As we approach the solstice it seems like I am running downhill as things accelerate. Holiday plans, travel plans, baking, cooking, wrapping gifts, decorating; it all seems to go faster with less time every year as I get older.
This year I am certainly getting the feeling of growing older and approaching the time when I will no longer be able to do things physically as I once did. It has also been another year of losing friends, teachers, and colleagues who have passed away. I have always been the youngest teacher in my area, but a whole generation of sensei in their 80s and 90s are retiring, moving to be closer to family who will take care of them, and yes, passing away.
Facing the fact that I am in the Autumn of my life, I am thinking about what will happen to my tearoom, dogu, kimono, and students when I can no longer teach them. Making plans for the inevitable is never a pleasant thing to do, but I certainly don’t want to leave my spouse, kids, or grandkids with the dilemma of what to do with all the stuff they have no interest in.
This all leads me to think a little more deeply of the talk Oiemoto did when I was at the Midorikai reunion this summer. Out of the more than 500 people who have been through Midorikai, how many are still involved in tea? How many are actively bringing new people to tea? How many are teaching? How many are teaching the next generation of teachers?
As the number of teachers in my Tankokai went from about 16 when I joined, to only 3, I looked behind me and saw no new teachers coming up after me. Who will teach the next generation of teachers when we retire? It takes training a long time to become a teacher, plus discipline, dedication, time and money. It is a lifetime commitment to this passion.
In the coming year, I am calling on long time students of Chado to look at their practice and think about what will happen when your teacher retires or can no longer teach. If you have been to Midorikai, or have been studying for 10 years or more, how are you helping train the next generation of teachers? Are you assisting your teacher in ways that will prepare you to step up when they retire? Are you actively building your keikoba, introducing tea to new people, recruiting new students, and helping your kohai to advance in their studies?
I think it is not enough to just come to keiko every week, do your temae and leave. Sure, it is fun to participate in the intensives, reunions, and anniversary events, but are you helping to plan them, organize them, put on chaji, chakai and demonstrations? Who will put together Hatsugama? Your teachers do it now, but when they no longer do it, what will happen?
In the coming year, think about ways you can assist your teacher, deepen your own practice of tea, and assist others along the way. And if you think you might want to teach someday, let your teacher know. It might be time to step up and begin your training as a next generation teacher.