Meaning of tea ceremony ‘experience’ from the perspective of lifelong learning

Abstract

This study investigated to explore the essential meaning of the tea ceremony experience based on the experience concept of the German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey. In addition, it aims to present a useful theoretical and methodological basis for the search for the desirable direction to pursue the continuous and practical meaning of the tea ceremony experience from a lifelong learning approach. Accordingly, in this study, tea ceremony experience was presented as various dimensions of lifelong learning: 1) lifelong dimension, 2) self-actualization dimension, and 3) hermeneutic cycle and understanding dimension. As a result, the tea ceremony experience is treated in depth for learners and the implications for popular dissemination are as follows. First, the tea ceremony experience should not be focused on ‘experienced’, but the process of ‘understanding and exploring the meaning of experience’, as Dilthey emphasized. Second, by sharing the experience of others through expression, uniqueness and commonality among participants should be confirmed. Third, the instructor should understand the viewpoints of the learners and suggest the direction of learning so that they can make their experiences more contextual and meaningful. Based on the above discussion, this study identified the meaning and learning implications of tea ceremony experience from the perspective of lifelong education.