Friday, November 5, 2010

The 7 Cups of Tea


Cleaning my tea cupboard recently I found this green tea.
Placing it in the teapot, it was so beautiful to observe it unfurl and
open up it's beauty to me.

While sitting in the tea room at the Lan Su Chinese Garden
I found this quote sitting on my table.

The 7 Cups of Tea

The first cup satisfies my throat.
The second breaks my lonely sadness.
With the third I find my muse and my art.
With the fourth life's pain evaporates.
The fifth relaxes my muscles,
my bones become weightless.
With the sixth I find the path that leads to
the immortal ancestors.
Oh the seventh cup!
Better not take it!
or I'm off to heaven.

~Lu Tong, Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907)

14 comments:

Kathy Walker said...

Very nice.

Relyn Lawson said...

That is the loveliest picture. It needs to go in your someday-shop right along with the crinoline one.

Jeanne said...

I love that quote on the 7 cups of tea
Love Jeanne

Love you

Marion Williams-Bennett said...

What an amazing photo - and tea! it looks so beautiful, like a flower blooming. I am imagining it's healing properties!

koralee said...

Lovely...just what I need to read this morning as I sit here with my second cup of tea.

Hugs my sweet tea loving friend. xoxo

Jeanie said...

Off to heaven or the bathroom! That's a wonderful piece == thanks for sharing it!

parTea lady said...

I also enjoy the flowering teas - they are so pretty and its fun to watch them unfurl. Thanks for the quote too.

beth said...

or "i'm off to the bathroom"......LOL

what a great poem !

Annie Jeffries said...

So lovely and positive. I would definitely run through the first six and then wring out the seventh to the very last drop.

SE'LAH... said...

i'm afraid of that 7th cup...lol.

how are you, sweet Marilyn? I'm so happy to have a moment to stop by and catch up here.

thinking of you. one love.

Dutchbaby said...

LOL, Beth!

I have a teapot just like that! With cups to match! I love serving those blossoming teas. Wonderful quote!

theUngourmet said...

The tea photos is lovely as is the 7 cups of tea quote. Have a wonderful week!

christina said...

i adore this photo. : )

Angela McRae said...

Blooming teas have to be somewhere in the top 10 "wonders of the world," or at least the tea world, I think. Beautiful!