Okakura Kakuzo, The Book of Tea

The Book of Tea (1906) by the great Japanese scholar Okakura Kakuzo gives a detailed examination of the ceremony of tea in the Japanese culture and how Teaism has become a way of life by digging in its Taoist and Zen Buddhist roots. This book (long essay) is addressed to the West which challenges Western stereotypes about the East of being “barbarian” and provides an in-depth view of the Japanese culture through the culture of tea and its etiquette and significance in the Japanese society.

The examination goes beyond the Tea ceremony and covers other aspects and values of the Japanese culture.

Quotes:

“Teaism is a cult founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order. It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we know as life.”

“But when we consider how small after all the cup of human enjoyment is, how soon overflowed with tears, how easily drained to the dregs in our quenchless thirst for infinity, we shall not blame ourselves for making so much of the tea-cup.”

“The Taoist and Zen conception of perfection... the dynamic nature of their philosophy laid more stress upon the process through which perfection was sought than upon perfection itself. True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally completed the incomplete. The virility of life and art lay in its possibilities for growth.”

“[Tea-masters] have given emphasis to our natural love of simplicity, and shown us the beauty of humility. In fact, through their teachings tea has entered the life of the people.”