By jsnx
Tea and Zen have a long history together. In fact, some people attribute them both to Bodhidharma! (Though tea, like Taiji, is attributed to a lot of people.) There is a nice saying for their relationship:
| tea | 茶 | chá |
| Zen Buddhism, Zen meditation | 禅 | chán |
| one, an | 一 | yī |
| flavor, taste | 味 | wèi |
There are so many tastes of tea. Are they all the taste of Zen? We can ask the same question of Zen. Chinese Zen, Japanese Zen, Korean Zen, Vietnamese Zen — not to mention the varied lineages within those countries — there are many Zens. Do they all taste of tea? In China and Japan, at least, the teas really do support an approach to Zen. Japanese greens have a direct, almost bracing quality; good oolong is deliciously tolerant of oversteeping, almost to a fault; the greens of China reward care in brewing with a mild, mellow sweetness. I invite commentary tying pu`er to Zen…
