English follows Japanese
茶道を始めて半年近く経ち、ようやくその中身が見えてきた。
茶道の様子を見ていると、歴史的に受け継がれてきたルールや形式に従った壮大な芝居劇のよう。
なぜこんな無駄なことをみんな超真顔でやっているだろう？と、見ていて時々可笑しくなることもある。だって現代社会の物差しに合わせてみたら、なんて非効率で非生産性的なんでしょう！
その一方で、その奥深い美しさを感じる。
時間を忘れる余裕。
圧倒的な贅沢さ。
暮らしに豊かさを吹き込んでくれる、上品なお遊び。
素晴らしい社会装置なんだな〜と思う。
実際、すべての所作は論理的に考え抜かれていて、滑らかな一連の動きはとても効率的で緻密に計算されている。
私は、おかげさまで、茶道にいってしばらくの間は、
ものや道具の扱い、人や環境への配慮、所作や行動、生活態度を意識するようになる。
間を読み、
場の空気を見て、
人の動きを読んで、
人の次の行動を察する
3歩先を読んで行動しろ！
と言われる。
お茶の先生は、３箇所で行われている茶の稽古を同時に見て、さらにキッチンで行われているヤカンの火加減や焼き蜜柑の火加減を意識しながら、生徒さんに「ついでにひっくり返してきてください。」と言う。
流石に、夏に蚊が入ってきた時には、蚊に気を取られて生徒さんの所作の一つを見逃していた。ああ、先生も人間だった、と安心した。
After almost six months of tea ceremony, I am finally beginning to see what it is all about.
Watching the tea ceremony is like a grand theatrical play, following rules and formalities that have been handed down through history.
Why is everyone doing such useless things with a super cool face? And sometimes it’s funny to watch.
Because how inefficient and unproductive if you look at it in the perspective of the standards of modern society!
On the other hand, I feel its profound beauty.
The luxury of forgetting time.
It is the ultimate luxury play of refinement and elegance, and a mode of behaviour that we choose as humans who are distinct from animals.
I feel there is a lot there for us to grow to be a human who brings peace to this world. What a beautiful social device that infuses richness into our lives
In fact, every gesture of tea is logically thought through,
The seamless sequence of movements is so efficient and precisely calculated.
Thanks to the tea ceremony, I became more aware of the handling of objects and tools, of people, of the environment, of manners and behaviour, and attitude to life.
Read the pauses,
Read the atmosphere of the place,
Read people’s movements,
Speculate what people are going to do next.
“Act three steps ahead,”
been said in Japan.
The tea teacher watches the tea practice going on in three places at the same time, and is also aware of the heat level of the kettle and the roasted mandarin orange in the kitchen, and says to the students, “Go ahead and turn it over before you come back here.”
When mosquitoes came in during the summer, she was distracted by it and she missed one of the students’ mistakes.
Ah, the teacher was a human too, I was relieved. [Laughs.
