“Years ago in Vietnam, people used to take a small boat out into a lotus pond and put some tea leaves into an open lotus flower. The flower would close in the evening and perfume the tea during the night. In the early morning, when the dew was still on the leaves, you would return with your friends to collect the tea. On your boat was everything you needed: fresh water, a stove to heat it, teacups and a teapot. Then, in the beautiful light of the morning, you prepared tea right there, enjoying the whole morning drinking tea on the lotus pond.”
— Thich Nhat Hahn, Creating True Peace, p. 67-68
There is something very important about having a practice like this that both expands time and connects one to the land. I do something like this around here on Bowen Island, off the west coast of Canada, where my kids and I head out to the beach or into the forest to walk and eat from the land: seaweed or berries or fern roots.
But what can compare with drinking tea perfumed by a lotus flower?
