The Origin of Tea - a parable by Osho

Tea was discovered by Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen.
The story is beautiful!
He was meditating for nine years, facing a wall. Nine years, just facing the wall, continuously, and sometimes it was natural that he might start falling asleep. He fought and fought with his sleep--remember, the metaphysical sleep, the unconsciousness.
He wanted to remain conscious even while asleep. He wanted to make a continuity of consciousness - the light should go on burning day and night, for twenty-four hours. That's what dhyana is, what meditation is - awareness.
One night he felt that it was impossible to keep awake; he was falling asleep. He cut his eyelids off and threw them! Now there was no way for him to close his eyes.

The story is beautiful. To get to the inner eyes, these outer eyes will have to be thrown. That much price has to be paid. And what happened? After a few days he found that those eyelids that he had thrown on the ground had started growing into a small sprout. That sprout became tea.

That's why when you drink tea, something of Bodhidharma enters you and you cannot fall asleep. Bodhidharma was meditating on the mountain called T'a, that's why it is called tea. It comes from that mountain where he meditated for nine years.

This is a parable.
When the Zen Master says, "Have a cup of tea!", he's saying: "Taste a little of Bodhidharma! he's saying: "Don't bother about these questions, whether God exists or not, who created the world, where is heaven and where is hell and what is the theory of karma and rebirth."
"Forget all about it. Don't go into all this nonsense. This is not going to help you at all.
"Have a cup of tea! Become more aware!"