Droga Herbaty. Część I
The Way of Tea: Part 1

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to point out that the numerous cultural behaviours — usually those of secular nature — which in Japanese culture fall into the category of chadō (its sense seems to be best conveyed precisely by the notion of the “Way of Tea”) are largely a manifestation of putting the Buddhist philosophy into practice. In this tale of Buddhism through a symbol, that is tea, an important element is also the notion of “Zen,” which should be linked to the form of Buddhism rooted in Japan and known as Zen Buddhism. The strategy used to illustrate the problem in question is to introduce and discuss successive concepts, figures or cultural texts that are inextricably linked to Japanese tea culture and that clearly correspond to the many dimensions of Buddhist thought, which originated in India around the 6th century BC. One of the dimensions of this thought is the law of interdependent emergence, which, finding its expression in chadō, not only serves to celebrate culturally established behaviours, but sensitises those following the Way of Tea to their cognitive capacities, which — according to this law — never depend solely on the subject or the method used. The article is divided into two parts. The first contains an introduction, information about the literature and discussion of categories associated with chadō and described by means of terms like “master,” “roji,” “emptiness” and “tokonoma.” In the second part, the categories discussed are those of “host and guest,” “four noble truths” and “suchness.” The second part of the article also includes a conclusion.

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