Change
In the chaos and turmoil that followed the collapse of the Han Dynasty after centuries of authoritarian domination, there was a flowering of new thinking about how human beings perceive things and how governments can be formed so that people most harmoniously live together.
The various schools that formed are mythologized through the “eight immortals of the bamboo grove”. These philosophical giants spent time interpreting the classics, debating their meaning, and forging the kind of values that produced many of China’s greatest contributions to the world (from art & poetry, to gunpowder, to ceramics, and tea rituals).
When the new Southern Taoist thinking (hence bamboo groves) combined with the Confucian ideals of the broad plained North, China became stronger. When Buddhist ideas came to China from the West, the resulting combination of several rich cultural traditions produced the hard-to-rival magnificence of Tang Dynasty China.
Whether it was tea or wine that animated some of the Taoists to think is unclear, but the Buddhists clearly sat with tea as part of their mindfulness training, and the Confucians always appreciate a good ritual.
ChaTao exists to facilitate and encourage the operation of space where cultural exchange can happen in a relaxed, open, and enjoyable manner.
In the chaos and turmoil that followed the collapse of the Han Dynasty after centuries of authoritarian domination, there was a flowering of new thinking about how human beings perceive things and how governments can be formed so that people most harmoniously live together.
The various schools that formed are mythologized through the “eight immortals of the bamboo grove”. These philosophical giants spent time interpreting the classics, debating their meaning, and forging the kind of values that produced many of China’s greatest contributions to the world (from art & poetry, to gunpowder, to ceramics, and tea rituals).
When the new Southern Taoist thinking (hence bamboo groves) combined with the Confucian ideals of the broad plained North, China became stronger. When Buddhist ideas came to China from the West, the resulting combination of several rich cultural traditions produced the hard-to-rival magnificence of Tang Dynasty China.
Whether it was tea or wine that animated some of the Taoists to think is unclear, but the Buddhists clearly sat with tea as part of their mindfulness training, and the Confucians always appreciate a good ritual.
ChaTao exists to facilitate and encourage the operation of space where cultural exchange can happen in a relaxed, open, and enjoyable manner.
