Mountain sends down green flooding the embankment

the city moat and crescent lake shimmer in the light

counting every falling petal I forget the time

searching for sweet-smelling plants I return home late

- Wang An-Shih

Zen is like a cup of tea. 16 Dec 2013 2:11 PM (11 years ago)

On one level you can see the teacup and you can admire it.

You can look at the tea and admire it and its flavor.

But then you have to drink it.

When you drink it you have the real cup of tea.

But what is it?

It’s gone: it’s the memory of the taste, the sensation in your mouth.

- Red Pine

The wind-bell is ringing 2 Dec 2013 11:05 PM (11 years ago)

Before the spring rain—

a baby leaf

After spring rain—

a baby leaf.

The tiny little baby leaf has died

so one cup of tea

has arrived here

I too

leaving behind eighty-four thousand bright-hued passions

have arrived here.

Two becoming one, one becoming two, we are here.

What's this?

There's not a breath of wind yet

—ting-a-ling—

a wind-bell is ringing!

- Ko Un

I sit alone, deep in the mountains:

Worldly affairs are of no import.

Gate closed, I pass the days

in learning emptiness.

I examine my life.

I have no material goods,

just a bowl of fresh tea and

a book of scriptures.

- The Ven. Sonsu (1543-1514)

Brewing tea at Saiun-ji in Kitano 19 Nov 2013 4:52 PM (11 years ago)

Brewing tea by the roadside

fragrance rising from the pot

a marvelous refined pleasure

a flavor found nowhere else

The soft shrilling of the northern fields

billowing steam from the brazier

dispersing into the western clouds.

- Baisao

Thoughts on opening a tea store 8 Nov 2013 6:50 PM (11 years ago)

Certainly, no one can expect to earn money or fame by tea-making;
it can only be done as a labor of love,
as a service to those who practice the Way of Tea.

- Brother Anthony of Taize

Last Tea flower before winter 31 Oct 2013 9:13 PM (11 years ago)

'If tea isn't offered, a relationship isn't offered'

- Himalayan saying

Letter to the wild monk 16 Oct 2013 11:28 AM (11 years ago)

Other than the birds, who loves you?

Lordly peaks, your neighbors.

White head cold pillowed on a stone.

Gray robe ragged but not soiled.

Chestnuts pile up on your path.

Monkeys circle where you sit.

If you ever set up another zendo, I swear l'll be the one who sweeps the floors.

Kuan Hsiu (832-912)

The best tea is the one brewed with mindfulness.

With water drawn from the minds spring.

-Myokan

Mountain Living 1 Oct 2013 11:18 PM (11 years ago)

Mountain living! There’s deep meaning here!
A place where your spirits open up without limit.
Lean on a pine trunk for your pillow.
Wake from your nap and make yourself some tea.
Mountain living! No guests arriving!
The path through the bamboo grove is locked in smoke and mist.
Near the front door a clear brook flows The wind carries small flowers on the water.
Mountain living! Spring comes so early.
Plum blossoms are everywhere you look.
Their subtle fragrance captures the attention of your nose.
See or smell the slanting branch just outside the window.

- Hsu Yun

Wu-wei 15 Sep 2013 11:40 AM (11 years ago)

No calculated activity, just spontaneous action in accordance with one's nature.

Starbucks buys Teavana 13 Sep 2013 5:42 PM (11 years ago)

I have no doubt, within ten years, the fundamental way of tea will decline and perish.

When it has perished, people in society will believe, on the contrary, that it is flourishing.

- Rikyu (1589)

Opening soon 9 Sep 2013 9:03 PM (11 years ago)

“Drinking tea bespeaks a quest that one offers to his friends for the beauty of gestures,

of objects and of the heart.”

~ Sogaku of the Hayami School

Sitting at night in a mountain pavilion, drawing spring water to boil tea.
As the water and fire battle it out, the scent of the pine billows through the trees as I pour a cup,
bathed in light from the clouds.

The profound pleasure of this moment is hard to convey in words to those of common tastes.

—Ming Dynasty Literati

Defile not its purity for drinking it expunges dust and woe.

The taste of this thing is spiritual, taking it from the mountain where naturally it grew,

I planted it in my own garden.

The bushes, to my delight, flourished, and I could invite my wonderful friends.

—Wei Yingwu

This morning my quarters were so cold

I suddenly thought of my friend in the mountains

gathering firewood down by the creek

lugging it back to boil white rocks

I wish I could bring him a gourd full of wine

to drive off the wind and rain at night

but fallen leaves cover the deserted slopes

and how could I find the trail

- Wei Ying-wu

The mind is the root from which all things grow.
If you can understand the mind, everything else is included.
It’s like the root of a tree.
All a tree’s fruit and flowers, branches and leaves depend on its root.
If you nourish its root, a tree multiplies.
If you cut its root, it dies.
Those who understand the mind reach enlightenment with minimal effort.
Those who don’t understand the mind practice in vain.
Everything good and bad comes from your own mind.
To find something beyond the mind is impossible.