Please be aware that this discussion explores death in a poetic and symbolic context.
This discussion is not meant to invalidate anyone’s beliefs around life and death- it is simply a reflection of my personal beliefs and practice.
What happens when we die? It is a question that many seek out an answer to. We look to books and to scriptures, we look deep inside the mysterious depths of the mind to try and work it out.
But rather than look inward for answers, perhaps the truth can be found outward- offered to us gently and lovingly by Mother Nature.
Fellow tea meditation enthusiasts will know that there is much to be found in a cup of tea. The warm ceramic bowl cradled in your hands and the flat calm of the mind mixing with steam offers a door to answers 
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Water comes from all around and within us- it is the blood of the Earth and the essence of life on this planet. When we make a cup of tea, so too do we draw water from the world and bring it into its chosen vessel 
From there, we add that special something- character, flavors, experiences, thoughts, memories, scents, emotions- like tea leaves being brewed, the water of life takes on these characteristics. No two humans are identical, just as no one cup of tea can ever be perfectly replicated (“Ichi-go, ichi-e”, they say in the Japanese Tea Ceremonies, “once, and once only”) 
As the tea steeps in its cup vessel, the water- that pure essence of life- takes on the qualities of the tea leaves. So too do our life experiences flavor us. Some may turn bitter with time, but others endure the cycles and become sweeter- whatever happens, we all become more complex thanks to our time here 
Eventually, one way or another, the moment of death arrives. It may come swift for some- an accident, a shattered cup on the floor, tea seeping back into the Earth- while for others the change is slow- water evaporating slowly over time, eventually leaving only an empty vessel and a faint trace of tea in its wake 
But water, like life, is not destroyed when it disappears from sight. Whether it rises to rejoin the great cycle in the sky, seeps back into the soil to find a different purpose, or finds its way back into the tea kettle- the water’s journey has changed but has not ended 
So too does our journey continue after our vessel’s end.
Or at least, this is the answer I found in my cup of tea
Love, Light, and Tea 
