Yesterday, the legendary Tea Monk visited the Monastery.
Tea Monk was famous because for the past twenty-five years he would visit monasteries all over the world requesting for a perfect cup of tea.
The challenge was that no one was able to provide a cup of tea that satisfied Tea Monk. He had rejected thousands of tea servings prepared for him.
After he arrived at the Monastery and had taken rest, Tea Monk went up to Sensei and said, “Can I have a cup of perfect tea?”
Sensei was sitting with the monks in evening contemplation. He requested monks who wished to serve Tea Monk to go to the kitchen and prepare a cup of tea for him. Some of monks took up the request.
The first to present tea was Humble Monk. Tea Monk tasted it and shouted, “This tastes like water from the flower vase! Don’t poison me.”
Next came Angry Monk. When Tea Monk sipped his tea he screamed, “Why is this so hot, like a volcano? Do you want to cremate my mouth?”
Business Monk gathered courage and presented his tea. Tea Monk tasted it and said, “It seems like you have mixed an iceberg into this. It’s so cold, even the penguins will get pneumonia if they tasted this.”
Head Monk had been observing the rituals and suddenly smiled. Something had occurred to him. He left the room, and soon returned with a cup of tea in his hand.
Head Monk stood in front of Tea Monk, bowed to him and said, ‘Please accept my cup of tea. I think this is what you wanted. I have even tasted it before I brought it here.”
The monks gasped. They were shocked to just hear what Head Monk had said.
Tea Monk’s face lit up when he heard Head Monk’s words. He accepted the tea, sipped at it and exclaimed, “Yes. This is the perfect tea. Very rarely do I get a chance to taste it.”
Next, to everyone’s surprise, Tea Monk overturned the tea cup. It was empty. There had never been any tea inside.
Tea Monk asked Sensei if Head Monk could speak a few words. Sensei agreed, and Head Monk said, “For me, the perfect tea is no tea at all. You asked me for a perfect tea. I served you my contemplation of it.”
Sensei clapped twice and said, “Perfection without context is deceptive and misleading. If you try and perfect yourself on the basis what others want, you will fail. Just be who you are, and the best at that.”
*****