I shed tears and dreamed of nothing, singing in the front hall late at night.
The beauty is cut off before she gets old, and she sits leaning against the fumigation cage till dawn.
The pace of life in ancient times was slow, and the ancients came up with many things to do to kill the long and boring daily life. Burning incense, ordering tea, hanging pictures, and arranging flowers were all four kinds of leisure activities for ancient literati, and all of them regarded the "four harmony of mountains and forests" as elegance. Among them, Chinese incense culture has a long history and has reached its peak driven by the literati class.
Almost all things in ancient times originated from "etiquette". Respecting relatives and friends is etiquette, walking in court is etiquette, and holding orchids in the arms is also etiquette.
Incense has always existed in Chinese etiquette. Officials carry incense and hold orchids, burn moxa and wear sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, worship ancestors and gods, bathe and burn incense, incense is everywhere.
There is a record in the "Book of Rites": "For men and women who have no different crowns, the rooster crows at the beginning, the salt alliance is rinsed, the horns of the hair are brushed, and the tassels are all worn and smelly." In the pre-Qin Dynasty, young people paid homage to their elders. Rinse your mouth and wash your hands, tidy your hair and clothes, and wear sachets to prevent your body odor from offending the elders.
After that, "fragrance" gradually drifted out of the court ritual system and became full of personalization. This was mainly due to the fact that after the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the literati class became increasingly independent, broke away from blind political theory, and paid more and more attention to Through one's own spiritual practice, the spiritual essence of incense is discovered.
In ancient times, matters between men and women were based on love and etiquette. Xiangfen became the mediator of friendship between young men and women.
"The beauty of the temples is full of fragrance." Girls always like to give the sachets they carry with them to their lovers as a token of love, creating a happy or sad relationship. love story.
In the Jin Dynasty, Jia Chong's daughter Jia Wu and Han Shou had a secret meeting over the wall late at night. Jia Wu gave the incense given by the emperor to Han Wu to express his love. If you love him, you should give him the best.
Unexpectedly, the fragrance lingered on the body for several months, and the little mandarin duck’s affair was discovered. Fortunately, Jia Chong did not beat the mandarin duck, and the two got married as they wished, and later generations became known as " "Han Shou steals fragrance" means that a woman loves to please a man.
Incense is not just for women. In ancient times, men used incense even more.
"Smell it from afar and wait for it to be worn, and I will secretly know your fragrance." Not scattered.
Not only civil servants, but also military generals used incense. Many young soldiers in the Tang Dynasty liked to go out to camp early in the morning to hunt, riding white horses, flying brocade robes, and smelling the fragrance of foreign names.
There is a young man on the street, who is covered in blue and musk deer and has a fragrant scent. I imagine that this handsome young man with the scent of clothes appears in the outskirts of the flowers and willows. He has a graceful demeanor and attracts people's hearts. He directly teases the girl. Spring heart.
When the spirit of incense blends with human temperament, incense becomes an elegant object for literati.
During the Tang and Song Dynasties, literati incense was popular. Taking incense as a friend and expressing feelings with incense is extremely popular among literati and officials. There are even incense competitions and incense tasting meetings among the people to demonstrate and compete in the skills of "harmony".
The ancient study room was also called "Yun window" and "Yun pavilion", which is due to the spice that was infused in the ancient study room - Yun. While meditating on Zen and enlightening, drinking tea, singing and dancing, and reciting poems and writing poems, I would light up the lingering cigarettes, and the flames would shine brightly, filling the room with fragrant fragrance.
The ancients spent ten years in cold weather, and the long nights were too lonely. At this time, burning incense in the study and making friends in silence, the single night seemed not so difficult.
In ancient times, the process of burning incense was extremely cumbersome. Burning incense was like drinking tea. You had to do it yourself to have a wonderful and pure enjoyment.
However, having said that, there are still many scholars who are accompanied by Qingdeng Ancient Scrolls and long for a confidante to stand by the bank of the case and add fragrance to their red sleeves.
In "The Romance of the West Chamber", the scene of Zhang Sheng reading at night and Cui Yingying adding fragrance to her red sleeves has fascinated many readers; in "Liao Zhai" there are also fox demons and flower fairies who "come at midnight and leave at dawn" and rush to take exams The romantic anecdotes that the scholar had to tell in the ruined temple.
The moonlight outside the window is like water, the snowy night inside the window is warm, the beautiful woman is enjoying the joy and sorrow, the harp and harp are singing harmoniously, and the west window is cut. The cold and lonely life of the scholar in the sultry fragrance seems to be full of poetry and painting.
Incense played an irreplaceable role in ancient Chinese life. Emperors meditated and worshiped Buddha, literati recited poems and composed poems, scholars studied hard while living in poverty, and princes and nobles were intoxicated. Every scene was inseparable from incense.
Fragrance is not only a feast for the senses. The Tao of Incense pays attention to the five qualities of "cleanliness, roundness, emergence, Tao, and harmony". Incense is integrated into life and has become the life philosophy of the ancients for self-cultivation. It is a reflection of the exquisite life and elegant taste of the ancients.
Maybe we can’t go back to the ancient times, but we can still be like the ancients, with a cup of tea, a pond of lotus, incense, flowers, delicacies and green lanterns, and taste the food that nourishes rituals, nourishes the heart, and nourishes the body. Elegant life.