宗慕 Sobo Mulan Sun

I grew up in a Zen Buddhist temple residence in China, where my early life was shaped by the rhythms of temple life and Chinese tea culture. During my Bachelor’s studies in Architecture (2000–2005) at Tianjin University, I was deeply inspired by the tea house at Nankai University—a present from Hōunsai Soshitsu XV—which marked my first encounter with Urasenke Chado. In 2005, I moved to Switzerland to pursue my Master’s studies in Architecture. Since 2015, I have been learning the Tea Ceremony with Prof. Soyu Mukai at the Museum Rietberg, and in 2024 I was honored with the title of Tea Master and the position of Sennin Kōshi (Senior lecturer) by the Urasenke Tea School. Since 2025, I have been serving on the board of the Urasenke Tankokai Zürich Association. I continue my practice with Prof. Soran Nanlan Zhang in Shanghai and attend tea seminars in Switzerland, Belgium, Ireland, Japan and China. Tea and Zen are deeply intertwined in my life, and I regularly practice Zazen at Zendo Inneres Lind under Kathrin Stotz Sensei. As an architect, my greatest passion is to design and realize a tea house or tea space. As a tea master, I explore how the tea ceremony reveals the essence of space through behaviourology—where architecture, tea, and Zen harmoniously meet.

Coming events:

• 7.11.2025: Tea ceremony at Suetsugu Haus, Momomai Zurich

• 14.4.2026: Tea ceremony and lecture at Zen Forum, Zürich

Past events:

• 7.2025: Tea ceremony and curator guided tour at the exhibition “TWO LAKES – Lake Lucerne und Lake Biwa: A Comparative Study on the Culture of Water”, ZAZ Bellerive, Zürich

• 6.2025: Tea ceremony in Pathumbah Park, Prof. Maria Conen, ETH Zürich

• 5.2025: Chado workshop in Sekundarschule Büelwiesen, Winterthur

• 11.2024: Lecture “Way of Tea and Ritual” and Tea ceremony, Prof. Sascha Roesler, Academy of Architecture, Mendrisio

• 6.2023: Lecture “Water, Tea and Architecture” and Tea ceremony, ETH Circle, ETH Zürich