Tea: Its Status and Symbol

Back to the beginning...

Tea has its humble beginnings. From a simple drink accidentally discovered in China, to becoming a form of medicinal drink and finally becoming a gauge of status and wealth.

Only the rich, powerful and royalty are able to acquire and have a taste of this precious drink. Emperors of China fell in love with it, and many others want to follow suit. Teas became an object of tribute and the main commodity sought after in trades. It even reached the point of becoming a form of currency in other places.

Tea also became a symbol of beauty and of art. Name a profession and they will all agree: that tea is the drink of choice! Philosophers, artists, Buddhist monks, calligraphers, poets and even common folks are all hooked ;-).

Tea: a sign of hospitality...

Hospitality can be interpreted in many ways. It could mean being warm and welcoming; being friendly and generous or simply acceptance and consideration for those lucky enough to be invited into the homes of people. From the root word itself hospital, it is a place where in one can find a shelter to those who are travelling.

Using tea as a sign of hospitality can be shown by offering tea to a visitor or inviting someone to a classic and fascinating tea party. This is a way for the person offering tea to open his or her heart to the visitor; a sense of touching and making a person feel the humanity behind the act and the warmness of welcome associated with it. For it is in tea that nourishment can be associated. It also creates a blanket of comfort and allows an ambience of peacefulness and tranquility.

Where did all this idea began?

Serving tea is a very old tradition. It has been a tradition carried on as part of a legacy of sharing a part of being human and who people really are - friendly and generous.

But probably, the earliest known time as a host offering tea to its honored visitors happened in China (specifically the Taoists). It was around 500 BC Chou dynasty was tainted with corruption and the downfall of an empire was imminent. But based on a legend, there lived a certain high ranked, but wise man, named Lao Tse. He was considered a true sage and a visionary. He could not bear the thought of seeing an empire collapse before his very eyes. He decided to retreat and vacate the world of people. He decided to spend the rest of his time as a hermit and live in the mountains. As he was heading west, he arrived at Han Pass, where a certain main Yin His, the gatekeeper lived. He was a wise man and a sage himself, waiting all those years for the arrival of an Immortal such as Lao Tse. In order for the master to stay and share his infinite knowledge and wisdom, the gatekeeper served him tea. Thus, the hospitality of tea was born and was shared ever since.

In light of hospitality, serving tea is...

• Connecting with Others - when people, despite being different and sharing different ideas and opinions in life, all meet and gather together and serve each other tea, something beautiful and amazing happens. The thoughts of people seem to be in sync and be in a harmony. This is the start of the process of being one with others. The feeling of harmony and unity among them, with the thread of serving and sharing tea keeping people together. In this setting, and with being together and bonded like this, people will know each other better and find things they have in common.

• Makes us wiser - When people gather together and serve and share tea, we also get to share ideas, knowledge and wisdom as well. We get to see the bigger picture and not just simply focus on ourselves. We broaden our horizons and allow ourselves to see things in a different light.

• Being more sensitive to the needs of others - Our thoughts are usually towards not ourselves but on the guest's welfare. We ask ourselves what things do they need, what kind of environment or ambience is right to satisfy them and make them happy. Which tea do they prefer and will please them most and what can we do to make them feel relaxed and at ease.

• Makes us a selfless and empathic persons - Drinking tea is beyond just connecting and being one with others. It is also a great experience to feel a deep sense of empathy to all forms of life. We learn to be selfless; to be more giving than selfish and receiving. It teaches us to be generous and put others first before ourselves.

Drinking tea religiously and philosophically...

But nothing will ever beat of tea becoming a philosophy and a religion: to be revered, praised and put into a pedestal is taking it to the next level. And this is not a joke. For believe it or not, there are people who are actually devoted to tea so much that they decided to give it due credit by worshipping it. You may not believe it but it's actually true.

Teaism

During the 5th century, religion of tea saw its birth in the womb of Japan. The Japanese finally decided to create a religion out of tea, and out of aestheticism.

What is teaism all about?

Teaism is a form of cult created for the purpose of being able to worship and adore the beautiful versus the seemingly ordinary and sordid reality of life in everyday encounters. It promotes and ultimately strives for harmony and purity, the veil of mystery behind charity (in a mutual sense), and also the romance behind the social strata and order. It is basically a form of praise and worship of things that are imperfect and the endeavor to achieve something possible despite the impossibility of life itself.

Teaism is a form of philosophy of tea. It combines religion with ethics and the standpoint of man and nature. Some consider it as economics; others enforcing cleanliness and purity.

The most probable reason as to why teaism was founded in the first place is the length of time Japan isolated itself from the other countries and the world in fact. Other factors that come into play are its own and unique culture, habits, cuisine, art and many more. Every student, born and raised as a Japanese have been taught of the culture at a very young age and has therefore learned to love and appreciate it for all its beauty and splendor. Even mere peasants are not spared. Even they have learned teaism through flower arrangements, for instance.

Daoism

This philosophy and religion is believed to have stemmed from ancient China. It literally mans way or path in Chinese and prided of its teachings on the moral and principle light. It can also mean the universe and its essence. And this is really a very serious matter for the Chinese.

The founder of Daoism is Lao Zi and his devoted student Zhuang Zi. Its teaching focuses on the universe and its true essence and the unity of both the human beings and nature too.

It was with the teachings of the concepts of Inertia and Calm that gave way to the Chinese of making tea a part of their lifestyle. This lifestyle includes enjoying what tea can offer - tasting tea and also dissolving the body into the eternal realm of the universe. Daoism is also given credit for aiding in the invention and enhancement of the tea arts. It also allowed tea to be an agent of change and improving lifestyle.

Confucianism

Its founder, Confucius is considered as Ancient China's greatest philosopher and it was his student, Meng Zi that founded Confucianism. This religion and philosophy stresses on ceremony and formality in everything in life. It emphasizes on strict behavior or conduct between people.

Some of the principles stemmed from Confucianism are: Wisdom, Etiquette, Mercy, Commitment and especially Harmony and Balance.

Its foundation of the principle of Etiquette has lead to the creation of etiquettes of tea as well as the famous tea ceremonies in China. According to the Confucius principle, tea for them means etiquette, harmony and calm.

Buddhism

It was around 535 BC that Buddhism was founded by Siddhartha Gautama. For them, Buddha signifies the one who has been awakened. It focuses on explaining the essence of humans and their lives. Therefore, they believe in suffering as a unavoidable process in the human life. Meditation is also very important. And they are very strict in their behavior and lifestyle. Animal products are a big no no to them. Alcohol ingestion is out of the question. They only ingest rice, wheat products and vegetables. However, they made tea an exemption. It does not in any way violate their rules. And they consider tea as a vegetable. Also, tea drinking is important for their meditation - it helps them stay awake.

Tea versus religions...

Although a little unorthodox, there are religions in the world that have certain dietary restrictions and rules about food or drinks, and in this case involving teas. Let us look at some of them.

• Islam - tea is not necessarily restricted in Islam like eating pork. But it is only during Ramadan that this is enforced. It is in this special spiritual fasting period that ALL food and drinks are restricted from the break of dawn to dusk. And this even includes water and any food intake. Even saliva is not allowed to be swallowed. So a normal, healthy muslim cannot indulge in a cup of tea during the restriction period. Not unless you are very ill, of old age, too young or else pregnant.

• Latter-Day Saints (commonly called Mormons) - Among this congregation, teas and coffee are really forbidden and restricted to be drunk. They based this belief in the written Word of Wisdom that states "Hot drinks (interpreted as tea and coffee) are not for the body or belly." The assumption with the association of the statements to coffee and tea is due to these two hot beverages being the commonly available beverage during the time when it was interpreted at around 1833. Other Mormons claimed the main reason for the restriction is because of the caffeine content that is found in drinks, and therefore all drinks with caffeine (including teas) should not be drunk and be avoided.

• Judaism - Judaism does not specify specific restrictions to tea itself. But they do have a more general rule when it comes to eating kosher. Kosher for them are foods that should pass with their Jewish law - the Halakhic law. In the simplest of terms, kosher means being fit enough to be eaten. There are rules that need to be considered when it is kosher food or not. Foods should NOT: A. have ingredients that are from non-kosher animals (not slaughtered properly). B. have milk. Meat or grape juice or derivatives created with no supervision. C. created with the use of non-kosher machinery or utensils.

Tea can be considered as a kosher food. Such as the preparations involved in making the tea. If the leaves have been supervised according to the law. Or if other ingredients that are non kosher have been added. The list goes on.

• Seventh-Day Adventist - this religion firmly believe in the significance of eating a wholesome and healthy diet. Foods and drinks should be without alcohol, illicit drugs such as narcotics and other form of stimulants that are hazardous to health. A long time ago, those food and drinks were forbidden by their officials but the times have changed. Only avoidance and care when ingesting caffeine is suggested.

• Rastafarianism - this religion, like Seventh day Adventist, are strict in following a wholesome, pure and healthy diet. And some of the foods restricted are coffee (and tea can also be considered), alcoholic beverages, tobacco, salt, meat and even processed foods. They only eat fruits, vegetables and grains.

Huang Jiung,
Chinese Weight Loss Tea for BEGINNERS