Special Topics / Spring Festival Series / Chinese New Year Tea Chan
It is traditional for Chinese people to visit with each other when New Year comes; during these visits, they often drink tea together and chat, enjoying the opportunity to catch up with those they miss in their daily lives. Through the leisurely activity of drinking tea, friends, family, and even strangers come together and joyfully celebrate the New Year.
During Chinese New Year, the branches of DDM host practices in which they endeavor to combine the arts of tea and meditation. In doing so, DDM aims to guide devotees who visit during the New Year to experience the holiday with stable body and mind, and for they themselves to experience firsthand the joy Dharma practice brings. In addition to letting the participants experience tea’s clear, leisurely, and tranquil atmosphere, the ceremonies strive to instill a peaceful mind in its participants, one which corresponds to the teachings and spiritual environment created by Master Sheng Yen.
Translator: Frances Liu (劉珮如)
Editor: Matthew Stoia