Tea and Chocolate

You never know what's in store when visiting a monk at a Buddhist temple. At one temple, we asked a monk what made him decide to become a monk. "Are you kidding?", he said in Korean. "Being a monk is the greatest job in the world." We also asked him if monks follow a certain diet. He said when no one's looking, monks pig out. Turns out this colorful character had his own TV show at some point. He also took several cell phone calls during our visit.





Another monk served us tea, entreating us to pay attention to the play of light on the trickling stream of tea, to hear the sound of it filling a cup, to inhale its scent and feel its warmth, and finally to taste its earthy flavor -- a ritual both spiritual and sensory.

Once the tea was served, the monk passed out chocolate coins wrapped in gold. We figured maybe they'd been a gift to him that he'd been trying to unload.




At a rural arts center in rural Hadong, we got to practice the art of the tea ceremony with an accomplished female master. Here are Kelly and me trying our hand at the preparation and presentation of tea.

Everything matters: the spot where you place your hand on the teapot and the pauses in between pours. Tea ceremonies are like wine tastings: the best that nature has to offer combines with human intent, cultivation and ritual. That's the source of pleasure and magic...