A Lesson of Spilled Tea – Day 1

I was excitedly anticipating my first day of tea and meditation, in the format I am attempting to practice. This is a part of the spiritual training I am undergoing. I set things into motion on the New Thunder Moon / Solar Eclipse, but also had incoming, beloved family members I hadn’t seen in years. I decided to begin some of my study and meditation today.

I worked to release tension as almost every attempt I made in the morning failed. I was hoping for a semi-quiet setting, but first came showers and other chores. Then, just as I had finished brewing my first cup of pu-erh tea – a special variety purchased at a favorite local tea and spice shop – my phone went off… I was needed to run into work.

After all of that, I returned home, and my neighbors were going to town mowing and weed-whacking. I waited. Then, about an hour later, I once again attempted this meditation, after re-heating my cup of tea. The first sip was amazing – I was instantly a fan… this version had a minty element added to it… it was heavenly. I settled in, and went on to “sit and forget”.

This first meditation lasted about twenty minutes in total. I found that losing the physical sensation of myself wasn’t difficult at all, and I tried to attach my mind to my breath. This was going relatively well… until I realized I was getting closer to falling asleep. I sat up straighter, took another sip of the tea, re-adjusted, and went back to oblivion. The second time I began to fall asleep, I went ahead and finished the meditation.

I fully roused myself, took another sip of the tea, and set the cup aside. As I stood, I bumped into something, hitting the cup, and it tipped the cup over, onto the floor. I swore, feeling a sense of regret that I hadn’t had more than a few small sips of the delicious tea. I went about cleaning things, and continued on with the day.

In the later evening, soaking in the bath, I was able to turn to contemplation, and ask myself questions about today’s experience. Among other considerations, such as a desire to learn more about this Daoist meditation practice, I asked myself the open question: Did I do too much lead-in? Was my scrambling to set up for the experience counter to wuwei?

I acknowledged that I had done well not to get bent out of shape when things intervened in my earlier attempts… I did not try to force it to be “right”. But perhaps this was a great lesson about expectation, hope, and routine. Too much frantic energy may have caused me to lose out on more peaceful savoring. It was a good lesson. And luckily, the vessel didn’t break!