Dear Bodhi Sangha,
Welcome and thank you for joining this beloved community. I write this letter to you from Kunming, Yunnan, on a rare sunny afternoon during the rainy season of summer. Within the next couple weeks, the rains will stop and we will begin begin packing tea for 中秋节, Mid Autumn Festival. This autumn will also mark the first time that my family will distribute tea from our farm, The Eternal Peace Ancient Tea Garden, to the rest of the world. Indeed, it is a time of great importance, not only for myself and my family, but for the global community.
I think that many of us feel the uneasiness of the time that we live in, the increasing sense of uncertainty of what is to come. We stand on the precipice of unprecedented change due, in large part, to rapid technological advancement. This era of technology has brought with it tectonic shifts in how we relate to our environment, our communities and to ourselves. It has become all too easy for us to lose our footing while standing on shaky ground.
My teacher, Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, once wrote, “I am solid as a mountain, I am firm as the earth. I am free.” When reciting this poem at the various practice centers in his Plum Village Tradition, we are not merely repeating an optimistic affirmation. Rather, we are reciting a mantra that can be applied to both formal sitting meditation, as well as the most mundane of activities - endowing the present moment with the energy of consciousness.
One such mundane activity is drinking tea. If we approach this simple act with a sense of reverence and an attitude of solidity, deep insight may emerge from the silence. This is not a matter of intellectualism, but the blissful experience of being truly present with reality. Taking a moment to stop and look deeply into the tea, you can see the leaves, the farmers, the rain, the sun, our planet and, indeed, the whole universe, manifesting into the fragrant cup at your lips. Remove any one of those elements, and the tea ceases to exist.
We all depend on one another in a very real way. We are all here, together, in this moment. Not only us humans, but all the plants, animals, minerals and phenomena of the universe. This realization (again, more of a sensation rather than an idea) can bring us great joy as well as a great sense of responsibility. We may begin to feel the inspiration to do something. And indeed, it is necessary to our survival that we act urgently as our world races towards self-destruction.
But it is for that very reason that we must have the courage to stop — to stop our compulsive behavior and constant preoccupation with busyness; to stop participating in systems that exploit humans and our dear planet; to stop feeding ourselves toxins like micro-plastics, chemical fertilizers and dopamine-mining media. It is no exaggeration to say that our very existence depends on it. To again quote Thich Nhat Hanh, who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Martin Luther King Jr., “how can we stop the arms race when we cannot stop ourselves?” Further, how can we stop climate change, social injustice and widespread health issues: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual?
And so, dear reader, I end this lengthy welcome letter by explaining my greeting to you at the beginning of it. bodhi, the namesake of our company, is Sanskrit for “awakening” — awakening to the joy of being alive as well as a better way of living. Sangha means “community.” There’s no question that we live in a confusing and precarious time. But we are here together, and the only way that we will get through this is together.
It is with my whole heart that I welcome you into this beloved community. We at bodhi will periodically send you updates on our tea harvests and tea ware offerings, but I will also check in with you like this every now and again, to share insights and lessons from both spiritual masters and the greatest of teachers — life itself. If you wish to write me back, I would be very happy to hear from you. Again, welcome to the bodhi Sangha.
A lotus for you,
Nathan Carreon Lim
