Wonher Ji-Woon's The Five-color Tea-meditation

Abstract

The Five-color Tea-meditation is one of Wonher Ji-Woon's Loving-kindness & Compassion Tea-meditations using five different colors of tea. The five colors are yellow, white, red, green, and blue. These five colors are not only the actual colors of tea, but also the colors created by imagination. In this study, the Five-color Tea-meditation was considered from three perspectives based on the Buddhist perspective. First, in relation to the five colors, it is a viewpoint as a practice of kasina that appears in 『Visuddhimagga』. Second, it is the perspective of the practice of conformity expressed in the 『Mahā-Rāhulovāda Sutta』, in which the teachings of the Buddha are transmitted in relation to the Five-elements. Lastly, it is the perspective of mindfulness and the practice of the three supreme principles: 1) Sila or precepts 2) Samadhi or concentration 3) Prajna or transcendental wisdom. The Five-color Tea-meditation is a well-integrated practice of Vipassana of mindfulness and Samatha of concentration based on loving-kindness and compassion, which can be said to be the trend of modern meditation. I think that by combining this with tea, we can expect the role of character education that protects oneself properly and cultivates moral character.