Facets of a Diamond - Blog

The essence of the Japanese tea ceremony is the acceptance of the As Is: to attain a state of detachment transcending judgement, when things, people, all events, all of existence, are accepted just as they are.

And this is through the recognition of the unique, yet universal, Thusness of every thing, of every person. Starting with the tea house surroundings, the tea house itself, the guests, the tea master, his utensils, and the tea. And the tea cups. They are of a particular ancient pottery tradition called raku. By the very nature of their throwing, glazing and firing, they can never be perfect in the usual sense. Always irregular – rejects in other unknowing traditions.

In the tea ceremony, the guest puts his mind into the very essence of the cup, deeper, much deeper, than its superficial appearance. There he finds its Thusness – and through this his own.

I often think of my mother as raku. In one tradition, a reject; but in another much wiser one, a source of infinite contemplation and enlightenment.

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Extract from the book The Veneration of Life