Looking outward through the dark redwood frame of an open pavilion window onto lush garden greenery clears one’s mind for looking inward.
Can you coax your mind from its wandering
and keep to the original oneness?
Can you let your body become
supple as a newborn child’s?
Can you cleanse your inner vision
until you see nothing but the light?
Can you love people and lead them
without imposing your will?
Can you deal with the most vital matters
by letting events take their course?
Can you step back from your own mind
and thus understand all things? ~ Tao Te Ching (10)
Lower House, Interior, Hakone Gardens, Saratoga, California
Ginger and Karl Bareis began reminiscing about their eight years living in the Japanese countryside as we sat together in the Tea Waiting Pavilion at Hakone Gardens. In the 1980s Karl had helped construct two of the tearooms in the Lower House of Hakone, his skills as a master traditional Japanese builder having been discovered by the foundation in remote Bonny Doon, where he continues to practice this ancient art on his forested land.
Ginger and Karl Bareis
Using her portable tea service of handmade cups, pot, and bamboo whisk, Ginger prepared green tea for us, which we drank in silence. Karl then explained that the Tea Waiting Pavilion could be considered the initial stage of the ceremony (chanoyu, in Japanese), where tea practitioners repose ~ looking outward into the natural world and simultaneously calming their inner world by loosening personal attachments and concerns.
Tea Waiting Pavilion, exterior
The garden path to the teahouse is the next stage, singular in construction for the purpose of drawing focus of attention. As practitioners continue into the tearoom and participate in the simple yet elegant ceremony, they partake in the intrinsic cultural precepts of Zen ~ tranquility, harmony with others, respect for others and oneself, and purity of thought and action.
Every culture is blind to its own potential.
Karl offered us this thought. Indeed, upon reflection, it became evident that every culture has within it promise of greatness, which is reflected in its highest ideals and values.
Photo ~ above rt ~ Tea Waiting Pavilion, interior looking out.
Learn more about the history and tradition of the tea ceremony.
