The Journey Beyond Enlightenment, Those Who Train🙏Sen no Rikyu

The journey beyond enlightenment, those who train🙏Sen no Rikyu

From the beauty of decoration to the beauty of stripping away

🙏"Whisk the tea to suit the taste,
place the charcoal so the water boils,
arrange flowers as they are in the field,
make it cool in summer and warm in winter,
be early with the time,
prepare for rain even if it does not fall,
and be mindful of your fellow guests."

These are the "Seven Rules of Rikyu," passed down as the teachings of Sen no Rikyu.

At first glance, they all seem like common sense.

Whisk the tea well.
Place the charcoal so the water boils.
Arrange flowers naturally.
Make it feel cool in summer and warm in winter.
Have time to spare.
Be prepared even if it does not rain.
Be considerate of the other guests present.

However, when a disciple heard these teachings and replied,

"I can do at least that much,"

it is said that Rikyu replied,

"If you can do that, I will become your disciple."

It is said he responded with those words.

The things that seem simple are the hardest to truly perform.

Whisking tea well is not just about following the steps.
It is about knowing the temperature of the day,
observing the guests,
feeling the balance of the water and hot water,
and being mindful of the temperature of the tea bowl.

Arranging flowers as they are in the field does not mean simply moving the scenery of the field as it is.
You must know how the flowers bloom,
which way they tilt their heads,
and which season's wind they are receiving.

Sen no Rikyu's training was not about increasing special techniques.

It was about doing the ordinary
so deeply that it is no longer ordinary.

That is where Rikyu's tea ceremony lies.

🙏 In his youth, Rikyu was born into a wealthy merchant family in Sakai.

At that time, Sakai was a prosperous commercial city where goods and culture from both home and abroad flowed freely.
In the world of tea, precious tea utensils and works of art brought over from China were highly prized.

Beautiful Chinese objects,
expensive aromatic woods,
gorgeous tools,
and rare hanging scrolls.

A tea gathering was not just a place to drink tea.
It was also a place to demonstrate the host's wealth, education, and aesthetic sense.

The young Rikyu also learned tea amidst such glamorous culture.

Cultivating an eye for beautiful things,
learning the history of tools,
mastering the art of combinations,
and learning how to surprise guests with ingenuity.

Rikyu was not a simple person who had nothing from the beginning.

He knew wealth.
He knew glamour.
He also knew the power that expensive tools possess.

That is precisely why he was able to move beyond that.

Rikyu did not discard things because he did not know their value.

Having fully understood the value of things, he likely realized something eventually.

Simply lining up expensive tools does not make for tea that remains in a person's heart.

No matter how rare a tea bowl you place,
no matter how beautiful a hanging scroll you display,
no matter how luxurious a room you prepare,

if the host's heart is not directed toward the guest, true warmth will not be born in that gathering.

Herein lies Rikyu's first transformation.

From tea that shows off objects to tea that welcomes people,

From tea that boasts of ownership to tea that shares a bowl,

From the beauty of decoration to the beauty of a clear heart,

Rikyu did not simply deny luxurious things.

He shifted the center of the tea ceremony from objects to people.

🙏 In the 'wabi-cha' perfected by Rikyu, beauty found within simplicity is valued more than luxury.

However, being simple is not the same as being crude.

Leaving a space empty does not automatically create 'wabi.'
Using old vessels does not automatically create depth.
Building a small room does not automatically calm the heart.

To strip things away, one must first discern what is necessary and what is not.

If you place a single flower, refrain from other decorations.
If you use a quiet tea bowl, arrange it so the character of the clay comes alive.
If you build a small tea room, consider the distance that allows guests to feel each other's breath.

The beauty of stripping away is not about doing nothing.

It is about thinking through every detail, even the unseen,
and finally, erasing the traces of that thought.

That is the most difficult training, even though it may appear simple.

When people learn something, they want to show what they have learned.

They want to talk about their knowledge.
They want to show off their skills.
They want to display valuable objects.
They want others to recognize their efforts.

Yet, Rikyu's tea moves in the opposite direction.

Even if you know, do not talk too much.
Even if you possess, do not display too much.
Do not try to show everything you can do.

Instead, quietly offer only what the guest needs.

Herein lies Rikyu's second transformation.

From tea that surprises by adding,
to tea that makes one realize by subtracting.

From tea that shows off technique,
to tea that does not let the technique be felt.

From tea where the host is the protagonist,
to tea where the guest's heart is the protagonist.

Rikyu's beauty is not about pretending to be poor.

It is the beauty of the essence that remains after removing the excessive.

🙏 The Tai-an tea room, said to have been built by Rikyu, is a tiny space of only about two tatami mats.

In a large room, a host and guest can keep their distance.
Differences in social status can also be indicated by where one sits.

However, in a two-mat tea room, the distance between people becomes close.

Those of high status,
those with wealth,
and those with fame,

once they enter the tea room, become guests receiving the same bowl of tea.

The entrance, or nijiriguchi, is low, and one must bow to enter.

This is not merely an architectural design, but a mechanism that works upon the human heart.

To lower one's head,
to make one's body small,
to set aside the titles and dignity one carried outside for a moment.

And then, within that small space, the host and guest face one another.

By narrowing the space, Rikyu did not trap the human heart.

He reduced the room for unnecessary things to enter, and instead created a place where hearts could meet.

By losing breadth, one gains depth.
By losing luxury, one gains intimacy.
By not bringing in social status, one meets as a human being.

This, too, was a beauty of stripping away.

🙏 "Flowers should be as they are in the field."

This phrase well expresses Rikyu's aesthetic sense.

However, "as they are in the field" does not mean simply reproducing the natural state.

Wildflowers appear to bloom without any calculation.

Yet, when arranging a single flower in a tea room, deep observation and judgment are required.

Which branches to keep
Which leaves to prune
Which way to face the flower
At what height to place it
Which vessel to pair it with

After thinking it through, make it appear as if it had been blooming there from the very beginning

Rikyu's naturalness is not the naturalness of doing nothing

It is a naturalness that hides the traces of discipline

Beginners show their technique
Masters make their technique look beautiful
But those who have truly trained erase the technique itself

To the guest,

"You have put a lot of thought into this"

rather than making them think that,

"My heart feels somehow at peace"

to make them feel that

For the sake of that "somehow," the host devotes their heart in places unseen

This is Rikyu's discipline

🙏 As a teaching of Rikyu, these words are also passed down

"The tea ceremony in a small room is, first and foremost, a practice of attaining the Way through the Buddha's teachings."

The tea ceremony performed in a small tea room is not mere play or socializing
It is a discipline of refining oneself and seeking the Way

That is how these words can be read

Whisking the tea
Offering the tea bowl
The guest receiving it
The finished tea bowl being returned

It may look like just those simple actions

However, in those moments, the host is facing their own heart

The desire to make oneself look good
The fear of failure
The attachment to being evaluated by guests
The arrogance of wanting to boast about expensive tools

In the tea room, such movements of the heart manifest as trembling hands or a disruption in the rhythm.

Therefore, for Rikyu, preparing tea was also a way of reflecting his own heart.

It is not that the tea bowl is disordered;
it is that one's own heart is disordered.

It is not that the pause is too long;
it is that one is hesitant.

It is not that the guest is restless;
it is that one is not truly seeing the guest.

The practice of tea ceremony is not just about avoiding mistakes in etiquette.

It is a discipline for learning the habits of one's own heart through etiquette.

Herein lies Rikyu's third transformation.

From tea that seeks the evaluation of others to
tea that looks inward at oneself

From tea that performs beauty to
tea that cultivates the heart

From tea as a culture to
tea as a way of life

Enlightenment is not about obtaining a special answer.

It is about noticing one's own desires and fears,
not denying them,
but quietly letting them go within a single bowl of tea.

🙏 In the tea ceremony, the phrase "Ichigo Ichie" (one time, one meeting) later comes to be cherished.

The time spent sharing this bowl of tea with this person, in this place, will never come again in the same form.

Even if we meet again tomorrow,
even if we use the same tea bowl,
even if we display the same flowers,

today's light,
today's wind,
and today's heart will never return.

That is why the host welcomes the guest as someone they will meet only once in a lifetime,
and the guest, in turn, receives that bowl of tea as a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

What lies beyond the beauty of stripping things away is not a cold world of nothingness.

Rather, it is a heart that cherishes the person who is here right now more deeply.

We reduce things to see people better.
We reduce words to hear the other person's voice.
We refine our movements to pour our heart into a single bowl of tea.
We make the space smaller to bring our hearts closer together.

Rikyu's simplicity is not loneliness.

It is the empty space for people to meet one another.

🙏 Sen no Rikyu served Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, engaging in the tea ceremony at the center of power.

Especially during the era of Hideyoshi, the flamboyant tea ceremony symbolized by the golden tea room and the simple wabi-cha that Rikyu deepened existed in the same period.

The brilliance of gold.
The tranquility of an earthen tea bowl.

A tea ceremony in a grand hall.
A two-mat tea room.

The authority of the ruler.
Equality before a single bowl of tea.

Within that contrast lay the difficulty of Rikyu's position.

Rikyu was not a hermit of voluntary poverty living outside of power.
He was right beside it.

He did not choose simplicity without knowing the world of luxury; he showed a different kind of beauty after knowing both the power and the danger of opulence.

When power sought the grand, Rikyu built a small tea room.
When people were captivated by gold, Rikyu offered a tea bowl with the texture of earth.
In an age when owning much was considered power, Rikyu left behind only what was necessary.

That was not a loud rebellion.

A single flower.
A single bowl of tea.
A single ray of light.

Through small things, Rikyu posed questions to grand values.

What does it truly mean to be wealthy?
What is truly beautiful?
What does it mean to host someone?
After shedding authority, what remains of a person?

Rikyu's tea room was a place that quietly presented such questions.

🙏 Eventually, Rikyu was ordered by Hideyoshi to commit seppuku.

Various theories have been told by later generations regarding the reason for this.
Political conflict
Rikyu's words and actions
Issues surrounding tea utensils
The clash of aesthetic sensibilities between a person of power and a tea master.

It is difficult to explain it with just one reason.

However, when we think about Rikyu's final moments, we face a single question.

What does it mean to protect the beauty one has spent a lifetime refining until the very end?

Rikyu's tea did not teach only the act of not possessing things.

It teaches that even life is not eternal,
that fame and power will eventually be lost,
and that is precisely why one must never treat the current bowl of tea lightly.

After stripping everything away, what is it that remains at the end?

Not the tea room,
not the tea bowl,
not the title,
not the fame.

What that person believed to be beautiful,
how they welcomed others,
and how they lived each day.

Perhaps what remains at the end is that very attitude.

Herein lies Rikyu's greatest transformation.

From a person who chooses beautiful things to a person who tries to live beautifully.

From a person who masters tea to a person who lives the heart of tea.

From a person who strips away objects to a person who lets go of attachment itself.

🙏 What lies beyond enlightenment is not a state of wanting nothing.

It is knowing oneself to have desires while not being controlled by them,
loving beautiful things while not determining beauty solely by price,
and knowing the joy of being recognized by others while not relying solely on their evaluation.

And it is to quietly whisk a bowl of tea for the one person you met today.

Rikyu knew the world of flamboyant tea.
He was also close to power.
He possessed an eye for discerning excellent tools.

However, what he chose at the end of that journey was not a beauty that shows off.

A small tea room,
an earthen tea bowl,
a bamboo flower vase,
a single wild flower,
the sound of water boiling quietly.

Having little does not mean being poor.

Because there is little, each thing can be seen more deeply.

The texture of the tea bowl,
the warmth of the steam,
the faint scent of the flower,
the expression of the guest,
the breathing within the silence.

When you strip away the unnecessary, you begin to see what you could not see before.

That was the richness Rikyu discovered.

🙏 We who live in the modern age are surrounded by many things.

Information, products, titles, schedules, words, evaluations.

I want to have more,
I want to be known more,
I want to stand out more,
I want to get results faster.

The more we think this way, the more things accumulate in our hearts.

Sen no Rikyu asks us this:

Are those things truly necessary?
By adding them, have you become unable to see what is truly important?

Rather than starting something, stop something.
Rather than adding something, subtract something.
Rather than talking about yourself, listen to the other person.
Rather than appearing perfect, serve a cup of tea with care.

Stripping away is not just about throwing things away.

It is about making what is important look important.

It is the same in human relationships.

A short 'thank you' rather than embellished words,
a small item chosen with the other person in mind rather than an expensive gift,
gratitude expressed between two people rather than praise in front of a crowd.

When you strip away the unnecessary, the contours of the heart become visible.

Rikyu's tea continues to live on within us today.

🙏 If Miyamoto Musashi was a man who moved from the sword of victory to the path of self-cultivation,
and if Zeami was a man who moved from the flower of youth to the flower remaining in an old tree,

then Sen no Rikyu was a man who moved from the beauty of decoration to the beauty of stripping away.

Musashi stripped away hesitation while wielding his sword;
Zeami stripped away superfluous movements from his dance;
Rikyu stripped away excessive decoration from the tea room.

However, perhaps what the three of them were truly trying to strip away was the same thing.

Arrogance, attachment, fear, and the impatience to be recognized by others.

Training begins with acquiring something.

Learning forms, knowing tools, honing techniques, and cultivating an eye for beauty.

However, as training deepens, a journey begins to let go of what has been acquired.

Possessing technique while not showing it;
possessing knowledge while not boasting of it;
knowing what is good while not being captivated by the price.

And in the end, one simply prepares a bowl of tea for the person in front of them.

Therein lies what is beyond enlightenment.

What lies beyond enlightenment is not an empty tea room.

It is the white space prepared to welcome a person.

What lies beyond enlightenment is not a silence without words.

It is a time of thinking of the other person that transcends words.

What lies beyond enlightenment is not the poverty of having nothing.

It is the richness of being able to deeply savor the one thing that is present now.

"Whisk the tea just right."

What Rikyu sought in the end was not a miraculous technique.

It was simply to offer a delicious bowl of tea to the person before him.

That is a very small thing.
However, to perform that small act with all one's heart, one must repeatedly strip away their own desires, arrogance, and impatience.

That is why the way of tea is a form of discipline.

Sen no Rikyu sought to find the essence of living within a single bowl of tea.

From decorating to stripping away.
From possessing to sharing.
From beauty meant to be shown to others, to beauty that considers others.

What remained at the end of that journey was not luxurious tools.

The sound of boiling water.
A single flower.
The tea bowl offered.
And the hearts of two people facing each other.

Sen no Rikyu was a man who, while whisking tea, let go of unnecessary things one by one.

In that quiet discipline, Rikyu teaches us.

Beauty is not about decorating excessively.
Abundance is not about possessing much.
Hospitality is not about showing off one's own power.

Truly beautiful things remain after everything else has been stripped away.

And what remains at the very end is the heart that cherishes the person right in front of you.