J/A 10 - The Way of Tea by Aaron Fisher posted by TeaHouseTimesAdmin , PRINT ADS and TEA BUREAUMonday, August 16th 2010 @ 9:48 PM

From the July/August10 issue of The Tea House Times.  To view the most recent issue, please register / log-in at http://www.theteahousetimes.com for free access.

Presence means that we stay in the moment, here and now.  The Way of Tea compels one to be present.  One practices concentration and focus by being with the pouring, sipping, smelling, and movement as it is.  This helps calm the mind and center it on the moment at hand, without drifting in the past or worrying about the future.  There is much relaxation and peace in the present moment.

Every saint, sage, and seer that has ever had a student used some method to try to achieve Presence.  The more quiet we become, outwardly and inwardly, the more natural being in the present moment will become.  The past is gone forever and never can be changed, and the future remains eternally beyond us.  The only connection we can have to Reality, to the Tao, is through the present moment.  There is great bliss, joy, and wisdom when one learns to be fully present.  Our actions become spontaneous, free and produce much greater results as they are clear, untainted by the warped looking-glass of the past.

Since ancient times, Taoist mystics have realized that there is never anything to achieve, for all is perfectly and endlessly contained in this moment.  Even if you retire to a hermitage and meditate day and night for thirty years, you will still, in the end, be here and now.  No matter what time of day it is, it’s now; and no matter where you are, it’s here.  Even if we roll in memories of the past, or fantasize about the future, that act of thinking or imagining is still taking place in the present, the “eternal present.”  And as this realization becomes a part of us, rather than a witty philosophy, our actions travel in accord with the movement of Nature, rather than against the grain.

The more aligned and present we are, the healthier we will live -- the more our every waking moment becomes in harmony with, and an expression of, the Tao.  If you are present and aware, fully mindful of the moment in all its beauty, then that moment is “enlightened.”  Through quiet tea, we will eventually reach the state of mastery over the moment, the here and now, where the real tea ceremony is happening -- each pour, each steeping, each sip.

*Taken from The Way of Tea - Reflections on a Life with Tea, Copyright 2010 by Aaron Fisher.
Used by permission.