Archive Article: We All Like Drinking Tea. 18th September 1998
December 22, 2008

We all like drinking tea. But it’s rare for a tea ceremony to be honoured in an Australian Catholic Cathedral.

Last Saturday I attended a very moving ceremony at Sydney’s St Mary’s Cathedral, which had the theme “Peace Through a Bowl of Tea”.

Tea is a beverage enjoyed world wide. The custom of drinking tea was introduced into Japan from China in the 12th century. Zen monks used it to relieve drowsiness during meditation. Later on members of the aristocracy drank tea for its medicinal purposes.

In the 16th century, Sen Rikyu brought to the simple custom of drinking tea, various philosophical, religious, artistic, moral and social aspects to form a comprehensive synthesis of Japanese culture.

This is known as Chado: the Way of Tea. The essence of Chado is found in four principles: harmony, respect, purity and tranquillity. The tea ceremony, which took almost half an hour to perform in the Cathedral, has been handed down through 15 generations from Sen Rikyu.

The ceremony had two points with noting. First there is the interesting story about the current head of the tradition. Sen Soshitsu XV, the current head, was trained to be a kamikaze pilot in World War II. He was scheduled to make his attack on the Allies on August 15 1945. However, the war ended the previous week. He felt very unhappy that many of his fellow military students had already died in battle and yet he was still left alive because peace had broken out.

By the time he returned to his father’s house, the Americans were already there. His father was showing them the tea ceremony. His father was already at peace with the Americans. His son decided that he had been spared for a purpose: namely to work for peace and that his teaching the Chado tradition is the way to do it.

Now, there are complaints in Australia and the United States that Japan did not lose World War II. The complaint is that Japan is back (even with the current recession) with a stronger economy than most of the countries that had beaten it in 1945.

But there is one clear proof that this is a different Japan: the current Japan does not have the same militaristic tradition. Sen Soshitsu XV, who has gone from being a war-monger to a peace-monger, is himself an example of the new Japan.

Second, the Chado ceremony has some similarities with the Christian tradition. This is a reminder that Christians were active in Japan for several centuries. They were thrown out because the militarists feared that the Christian missionaries were to be followed by a Spanish invasion. This was not the case but they were evicted nonetheless.

Christians are now been back in Japan. They have been particularly effective in creating a number of outstanding schools and universities which have fostered respect for Christianity and its teachings.

BROADCAST ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 18 1998 ON RADIO 2GB’S “BRIAN WILSHIRE PROGRAMME” AT 9 PM, AND ON SEPTEMBER 20 1998 ON “SUNDAY NIGHT LIVE” AT 10.30 PM.