The Japanese tea ceremony is a multifaceted traditional activity based on Taoism (Daoism) and influenced by Zen Buddhism, in which powdered green tea, or matcha , is ceremonially prepared and served to others.

The get-togethers for chanoyu are called chakai (literally “”tea meeting”") or chaji (literally “”tea function”"). Usually the term chakai is used to refer to a relatively simple course of hospitality that includes the service of confections, usucha (thin tea), and perhaps tenshin (a light snack), while the term chaji refers to a more formal course of hospitality including kaiseki (a special kind of full-course meal), confections, koicha (thick tea), and usucha (thin tea). A chaji may last up to four hours.

A tea practitioner should strive to be knowledgable if not expert in the wide range of disciplines and traditional arts that are integral to chanoyu — for example, the production and types of tea, kimono, calligraphy, flower arranging, ceramics, and incense — in addition to his or her school’s tea practices. Because of this, the study of the tea ceremony is virtually endless.Even to participate as a guest in a formal tea ceremony requires knowledge of the prescribed gestures and phrases, the proper way to take tea and sweets, and general deportment in the tea room.

The Japanese tea ceremony is a traditional ritual based on Taoism (Daoism) and influenced by Zen Buddhism in which powdered green tea, or matcha , is ceremonially prepared by a skilled practitioner and served to a small group of guests in a tranquil setting. Chaji is a full tea presentation with a meal. As in virtually every tea ceremony, the host may spend days going over minutiae to insure that this ceremony will be perfect. Through tea, recognition is given that every human encounter is a singular occasion which can, and will, never recur again exactly. Thus every aspect of tea must be savored for what it gives the participants.

Chanoyu which means “hot water for tea” refers to a single ceremony that involves only tea, while the longer version known as Chaji “tea meeting” entails a full tea ceremony in which a light meal is also served, and can last up to four hours. Mastering the art of the tea ceremony includes years of study that can last a lifetime, as the student must be familiar with several interrelated disciplines such as flower arranging, calligraphy, ceramics, incense, and the proper technique for wearing kimono. Guests who participate in the ritual must also be aware of the proper conduct in regard to utilizing certain phrases and gestures required to maintain the integrity of the ceremony.

If tea is to be served in a tea house guests will initially be shown to a waiting room called a machiai, which is usually a separate structure such as a simple gazebo. After being summoned by the host they purify themselves by rinsing their mouths and hands with water from a small stone basin known as tsukubai, and then continue through the garden to the tea house. Removing their shoes they proceed through a small sliding door that is only thirty six inches high, thus symbolizing that all who enter are equal in stature irrespective of status or social position. The roomis not decorated save for a scroll painting called kakemono, which has been selected by the host and reveals the theme of the ceremony. The Buddhist scripture on the scroll is called bokuseki (ink traces) and is admired by each guest in turn before being seated seiza style on the tatami mat floor.

If a meal is not served the host will present each guest with small sweets eaten from special paper known as kaishi, which each person carries in a decorative wallet tucked in the breast of the kimono. All utensils to be used in the ceremony such as tea bowl, tea scoop, and whisk, are ritualistically cleansed in the presence of the guests in a precise manner and order before being fastidiously arranged according to the ceremony being performed. Upon completion of cleaning and preparing the utensils, the host will place a carefully measured proportion of green tea powder in a bowl along with the appropriate amount of hot water, and then whisk the tea using a precise set of movements. Guests relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the simple surroundings and conversation is kept to a minimum. The host then serves the bowl to the guest of honor, bows are exchanged, and the bowl is raised to the host in a gesture of respect. The bowl in then rotated by the guest to avoid drinking from it’s front, a sip is taken followed by a prescribed phrase, the bowl’s rim is wiped and rotated back to its original position, and is then passed on to the next guest with a bow. The protocol is repeated until all guests have tasted the tea from the same bowl, and it is then returned to the host who rinses it. The scoop and tea container are then offered to the guests for examination, each item being treated with extreme care and reverence as they may be irreplaceable handmade antiques passed down for generations.

At the conclusion, the guests express their appreciation for the tea and admiration for the art of the host. They leave as the host watches from the door of the teahouse.

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Image taken on 2005-03-25 19:50:01 by jpellgen.

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Or do you believe they’re too different, or even maybe that the introspective type Zen meditation is anethema of Christianity…

Buddhism, from which what is termed ‘Zen’ was codified, is quite varied, as is the practice of Zen. There are Zen Christians out there, and Zen Taoists, even Zen pagans and Zen ancestor worshippers. I believe Zen is the seed of Buddhism, but not necessarily one with it.
I also think Christian Mystics like St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, and even the Islamic Sufi Mystics applied aspects of Zen before the Buddhist terminology even made it’s way to Europe and North Africa.

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Is it because the wish to justify starting a theocracy in the US to ” protect ” the people ? The two largest communist countries they claim outlawed religion which is not strictly true by any means . During WW2 Stalin reopened the Churches and did a lot of good for that country as well as the bad . He was the one who finally brought universal health care to the people of Russia and save many more millions of lives than the bad decisions cost . The famine was caused by bad information given to him saying that farmers were hiding crops . As for the Chinese ” outlawing religion that in itself is a lie started by christian missionaries who were telling terror tales to peasants to force conversions { I think we hear enough of that inane trash spouted here to know the old ” believe or burn in hell ” lines they use } .

Some Differences Between Religion in Chinese and Russian Communism

The Chinese faith has been mainly unchanged for almost three thousand years and, most importantly, their religions (Zen, Buddhism, Confucianism) were never state-religions. In other words, the political power and people’s faith are two different things. Zen is people’s faith, without priests. All their religions are not hierarchical, that is organised in an official structure so that it would be nothing to abolish on an official way. It is not surprising that Chines communists did not forbid religious fetes. Mao Tze Dun, who was a clever man, probably thought that mixing politics and faith would be a mistake.
Lenin instead did it but it is not surprising too. Why? I shall try to explain. He had an European education. Most Europeans are Christians. Lenin was as well but not entirely. Marx and Engels, his ideological mentors, were not at all.
In Europe, beginning with Carol the Great, who accepted the crown from the Pope in the year 800, all the countries had Christianity as state-religion till 1789 when France removed the monarchy and religion at the same time. (It is not the French that invented democracy but they made the most noise around it.) The mentors of Communism thought to replace the Christian doctrine with the communist one. That’s why they saw in religion their ideological enemy.

For those who lived under the soviet influence it was clear that the communist party, as the single party, and the Inquisition of 14-15 centuries are more similar than different. The communists had one more reasons to be afraid by the church. They started from the idea that, in any democracy, the politicians come to power thanks to the people’s vote. We want universal vote, don’t we? Most people are non educated and easy to handle with simple and lying arguments.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080809195250AAEDP4I&r=w#IKJZIVvOC3dvnVoVjGpJ

For your approval I give you the worldwide figures for agnostics and atheists notice in particular that the figure for China is 8 to 14 % in 2005 and that baptists have been in Russia and China for quite a few years now openly .
Top 50 Countries
With Highest Proportion of Atheists / Agnostics
(Zuckerman, 2005)
Below is a list of the top fifty countries containing the largest measured percentage of people who identify as atheist, agnostic, or non-believer in God. These figures do not necessarily represent the number of people who are identify themselves as “atheists.” For example, in Estonia in 2004, 49% of people surveyed said they did not believe in God. At the same time, only 11% of people in the country identified themselves as atheists.

Country Total country
population (2004) % Atheist/
Agnostic/
Nonbeliever in God Number of Atheists/
Agnostics
Nonbelievers in God
(minimum – maximum)
Sweden 8,986,000 46 – 85% 4,133,560 – 7,638,100
Vietnam 82,690,000 81% 66,978,900
Denmark 5,413,000 43 – 80% 2,327,590 – 4,330,400
Norway 4,575,000 31 – 72% 1,418,250 – 3,294,000
Japan 127,333,000 64 – 65% 81,493,120 – 82,766,450
Czech Republic 10,246,100 54 – 61% 5,328,940 – 6,250,121
Finland 5,215,000 28 – 60% 1,460,200 – 3,129,000
France 60,424,000 43 – 54% 25,982,320 – 32,628,960
South Korea 48,598,000 30 – 52% 14,579,400 – 25,270,960
Estonia 1,342,000 49% 657,580
Germany 82,425,000 41 – 49% 33,794,250 – 40,388,250
Russia 143,782,000 24 – 48% 34,507,680 – 69,015,360
Hungary 10,032,000 32 – 46% 3,210,240 – 4,614,720
Netherlands 16,318,000 39 – 44% 6,364,020 – 7,179,920
Britain 60,271,000 31 – 44% 18,684,010 – 26,519,240
Belgium 10,348,000 42 – 43% 4,346,160 – 4,449,640
Bulgaria 7,518,000 34 – 40% 2,556,120 – 3,007,200
Slovenia 2,011,000 35 – 38% 703,850 – 764,180
Israel 6,199,000 15 – 37% 929,850 – 2,293,630
Canada 32,508,000 19 – 30% 6,176,520 – 9,752,400
Latvia 2,306,000 20 – 29% 461,200 – 668,740
Slovakia 5,424,000 10 – 28% 542,400 – 1,518,720
Switzerland 7,451,000 17 – 27% 1,266,670 – 2,011,770
Austria 8,175,000 18 – 26% 1,471,500 – 2,125,500
Australia 19,913,000 24 – 25% 4,779,120 – 4,978,250
Taiwan 22,750,000 24% 5,460,000
Spain 40,281,000 15 – 24% 6,042,150 – 9,667,440
Iceland 294,000 16 – 23% 47,040 – 67,620
New Zealand 3,994,000 20 – 22% 798,800 – 878,680
Ukraine 47,732,000 20% 9,546,400
Belarus 10,311,000 17% 1,752,870
Greece 10,648,000 16% 1,703,680
North Korea 22,698,000 15%* 3,404,700
Italy 58,057,000 6 – 15% 3,483,420 – 8,708,550
Armenia 2,991,000 14% 418,740
China 1,298,848,000 8 – 14%* 103,907,840 – 181,838,720
Lithuania 3,608,000 13% 469,040
Singapore 4,354,000 13% 566,020
Uruguay 3,399,000 12% 407,880
Kazakhstan 15,144,000 11 – 12% 1,665,840 – 1,817,280
Mongolia 2,751,000 9% 247,590
Portugal 10,524,000 4 – 9% 420,960 – 947,160
USA 293,028,000 3 – 9% 8,790,840 – 26,822,520
Albania 3,545,000 8% 283,600
Argentina 39,145,000 4 – 8% 1,565,800 – 3,131,600
Kyrgyzstan 5,081,000 7% 355,670
Dominican Republic 8,834,000 7% 618,380
Cuba 11,309,000 7%* 791,630
Croatia 4,497,000 7% 314,790
What is off subject ” wicked warrior ? the FACT that Christians lie or that they want everyone else to think the wars and death they cause are done by others ?
Notice ” Ron Burgandy ” that the largest massacres in history were not done by atheists after all but theist and most of those by good Christians like Adolph Hitler .
The largest single massacre in history was the 30 year war which murdered 2/3 to 3/4 of Germany alone and was all about Christian privilege between the Catholics and Protestants . Accurate figures were never really compiled but figures that are available show more deaths that WW1 and WW2 combined . The city of Maudburg had 20,000 to 30,000 at best estimates killed when they slaughtered the inhabitants AFTER they were welcomed as ” saviours ” .

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