offering tea to a guest began with Kwanyin, a well-known disciple of
Laotse, who first at the gate of the Han Pass presented to the "Old
Philosopher" a cup of the golden elixir. We shall not stop to discuss
the authenticity of such tales, which are valuable, however, as
confirming the early use of the beverage by the Taoists. Our interest
in Taoism and Zennism here lies mainly in those ideas regarding life and
art which are so embodied in what we call Teaism.

It is to be regretted that as yet there appears to be no adequate
presentation of the Taoists and Zen doctrines in any foreign language,
though we have had several laudable attempts.

Translation is always a treason, and as a Ming author observes, can at
its best be only the reverse side of a brocade,--all the threads are
there, but not the subtlety of colour or design. But, after all, what
great doctrine is there which is easy to expound? The ancient sages
never put their teachings in systematic form. They spoke in paradoxes,
for they were afraid of uttering half-truths. They began by talking like
fools and ended by making their hearers wise. Laotse himself, with his
quaint humour, says, "If people of inferior intelligence hear of the
Tao, they laugh immensely. It would not be the Tao unless they laughed
at it."

The Tao literally means a Path. It has been severally translated as
the Way, the Absolute, the Law, Nature, Supreme Reason, the Mode. These
renderings are not incorrect, for the use of the term by the Taoists
differs according to the subject-matter of the inquiry. Laotse himself
spoke of it thus: "There is a thing which is all-containing, which was
born before the existence of Heaven and Earth. How silent! How solitary!
It stands alone and changes not. It revolves without danger to itself
and is the mother of the universe. I do not know its name and so call
it the Path. With reluctance I call it the Infinite. Infinity is
the Fleeting, the Fleeting is the Vanishing, the Vanishing is the
Reverting." The Tao is in the Passage rather than the Path. It is the
spirit of Cosmic Change,--the eternal growth which returns upon itself
to produce new forms. It recoils upon itself like the dragon, the
beloved symbol of the Taoists. It folds and unfolds as do the clouds.
The Tao might be spoken of as the Great Transition. Subjectively it is
the Mood of the Universe. Its Absolute is the Relative.

It should be remembered in the first place that Taoism, like its
le