Go Have Tea
Poster transcript
Preserved in later Chan encounter literature and associated with Chan master Zhaozhou Congshen (778–897), this everyday invitation is often read as a call to return to the present moment.
Historical background
The phrase reaches us through later recorded encounter literature. The website says “associated with” Zhaozhou rather than presenting the poster’s wording as a securely transcribed statement from the moment itself.
Curator’s interpretation
In this exhibition, 吃茶去 is neither an escape from difficult conversation nor a mystical answer. It is an invitation to slow classification down. Before explaining ourselves, we sit. Before reducing another person to a category, we share time. Tea does not erase difference; it can help create the conditions in which difference is met with attention.
Artwork information
Wen Ying, 吃茶去 / Go Have Tea, calligraphy, 13 3/4 × 27 1/2 in., 2026, Edmonton.