center for study of tea, Kyoto (8/95)

"Zencha ichimi," which means "tea and Zen are one," is an oft-quoted Japanese phrase tying together the tea ceremony and Zen Buddhism. Originally, it was Zen monks in China who used tea to keep themselves awake during meditation. While other Buddhist sects were popular among the nobility in early Japan, it was Zen which appealed most to the samurai who became the rulers during the time of Rikyu.
 

Take-no-ji (temple) July 95

Zen is a form of Buddhism which believes that satori (enlightenment) comes from avoiding the use of reason, but rather using meditation to experience mushin (no-mind). Zen followers come in two types: Rinzai, who believe satori can come quickly, and Soto, who believe that it comes slowly through personal effort.

kaiseki meal

Many of the concepts found in the tea ceremony come from Zen influence. The appreciation of the rustic and natural, the sparse nature of the tea room, the sense of unspoken bonds between host and guests all can be traced back to Zen. Even the word kaiseki for the meal is a throwback to the Zen practice of placing warm rocks on one's stomach to assuage hunger during meditation.

greeting Buddhist priest as guest

The schools of tea connected with Sen no Rikyu's family, called senke schools, all have ties with Zen Buddhism. Some of their teahouses are on temple property, with the best-known probably being the collection of teahouses at the Zen Buddhist Daitoku-ji temple complex in Kyoto.  Moreover, their headmasters are considered Buddhist deacons (though they generally don't perform the duties of a Buddhist priest). While people of any religion can and do practice tea, the connections of tea and Zen cannot be discounted.