One bowl moistens the throat, two bowls are lonely and boring, and three bowls are heartbroken, but there are only five thousand volumes of words. Four bowls of sweat, life is not smooth, scattered to the pores. Five bowls of bones and muscles are clear, and six bowls are immortal. I can't eat seven bowls, but I feel the wind blowing under my arm. -Tang, Lu Tong, Excerpt from "Writing Advice to Send New Tea (Seven Bowls of Tea Songs)"
Appreciate:
Regarding tea poems, I have to mention Lu Tong's Seven Bowls of Tea Songs, and a poem is deified! It is estimated that only Lu's same tea poem was deified by later generations. China has been a country of poetry since ancient times, and there are many excellent poems about tea. Bai Juyi has more than 60 poems about tea, but none of them can be as hearty as Lu Tong.
This is a work written by "tea fairy" Lu Tong after drinking Yangxian tribute tea sent by a friend. Seven bowls in a row, writing the feelings of each bowl vividly. Just like sipping a pot of good tea in one breath, tea fairy's title really deserves its reputation.
About the author:
Lu Tong (about 775 -835) was born in Yuchuanzi and Fanyang (now Zhuzhou City, Hebei Province). Descendants of Lu, one of the "four outstanding figures in the early Tang Dynasty". China was a poet in the mid-Tang Dynasty, known as "Lu Tongti". Lutong is a rare talent. Before the age of 20, he lived in seclusion in Shaoshi Mountain, Songshan, and refused to be an official.
Lu Tong lived in seclusion in Shaoshi Mountain when he was young. His family is poor, and he studies hard. He was determined to save the world and help the people, but he never became an official in his life. During the Ganlu Rebellion, he and Prime Minister Wang Ya were killed at the same time because he stayed at home. Lutong's poems reflect the corrupt political affairs and people's livelihood at that time, with peculiar style, close to prose, including the poems of Yuchuanzi.
Lu Tong is an upright, honest and frank man. He was asked by the court twice to be an ancient adviser, but he refused. Lu Tong was once threatened by the hooligans and told Han Yu that Han Yu wanted to reason with him. Considering that lawless people would hate Han Yu, Lutong didn't want to pursue this matter, so Han Yu admired his measurement even more. He once wrote "Eclipse Poetry" to satirize the eunuch's authoritarian power at that time, which was praised by Han Yu.