{"id":5353,"date":"2012-07-21T09:52:37","date_gmt":"2012-07-21T01:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/?p=5353"},"modified":"2012-07-21T10:06:09","modified_gmt":"2012-07-21T02:06:09","slug":"emptiness-and-solitude-a-way-of-tea-rong-tsang-tsai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/?p=5353","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Emptiness and Solitude\u2019, a Way of Tea-Rong-tsang Tsai"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u8c08\u8336\u9053\u7684\u300c\u7a7a\u5bc2\u300d<\/strong>\u2018Emptiness and Solitude\u2019, a Way of Tea<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u8521\u8363\u7ae0<\/strong>Rong-tsang Tsai<\/strong><\/p>\n

2001.02<\/strong>\u300a\u8336\u827a\u300b\u6708\u520a\u793e\u8bba<\/strong>The Editorial of \u201cTea Culture Monthly\u201d<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u2018Emptiness and Solitude’<\/em>1. is one of the more obscure aesthetic concepts.\u00a0 Its association to the Way of Tea<\/em>2. may be rooted in the inherent \u2018bitterness’ and \u2018astringency\u2019<\/em>3. of the beverage. To explore this association, let’s try and describe this concept in its aesthetical reference and state. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Simplicity and frugality<\/em>4., purity and harmony<\/em>5., emptiness and solitude<\/em>6. are some of the descriptions associated with the Way of Tea. In Japanese, the word closest in meaning to the phrase \u2018emptiness and solitude\u2019 would suggest a kind of sad forlornness or dejection.\u00a0 Understandably, dejection comes with a sense of loneliness. As it goes, the state of mind of solitude leads to profound tranquility, when one is free from excitement or over stimulation.\u00a0 In this condition, the blood pressure lowers and the heart beats slow down. Tea drinking in a \u2018Tea Hut Setting\u2019<\/em>7. advocated by tea masters such as Murata Shako<\/em>8.,Takeno Jogo<\/em>9.and Sen no Rikyu<\/em>10. not only signifies humility, but also cultivates the aesthetical state of \u2018emptiness and solitude\u2019.<\/p>\n

A person in a state of \u2018emptiness and solitude\u2019 will have a keener sense of his own existence. What’s more, he will be more sensitive to his relationship with the land, fellow human beings and objects. Training in the state of \u2018emptiness and solitude\u2019 helps tea gurus<\/em>11. in tea brewing and appreciation. This also applies to a group of people brewing and drinking together.\u00a0 Some even oppose to the playing of music during tea brewing and drinking, in a bid to achieve a condensed experience.\u00a0 Concentration is expected to add to the ambience.<\/p>\n

The equilibrium of daily life is tipped by our emotions. The practice of \u2018emptiness and solitude\u2019 will help us guard against emotional turmoil, and protect us by putting us in a space of tranquility. This training will enable one to brew a good pot of tea, be it under the eyes of the public, by the side of a busy road, or in the presence of unfriendly company.<\/p>\n

In aesthetics, the training of \u2018emptiness and solitude\u2019 aims at transcending the functional side of reality when we look at the world around us.\u00a0 Take for instance a heap of scrap metal by the roadside.\u00a0 If we manage to detach ourselves from the opinions such as \u201cfrom an old house\u201d, \u201crusty\u201d, \u201cuseless\u201d, \u201chit and be injured\u201d, but rather look at its texture, lines and formation, it may remind us of an award-clinching piece of art that we have come across in an art museum before! This way, the ugly, the mundane and the common will be eliminated by the day. The good and the bad will not be distorted if only we can observe them with calmness.<\/p>\n

\u4ee5\u4e0b\u4e3a\u6587\u5185\u4e4b\u7f16\u7801<\/em>Coding in the text:<\/em><\/p>\n

1.\u2018Emptiness and Solitude\u2019<\/em>\u300c\u7a7a\u5bc2\u300d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

2. Way of Tea<\/em>\u8336\u9053<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

3.\u2018bitterness\u2019and\u2018astringency\u2019<\/em>\u300c\u82e6\u300d\u3001\u300c\u6da9\u300d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

4. Simplicity and frugality<\/em>\u300c\u7cbe\u4fed\u300d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

5. purity and harmony<\/em>\u300c\u6e05\u548c\u300d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

6.<\/em> emptiness and solitude<\/em>\u300c\u7a7a\u5bc2\u300d<\/em>.\u300c\u4f98\u300d<\/em><\/p>\n

7.<\/em>\u2018Tea Hut Setting\u2019<\/em>\u300c\u8349\u5eb5\u5f0f\u8336\u5e2d\u300d<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

8.<\/em> Murata Shako<\/em>\u6751\u7530\u73e0\u5149<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

9.<\/em> Takeno Jogo<\/em>\u6b66\u91ce\u7ecd\u9e25<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

10.<\/em>Sen no Rikyu<\/em>\u5343\u5229\u4f11<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

11.<\/em>tea gurus<\/em>\u8336\u4eba<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Introduction\uff1a<\/strong>The aesthetics, character and the state of mind created are not to be undermined in the understanding and enjoyment of tea; and yet, they are the hardest to express.\u00a0 Writings on the thoughts pertaining to tea, regardless of languages used, remain scarce.\u00a0\u00a0 We have attempted to express them in Chinese, with accompanying English translation(Translator:Katherine Yip.2010.01), to elaborate our thoughts as they are. What we want is to share the knowledge of tea alongside tea drinking.\u00a0 This is, in our opinion, an important contemporary task in promoting the tea culture (Coding in the text is for cross-referencing of the academic terms of tea).<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

  (2288)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u8c08\u8336\u9053\u7684\u300c\u7a7a\u5bc2\u300d\u2018Emptiness and Solitude\u2019, a Way of Tea \u8521\u8363\u7ae0Rong-tsang Tsai 2001.02\u300a\u8336\u827a\u300b\u6708\u520a\u793e\u8bbaThe Editorial of \u201cTea Culture Monthly\u201d \u00a0\u2018Emptiness and Solitude’1. is one of the more obscure aesthetic concepts.\u00a0 Its association to the Way of Tea2. may be rooted in the inherent \u2018bitterness’ and \u2018astringency\u20193. of the beverage. To explore this association, let’s try and describe this concept […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1649,116,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-19-emptiness-and-solitude-a-way-of-tea-rong-tsang-tsai","category-n-1-the-ideology-of-tea-chinese-english","category-n-chinese-foreign-languages"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5353"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5357,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5353\/revisions\/5357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/contemporaryteathinker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}