Chado- The Art and Heart of Tea, a Zen Mindfulness Practice

Taeko Sensei at Inaugural Celebration 11/10/12 Twenty five years ago I witnessed my first Japanese Tea ceremony at an introductory event to the art of Chado or tea on the campus of LaSalle University. I recall that Brother Joseph Keenan, who founded the Urasenke La Salle School of Chado with friends, and who later became my dear friend and Sensei, announced to a full house of observers that anyone interested in learning more about the Japanese Tea ceremony could see him afterwards. Little did I know how fortuitous that day would be for me in my own personal, spiritual, professional and relational development.

Having spent the prior seventeen years being a yogini, I had learned how to breathe, move, stretch and meditated my way through university training, developing a holistic profession, two home births, folding laundry and  cooking meals for a family of four. What I failed to learn and needed to master was "the art of being", a working mother, lover, healer and friend who could remain in the present moment and engaged in all of my senses. In other words, tackle the mundane tasks of life, without feeling that I'd rather be doing or being somewhere else.

What I discovered through my ten year study and practice of Chado is simple yet complex.  The heart of Chado lies in the "intention" one holds in the moment. Through this awareness I began to experience the power of being present and having presence. It became clear that when I became attentive with intention, I embodied my movements, gestures and speech and my expressions imparted meaning and grace. I had discovered the secret of the ages. How to exalt the mundane to the sublime! Now, attending to  housework nor anything else was no longer experienced as a necessary interruption from what I deemed more valuable. Fateful as it was, the practice of tea, became another precursor to the development of my BodyWord® process.  It is this ancient body wisdom that spoke through my soul and compelled me to return to tea class, week after week for so many years.  Most people thought I was in the practice of making tea. It was love that I was making, in its most social form.

Chado is one of the oldest disciplines of Zen mindfulness that dates back to the sixteenth century in Japan by Buddhist monk, Sen no Rikyu.  Veiled in the modest offering of a bowl of tea, Chado engages all of the senses for both the host/hostess and the guest. The relationship between host and guest is of upmost importance and is elevated to its highest forms of respect through an artistry and purity of heart expressed in the symbolic cleansing, then offering, of tea in a  beautifully crafted pottery bowl. 

Urasenke LaSalle Tea School has now been absorbed into the newly recognized and inaugurated Chado Uranske Tankokai Philadelphia Association which will continue to teach classes and hold demonstrations of the Zen art and practice of Chado at Shofuso , the Japanese House and Garden, in Fairmount Park. Taeko (Shervin) Sensei and Mariko Sensei continue to teach, much in honor of our local  founder, Brother  Joseph Keenan who has passed away since those earliest days in 1987.