Showing results for title "The Book of Tea", by author "Kakuzo Okakura" in Politics & Social Sciences

For a generation adjusting painfully to the demands of a modern industrial and commercial society, Asia came to represent an alternative vision of the good life: aesthetically austere, socially aristocratic and imbued with spirituality. The Book of Tea was originally written in English and sought to address the inchoate yearnings of disaffected Westerners. In a flash of inspiration, Okakura saw that the formal tea party as practiced in New England was a distant cousin of the Japanese tea ceremony, and that East and West had thus 'met in the tea-cup'.

The Book of Tea (1906) by Okakura Kakuzō is a long essay which examines the role of chadō (Teaism) in the aesthetic and cultural aspects of Japanese life. The author explains Teaism as “a philosophy founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of everyday existence”. Originally written in English for a western audience, the essay deals with the spiritual traditions of Zen and Taoism, as well as the secular side of tea in Japanese life.

Preparar el té es más que una acción simple destinada a satisfacer un deseo fútil. Su preparación requiere una atención especial a los detalles, movimientos, aromas y sabores, conjugados en una atmósfera de respeto mutuo, la cual deviene en un efecto estético y un estado espiritual de incomparable belleza. Esta obra de Kakuzo Okakura se ha convertido en un clásico de nuestros tiempos, dándonos acceso al pensamiento oriental a través de la ceremonia del té y la exaltación de la vida.