宗慕 Sobo Mulan Sun

Tea Master and Senior Lecturer of Urasenke Tea School

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 2000 at Tianjin, I was deeply inspired by the tea house at Nankai University - a present from Hōunsai Soshitsu XV- which marked my first encounter with Japanese tea ceremony.

In 2005, I moved to Switzerland to pursue my Master’s studies in Architecture at the ETH Zürich. Since 2015, I have been learning the Japanese Tea Ceremony with Prof. Soyu Mukai 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.

Chazen Ichimi, 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, tea master and Zen meditator, I am devoted to creating tea-related spaces and investigate how the tea ceremony discloses the essence of space through behaviourology, a field where architecture, tea, and Zen merge into one.

向心庵 Kōshin-an  

Okeiko (regular practice): Thursday and Friday afternoons in Winterthur
Kagetsu (group practice): Once a month at Suetsugu House in Zurich
Tea ceremony presentation: Upon request

Languages: Chinese, English, German, partial Japanese

Contact:   
Mulan Sun
ms@tankokaizurich.ch

Coming events:

26.9.2026 Japanische Architektur & Teezeremonie, with Nico Colic in Vitra Design Museum

Past events:

14.4.2026: Tea ceremony and lecture at Zen Forum, Zürich
14.3.2026: Tea ceremony for Sinokultur at Teehaus Liu, Bad Ragaz, Registration
31.3 / 4.4.2026 Kirschblüte auf dem Vitra Campus – Japanische Architektur & Teezeremonie, with Nico Colic in Vitra Design Museum, Registration
7.11.2025: Tea ceremony at Suetsugu Haus, Zurich
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
5.2021: Lecture “Die Form des Tees - Teekultur und Architektur in China und Japan”, Historisches und Völkerkunde Museum St.Gallen