Tea Adventures

一所懸命 Isshokenmei in Japanese means with all one’s might, try to…

一所懸命 Isshokenmei in Japanese means with all one’s might, try to accomplish the impossible. 一線生機 Yi Xian Sheng Ji in Chinese means there is a slim thread of a chance to survive and live.

As we made our way through this incredibly claustrophobic, scary deep ascending cave with just a crevice of space between rocks called One Thread Sky, the thoughts were about this idea of hanging by a thread in one’s existence. The two phrases from Japan and China mean the same to me- that we all exist in just that thread of chance and opportunity, and that tenuous opportunity is what we must hold onto, like the thread of a spider. How much effort we apply to our existence means whether we will have the opportunity to view the sky yet again….

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Tea Adventures

Today is the birthdate of Guanyin Bodhisattva. We were woken up…

Today is the birthdate of Guanyin Bodhisattva. We were woken up with chains of firecrackers, as is the custom of Fujian to not just make offerings of incense, but for special occasions, bring out the fireworks. The town was lit up by fireworks at night, and throughout the day, pilgrims go to temples like this one to pay respects. Fujian province, the home of tea, is the most Buddhist of the provinces, where many folks believe themselves to be Buddhists without actually practicing with more than once a year offerings at New Year’s. Still, when asked what they thought being Buddhist meant, they say it meant ‘to be a good person, and not to be greedy. ’ I’ll take that.

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