Happy Winter Solstice!

Happy Winter Solstice!

Thanks for our delicious tea gatherings in 2013.  Wishing all your wishes come true in 2014.

Tea time in Teaneck

We had a wonderful tea gathering at Ms. Sei's house for our November meeting.  She runs gallery Om and holds traditional Korean tea workshops at various locations.  Her house is a gallery in itself, filled with lots of wonderful artworks.  We sincerely thank her for inviting us.

For our December Tea Meeting, we will meet at Lee Young Hee museum on December 12th, Thursday at 6:30 pm.  We will drink lots of festive teas for the winter solstice.  In Korea we eat red bean porridge on the winter solstice day, so expect a bowl of red bean porridge with your tea!

In January we will hold our customary dinner get together on January 10th, Friday around 6:30 pm at Peace Food Cafe, www.PeaceFoodCafe.com, on East 11th Street between Broadway and University Place in Greenwich Village.  We need to RSVP, so let us know soon if you are coming.

Jaenam

All gone.

August Tea Meeting

We had a lot of fun at our August tea meeting at Lee Young Hee museum. 

  It is always comforting and enjoyable to meet at Lee Young Hee museum, especially since we are surrounded by tradition and color of beautiful costumes of Madam Lee Young Hee.

 In Korea there is a tradition of using Ohmija berries to purify and to circulate the blood.  It helps to calm the mind, strengthen the brain function, relieve stress and ease asthmatic condition.  It could be made into tea using cold water or hot water.  With hot water, simmer the berries for about 2 minutes.  With cold water simmer the berries overnight.  You can drink it all day long and it will refresh you.

Tea friends are enjoying tea and chatting.

 We also tasted 50 years fermented Pureh tea.  It is full of good bacteria that aids digestion.  I bet everyone had wonderful bowl movements and found their bellies gone. 

I had served as a Korean School of NJ principal and now am a board member.  We will be hosting a 30th anniversary and fundraising gala on Thursday October 17th at Fort Lee Double Tree Hotel at 6:30pm.  If you wish to join me, please let me know.

Jaenam

July Tea Meeting; Hwarang style

During Shilla dynasty, the Hwarang youths traveled the nation drinking tea, meditating, practicing martial arts, singing songs and reciting poems.  And for the Hwarang youths, to become government officials they had to pass exams in tea ceremony and singing.  During the Shilla dynasty, tea leaves were made into powders by mills like above and was drunk as powder tea, or the powders were cooked into round cakes to be carried around and drunk in travels.  

We drank our tea Hwarang style for our July tea meet, we drank lots of tea and heard poems recited, stories told and listened to beautiful singing.  

A friend of Sonia emailed a poem from Maui after hearing about Hwarang youths.

This tea taste of childish delights !
These children are of peace.
Within the hearts of all children we can learn to love purely
Willing to die, so another can fight.
Simple in  dignity,  long lasting in mirth.
Delivered words of  Flower Boys  by  birth.

And we listened to beautiful voice of Jade.

Drinking from tea leaves instead of from tea powder did not get fully developed until Koryo dynasty because it required development of a full set of tea wares made from pottery.  According to Chinese visitors during Koryo dynasty commenting on Korean green tea, it was said the ritual was according to high decorum for everyone had to wait before drinking tea until everyone was served.  And it was said the taste was bitter and astringent.  That sounds about right.

The essence of great teachings

Form and substance are in Buddhism.

Creative change is in Christianity.

Decorum is in Confucianism.

Receiving Heaven and Earth's emptiness and nothingness, Christianity conceived and gave form to a Dao embryo.

Receiving Heaven and Earth's stillness and silence, Buddhism gestated and gave birth to Dao.

Receiving Heaven and Earth's governance and edification, Confucianism bathed and dressed Dao.

Next comes the crowning and flourishing.

The Lord of Tushita Heaven unites and governs; emptiness and nothingness, stillness and silence, governance and edification.

June Tea Meet at Steve Globus' place

For June Tea Meet, we met at Steve Globus' place.  He built a Japanese tea house in his penthouse and we were transported to a different time and place.  It was serene, beautiful and relaxing.  The tea was delicious.  Thanks Steve.

Of course she had to make the rabbit sign, lol.  Now see all the pictures with her rabbit sign!

Wooo, Joe with his halo.

All of us at the rooftop of Steve's penthouse.

Souheki Mori  and Steve Globus greeting us; Souheki performed Japanese tea ceremony.

Our dear beloved friend Wolhee Choe.  She was going to join us for this tea meeting but unexpectedly she passed away.  I heard she went peacefully in her sleep.  She was one of my favorite person in the world.  We will miss her.

Souheki with her perfect hand movement.

Our first tea was served to Wolhee.  In Korea, tea ceremony is called "Cha-Rye," literally meaning tea ritual.  However, no one in Korea calls tea drinking "Cha-Rye."  It is a word only reserved for tea offering for ancestors and departed ones.  So our June tea meeting was a "Cha-Rye," in honor of Wolhee.  I hope she enjoyed her tea.

My tea.

After the tea.

Beautiful all around.

See you in July.

You can see more pictures at Souheki's facebook page. 

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.586863314668290.1073741852.236937129660912&type=1