The Way of Tea has undergone many generations of nurturing and refinement. Each one of the procedures for making tea has been polished so that it is difficult to perform in any other way with greater skill or ease. Thus, the first step in the practice of Tea is to learn each movement faithfully. Gradually, you will show more and more the result of your study of the order and manner of preparing tea. Once these skills are learned and assimilated, you can then go beyond them. But at first you must learn the steps, paying careful attention to each detail. Gradually, after many repetitions, it is almost as if the procedure performs itself. It becomes part of your body, as natural as walking. Once you have learned how to set and how to serve tea according to the rules of the discipline of Tea, you are free to use your mind and body at will. When you know how to use this freedom, you can at last serve tea in a serious manner to your guests. - Soshitsu Sen XV, *Tea Life, Tea Mind*