What is Tea & Chan? Tea & Chan also referred to as Tea Dao Chan or Tea Shi Chan, a method which a Chan master uses to assist with meditation for enlightenment.
Chan is in a cup of tea! Tea becomes a method of teaching and a tool for expounding the Dharma. Chan becomes the theory guiding the purification of the mind through tea, and also the Dao of elegance. Master Hui Neng, Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism said that
Eternally, you don’t give rise to any thoughts when faced with any good or evil situation, this is called, Zuo. Internally, you see your self-nature unmoved, this is called Chan.
This means, in our daily lives, when we can practice Chan in the walking, standing, sitting and laying down, and we are not be affected by the good or evil situation, we’d be able to be spontaneously inspired and we could enjoy the process of meditation. Thus is the true meditation.
The pursuit of spiritual purity and transformation is common in tea and Chan. Master Zong Ze of Jaku-an Temple in Kyoto, Japan had said
The common ground of tea and Zen is the pursuit of the pureness and sublimation of self-spatiality.
Zen Master Zong-ze, from Ji Temple of Kyoto, Japan, said that
The Dao of Tea, which embeds the sense of Chan in tea cakes, is a method for all beings to reflect on their inner selves. Thus, the whole process of tea is no different to the Dao of Chan.
Master Zong Ze had also said
There is no difference between the sense of tea and the sense of Chan. Therefore, without knowing the sense of Chan, one wouldn’t know the taste of the tea.
茶禪一味
何謂茶禪？茶禪，也叫茶道禪或茶事禪，是指佛教禪師把茶事活動（或叫茶道）作為參禪悟道的一種修行法門。
禪是一杯茶！ 茶是參禪悟佛之機、顯道表法之具，禪是以茶淨心之理、正清和雅之道。六祖慧能大師云：「外於一切善惡境界，心念不起，名為坐。內見自性不動，名為禪。」這是說明：真正的坐禪，必須在行、住、坐、臥的日常生活當中訓練自我，不被「一切善惡境界」所轉，即時刻能發見自我靈性、體悟禪趣，方是真坐禪。
茶與禪的共同之處在於追求自我精神境界的純淨與昇華。日本東都寂庵宗澤禪師云：「寫禪意於茶點，應為眾生觀自我心法之茶道，故於一切茶事所行用之處，不異禪道。」又云：「茶意即禪意也，故捨禪意之外無茶意，若不知禪意，亦不知茶味。」
