Last year, my friend Mr. Zhang Shuquan called me to make an appointment. Three of his friends opened a teahouse in a place downtown, saying that they wanted four words, all tea. My first thought was "Zen tea blindly", but I immediately denied it. What I don't understand is left to others. You don't say! So I knocked out what I knew about tea culture and let them choose. Finally, I wrote him twenty four-character tea words, but there was no "Zen tea blindly" and he had to choose. Besides, Mr. Shu Quan also explained that they just want to have a good cup of tea, pass the time and say something outside, not a bunch of people who can eat tea and become famous. This means not abstruse, but simple.
Later, he called to ask if it was appropriate to use the word "wet tea", but he was afraid to use the word "wet". I said yes. I'm not talking, I just want to express my opinion on the way of drinking tea. Since it is good, we should know that drinking tea is "dry from hangover" and "wet from hangover", and then it is fragrant, and then it is fragrant. But Mr. Zhang thinks that I am speaking like a book, saying that "tea" is the leaf before Ming Dynasty and "tea" is the leaf after Ming Dynasty. I dare not say I know, but I remember Guo Puyun: "Tea picking is early, but tea picking is late." Probably his classification. If you want to distinguish between early-harvested incense and late-harvested incense, I really can't tell the difference between "incense" and "incense".
These four words imply that we should pay attention to the tea ceremony and at least understand the procedures and rules of making tea, so that people can meditate and appreciate the beauty of tea.
It is still popular today to wake up the tea before making it, which is also one of the signs of a good tea maker. This process is to wake up the sleeping or dusty tea leaves through contact with air and moisture, let the tea leaves breathe naturally and glow the essence of tea. Tea can be divided into "dry awakening" and "wet awakening". Let's say "wet wake up" here. Because "wet awakening" is the most common, also called "moistening tea", it is on the basis of dry awakening (sometimes we don't agree with "dry awakening" because tea leaves are not delicious when they run away), through the contact between tea leaves and hot water, the humidity of tea leaves can be improved, thus helping tea leaves to stretch and fully awake. In addition, wet awakening can also take away the floating dust attached to tea leaves in all links, so that they can better release tea fragrance without interference from impurities. In a word, the awakening before brewing is dry awakening, and the awakening during brewing is wet awakening.
So, how do you wake up when you are wet? First, fully heat the tea set with hot water, put the tea into it, and pour it out after a few seconds. Under normal circumstances, you wake up and cook raw tea twice. In the whole brewing process, wet awakening determines the performance of the inherent quality of tea and has a direct impact on brewing. When you wake up wet, the water temperature of raw tea, new tea and tender tea should be reduced, and the water temperature of cooked tea and old tea should be increased. In addition, the time should be well controlled and the soaking time should not be too long. Tea leaves should be poured out quickly to avoid excessive release of extract, which will affect the taste and fragrance of tea soup when it is officially drunk.
In any case, this is the technical knowledge or custom of drinking tea, and it is not too difficult. If you re-enter the marrow, it also includes the abstinence of the tea ceremony, let alone for the time being.
I still remember that when I was just interested in the word "Zen tea blindly", I was stopped by an old man. That was the year before last. I went to Jinan to meet an old man. Because he is a fellow villager, the conversation is quite speculative. He is a calligrapher, and somehow he got involved in tea. I think maybe he wrote the word "Zen tea blindly". He asked me to talk about understanding. I said, this Zen is in tea, and the Zen taste is the tea taste. I let him make a detour. He said discontentedly, I want to hear your opinion on this and see if you are really meditating. His language embarrassed me immediately, and I was ashamed of my shallow knowledge. I dare not make mistakes.
But he didn't embarrass me because these four words were unsolvable, and he also sent me a lot of his calligraphy works. His name is Teng Yuncheng, and he is unique in seal script calligraphy. Anyone with a little knowledge is the easiest to be laughed at. Fortunately, I am a mistress in front of him, and people will not care about my lies. On some occasions, the wise man's words are the best. I should have taken the attitude of "listening to gossip".
Learning and drinking tea should be the same thing. Twenty years ago, when I finished my training in Beijing, my tutor Professor Zhang Xiong of Peking University made me suffer. As soon as he came up, he asked me to explain every word of the long proposition of that paper, that is, the concept Fortunately, I did some research, improvised and passed. Therefore, in the face of this kind of "Zen tea blindly", I dare not go through it again, but can only explain it in detail.
Let's talk about extension first. Anything must be linked with another thing to have a deep meaning. As far as tea is concerned, just drinking tea seems to lack the heart and charm of tea. In China, tea and Zen are tied together; In the west, I didn't like tea in the past, but I liked coffee. This kind of coffee is made by gentlemen. It seems that only when you meet a lady can you be a gentleman. Please buy a cup of coffee, even if you have the status of a gentleman. Westernization is spreading to the east. Drinking coffee seems to be very popular in cities. If you use tea instead, it tastes a little antique and is not popular with young people. It may be that young people don't like "Zen" and have no experience, or it may be that the word "Zen" is too illusory, and eating "Zen" after drinking a cup of tea is really an annoyance. Simply put, "Zen" belongs to rationality. I find it strange if young people talk about reason together.
Let's talk about Zen First of all, the word and illusion have nothing to do with Buddhism. Zen is a way of life for China people to exercise their thinking and move towards wisdom. It is conceivable that our ancestors were not impetuous at that time, but like philosophers. They are not completely primitive, ignorant and terrible. If you know more about it, it will be white. Zen is a way based on "quietness" and the basis of all actions. Later, I should have done a lot of exploration around the realm of "Zen", thinking that "practice" can be quiet, but the way of practice is different, so there are schools, both Buddhism and Buddhism, just the way to calm down.
Our ancestors had this kind of spiritual consciousness for a long time, but no word could express their thoughts concisely and accurately until the Indian word jana was introduced, which was transliterated as "Zen" in Chinese, and later generations used the word "Zen" to refer to this lifestyle and way of thinking. But ordinary people seem to be far away from it, which may be related to our poverty. Only those who transcend reality and escape into Buddhism have such a way to kill time, which is their patent from now on, such as Zen, Zen theory, Zen interest, Zen enlightenment and even Zen. So some people think that you must be a man of faith if you hang such four words in a teahouse. Actually, it's a complete misunderstanding.
Of course, simple transliteration does not have much ideological significance, and future generations, especially those Buddhists and Buddhists who are responsible for excavating its subtle meaning, have the responsibility to explain, enlarge and expand it. People who entered Buddhism at the beginning of this year should mostly enter because of troubles. What we see today, anyone who has fled into the ethereal world because of suffering and troubles, I think, is also true of people who have entered Buddhism before. After entering the Buddha, they found that all the troubles in life were found by themselves, and so did generations of Zen masters. Their first task is to understand the source of life and troubles. This is the course of their life, and this course has not changed. There is only one course, that is, enlightenment and Zen. When a person's mind becomes broad and empty, just like an empty cup, it can be calm and quiet. A person's mind, if it can be like a lotus flower and the sun and the moon, can be detached from dullness, without distinction, without choice, without love and hate, without gain and loss, then happiness and peace can be achieved. Water flows downwards, clouds float to the sky, and everything happens naturally and harmoniously. This is the normal state of mind. With a normal mind, life is like running water, and returning to nature is to realize life and Zen. The so-called "Zen", simply expressed in a few words, is to have a "quiet heart", simple and flawless, and return to the truth. This is the realm of "Zen", so it was later defined as "Zen", which translates into "meditation", that is, thinking about silence and meditation in an environment.
From this point of view, "Zen" is "asceticism". Everything is quiet, but human nature is moving. It is really a dilemma to choose one end of the movement. But human civilization begins with controlling repression. Just like the Vikings in northern Europe, say the pirate ship displayed in the Viking Museum in Oslo, Norway. As a respect for history, they still have memories in their bones, although they are not very glorious, and they are unwilling to erase this page. Their ancestors also fished, hunted and picked wild fruits at the seaside at first, but with the arrival of climate and population problems, they could not control their desires. In the eighth century, they found a quick solution to the problem, and the prosperity of pirates made people shudder. After a long period of brutal plunder, they finally experienced the pain of intervention and introspection and moved towards today's civilization. In all countries and periods in China, it is not crazy expansion to seize illegal capital, but always "static" to "move" and maintain that relatively peaceful static state. This difference is in sharp contrast with the quietness of China culture. I went to Nanjing Road in Shanghai and saw a huge teapot being held high and the tea was still flowing. This "quiet" culture has been flowing into everyone's heart until today. Perhaps this is the most vivid and convincing "Zen tea blindly". This kind of "Zen tea blindly" is not what most people think of as petty, but represents a realm that can be detached from reality and calm. This kind of culture often ignores foreign civilizations and always cares about itself.
If we trace back to the source, I think the original meaning of Zen is related to the present meaning, but it is more a simple and complex evolution. The ancient Yao Emperor started Zen and should be the originator of Zen. Why do you say that? When Emperor Yao abdicated to Shun, it gave Zen its original meaning. Zen is abdication, abdication, empathy and translocation, and its core is abdication, which has opened up the good deeds of the Chinese nation. I think good deeds originated from abdication.
According to textual research, "Zen" is a combination of sound and form. From the show, from the single, the single also sounds. "Xiu" refers to "ancestors"; "Single" means "strong". "Xiu" and "Shan" together mean "strongly recommend in front of ancestors", which means that the incumbent king strongly recommends the heir to the throne to his ancestors. Later, the meaning of abdication was closer to modern institutional civilization. Concession refers to a special system of succession to the throne in the era of the Five Emperors in ancient China. Compared with the father-son inheritance system, the abdication system refers to the father-son inheritance system. "Zen" means "strongly recommended in front of ancestors" and "Rang" means "abdicating the throne". From "Zen" to "yield" is the strengthening and development of Zen; Compared with the western electoral system, China's abdication is its origin.
I often think that the so-called "Zen tea blindly" first contains a humble spiritual meaning. If you are a tea pourer, you should not pour tea into your own cup first, but pour tea into the drinker first. It can be said that this is the most basic behavior grasp of "Zen tea blindly" and the direct continuation of the "Zen" road with "letting" as the core.
Sometimes, we think it is often difficult to instill a moral standard, but it is much better to make people understand and accept it in practice and exert a subtle effect. Is this the enlightenment of "Zen tea"?
In my opinion, the so-called "Zen tea blindly" means "Zen tea together" to drink tea with Zen mind, and to understand Zen mind while drinking tea, which brings out the best in each other, in order to "Zen tea blindly" There is a saying "taste" in "taste". Tao is in the tea, outside the tea, in the pot, outside the pot, and vice versa. Why do people all over the world admire "Zen tea blindness"? I think the most important thing is the word "enlightenment". When you eat tea itself, you can appreciate the color, fragrance and feeling of tea, and you can appreciate the process of tea and know the truth of life. "Enlightenment" is the highest state of drinking tea. Whether it is Buddhism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism or the world of mortals, you can drink tea with it. Simple words speak louder, which is the essence of "tea ceremony".
The explanation of some things, if rational, is not easily accepted. Once you realize it, you are out of the realm. As far as the source of tea is concerned, no matter which link, you may think that a friend or relative sent me tea that day to let me have a good taste. You may think you did it yourself. Although tea has yet to be improved, what makes you memorable is the sweetness of some works. Maybe you went to a tea shop and chose your favorite from a wide variety of things. You want to see if it's worth the money ... at this time, you already have Zen, even if you don't say "it's good to have friends", there will be a poem "so think of me in the sunset"; Even if you are not very satisfied with your craft, you may think that you are much more miserable and lucky than "a person who is full of gas, not a sericulture person", and you are "working hard for yourself and being sweet for yourself"; Maybe you can learn from it that you should have a vision when choosing. Punching or not punching is not a matter of one thought, but how deep you know. ...
Tea needs friends to enjoy. You will no longer feel lonely if you have more joy of "having friends". Tea is good but bad. You have the right to comment. When you take a sip back, you will feel that the taste of life also needs this taste, instead of knowing that you are blessed; The delicious taste is in the second cup and the second pot. You will never be depressed because you can't be the first. You may not be the first! These feelings may be too vulgar, but the truth comes from vulgarity, that is, the way of Buddhism does not necessarily come from vulgarity. For example. There is a story of "full of tea". A young monk learns Zen from an old monk. He talked a lot about his own experience, hoping that the old monk could give him some advice. The old monk poured tea in the cup in front of the young monk. It's full, and the old monk is still pouring. The young monk said, "Master, the tea is full." The old monk just stopped. The young monk asked, "Master, please give me some advice." The old monk said, "I taught you." The young monk suddenly realized: how can a teacup filled with old tea be filled with new tea? How can you accept new ideas if your mind is full of old things? The meaning of the old monk is beyond words. You see, this is a story that is still very peripheral in terms of "drinking tea", but it has turned out the Zen meaning and realized the avenue. In fact, you can do this kind of "Zen" every day, which is not the patent and power of monks and Zen masters. Maybe we are all too busy drinking tea to quench our thirst to taste Zen tea.
The water in the pot is boiling. You must make tea. This is not knowledge, but wisdom, which is the beginning of tea ceremony. If the tea buds are tender, you need to sink the boiling water for three to five minutes, because the water is too impetuous, and the tender tea can't stand impetuousness and fanaticism. At this time, if you don't care about tea, you will get great benefits. Everything should be harmonious, and mastering the temperature is a harmonious condition. It seems that the wisdom of life should not be gained only by reading famous sayings. Although it was obtained directly in that way, without your experience and sentiment, it will never be your magic weapon, and it will only leave no trace for you after crossing the water. If you are dealing with Tieguanyin, an old leaf ripe tea, don't put down boiling water at all. Just rushed into the pot and saw Wu Ye's open bucket. Only the enthusiasm of boiling water can move such tea, otherwise it is indifferent and can't get the real taste. Don't deny those passions and impulses. Without them, you will be depressed, just as the notes of life must go from the trough to the peak, and that kind of jump can touch your life. No one will say that my life doesn't need to be touched.