Tea Zen Yiyi
As for the explanation of the term "Tea Zen Yiyi", Du Niang's answer is: "Tea Zen Yiyi" "Tea is Zen" - tasting tea is like Practice Zen.
The meaning of tea is to let go. Life is like a journey. People who are running around and busy people put down their work, take a short break, and enjoy leisure. It coincides with the Zen of letting go, so it is called tea Zen.
Drinking tea can clear the mind and reduce desires, nourish the spirit and nourish the spirit, so there is a saying that "tea contains Zen, tea is Zen".
Therefore, in China, the fragrance of tea, books and ink have always been equally famous (known as the "three fragrances"), which are the embodiment of the social spirit of elegance, tranquility and harmony.
Liters and poets, with a cup of tea, can discuss elegance; while all living beings, with a cup of tea in their hands, can still see the sea and the sky.
Easy to approach, quiet and indifferent, elegant and popular, this is the nature and taste of tea.
Chinese people take tea as their most important thing. They eat morning tea in the morning and make a cup of scented tea before going to work. When entertaining guests, they should offer tea, firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea. It is a must do in daily life.
Tea was originally a medicine with the effect of curing diseases. "Shen Nong's Materia Medica" says: "Shen Nong tasted hundreds of herbs and encountered seventy-two poisons every day, and got tea to cure them." Later, tea gradually became the main beverage of the Chinese people. So, an ordinary kind of tea can be promoted to tea culture. This is because the scholar-bureaucrats participated in the tea ceremony and gave it a cultural concept. Therefore, there are tea planting, tea making, tea tasting, and Tea and other tea finished product work. Gradually, a series of rules, systems, habits, customs, calligraphy, painting, beautiful essays, poetry, music and chess emerged, which were mutually reinforcing and integrated into a comprehensive cultural phenomenon.
The inner aspect of tea culture is also called the tea ceremony. "Book of Changes." "Xi Ci Shang" says: "What is metaphysical is called the Tao, and what is metaphysical is called the weapon." The connotation of tea ceremony not only refers to the tea method and tea utensils, but also refers to the concrete moral, aesthetic and philosophical concepts. The so-called tea ceremony is the way of humanity. Tea matters attach great importance to "virtue". Lu Yu's "Tea Classic" said: "Tea is frugal" and "it is most suitable for people who practice frugal virtues". In the tea ceremony, it is reflected as: "Be simple and self-disciplined towards yourself; treat guests with courtesy."
The ancient literati recorded the scenes of life performed by tea, while the painters used their brushes to depict the joy of drinking tea.
In the early Tang Dynasty, Yan Liben, who "deified painting", once painted "The Orchid Pavilion of Xiao Yi", which is now in the collection of the Boston Museum in the United States. The painting "Xiao Yi earns money at Orchid Pavilion" is based on Tang He Yanzhi's "Orchid Pavilion". The work reflects the story of Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty, who ordered Xiao Yi, the censor of Taiwan, to go to Kuaiji (Shaoxing, Zhejiang) to debate his talents with monks and obtain the "Preface to the Lanting Collection" written by Wang Xizhi, the calligrapher of the Jin Dynasty.
The "Tea Fighting Picture" painted by Yan Liben in the Tang Dynasty, copied by the Ming Dynasty painter Gu Bing, truly reflects the folk tea drinking customs at that time. In the painting, people are carrying pots, brewing tea, and watching tea. , taste tea. Among them, the person standing with a bucket holding a tea cup is very unique. He has his head wrapped in a scarf, his upper body is half uncovered, his waist is tied, and he wears sandals. He holds the bucket in his right hand and his left hand is in the shape of tea.
Paintings of people making tea often have a unique and elegant taste.
Wang Fu, a painter of the Ming Dynasty, wrote "Picture of Making Tea in a Maozhai". His poem goes: "The four or five rafters of the Maozhai are summarized, and the bamboo trees are rustling in autumn. Call the boy to sweep the leaves from the empty steps, so as to look towards the mountain. Cook and cook three springs." The poem matches the picture, giving people an atmosphere of tranquility. The owner is in the mountains and forests, feeling peaceful and content, far away from the hustle and bustle, which is vividly displayed. There was also an elegant deed in Banqiao of Zhengzhou in the Qing Dynasty: "When I had ten or five days of free time, I closed the firewood door, swept the bamboo path, faced Finland, and sipped bitter tea. Sometimes there was a gentle breeze and drizzle, moistening the narrow path of the vegetable forest."
The pursuit of "the taste of tea is diluted and peaceful, the mind is enlightened and introspective, and the nature of tea is similar to Zen nature" by ancient painters also expresses the helplessness of some unsuccessful people.
The same themes are displayed among contemporary painters, but they are different. "Breaking Cool" created by the young painter Mr. Ma Haifang depicts an old man with a broad heart and a fat body, with a contented expression. He is unrestrained, admiring the song of Ying Ge alone, with a purple clay pot, which summarizes the old man's good life after retirement, having no worries about food and clothing, like a god. Mr. Ma Haifang's paintings are concise and express the life of affluent people with vivid painting language. corner of. The pictures in his works are simple, meaningful and evocative.
Tea and literature have had an indissoluble bond since ancient times. There is endless literature about tea. The contemporary layman Zhao Puchu once wrote a famous poem: "Seven bowls will bring you the taste, and one coin will bring you the true taste. It is better to drink tea if you hold hundreds of verses in empty space."
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The allusion of “seven bowls” comes from Lu Tong’s “Xie Meng’s Advice for Sending New Tea”: “One bowl moistens the throat; two bowls break the loneliness; three bowls search the dry intestines, and only the words five "Thousands of scrolls; four bowls made people sweat lightly, and all the injustices in life were dispersed into the pores; five bowls made the muscles and bones clear; six bowls brought immortality; seven bowls could not be eaten, but I could feel the breeze blowing in my armpits." (See Volume 388 of "Complete Poems of the Tang Dynasty").
"Go and have tea" is a famous koan in Zen Buddhism. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Zhaozhou followed the Zen master and used "go and have tea" as a convenience to attract future generations. Zen masters believe that the ordinary mind is the Tao, the Tao is in nature, and moving firewood from far away water is the wonderful way. Eating tea is the smallest and most inconspicuous thing in daily life, but of course there are tricks to it. Zhaozhou learned from Zen Master Chen's "Go and have tea". The purpose is not to drink tea, but to let people realize their own nature in very small things.
So Zhao Pu once said, "It is better to drink tea if you hold thousands of verses empty." That is, if you quote the mantra that flows in from the scriptures, it is better to look back at the nature of your mind, practice comparisons, and achieve self-enlightenment. His poems have been elevated from tea poetry to Buddhist philosophy, which is evocative.
Tea is closely related to the practice of "zazen". Tea can eliminate the fatigue caused by zazen, and can refresh the mind, eliminate demons and evil spirits, calm down and eliminate desires, and harmonize and respect each other. The ancients summarized tea as the "Ten Virtues": tea is used to disperse depression, tea is used to drive away sleepiness, tea is used to nourish vitality, tea is used to drive away disease, the tea tree is used to honor benevolence, tea is used to show respect, tea is used to taste, and tea is used to nourish the soul. For the body, tea can be used to cultivate the Tao, and tea can be used to refine the mind. Therefore, there is a philosophical proposition of "tea Zen is the only taste".