和敬清寂 wakei seijaku Four Virtues of Tea

Four characters, four virtues of the tea gathering. Harmony and respect are how host and guest are to be with each other. Purity and tranquility are how the room, the garden and the utensils are to be. The tea schools have taught the four as the spirit of the way of tea.

A second spelling writes the third character as 静, stillness. That would say the fourth virtue twice, since 寂 is the stillness of a quiet place. The dictionaries head the word with 清, purity, and so do these designs.

These English words are in R. H. Blyth's Haiku of 1949, and in a book of 1967 by Sen Sōshitsu XV, grand master of the Urasenke school of tea.

和敬清寂 consists of the kanji 和 (read wa) meaning "Harmony", 敬 (read kei) meaning "Respect", 清 (read sei) meaning "Purity", and 寂 (read jaku) meaning "Tranquility".

Tradition gives the words to the tea master Sen no Rikyū, but their first appearance is a Zen abbot's preface of 1699, a hundred and eight years after Rikyū's death, printed in 1730.

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 和敬清寂.

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