On Apr 10, 4:14*pm, Melinda wrote:
Shen wrote:
On Apr 8, 3:13 pm, Shen wrote:
On Apr 8, 1:59 pm, Michael Plant wrote:

I've been meditating for 45 years. *That discussion is too lengthy for
this post. I generally know the history of the teas I buy and cherish
because I do not have money to throw away. *I have spent nearly 45 years
trying to simplify my life. I was sharing what gong-fu means to me. *Of
course, by now, I know how to do gong-fu. You are most likely looking too
carefully into words. Let it go. *I have. Shen "Slow" is the way my spirit
moves with gong-fu.
Shen, I appreciate your poetic relationship with the tea you drink. My interest was more mundane. I was simply wondering about the style; that is, the vehicle you use for your meditations, so to speak. There is a common feeling out there that if you use a little pot, fill it with leaf, use real hot water, and steep quickly, you've done Gung Fu. For all I know, that's quite right.
Michael
Michael,
I use a pretty standard gong fu method: I use my rosewood tools to
clear out the spout of the pot and then take my leaves from the
canister using tongs and put them into the leaf display dish and pass
that to my friends or if I'm alone I peruse them myself. I wash out my
cups and rinse the tray, using the water bowl and the wood tongs and
wash out the pot, the aroma cups etc. I then put the leaves into the
pot and wash them. Dump through the tray and steep the leaves. I wait
the necessary amount of time and then pour into the aroma cups which I
sniff and the turn that cup into my small drinking cup (not a gaiwan).
This does take time. It is contemplative for me and meditative as
well. I usually do this in silence.
Roy Fong taught me to do it this way and it's the way I like to do
it.
Truthfully, it is a poetic experience for me. I really don't know if
this is conventional. I've seen gong fu done this way and other ways.
I like it this way.
Shen

I di for get two things: I do use a fair cup, a small pitcher to which
I pour the tea from the pot and then pour the tea from the fair cup
into the smaller tea cups. And, I do ask all my guests, or just
myself, to look at the wet leaves the first go round, as they dance
and unfurl.
As I said, I don't know how "real" this all is or if I'm doing it
exactly right, but wabi-sabi..........
Shen

Shen, I appreciate reading about your method (it helps me to learn
too)...do you use a glass pot to steep in or how do you watch the leaves
unfurl? (I ask because I associate the unfurling leaves with greens in a
glass which is where I have had the most experience of that) Thank you.

Melinda- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have several cherished and comfortable Yixings and I use a tall
glass or gaiwan for greens.
Shen