Living with an in-differentiation heart

Mei Lan Post in Living Philosophy，
17 August 2011
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John:

Two people living in the same village and sharing the same thing everyday but have different experience and future, isn’t it prove the world is fake?

兩個同樣住在同一個村落的人,互相分享每日的點滴. 奇怪同樣的村子不一樣的兩個人竟然遭遇不一樣,這不是說明這世界是假的嗎?

Mei Lan:

Fake or true? Cloud or mist?  Water or air? One type of rice raise more than 100 types of people, and all of these are normal; what is so strange about it?  Learning from an old Chinese idiom – Master (teacher) brings you in and achieving is up to you.  Planting a new tea branch that harmonize with the local soil, water, air and people, that eventually  grow a new tea tree and create a new taste; roots from the same source but with different look, flavour and taste.  Why bother to compare and to bite on the argument when difference is normal?   Live the life with an open and common heart, enjoy this peaceful moment; then this moment is eternality!

假假真真, 是雲是霧, 是水是空氣, 一種米養百種人. 這一切都是正常, 有何奇之有? 古語教導, 師父領進門修身在個人; 一枝茶枝插枝再種, 與當地的土,  水, 天與人融合, 再創新味; 源同而出不同, 何須比較? 以一個開朗與平常心看待, 放下心享受這一平靜的片刻;  現在就是永衡!

“Love” – New Inspiration

Mei Lan Post in Chinese Wisdom，
13 August 2011
2

When driving to Antwerp Centrum yesterday, all in sudden I have another level of inspiration about the word of “Love” based on Chinese calligraphy.

If we divide the character of “Love” from top downwards, then we can see the heart is being covered by flesh and then supported by friendship.

Based on this simple exciting inspiration, the meaning of “Big Love (大愛)”  became more clearer to me.  “Big Love (大愛)”   that embraced by all religions meant to put oneself to protect and comfort those fragile hearts, and support the process with natural respect and friendships. 

Once again, by taking a little time with an opened mind, I was able to enjoy the joy of having new inspiration and learning of wisdom from a simple Chinese character, ‘Love’.

Mei Lan (Agnes) Hsiao, 12/8/2011 Antwerp

昨日開車往安特衛普市中心去辦事的路上突然對 “愛”這個字有了另一層學習.

若把”愛” 這一個字由上往下拆, 那就能看到愛這個字是把肉把心包起來, 又能以友情墊底.

那大愛更不是就是代表應該能以己身放在眾人之心的前面顧好眾心的脆弱​與需要, 而又能以心中自然產生的友情相待嗎?

昨日體會再一次應證中國字的可愛與智慧.

蕭美蘭 8/12/2011 於安特衛普市

The Art of Tea

Mei Lan Post in Tea，
21 April 2011
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The wisdom of Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism deeply embedded in the process of tea ceremony in China since the West Han Dynasty period. The collective wisdom from Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism are more than for the respective religion practice, but a way of living to increase self-consciousness and self-cultivation for peace & harmony in body and mind.

Today through tea ceremony we try to practice and relearn the wisdom of calm, tranquility, harmony, emptiness and fundamental respect to humane. The beauty of it is every tea person can demonstrate his/her own learning in living philosophy through simple tea making and serving procedures. 

 The essence of Chinese tea ceremony goes beyond tea itself, the selection of tea ware or the process of preparing and serving tea; it is a sort of meditation exercise to facilitate the healthy life style.  Most of all, it is about attitude towards us that interactive with others and the exchange of energy.

It is an art and it is a way of living.

Let go

Mei Lan Post in Living Philosophy，
28 November 2011
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Let go does not mean empty, but it is a beginning of a process for inner peace.

“Empty” does not mean to empty your energy but it is a continue process starting from recognizing, accepting, handling and then letting go.

It is not what “I” want to say or what I must try to impress others. It happens when I start to “listening”.

Loslaten betekent niet “leegmaken”, maar het is het begin van een proces voor een lichaam aanspanningen en innerlijke rust.

Leegmaken betekent niet ‘leeg’ uw energie te maken, maar het is het proces voor herkennen, verstanden, accepteren, behandeling en dan loslaten.

Het is niet wat wil ik zeg over wat moet ik doen of wat wil ik  om andere mensen te indrukken; dat geburt er wanneer ik begin te luisteren.

“放下”不代表 “空” 而只是一個讓身體放鬆與內心安寧的過程的一個開始.

“空”不代表把自己的能量放空, 而是一個由內省, 面對, 接受, 處理, 然後放下的一個過程.

它不在我怎麼跟自己說, 不在我必須做什麼或是我要如何表達; 過程起始於我能靜下嚀聽時的當下.

Mei Lan Agnes Hsiao 蕭美蘭, 27/11/2011

 

Wabi-Sabi vs. Chinese tea philosophy

Mei Lan Post in Culture，
12 August 2011
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Q: Is Wabi-Sabi tea ceremony practicing Chinese philosophy?

A:  According to Wikipedia, Wabi-Sabi (侘寂)represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.[1] It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of existence (三法印, sanbōin?), specifically impermanence (無常, mujō?). 

When Buddhism entered China 2 century B.C. it emerged with Chinese traditional Confucianism philosophy and Taoism philosophy.  During the 7th to 13th century there were many Japanese monks went to China to learn Buddhism when they brought tea and the then practice of tea ceremony (using Mancha) back to Japan. On the other hands, the culture, philosophy and tea category developments in China continued. 

Because tea and tea ceremony were brought back by Zen monks, so the tea ceremony they preserved (known as Japanese tea ceremony today) is very much emphasis on ‘calm, emptiness”. Often application areas are teaism, gardening, ikeban, pottery and poetry.

To summarize the commonality vs. difference between the Japanese tea ceremony with today’s The Art of Tea are:

  • Practice of Japanese tea ceremony – “Harmony, Respect, Purity, Stillness”.  In short, it transforms a ritual tea ceremony that apply very rigid rules in Zen practice
  • Practice of Chinese tea ceremony – “Purity, Respect, Inner Harmony, Authentic (being truthful)” ; otherwise “Tranquility, Respect, Inner Harmony, Appropriate Elegance”. During the process enjoy the arts of living and healthy life style.

Process and presentation for either Wabi-Sabi tea ceremony and Chinese Art of Tea are differently but the underlined practice of philosophies are same – inner peace and harmony through tranquility.

A cup of tea is more than tea.  Take a moment for yourself.  Let us go to eat tea !

“Oriental Beauty” sold at record price >EUR23,000 per kg.

Mei Lan Post in Tea，
10 August 2011
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Oriental Beauty is a special kind of oolong tea from Taiwan that must grow in a natural organic environment and the best harvest time is in the late April to mid summer.

In a tea competition and auction event in Taoyuan County on 9/8/2011, the top three winners were auctioned in sky-high price, No. 1 was sold over EUR23,000 per kg;  No. 2 & 3 were sold nearly EUR6,100 per kg.

Definitely, it proves how tea gourmets appreciate high quality of Oriental Beauty  in Taiwan, but what is the impact to the tea development in Taiwan is still yet to be observed.

Such champion quality is hard to acquire due to:

  1. Very limited of quantity-  because the tea maker only made 6 kg especially for the competition;
  2. Tea maker reserves it for themselves – they normally would like to keep it so they can use to promote their brand name
  3. The price is too high for the normal tea consuming market and let us not to forget the preference of taste is very subjective from one person to another.

How to identify the champion tea

Because of limited quantity submitted for competition, so the Commission only provide the label for each package. Only winners can have official stamped and sealed label on each tea package.  Before you pay sky-high price for any tea that claimed as “winning” tea, plese make sure if the tea package has original stamped and sealed label to close the package but not printing on the package.

Belgian tea lovers needless travel far, because you can enjoy fine selected high quality Oriental Beauty from Taiwan directly in Antwerp at affordable price.   For more information, please contact Mei Lan Hsiao, GSM: +32-(0)494-506899.

 

Tea is not to replace water

Mei Lan Post in Tips，
30 July 2011
1

Tea is healthy but it is not to replace water.

Suggest not to drink tea to replace water but to mix water with tea in the daily water consumption.  The best is 50/50, otherwise max. 20/80.

“Sober fooding and light drinking” is the basic and simple Chinese ancient wisdom for health cultivation.  If you like to enjoy a cup of tea after meal, it is better to wait for 5-10 minutes after meal, for example enjoy a portion of fruit first; especially when you have drank wine or alcohol with meal, it is better to have some more sour taste fresh fruits before enjoying a cup of tea.  Tea goes perfectly well when you enjoy a delicious dessert.

The infusion time is important and it is varied subjects to:

  1. Type of tea you use
  2. Water quality
  3. Water temperature
  4. The quantity you use, i.e. 1:30, 1:50 or 1:100

If you like Kungfu tea (traditional Chinese tea ceremony either with Gaiwan or Yixing small teapot), because the tea volume used is more for tea ceremony in order to abstract its pure flavor and profound taste, so definitely it is not type of drink you should consider from morning till evening.  Also please pay attention to the following simple principles:

  • Adapt the basic “short & sexy” principle in influsion time control but not 5-8 or even 20 minutes
  •  It should not be served or drank as “normal” tea drink per day
  • Suggest to have a cup of low warm water after tea, it is healthy and you will sense the taste of tea better afterwards.

Comments to “Tijd voor Thee”

Mei Lan Post in History，
29 July 2011
0

As specialist for Chinese tea and years of research in Chinese tea culture, I am curious when I saw the latest publish of tea book in Nederlands.  Today I bought the book of “Tijd voor Thee”, before finishing the reading of the first chapterI already found few errors which I believe are critical to get the fundamental facts correct briefly:

  1. It is not the first time I saw the reference about “round 2730 Before Christ” when it referred to the discovery of tea by Shen Nung, a Chinese leader in the China pre-history time.  Frankly speaking I do not know where these writers got this number from and if they have done enough history checking.   At that time there was no written history but only mouth-to-mouth legend stories.  The estimation of Shen Nung can trace back to 5000-4000 B.C. since he was the leader before the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di).
  2. “Erya” was the first book mentioned about tea, no one really know who wrote it, some think the first draft was composed in the Zhou Gong (Duke of Zhou who founded Zhou Dynasty, 1046-256BC); the book has been further added on and refined by the later scholars in Qing and Han Dynasty; some think the book was finalized by students of Confucius.  The first tea book, Cha Jing (The Classic of Tea in English), was written by Lu Yu (733-804 AC)
  3. In the ancient time, there were different characters used to describe tea.  The character “Cha” was unified eventually in the 8th century when tea and tea culture began to blossom in Tang Dynasty.
  4. Also in the book it mentioned Silk Road to Japan.  I am sorry to point out that the first Silk Road was link to the East mainly for trading purpose, including Mongolia, Tibet to Central Asia.  Tea into Korea and Japan was due to the Buddhism learning in China.  Japanese monks went to China for Buddhism learning in Tang and Song Dynasty who brought  tea seeds and Cha Dao (tea ceremony) back to Japan when they returned. 

There are lots of stories to tell about tea. Tea is simple and yet complex because every detail is critical; it is ordinary and yet unordinary healthy drink because of its way of blending with history, culture and philosophy development in thousands of year in China and how it traveled to the West. 

Just briefly notice  the book writer suggested long infusion time without mentioned the quality of water, the temperature of water and volume used for tea tasting (not to mention the use of tea ware). Even though you can make a cup of tea with whatever you can get find, but  every detail is critical if you would like to prepare a perfect cup of tea. I am sorry to point out those mistakes, but I just simply cannot see readers who follow the instruction naively and complain the bitter taste of tea, even worst some people put the blame on tea when they have any health problem/s. I can only tell myself, keep on researching and keep on sharing.

As Chinese born and grew up with tea in Taiwan where I am proud that we have preserved and safe guarded the traditional tea culture. In 1985 I was luckily to begin the learning of tea, Chinese tea ceremony and deepened study in Chinese history and traditional philosophies since the enter the tea eden in 1985; I can only say my learning journey is still ongoing. 

One small positive notion about this book based on the first glance, I have to say it seems have much more interesting contents than the other tea books I read in Dutch so far.

Mei Lan (Agnes) Hsiao, Lan Ting Tea Zen Atelier written on 29/7/2011

“The Art of Tea” Initiatie

Mei Lan Post in Workshops / Events，
28 July 2011
0

Living without fear

Mei Lan Post in Living Philosophy，
28 July 2011
0

Worrying neither living nor dying, living without fear

Changing of season and horizon, this moment is eternity

Darkness might be long but not forever.

The moment of desperation is also the period when the light of faith, hope & love can shine its way in most brilliant way.

The darkness moment is the chance to enrich our wisdom.

Reach out the loving hands to other who need help.

Like to flow  with head up and open to embrace the warmth of sun light.

Even a simple smile can light on the candle in our mind.

Let the warmth and light shine from within;

have no fear even walking in the darkness.

無生無死, 心無恐懼

雲卷雲舒, 霎那永恆

 

黑暗或許漫長但不會是永遠.

在最黑暗的時候也是信望愛最能發光顯耀的關鍵時刻.

不要因自己處在黑暗而把自己鎖在角落及垂頭喪氣,

挺直腰桿, 抬頭挺胸, 對更需要幫助與愛的人伸出愛心之手,

走出參與陽光活動. 哪怕只是一個笑容, 也可以點燃心中的蠟燭;

溫暖與明亮的一點光與量會由內心開始伸展出來.

就算走在黑暗幽谷也無懼怕

Taiji Daoyin Qigong

Mei Lan Post in Taiji Daoyin Qigong，
27 July 2011
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