2017 Summer in Japan and Korea: Tea and art with Mogu Sunim, Seonamsa Temple

Did I mention that I love having tea with monks?

Mogu Sunim is a professor of Buddhist Theology at Seonamsa temple, one of he most respected schools of Korean Buddhism and one of the few temples to send their students abroad to practice other forms of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma.

In addition to teaching, he is a tea-maker and an artist. We shared and enjoyed endless cups of tea made by Mogu and other monks, starting with green and end with padiocha.

As ever – the most striking thing about meeting a monk is the way they look into you;
the way some monks can read you.

In between tea sessions, I took a walk around the temple grounds. Relaxed and enjoying the mountain air, the feeling of the tea, and the sense of freedom that only long travel can bring, I received an email (heresy, I know) that caused me great concern. The topic isn’t important so much so as the emotion that it evoked – it tore me out of the moment, stole away the serenity of the tea and the monks and the mountains.

But Mogu knew. On returning to the tea room, showing no outwards signs of the concern, we had more tea, some rice snacks, and a melon. And then Mogu began to paint. Starting on paper, and then moving to fans. He turned to me and gave me a calligraphic fan that he had painted a tea cup with a lotus, and the Chinese characters for: “One cup of tea makes 100 problems float away”.

And with that, I was OK. Mogu could see through my Façade and broke through it and re-centered me. Reminded me of where I was and that my worry doesn’t change a situation. It was my own small satori guided by a my very own bodhisattva.

I love having tea with monks.