Maintaining one's inner calm

One of the advantages of chanoyu is that it grants its practitioners a period of deep silence and inner calm, a very particular inner calm that allows the mind to direct itself to meaningful things, deep inside their consciousnesses.

I have heard it said that one can recognize experienced Tea people because they bring that calm with them everywhere they go.

I've having an issue with this idea right now, for the obvious reason that the world is a very messy place. I know of no space that is more separate from the universe around it than is the tea room. To take a concept developed in a frictionless plane and apply it to a potholed asphalt landscape is, in a word, challenging.

Though I recognize that this is a typical novice complaint, I am making it just the same. At this stage I need the precise lines and clean silences, though I do hope to get past that need eventually.


I have felt especially drawn to Zen lately, as it encourages a similar, complementary state of mind. The internet helped me find a local Zen meditation group, and I've decided to try sitting zazen with them this April. Last year I spent about nine months trying to get to a similar Thursday night sitting in New York City. (My failure to make this work more than once in a full nine months was near epic. However, that one time was very nice.)

My one experience in a Zen temple was, again, clean white walls and a positively audible silence. Still, I'm hoping that by beefing up my inner quietude I can make it into something louder than the city streets.