Tea Lesson in Stuttgart

There are some small treasures to be discovered in Stuttgart. One of these is on the second floor of the Linden Museum, a stone's throw from the Liederhalle. There, several types of Japanese tea houses have been constructed. And it is there that Omotosenke Sensei Yaeko Heinisch holds her tea ceremony lessons. One of the reasons I wanted to take tea ceremony lessons once again was that Heinisch Sensei speaks of Wabi and its relationship to tea ceremony (Wabicha). Wabi-sabi, it seems, is a form of Japanese aesthetics that is difficult to transmit in words. It is at the basis of chanoyu, the way of tea, and of ikebana and other Japanese art forms. It also has a close tie to Zen. In her somewhat limited German, Heinisch Sensei said yesterday, "Wabi is beauty, but you can't see it. It is difficult to explain in German, because in German you describe something you can see as being beautiful. But Wabi is something that is missing, and the heart must complete it. That completing is Wabi." At least, that is what it seemed to me she didn't really say... Perhaps an approach that can be aesthetically helpful today

Click on the sweets below to download video clip (2MB).