With the worldwide pandemic, staying home has been a hardship for many. Fortunately, I am in a secure financial situation, and staying home this past year and a half has been a pleasure for me. Seeing the seasons change through the garden has brought me great joy this year. I have also been teaching myself …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/seeing-things-as-they-are/
It is not often that I get to be a guest at a Chakai. So when I was invited by my friend Christopher Ezzell to a Chakai, I was thrilled and delighted. Christopher lives on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound, about a three hour drive from my house. Since I had not been …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/chakai-at-the-tea-house-of-the-winter-moon/
Broken things can be mended, to be made stronger and more beautiful. In the darkness, there is a light to guide your way. In winter, the turn of year will eventually bring the spring. What troubles you today, will pass.
Here we are at the turn of the year 2020. For so many …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/at-the-turn-of-the-year/
There is a scroll hung in the tea room 独坐大雄峰 Dokuza Daiyūhō, Sitting alone on the great sublime peak. Or sometimes translated as Sitting alone on the great hero peak. Doku (alone,) za (sit), dai (great), yū (sublime), hō (peak).
The Zen story is that Hyakujo Zenji was asked by a monk, “What …
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About a year ago we opened Issoan, the tea room built for me by my husband. It took him two and a half years, but it was worth the wait. I have been teaching Chado for about 25 years and I was thrilled to have a tea room with a raised floor for …
Permanent link to this article: https://issoantea.com/loneliness-of-the-tea-room/
