Tea and Zen are of one flavour

I was reading this line from the Zen text the Record of the Source Mirror:

The appearances adopted by the myriad objects all enter the state of luminosity itself. This is none other than the doctrine of "a single flavor" taught by the sixth patriarch at Caoqi that the various patriarchs have all transmitted. It is the implicit truth of non-duality taught by Shakyamuni at the Crane's Grove that various scriptures all explain.

This non-duality summed up in the line of "one flavour" was new to me, and I happened to look up some information for it, when I came across this writing in Innovation in Design, Communication and Engineering: Proceedings of the 2014 3rd International Conference on Innovation, Communication and Engineering (ICICE 2014):

"Tea and zen as one flavor" -- supremacy of tea culture

The researcher believes that "tea and Zen as one flavor" in Buddhism refers to the enlightenment with tea. It is the achievement of the Eighth Consciousness, the ultimate essence of things. "The past mind cannot be attained, the present mind cannot be attained, and the future mind cannot be attained." "Let your mind function freely, without abiding anywhere or in anything." This does not mean the conscious mind ignores the past, the present and the future, i.e. not a thought arising. Rather, it is the affirmation of the Eight Consciousness that there have been no gains and no pasts but the present and the future. Emerging from no means of staying and no means of gaining are the marvelous use of all dharma. Respond to the non-abiding, and emerges the mind. Tea savoring at Zen meditations or Zen meditation with a taste of tea are the embodiment and wonderful application of the Eighth Consciousness, the ultimate essence of things. Tea is Zen and Zen is tea. Tea drinking is an expression of Zen and the manifestation of Zen is a cup of tea. Tea and Zen converge and become a unity. This is what Tathagatagarbha called "Dharmata". Hence, tea and Zen are of the same flavor.

This sadly is one of the best Zen texts I've read! (That's hyperbolic, but it goes quite in depth!) Do click this and check out the tons of information available! It's a short little part of the book, and you can read the entire thing from the start to the conclusion in the Google Preview.

Submitted July 09, 2017 at 02:07AM by Dillon123 http://ift.tt/2uD96HC