On the occasion of the UMMA exhibition The Six Sense of Buddhism, please join us for a Japanese tea ceremony at UMMA. Tea was valued for its medicinal and stimulating qualities, and was used daily by Buddhist monks to aid in a lifestyle that combined physical activity, intellectual expansion, and contemplation. In 16th-century Japan, the use of tea was cultivated into a refined and spiritual practice in its own right. Chanoyu, or commonly known as the Japanese tea ceremony, requires paying meticulous attention to all aspects of a carefully orchestrated environment: the sight of flower arrangements and calligraphy; the sound of water boiling; the warmth of the tea bowl; the smell and taste of the tea. Join the sensual afternoon of Chanoyu demonstrated by local practitioners of the Urasenke Konnichian, one of the three main tea schools in the lineage of the famous master Sen no Rikyū (1522–1591).

Lead support for The Six Senses of Buddhism is provided by the Japan Business Society of Detroit Foundation and the University of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies.