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The Book of Tea,
by Kakuzo Okakura was originally published in 1906. It is an account of
Japanese tea ceremony and philosophy. The
complete
text of the book is available.
"Tea began as a medicine and grew into a beverage. In China, in
the eighth century, it entered the realm of poetry as one of the
polite amusements. The fifteenth century saw Japan ennoble it
into a religion of aestheticism--Teaism. Teaism is a cult
founded on the adoration of the beautiful among the sordid facts of
everyday existence. It inculcates purity and harmony, the
mystery of mutual charity, the romanticism of the social order.
It is essentially a worship of the Imperfect, as it is a tender
attempt to accomplish something possible in this impossible thing we
know as life."
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