Little book #2 transcription
Daisosho lecture
Today he went to daitokuji. It was the day his grandma passed (memorial). He explained the meaning of the name Tantansai/Mugensai and the difference between the two names. If you pass away, you get a buddhist name (before you die). Tantansai was given by a monk when he got married. → “You are the one who must protect the house.” Tea trips used to be relaxed/yukkuri, but now things are fast. He wonders if it’s right. He just bought a wheeled suitcase. It reminds him of the toy. He loves sumi demae. He never had a problem with his Sumidemae. He used to use a very dark tearoom, so he learned by feel. Now, the tea rooms are bright, and they lull you into complacency. Okeiko = mistake ok. But that doesn’t mean don’t give 100%. At urasenke, each temae is like chakai. Jiku, hana, tea, etc. Always give 100%. If you try and still make a mistake, that’s okay. You learn. Gozumi is the most gochisou for him. You can see how the sumi burned. There is basic style for sumi demae, but you must be flexible to make a good fire. Flexibility = veteran. Recently, favorite sushi shop closed. Father’s owner asked him to grate wasabi for 24 hours. He didn’t teach sushi at all. But one day, he realized when grating wasabi, his father moved him to face him [his father] so he could see him making sushi. If you eat his sushi now and close your eyes, it tastes exactly like his father’s. Chado (name) is connected to the way of Rikyu, and Chanoyu (the word) connects to each person.
Chashaku carving
- Deep breath
- Imagine the whole process
- View the details
- Decide the design
- Work on it
- Don’t expect perfection
- Check balance
Zazen
- Thomas Kirchner (Shaku Yuho)
- Search Inside Yourself
- Joy on demand (books by google engineer on meditation)
- Sanskrit word “dhyana” means meditation. Translated to chinese 定, transliterated to 禅 (chan) ⇒ “zen” in japanese.
- Zen = how do we solve the problem of dissatisfaction/suffering?
- Zen traces to shaku muri
- Buddhism is a religion, not a philosophy
- Animism → “all living things have a spirit”
- Satya → “is-ness”, an underlying universal consciousness
- rta → a divine order
- dharma → the way of living in accordance to rta
- Brahman → personification of the universal consciousness, always around, maintaining/creating
- Samsara → world of existence, means wandering. Caused by karma, rebirth/redeath. Sysiphysean.
- Moksha → liberation, to escape samsara. To attain Nirvana.
- Early buddhism, Jainism, extreme asceticism.
- Killing desire → the thing that drive karma stops → rebirth/redeath stops.
- Trance ⇒ losing consciousness
- Detached from thought, the mind can return to satya
- Ego/self, a narrative of our experiences
- Problem is when we think, we ego
- Meditation allows us to go deeper than ego
- There is no thought in the present moment
- After Buddha died, split into 18 schools, but 2 main ones. Theravada (yellow robes, mostly SE asia) and Mahayana (northern asia + vietnam)
- Theravada: there is only one buddha. If we follow buddha teachings, we can achiev arhat (never again being reborn)
- Mahayana: infinite number of worlds, infinite number of buddhas. Our world has had 8. Anyone can become a buddha. Bodhisattva = 1% to 99% enlightened.
- Mahayana, stay in samsara.
- Sunyata = nothingness
- Jodo = pure land buddhism.
- Enlightenment through faith
- This bodhisattva became a buddha, “amida”
- Most popular form of Buddhism in asia
- Approximate lineage:
- Buddha → Mahakashyapa
- 28 masters → Bodhi dharma (to China) → 28 more (last brought zen to JP)
- Note, Shinzen Young, look him up
- Bodhidharma died in 528
- Mahayana Buddhism introduced to china around year 0
- Kumarajiva, 350-413. Barbarian kings would often take over parts of china, needed to set up a bureaucracy. One king brought Kumarajiva to help with transitions.
- An Shigao
- Zhiyi/Chigi, the art of meditation (538-597)
- Bodhidharma, 100 years old, took ship to china
- Xiaolin, zen temple! BD went there.
Temae notes
- 6 sun for binkake, 4 sun for daime.
- Bowl should be behind knee line when giving to guest.
- Pick up tetsubin with thumb under fingers (hook grip but on outside).
- NOTE: this is heavily disputed. Just pick your favorite way.
- Hold chashaku like hishaku, scoop using wrist/elbow (not fingers)
- Koma = no fumikomidatami. Normally <4.5 mat.
- Hiroma, >4.5 mat.
- Yojohan is its own special category. Can be either.
- Walking in a koma, turn in 3 steps (temaeza is on marudatami, same tatami as you enter on)
- Temae starts at mizuya-ita! Not once you enter the room!
- Blend the push/pull when purifying natsume lid together, not so robotic
- Resting holding position not so close
- Picking up/setting down chashaku, fingers are not side. The don’t rotate. Setting down, thumb is underneath.
- Forward head, be cognizant.
- Tenmoku bowls, cover bottom. Else, just use lip (for emptying into kensui)
- Top of mountain should be lower ring of natsume.
- If tea is totally stuck to the chashaku, it’s okay to tap.
Serving notes
- Serving from kobukusa
- On left palm, serve as normal
- Place bowl
- Fold kobukusa
- Set by right knee
- Scoot back
- Ocha wo douzo
- Put back kobukusa into kaichuu
- Turn away, stand
- To return bowls
- Bow to first guest, take bowl, move right
- Scoot s.t. the bowl is in front of left knee
- Bow
- Take 2nd guest bowl, put in left hand
- Take other in right
Katsuragama notes
- Historically, used to take soil from shigaraki. Soil from Kyoto contains a lot of sand (not good) because it’s surrounded by mountains. Now, we use soil from Juraku though (ie jurakudai, hideyoshi’s old castle and also the namesake of raku). Sand helps the insulation of the bowl.
- Wheel is only turned with hand, not spun (ie it’s on bearings but not driven by anything)
- Black glaze is from minerals from the kamogawa
- Raku characteristic uses brush to glaze. Other styles drip or pour onto the bowl
- Kodai yaki - not putting glaze on kodai
- Chojiro glazed completely. Starting from chokei, foot remained unglazed.
- Raku uses binchoutan charcoal for heat, whereas most kilns use pine
- Raku fires for a very long time. Can only fire one-by-one (versus thousands at once)
- 1200*C kiln. Immediately cooled in water. Does not break because raku magic. (Juraku tsuchi is fairly elastic, so it can expand/contract. Ceramic is fairly spongy)
Kama/furo notes
- Shin: doburo mayu
- If not mayu, doburo is gyo
- Karakane mentori = gyo
- Mayu tetsuburo = so
- Tetsu is always so bc wabi
- Fujibai is only done on doburo. [but at gakuen, we tend to treat karakane as doburo]
- Ita (arame) with lines that get wider, wide is front. Doburo use only.
- Kakiawase is the ita that you can see the grains.
- Karakane is always on shinnuri ita.
- Tetsuburo is always yakimono ita.