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Peace in a Cup of Tea
How Drinking Tea Can Relate to Peace — Musings on Zen Master’s Thích Nhất Hạnh’s Teachings
Drinking tea seems like one of the most mundane, insignificant activities. Yet it is central in many world cultures, and in particular in Zen traditions, where it is the center of sophisticated ceremonies and meditations.
Thích Nhất Hạnh, one of the most famous Zen teachers in the West, was described by Martin Luther King as “an apostle of peace and nonviolence”. He is indeed famous for his commitments for peace, along with his teachings popularizing full conscience meditation.
In some instances, Thích Nhất Hạnh draws a direct connection between the way we drink our tea, and peace: “If you succeed in drinking your cup of tea, it is a victory for peace — peace for yourself, for us, for your country, and the world.” (Nhá̂t Hạnh 2004b, p.26). In the numerous written and oral teachings Thích Nhất Hạnh gave, tea is indeed a recurring motive. Thích Nhất Hạnh indeed drank tea on a daily basis, poured it in the ink he used for his calligraphy, hosted tea meditations, used it as an image to help grasp in-depth insights.
I don’t mean to imply that it is a unique, or even a specific motive in his teachings, in particular those related to peace — only that it is one of them. But what I find…
