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 …
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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 …
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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/
After the gathering, after guests have left, and the helpers have been served there is the clean-up. All of the dogu is cleaned, the fire has been picked and the kettle returned to dry. If the gathering has taken place at a rented venue, everything needs to be packed up and loaded in the car …
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