Tea · Zen

Name: Tea · Zen
ISBN: 9787301317891

马守仁Peking University Press · ChinaAug 2025

3.4

Word count: 354 words
Chapters: 30
ISBN: 9787301317891

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Summary

In China's cultural tradition, tea is not merely a material beverage bestowed by nature on humanity but also a spiritual drink, carrying a deep historical and cultural heritage. It has risen from ordinary plant attributes to the level of humanities, art, and even moral spirit, reaching a state of "Zen." The way of tea refers not merely to boiling water and brewing tea itself but to using that process to gather and settle body and mind, ultimately attaining the state of "tea and Zen as one flavor," finding liberation in the tea liquor and awakening to the taste of Zen joy. In this book, Ma Shouren, a renowned scholar of tea-Zen culture, records his spiritual insights and reflections from practicing the way of tea, cultivating a Zen mind through tea, and awakening to the taste of Zen joy in the tea liquor. As the author says, the taste of tea is a spiritual taste, and the taste of Zen is a taste of joy and wisdom; tea is Zen, and Zen is not different from tea. Modern people should not treat the way of tea merely as an elegant gesture of emulating the ancients and let it become a matter of form; rather, through practicing the way of tea, they should cleanse the mind, purify the spirit, refine character and learning, let the radiance of individual life and the dignity of personality shine forth, and elevate their spiritual realm.

Editor's review

This is not a tea-brewing manual but an essayistic record of one tea-Zen scholar's practice and reflections. The author moves from tea as a material beverage to tea as a spiritual drink, then to the path of practice summed up as "tea and Zen as one flavor," with the core lying in settling body and mind and cleansing the intellect through boiling water and brewing tea. A recurring attitude runs through the book: the way of tea should not degenerate into an elegant form of emulating the ancients but should aim at refining character, learning, and spiritual realm. The prose is introspective and suited to slow reading; it is not a systematic textbook of tea history or tea science. For modern readers, its significance lies in offering a way to settle body and mind through the daily act of preparing tea, bringing the joy and wisdom of Zen into a single cup. Reading it alongside one's own tea-drinking habits, tasting as one reads, yields more than mere acquisition of knowledge.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Traditional culture enthusiasts interested in the intersection of tea ceremony and Zen practice
Readers hoping to settle body and mind and ease anxiety through daily tea preparation
Readers who enjoy introspective essays and are willing to read slowly and savor
People with some tea-drinking habit who wish to understand its spiritual dimension

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking systematic study of tea classification, processing, and evaluation techniques
Learners expecting illustrated tea-ceremony procedures or exam textbooks
Readers who prefer fast-paced informational reading and have little patience for essays

Reading tips

Read only one or two pieces at a time, then sit quietly with a cup of tea and ground the words in experience.
Do not aim to finish; keep the book by the tea table and dip into it while preparing tea, returning to it repeatedly.
Take brief notes on passages about practice methods, recording changes in body and mind while making tea.
If Zen concepts are unfamiliar, learn basic sitting and breath-awareness methods first to lower the threshold.

About the publisher

Peking University Press China · Founded in 1979

Peking University Press is a comprehensive university press whose publishing areas cover classical literature, popular science, social culture, world history, Western philosophy, and culture. Its catalogue contains 6,031 titles, with representative books including A Dream of Red Mansions, Relativity: The Special and General Theory (15th Edition) (with Einstein's classic papers on unified field theory and other topics), Elements, Conics, The Aristocratic Families of the Eastern Jin, The Philosophy of Mythology (Volume I), The Philosophy of Mythology (Volume II), and The Origin of Continents and Oceans. Representative authors include Cao Xueqin, Zhou Ruchang, Albert Einstein, Euclid, Apollonius, Tian Yuqing, Schelling, and Xian Gang. The press has developed distinctive strengths in classical Chinese literature and in the translation of Western philosophical classics, while also covering scientific classics and social and cultural studies. As public information is limited, this description is based only on the books in the catalogue and offers no further extrapolation.

版权信息
自序茶禅慢生活
第一部茶语
过清贫生活
春雨慢吃茶
秋雨煎茶
扫雪烹茶
夜访草堂寺
赏樱时节瀹茶香
牡丹开处煮新茶
紫藤花满架，煎水瀹芳茗
第二部禅心
禅心照大千
海西兰若寺
九华山药师庵
山中禅花开
比叡山延历寺
荣西禅师茶碑
在家禅
茶禅生活
第三部茶禅一味
茶禅之味
南山吃茶
岱岳煎茶
筇竹寺吃茶记
曼听公园饮茶
栂尾高山寺
醍醐寺赏樱
织部流四头茶礼
后话日日是好日

FAQ

Can this book teach me specific tea-brewing techniques?

No. The book's focus is not technical matters such as tea classification, water temperature, vessels, or brewing steps, but the author's spiritual record of practicing the way of tea and realizing Zen mind through tea. Those seeking brewing techniques should choose a tea-ceremony textbook; this book is better suited to understanding the spiritual dimension of tea on the basis of an existing tea-drinking habit.

Will readers without a foundation in Zen practice find it difficult?

The threshold is not high. The author writes in essay form, and Zen concepts emerge naturally from tea scenes without relying on systematic Buddhist knowledge. Readers need only maintain a slow-reading attitude; unfamiliar concepts can be skipped at first and grasped through one's own feelings while drinking tea, which is actually easier than starting with theory.

Why does the book say the way of tea should not be merely an elegant form?

The book stresses that if the way of tea is treated only as an elegant pursuit emulating the ancients, stopping at utensils, ritual, and posture, it loses the meaning of practice. The author advocates using the process of boiling water and brewing tea to settle body and mind and purify the spirit, ultimately refining character and learning and elevating the spiritual realm. Form is the entry point, not the goal.

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About the author

马守仁 Author

Ma Shouren is an author about whom limited public information is available; what can be confirmed comes mainly from two works, Windless Lotus Stirring: Quietly Contemplating the Charm of Chinese Tea Ceremony and Tea and Zen. Judging from the titles and their common classification, his writing centers on Chinese tea culture and the idea of the unity of tea and Zen, touching also on cultural theory and spiritual cultivation. Taking the tea ceremony as his entry point, he combines the practice of tea drinking with quiet contemplation and Zen thought. His style tends toward the refined and restrained, emphasizing the mood and charm of tea drinking rather than listing historical anecdotes or technical procedures. Such writing occupies a distinct place among contemporary Chinese books on tea culture and will appeal to readers interested in the aesthetics of the tea ceremony and a Zen-inspired life. Tea and Zen further highlights the mutual illumination of tea and Zen, echoing the earlier work. Since no reliable records exist for his biography, nationality, or dates of birth and death, no speculation is offered here; this note merely sketches the orientation revealed by his surviving works.