Chapter III · The Making: Vessels and fire — The buds that sprout from dense thickets, with three, four…

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

The passage

“The buds that sprout from dense thickets, with three, four, or five shoots, are picked by selecting those that rise most boldly.”

Vessels and fire

The passage points toward vessels and fire: “The buds that sprout from dense thickets, with three, four…” is also a question of what the tea is made in.

Material, thickness, shape, and heat change the water and the extraction. A vessel is a tool for controlling time.

Old implements are not automatically better. Understanding them helps us see what a modern gaiwan or teapot is actually doing.

Reading note

Read the passage once for the image, once for the judgment, and once for the practice it implies.

Practice

• Name one thing the passage asks you to notice.
• Compare it with a tea you know.
• Keep the question open.