ABSTRACT
The Japanese tea ceremony is world-renowned for its concept of “Tea and Zen are of one flavor.” As this saying suggests, whether there is Chan in the tea ceremony (Way of Tea) or whether the tea masters are enlightened Chan practitioners or not is of significant relevance. In order to understand the Chan concepts behind the Japanese tea ceremony stretching back over the past four hundred years, this research studies the essence of attaining awakening—the eighth consciousness, which is in alignment with the Mahāyāna’s Consciousness-Only school (S. Yogācāra) and the Chan tradition—to explore Sen Sōtan’s concept of “Tea and Zen are of one flavor.” As a result of the findings, this paper suggests that Sen Sōtan’s way of tea and “Zen” comes nowhere near the self-abiding state of the eighth consciousness, but is merely a frame of mind without language and discourse within movements and discursive thoughts.
