Life is a pot of tea meditation

Later, I learned that in the hearts of sentient beings, tea has a different taste. The new tea uses pure water boiled in that pot, hangs around between the guests' teeth and lips, after drinking, some people feel as bitter as life, others feel as light as the cool wind.

Tea is dark and light, hot and cold, and sad and happy. Using a worldly heart to enjoy tea, it is inevitable to only focus on color, flavor, and taste, but lacking a part of frugality and simplicity. Tea has thousands of flavors, even mixed with the world and emotions. Using a transcendent heart to enjoy tea, you can leisurely enjoy the beautiful silence of clouds flying across the sky, blue water without ripples.

Tea, derived from nature, spreads the essence of the years, bathes in the spring and autumn challenges, from which it has a spirit like a young soul. Tea can be used to remove dust from the ceiling, purify the mind, and widen good relationships. Therefore, the person who knows how to enjoy tea is also a volunteer to live a simple and pure life. Always believe that meditation is a warning, there are people who use their whole life can't shake off their attachments and realize Bodhi. But there are people who only use the moment of a cup of tea, can also come out from the chaos, open like a lotus flower.

Human life has seven sufferings[1], sentient beings wander in the human world, tasting all the bitterness in exchange for the sweet. Three thousand blooms, but in the end it landed on the ceiling, like the night that sheds the jewelry of the day, calm and quiet. Time passed like a snap of a finger,  every year that cares about gain or loss, calculating success or failure, has turned into smoke in the eyes. Whenever, the other shore is only a step away, lost and know how to turn back, heaven and earth are vast.

"The Heart Sutra" writes: "No fear, no terror, far away from madness and fantasies. Necessarily dependent, one born depends on the condition, the direction attains freedom” (The mind is not unclean, so there is no fear, it is beyond mistakes. Everything depends on the conditions, a life depends on the conditions, always be free). A person who stubbornly holds on to his whole life and does not let go, is not suitable for cultivation. A person who is ignorant of cause and effect is also not suitable for cultivation. Tea has Buddha-nature, like a clear blue cloud, a few cups drift down to the intestines, and the mind is at ease. So cultivators often like to spend the whole day indulging in tea, getting rid of distractions, and realizing bodhicitta.

Heaven and earth are vast, we are as small as a blade of grass. Don't make yourself startle the world, don't make the world startle you either. When people are born, who have no luggage, go on one more road, bring another bag. But how we pack the worldly, to turn it into Zen baggage. Only by using a pure heart, looking at thousands of worlds, can we remove bias and be happy in the midst of peace.

Tea has four virtues, compassion and equanimity. The so-called "Van Thuy Zen mind", that is, in a cup of clear tea, if you enjoy the true intention, there will be birth and death, if there is a gathering, there will be canopy, if there is fresh, there will be wither. Know that any sorrow is a joy, any loss is a gain. A person who is compassionate with himself can be compassionate with all things.

Time is like water, silence is a great beauty. Dates are like lotuses, idyllic means extremely elegant. Enjoying tea is also practicing Zen, whether it is a noisy world, or a quiet mountain, can become a spiritual practice. Overcoming lust, banishing distractions, not being pessimistic, not hiding, just a simple way of life. Immediately stay still, even a narrow heart, can transport all things arising and passing away[2].

All worldly love has a number. Those who have love are not necessarily destined, those who are predestined are not necessarily in love. Dependent is an peace, can enlightenment. Tea water washes the mind, the mind is like a bright mirror, a person only needs to see himself clearly to be able to perceive the impermanent world. When the mind is in a coma, not to the point of panic. Quietly sitting in meditation, tomorrow will come as scheduled. Spring flowers are still as beautiful as before, the autumn moon is still as round.

The "Diamond Sutra" says: "The past mind cannot be obtained, the present mind cannot be obtained, the future mind cannot be obtained" (The past mind cannot be, the present mind cannot be, nor can the future mind have it. yes)[3]. We should not because of a fateful tragedy, but choose to hurt. But it is also not possible for the sake of the future fulfillment, to give up spiritual practice. Enjoying tea, is to cultivate the mind, to understand the mind of meditation in pure water without dust. So that we are not bewitched by symbols, avoid that meaningless drift, promptly reach the shore of purity.

Enjoying tea can make people forgive mistakes, get serenity in every cup of tea. Human life is truly perfect when it leaves a gap, a void, that is, "no wisdom" that the Buddhists refer to. The human world is a stage that shows the best ego, if there is a day when the drama comes to an end, the choice to transcend, must really give up, without being pushed into a dead end. Believe that, when there is no other option, there will be the best choice.

The law is impermanent, dependent origination is not. All things are born because of harmony, and die because of conditions. "Van Van Thu" (evening clouds stop), that is, when the tired bird returns to the nest. Buddha said that the ocean of suffering is boundless, turning is the shore, every turn is a turning back, every time crossing a river is a rowing boat. No matter how far the road ahead, remove the ego, then eat the wind and drink the dew, the immense sea and sky, is the place to return.

The calm water flows deep, the simple and peaceful inside, the easier it is to absorb the Zen theory. Cultivating Buddha is like enjoying tea, drinking a cup of tea from bitter to tasteless is the real of Zen. Human life should also give up complexity for simplicity, follow the world, mind before and after is like a lotus, quietly unfolding. Again, like thousands of streams, they all end up in a river, murmuring clear, simple and peaceful.s

Drinking tea, need a frugal heart, sad heart. Even in a busy horse and carriage market street, you can feel the elegance of the spring wind passing through your ears, the autumn water washing away the dust from the ceiling. Clouds drift outside the door, birds fly over the porch. The smell of smoke rotates, as if there is no, explaining the real life of mutual existence. On the table, a wooden bowl, a few scriptures lie still, and there are also rosaries scattered, under the faint moonlight,  cold and distant.

Clouds and winds of the world, unpredictable virtual changes. The Buddhist school focuses on karma and reincarnation, even if it is an object moving stars, sand flying and stones running, there will be a day when the smoke will disperse and return to dust. Like tea, containing the soul of all things, poured into a cup, one color before and after, clear and transparent.

Transcendence does not require courage and determination, but goodwill and sobriety. Day by day, the hustle and bustle that we see, the worldly glory and shame we see, are in fact just a play. A monk can only meditate enough to get out of the cramped human path, watch the forest of clouds, green fields, and sand beans.

Buddha said, cutting off is the attainment, the defect is the consummation. We often spend countless hours but still cannot memorize the scriptures, until enlightenment, we can skim and not forget. Many people think that Zen Tinh is profound and erudition, but in fact, it exists in one reading time, in every passing day, in every drop of water, in every flower, in the Sa Ba world[4] .

Enjoy tea, can use pottery, porcelain cups, jade cups, can also share bamboo, wooden bowls. Sentient beings enjoy tea, mostly to dispel idle time. The taste or the heat of the tea, it doesn't seem to matter. As for Zen tea of monks and nuns, there is no need for rituals, just drink it comfortably, the taste is the taste of Bat Nha.

Time of circulation, thousands of years of water clouds. Tea becomes a habit in life, an indispensable tri-sound of a cultivator. Just how many people can bring the years to a boil with insecurity, drinking until the water is still without ripples. How many people can bring the statue to still read continuously, drink to pure purity. Perhaps we can choose any day, rain or shine, regardless of spring and autumn, drink a pot of life-long meditation tea, return to our true self, and find our original self.

Perhaps one day, I will drink the last cup of tea of the mortal world, leave three thousand worlds, in exchange for a life of peace. It doesn't matter if it's lost, it's meditation and enlightenment, it doesn't matter. After that, the mountains are cold and the road is rocky, ride a white horse, drink all the water of thousands of rivers, enjoy meditation tea until the clouds and breeze blow.

Bach Lac Mai
(Translate: Luc Bich)