Tea and Zen as One Flavor

In China, “Buddha” and “tea” are one family, where Zen is tea and tea is Zen. Both Tea culture and Zen culture flourished during the Tang Dynasty, transforming tea from a beverage to an art form and then to a philosophy. The fusion of tea and Zen into one started with the Tang Dynasty Zen monk Lu Yu, who was raised in a Buddhist temple. His work, “The Classic of Tea,” ushered in a new era of tea artistry.

The “Fengshi Wenjian Ji” written by Feng Yan during the Tang Dynasty mentions: “During the Kaiyuan period, there was a demon-subduing master at Mount Tai's Lingyan Temple who greatly promoted Zen teachings. Students of Zen were encouraged to stay awake and not eat much, and they were all allowed to drink tea.” Monks drank tea to rejuvenate their spirits, aiding in meditation and focused thinking. Tea could elevate one beyond the mundane and make one forget oneself and the world. Not only did Chinese Buddhism develop its unique Zen culture, but it also matured China's indigenous tea culture and integrated tea and Zen into a unified concept known as tea-Zen culture.

“Tea and Zen as One Flavor” refers to the idea that the taste of Zen and the taste of tea are the same flavor. This concept originally comes from a four-character true teaching inscribed by Chan Master Yuanwu Keqin (1063-1135 AD) for his Japanese disciple. It is preserved at Daitoku-ji Temple in Nara, Japan, and later became a popular phrase in both Buddhism and among the general public. Master Yuanwu Keqin taught that tea is Zen, and Zen is tea; the heart of tea is the heart of Zen, and the heart of Zen is the heart of tea; tea and Zen are united as one.

Tea is not only a means to aid cultivation and a method of health preservation but also an opportunity for enlightenment and a tool for expressing the Dharma. Water is the clearest substance on earth, and tea is the clearest taste within water. Its “natural flavor” resonates with the Zen principle of simplicity and naturalness, far removed from attachment. Each sip moistens the heart like nectar, and each exchange of cups creates a heart-to-heart connection. Thus, the bittersweet taste experienced while Drinking Tea becomes a vivid representation of the Buddhist practice of finding joy in hardship.

The inner resonance between the spirit of Buddhism and the essence of tea is the inevitable basis for the union of tea and Buddhism, forming the foundation of “Buddha and Tea as One Flavor” or “Tea and Zen as One Flavor.”

The Connection Between Wuyi tea and Zen Tea

Wuyi Mountain has a long history and a rich cultural heritage, with deep roots in Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. As early as the sixth year of Emperor Wu of the Tang Dynasty (618 AD), monks built the Shitang Temple in the Cloud Nest of Wuyi Mountain. Behind the temple was the earliest tea garden, known as the Tea Cave. Accessible through Fuhu Rock and Sima Spring, it is surrounded by towering cliffs and spans ten acres of fertile land, producing high-quality tea. To this day, tea plants still thrive there. Wuyi Mountain is home to thirty-six peaks and ninety-nine rock formations, with temples atop every peak and tea growing on every rock, making it a place where many temples produce tea and no Zen temple is without tea.

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, especially in Fujian, “Buddhism flourished uniquely for a time.” Every temple had a ritual of offering tea or “Buddha tea.” In the Tang Dynasty, monks used tea in their Zen practice, interpreted scriptures through tea, held tea meetings, set up tea banquets, performed tea rituals, wrote tea poems, and even authored books about tea, proposing the integration of Buddhist principles and tea virtues. Monks often personally cultivated tea after completing their daily religious duties, contributing significantly to the development of tea planting, harvesting, processing, brewing, and tasting methods, thus enriching the tea culture of Wuyi Mountain at the time.

In front of the Ruayan Temple on Wuyi Mountain, there is a couplet that reads, “Ice pot images, quiet and clear, the moment spear mountain reflects on Ruayan,” describing the Ice-Pot Ancient Buddha of Wuyi Mountain, also known as Zhaoguang. A native of Wuyi Mountain's Wutun village, he left home to become a monk in his youth. He wore hemp in summer and bathed in ice in winter, using ice to brew tea, and meditated in the midst of fireflies, embodying the Zen principle of “quietly understanding” the truth of tea. He deeply understood the true essence of “tea and Zen as one flavor.”

Zhu Xi, a famous Song Dynasty scholar, spent fifty years authoring works and lecturing in Wuyi Mountain. During this time, he visited numerous large and small temples across the mountain, even studying under renowned monks. Zhu Xi personally planted tea along the Nine-Bend Stream, picked tea leaves, constructed a tea stove, and discussed the Way of Tea, spontaneously composing poetry: “The immortal hermit left a stone stove, standing in the middle of the water. After drinking, we depart in our boat, leaving behind a trail of fragrant tea smoke.”

Zhao Fulian's “Tea and Zen” records: “The wise understand Zen with a cup of clear tea. The confused ask about Zen through thousands of volumes of Buddhist scriptures. If you want to understand Zen, think about tea.” The most famous variety of Wuyi rock tea, “Da Hong Pao,” was historically cultivated and managed by the monks of Tianxin Temple. “As for Da Hong Pao, the highest quality, less than a catty can be harvested each year from Tianxin.” “If ‘Hong Pao' from Fujian were to be raised as a banner, it would have been popular for fifty years.”

In the ancient Buddhist texts of the Qing Dynasty, Shi Yuanxian's “Record of Ruayan – Poems and Verses,” there is a poem by Hu Ying titled “Night Stay at Tianxin”: “Clouds floating over the mountains conceal the Zen temple, the moon rises over Tianxin shining on the guest quarters. The path is not cold beneath the shadows of the forest, can there be a night without the taste of red robe?” According to the “History of the Ming Dynasty – Biography of Hu Ying,” Hu Ying “was dispatched again in the seventeenth year (1419 AD) to tour the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hubei, and Hunan.” This suggests that by the early Ming Dynasty, the tea from Tian