17. The master drinks tea

☳/☰ In the 2014 Chinese-Hong Kong movie The Crossing 太平轮, there is a scene in which a lady sits pondering over the Kung Fu Cha 功夫茶 table. In brief the movie is a war drama and disaster movie rolled into one. Directed by John Woo 吳宇森. ☵/☳ The movie is set in 1949, on the eve of the Communist victory in China. This marked a period of stagnation for tea culture in China as well as Kung Fu culture, which until then had hundreds of years of unabated gradual development. ☶/☵ Now, as we near the third decade of the 21st century, both tea and kung fu is on the rebound - growing in strength from strength to strength. For those of us who are now practicing either Kung Fu Wu Tao 功夫武道 or Kung Fu Cha Tao 功夫茶道, these are exciting times, in that we know this is the time and place to strike our fortunes (as the saying goes). ☰/☶ How many of us have stopped to ponder on this? ...What does this mean? For you? Me? Us? ☷/☷ Some of us are still grappling with the concept of: Is it enough to just keep doing? Or When will my master reveal to me those things, he's kept from me for so long? et cetera... ☱/☴ These questions have been asked of me during my Tea Time equals Me Time sessions. To which I usually reply from the Kung Fu Panda II movie: You lack inner peace. This is manifested in constant anger directed at the world. Usually passive-aggressive anger. But mostly the inability to accept different truths toward the same thing. ☲/☲ We all start out on our martial art journey, very much the same: We walk ☳ the path of our respective school, then enter the combative ☵ stage of which school is better than the next, before stopping to rest ☶ and actually ponder on where we are going. Some do it through meditation. Others through yoga. There is also Reiki 靈氣, Qigong 氣功, and a whole host of other helpful mediums. ☴/☱ I happen to do it through tea. Whether it be Chado 茶道, Kung Fu Cha 功夫茶 or simply practicing Tea Time equals Me Time by stopping the insanity and making a cup of loose leaf tea... Just remember: It is far far easier to serve your master a cup of tea 茶, then it is to beg your way into the backroom. Some secrets are only secrets because you have made them so. Let go. Release your inner demons and let your master share his pot of tea with you. .. Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/