Precious Teacups

The truth is, what we call “materialism” isn’t really materialistic; it is idealistic. In other words, it is not the objects that we are after in our consuming; it is the ideals those objects represent . . .

Once, the twentieth-century Japanese Zen master Nakagawa Soen Roshi gave a retreat in America. The retreat took place in a rented school building, and there wasn’t much kitchenware available for serving meals. The daily schedule included a tea service, and since there were no teacups, paper cups had to be used. On the first day of the retreat, after the tea service, the students began to throw the cups away, but Soen Roshi stopped them. “No!” he scolded.”We need to use these same cups each day. You have to save them.” For seven days the students used the same paper cups for tea. When the retreat was over, Soen Roshi said,”OK, now you can throw away the paper cups.” But the students wouldn’t hear of it. They couldn’t possibly throw away the cups. They had become too precious.

Norman Fischer
from When You Greet Me I Bow; Notes and Reflections from a Life in Zen