JP 2700 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Tea Ceremony, Kaiseki, Caffeine
Document Summary
Tea in japan has a connection to zen as zen monks used to use tea as a means of staying awake, since tea contains caffeine. According to tradition, an indian monk once came to china and spent 9 years sitting in front of a wall meditating, and then he reached enlightenment. However, out of his frustration of constantly falling asleep he tore his eyelids and threw them on the floor; these eyelids turned into tea leaves. The darma doll has no limbs since the indian monk"s limbs atrophied. This doll also has no eyes; you write your goal inside the doll"s eye sockets. The darma doll is just another way of celebrating an achievement of a goal in one"s life. Zen tradition says that practice is as important as the goal being as you have to concentrate when making tea. The entrance of a tea house, where tea ceremonies are held, is about 3ft high for 2 reasons:
