Rather than demonstrating a sophistication of technique, the master of the tea Way seeks to simplify, to harmonize his performance in a ritual of subtlety and grace. He prepares tea with a celerity intended to settle the spirit and to polish it to a state of constant equanimity. The chado master seems ineffably calm in a tea-making performance that is at once choreographed to the most minute detail (even the manner in which the used scoop is rubbed clean is precisely formalized), and yet inherently natural. The atmosphere of the ceremony is one of a sombre, peace- ful dignity. The tools of chado contribute to this air; ceramic bowls, bamboo ladles and whisks, and earthenware jars are often centuries old and display an arcadian craftsmanship. A bowl is splattered with glaze and irregularly shaped. The scoop, a curved joint of bamboo, is brown and sleek with age. Like the ceremony, the implements of tea are a reminder of the quiet beauty and style of another age.

If the tea master's actions are hurried or inept, they instantly lose an important part of chado's spirit, for they lack zanshin, the "vigilant mind." Teachers of the art must strive to bring out this feeling of meditative contemplation in their students, since it is zanshin that allows the mind to be focused on the task at hand, able to perceive it--and more importantly at the master's level, the self as well--with utter clarity and composure.

Zanshin too, pervades the dojo (the "place for learning the Way") where aikido is taught. Aikido is one of the budo, or martial Ways, which have become the most recognizable Do to Western audiences. In the West, these forms are considered synonymous with self defense, with screaming, spastic exercises in mayhem. This was the purpose of the martial arts of old Japan, when they were practiced with deadly efficiency by the samurai. With the end of feudalism there, however, the martial arts began the transformation into budo, the martial ways, intended not for killing, but as another Way of enlightenment. Nowhere is this goal more obvious than in the art of aikido, a budo based upon the principles of traditional swordsmanship. The aikidoka avoids head-to-head conflict: in the event of an attack, he deflects it, turns his attacker's own force against him. But to achieve such control over another person first requires an absolute control of oneself. The aikido student must submit to an apprenticeship that involves learning to fall safely and to accustom his body to the strenuous yanks and wrenches that are applied during practice. He is further expected to attend to menial chores like cleaning the dojo, without complaint, and to follow his teacher's instructions without question. The basics of the art are rather straightforward techniques to subdue an assailant without weapons, but at more advanced training, practitioners use swords and staves to develop their prowess. The expert is able to move through a crowd of randomly attacking opponents, evading and flinging them, seemingly without effort. He resembles nothing more than the calm eye in the center of a madly whirling typhoon.