THE WAY OF SENCHA SERVICE
The Sencha Service has been the core of arts and crafts of Japan and has
become even the standard of human behavior.
The spiritual foundation of the Sencha service is Zen which taught that
concentration of mind was more important than anything else and that direct
communication with the inner nature of things was the way to arrive at the
Truth.
The tea service is now a secular and social pastime, but the strong Zen
influence is still very evident.
The service is very much concermed with rules and formalities. In this modern
era of conveniemces where mechanization relieves man from, labor this fuss
of making a cup of tea seems quite unnecessary. It can be said that the
whole process of making tea is composed of gestures that follow a stylized
patterm. The seemingly complicated manipulation of the various utensils
and the formalities of tea service are the outcome of the inner feeling of
reverence and preciousness toward the g Beautylh. It is a ritual : an
expression of man's consciousness of the g sublimeh.
Another element of the gestures is to bring one's mental state into a ghigher
orderh. By calming the mind, these actions bring awareness of man's inner
self. Objectively, they are the set manners and ethics prescribed for the
attainment of gbeautyh.
Shudo Ogasawara
5th Generation Head Tea master of the Ogasawara Sencha Service School.
(If you wish to study the Sencha Service,pleace contact are to
the following address:-
Mr.Shudo Ogasawara c/o Ogasawara Sencha Service School, 174 Higashiyama-cho,
Ashiya-shi, (659), Hyogo-ken, JAPAN.)
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