Recently, the "Tea Drinking and Personal Cultivation - Zhou Chonglin's New Book "The Basics of Tea: Lu Yu's Revelation" Sharing Meeting" was held in Beijing Yonghe Book Garden. At the event site, Zhou Chonglin, author of the book "The Basics of Tea" and a scholar of tea culture, let Shu Yi, founder of the Tea Group, and Li Yangquan, publisher of ancient books and president of Longshan Academy, share the enlightenment of Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" and recount the significance of Chinese tea culture.
Recently, "Tea Drinking and Personal Cultivation - Zhou Chonglin's New Book "The Basics of Tea: Lu Yu's Revelation" Sharing Meeting" was held.
Is Lu Yu's Tea Classic really just a business plan?
As we all know, tea from drinking to tasting, began with Lu Yu's "Tea Classic". "Tea Classic" is the world's earliest, most complete and most comprehensive introduction to tea first monograph, known as the "Tea Encyclopedia", written by Lu Yu, the founder of the Chinese tea ceremony, a comprehensive account of the history and origin of tea in the Tang and Tang Dynasties, the efficacy of tea, cultivation, harvesting, decoction, drinking methods, etc. So, what exactly is the Chinese tea ceremony? What is the significance of re-reading Lu Yu's Tea Classic? Where is the Greatness of the Tea Sutra?
At the event site, Zhou Chonglin said that there was already tea in the Han Dynasty, and by the Tang Dynasty, tea had become a taxable industry. The American writer William Ukus believes in the "Tea Book" that Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" is actually a business plan. In his view, after the Anshi Rebellion, the country needed to be revitalized, so Lu Yu made this business plan under the suggestion of Yan Zhenqing, the Duke of Luguo, hoping to solve the problems faced by the country at that time through the species of tea. William Ukes translated the full text of the Tea Classic, which had a great impact on the Western world. But is Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" really just a business plan?
In Zhou Chonglin's view, for future generations of tea people, to understand Chinese tea culture, the "Tea Classic" is a book that must be read. The "Classic" of the "Tea Classic" was not the "Classic" in the popular sense today, nor was it the "Classic" of the "Subset of The History of the Classics", Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" according to the understanding at that time should be the "Classic" of "Brokerage", and "Brokerage" is the meaning of arrangement. In other words, the "Tea Sutra" is to make tea orderly.
Zhou Chonglin said that Lu Yu wanted to create tea as an important art form, so he created 24 utensils. Before Lu Yu, there were no special utensils for drinking tea, and the tea utensils came from sacrifices, kitchens, and wine utensils. But Lu Yu created tea utensils, which were only made for making tea. After Lu Yu, tea became a real art. Therefore, in the Song Dynasty, people up and down the government and the public had to drink tea. According to Zhou Chonglin's statistics, Su Dongpo wrote more than 200 tea-related poems, more than the amount of wine. The famous calligrapher Cai Xiang also wrote a "Tea Record" to dedicate to the emperor, because in his opinion, this is his best work.
But zhou Chonglin regrets that the development of tea so far seems to have been forgotten. For example, later generations of researchers studying Su Dongpo often skip the tea part, because researchers are insensitive to tea, and even tea houses have become synonymous with mahjong halls in many places.
The Basics of Tea: The Revelation of Lu Yu, by Zhou Chonglin, Pu Rui Culture 丨 Yuelu Book Club, February 2021 edition.
In the book "The Basics of Tea: Lu Yu's Revelation", Zhou Chonglin pointed out that the greatness of the tea saint Lu Yu lies in the fact that he contributed a set of methodologies for recognizing tea, one is to justify the name of tea and trace the history of tea, and the other is to regulate the instruments of tea, to drink tea to advocate the style of gentlemen, to give the meaning of tea indoctrination, and to upgrade it to an elegant art. Lu Yu wrote the "Tea Classic" to liberate tea from the worldly way of eating, and he wrote "The Basics of Tea" and deeply interpreted the revelation of Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" in order to regain the Chinese tea tradition.
From "Qinqi Calligraphy and Painting Poetry Wine Tea" to "Chai Rice Oil Salt Sauce Vinegar Tea"
In order to complete "The Basics of Tea: Lu Yu's Revelation", Zhou Chonglin spent 15 years before and after, making detailed references to more than 40 ancient and modern Chinese and foreign versions. In addition to the translation of the original text, Zhou Chonglin also carried out in-depth discussion on the theme of each chapter, explaining the three-dimensional aspect of tea in great detail, from the ancient and modern evolution of tea to the basic cultivation of tea people, from the tea affairs of the past to the tea ceremony, which not only explained Lu Yu's tea drinking wisdom, but also explained the daily philosophy of tea drinking.
Shu Yi found that when referring to Chinese tea, there are two expressions, one is "Qinqi calligraphy and painting poetry wine tea", and the other is "chai rice oil salt sauce vinegar tea". Obviously, the tea of the latter is the tea of life. Here, Zhou Chonglin mentioned, "In ancient times, there was a very important phenomenon in the origin of qinqi calligraphy and painting, that is, the people who lived in it were not self-aware, and they were very advanced in the eyes of outsiders. Therefore, the earliest people to propose 'piano, chess, calligraphy and painting' were Japanese. "And the earlier notice of these are the Mongols," the Mongols studied the Song Dynasty, the Song people 'Qinqi calligraphy and painting poetry wine tea' 8 doors, into the tea, there are flowers, there are incense, there are Qinqi calligraphy and painting, they think that this is the best thing for the Chinese, the Mongols to take over the Forbidden City to learn these eight things, the same as the Americans took over Japan to write "Chrysanthemum and Sword". ”
Zhou Chonglin said that after entering the Tang Dynasty, tea began to become popular, and this elegant life was fully formed in the Song Dynasty. So, how to reflect the cultivation of the Song people? It's doucha. I hope to express its art form in a teacup, so there is a water Danqing, which actually examines the level of painting and the study of doucha itself. Participants need to know where the utensils in their hands are produced and what soil is used? Where the tea comes from, as well as the process of making tea. That kind of investigation is not simple at all.
In Zhou Chonglin's view, tea makes a person know how to enjoy loneliness. "One of the times I cherished was in the evening when the little ones were already in bed, and I sat there boiling water to make tea by myself, immersing myself in it and forgetting everything else. Pu'er tea is more special, to take an awl, not paying attention will poke the hand, to unblock, weigh, put into the cup ... After a long process, you will be able to drink a cup of tea. So this process is a very self-contained process, and you are not for anyone. When a person drinks tea, you will enjoy it, most people are lonely, many times you can't tell anyone about things, through the 'thing' this kind of thing to relieve, Zhang Xuecheng until the Qing Dynasty to point out the 'from the instrument into the Tao', these things are acting on us. ”
Author 丨He An'an
Editor 丨 Li Yongbo
Proofreading 丨 Liu Jun