The subtlety of the traditional Chinese Tao of tea reflects a type of ecological thinking. It encourages the reverence of nature, natural phenomena, natural processes and natural law.
This bears the marks of traditional Chinese culture, as it demonstrates practicality, etiquette and an edifying philosophy as well as advocates the artistry of atmosphere. The Tao of tea stresses both the man-nature unity and the subject-object dichotomy, both the grand narrative and elaborate detail. The traditional Chinese Tao of tea is the reflection and manifestation of nature.
 

The tea is obtained from tea plants in nature. The tea plant is an evergreen perennial woody plant. It originates in China, the country where the earliest wild tea plant was discovered and where tea plants are the most widely distributed, the most numerous and the largest in trunk size.

The traditional Chinese Tao of tea focuses on the beauty of the scene jointly created by tea leaves, tea water, controlled fire, teaware and the environment. In its dialogue with nature, the Tao of tea explores the law behind nature, seeking an aesthetic sensitivity distinctive to Chinese culture. The primitive light that is the most fundamental source of thought can thus be found in the tea making process, and from there the art of the Tao of tea can be explored.

The Tao of tea is a sublime cultural ritual with ecological significance. A concept defined in 1866 by the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, “ecology” is the holistic science of an organism’s relation to its environment, including both abiotic and biotic aspects of the environment. In this sense, the Chinese Tao of tea is an archetype of ecology. As another philosophical idea commonly advocated by Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, “harmony” is also at the core of the Tao of tea. Harmony produces everything in the tea making process—the harmony between people, between people and craft, and between people and the environment. The essence of harmony permeates the mind as one is immersed in serenity. It is in this way that the Chinese Tao of tea creates an atmosphere of virtual silence. In quietness and stillness, the soul has stepped into the threshold of Chan, a religious principle in Buddhism, here referring to the enlightening thought that is able to purify the mind.

The beauty of nature requires adept eyes to enjoy its scenery. The fundamental issue is not how a person judges a natural object within the scene, but what roles the object and person play in the scene and how that person feels subjectively in context. All this determines the person’s comment on the natural objects of the scene.

Gernot Böhme, a German aesthetician, calls atmosphere a tuned space. He sees atmosphere as a fundamental concept of ecological aesthetics because it is atmosphere that acts as the intermediary connecting the objective environment with people’s feelings in that environment.
It is in the atmosphere created by the aesthetics of the traditional Tao of tea that people savor the conveyed flavor of Chan. In performing the Tao of tea, additional contextual elements such as rural culture, historical remains and cottages are also important; however, the embodiment of nature is the most valuable and irreplaceable.

 

Wu Hongya is a professor of philosophy from the School of Marxism at Huaqiao University.

(edited by BAI LE)