I often teach my friends: if you want to taste the tea, you must savor it. The word 'savor' has three mouths, and 'taste' has one, making four mouths in total. Therefore, to savor a sip of tea, divide it into four small sips, and you will have taste.

When you lift the tea to drink, do not gulp it down all at once. Drink it slowly, reminding yourself to enjoy this cup of tea properly. Because in this lifetime, you will never drink another cup exactly like this one. Just thinking of this, you will drink it very slowly.

Then you will find this cup of tea exceptionally delicious, because your entire being has entered into it. With full focus, calmness, quietness, and simplicity, you can truly savor this cup of tea.

In the tea ceremony, there is a saying: 'One lifetime, one meeting, seeing off at the door.' In your lifetime, you may only have this one chance to drink tea with someone. Therefore, every cup of tea is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, a result of漫长时空的因缘才展现在你的眼前. After drinking the tea, you see your friend off, or your friend sees you off, standing by the door watching your背影走远. This is called 'seeing off at the door.' This farewell may mean no chance to meet again.

In ancient times, visiting a friend might take months of travel. Now, of course, it is faster. But the losses of modern and ancient times are different. In the past, transportation was inconvenient, and parting meant months apart. Now, parting could mean a car accident, and you may never meet again.

So cherish the唯一的一次因缘 of each meeting. I always treasure it. Every time I drink tea and meet friends, and we exchange through tea, the feeling is incredible.

Because I love tea, I also collect it. When I collect tea, I store my friends' tea in jars. Labeling the jars with the tea's name would be meaningless. Instead, I label them with my friends' names. For example, if his name is 'Chunzhen,' I label it 'Chunzhen Tea.' If his name is 'Weirong,' I label it 'Weirong Tea.' This way, when you see the tea, you immediately think of that friend and recall what tea they gave you and when.

So my tea collection is essentially labeled with friendship. Of course, because there are so many, some get pushed to the corner. Then one day, when a friend calls and says, 'I'm coming over for tea,' I quickly move their tea from the corner to the center. When they arrive and see it, they are delighted to find their tea placed right in the middle.

Then I tell them, 'This jar of tea was given to me 15 years ago. Let's drink it today.' The reunion becomes very touching. Being able to drink 15-year-old tea with the same friend is extremely rare and precious. 'Rare and precious' is also a phrase from Buddhism. So drinking tea is about living in the moment, in the present cup of tea.