『젠차로쿠(禪茶錄)』에 대한 ‘선주차종(禪主茶從)’인식의 비판적 검토

Critique on the Universal Understanding of Zencharok’s Philosophy as “the Viewpoint of Zen First and Tea Second.”

Since the Japanese tao of tea was established by Sen Rikyu and others, the thought that zen is underlies the tao of tea has been emphasized. However, over the years, the tradition of tea emphasizing the tea ceremony has lost its fundamental spirit of zen and placed its focus mainly on its form and external splendor. The book of Zencharoku published by Zakuan Sodaku in 1828 had great significance in the history of tea tao in Japan, in that it showed not only the thought of the ‘one taste of tea and zen’, but also the will of returning to the zen spirit. Yanagi Muneyoshi and some of his followers defined the viewpoint of Zencharoku as the thought of “zen first and tea second.” Then, Yanagi Muneyoshi criticized Zencharoku, stating that he overlooked the point that we should reach zen through the beauty of the tea bowl. However, I think that Zencharoku’s thought involves not only the philosophy of ‘zen first and tea second’, but also the one of ‘tea first and zen second’. Therefore, it is my conviction that Yanagi Muneyoshi s understanding of Zencharoku as ‘zen first and tea second’ and his attempt to emphasize tea rather than zen were of little significance.