Frog in the Well

“Your sky is just a hole on the roof of my world,” says the frog in the well.

So God of the North Sea says to God of Yellow River, “You cannot describe an ocean to a frog who lives under a well, it cannot even imagine it; nor can you tell a summer bug about ice, it can never cross the season to know it…

This excerpt from the Chinese classic Zhuangzi ( from chapter 17, Autumn Waters ) has been so ingrained into the culture that there are popular sayings of “From the Perspective of a Well Dwelling Frog” ( 井蛙之見 ) and “Observing the sky from under a well” ( 坐井觀天 ), etc. Although that part in the original classic references philosophic schools and debates, the sayings have been used in everyday live for understanding of all matters in context. Tea is definitely encompassed.

Wisdom in the Daoist classic ( or Taoist, depending on which school of romanisation you have previously read ) has distilled into various lines of quotes and sayings that are so illustrative that kids can understand. However, not many people do in practice.

I wish you a good vision of a boundless sky.