contents
Author’s Preface: The Spirit of Chinese Teamen 3
Tea, A Revival Plant 1
Simplicity of Tea 4
Tea, the Best Drink 8
Tea is Zen 11
Tea and Love 14
Black Tea and Green Tea 16
Carefree Tea 20
Listening to Tea 23
About Tea Art Performance 26
War and Peace 29
Tea and Literary Arts 39
Tea Culture Glossary 64
Memory about Tea 74
No Form to Follow in Tea Drinking 77
Tea-horse Trade 81
Since You Have Had My Tea 85
Japanese Sado 89
Teamen in My Book 98
The Tea Sage 102
Wang Bao and Lu Tong 110
Sun Yat-sun and Tea 115
Wu Juenong, A Person of Enlightenment 118
Zhuang Wanfang, A Tea Expert 125
Real Teamen 130
A Visit to Tea 134
Tea Brewing, A Feast of Art 142
The Preservation of Tea 146
In Pursuit of An Earthen Kettle 150
Purple-clay Teapots 153
Water, the Mother of Tea 155
Some Thoughts at Longjing 159
A Place to Clear the Soul 163
Teahouses in Hangzhou 168
The Pursued Leisure 174
Louwailou and Longjing Tea 177
My Dream of A Teahouse 181
Wanying Noon Tea 184
Tea Banquet at Mount Guzhu 187
The Moon and Tea 191
Harmony—a Teahouse in Hangzhou 194
NO. 77 in Longjing Village 198
Spring Tea Festival 201
Tea Packing Fashion 205
Tea Appraisement 207
Meet Friends from Syria with Tea 209
Kaisekiryori 212
Three Giant Tea Trees 215
The Affable Leaves 220
The Life in Scented Tea 226
Longjing Tea 231
Notes on Rizhu Tea 239
Shijian tea from Xishi’s Hometown 244
Tea in Chuzhou 249
An Old Monk in the Mountain 253
Huiming tea, the Gold Medal Winner 256
Wanghai Tea, the Tea by the Sea 260
Buddha Temple and Longjing Tea 262
Tea in Mingyue Valley 265
Autumn Longding Tea 268
目 录
自序：中国茶人精神 273
复活之草 278
浅是茶 280
为饮最宜 282
茶禅一味 284
香草爱情 286
红色的和绿色的 288
大象无形 291
听茶 293
晴窗细乳 296
战争与和平 298
琴棋书画诗酒茶 306
都市笔记：茶文化辞典 323
茶忆 330
法无法 333
山间铃响 337
你既吃了我家的茶 340
日本茶道 344
从书上走下来的茶人 351
茶之圣 354
茶人王褒与卢仝 359
国父与国茶 363
觉人 366
茗叟 372
茶者 375
茶之旅 378
艺术的冲泡 382
茶之隐 385
觅一把瓦壶 388
砂罐砂也 390
茶之母 392
龙井问茶遐思 394
可以清心处 397
天堂茶馆 401
营造的闲适 405
楼外楼与龙井茶 407
茶楼梦 410
万应午时茶 412
千金买断顾渚春 414
月亮与茶 417
和茶馆 420
龙井村77号 423
龙井茶事 425
茶的时装 427
评茶 429
以茶相约——叙利亚作家在茶乡 431
日本茶道丹月流 434
好大三棵树 437
亲和 441
一花一世界一叶一菩提 445
龙井问茶 449
日铸茶漫笔 454
西施故里茶 457
灵根妙蕴处州茶 460
山中老衲 462
佩戴金奖的惠明 464
望海之茶 467
大佛与龙井 469
明月峡中茶始生 471
秋龙顶 473
內容試閱：
Tea, A Revival Plant
One day in late autumn in the early 1950s, invited by Federline, a prestigious sinologist and director of Russian Writers Association, the poet Anna Akhmatova participated in the translation work of Lisao written by Chinese great poet QuYuan. After taking great troubles, Federline finally got a bottle of hot water which was boiled on an electric stick by a female colleague in the editorial office. Then he took out Longjin tea from his bag and brewed a cup of tea, presenting it to Akhmatova.
“It is amazing that I can drink warm tea in the National Publishing House!” She whispered, holding the cup of Longjing tea with her graceful hands. She was wearing an old color-fading coat, her fingers coming out from the worn broken gloves.
A moment or two later, the tea leaves which had huddled up sank into the bottom of the glass and unfolded, gleaming with fresh green color.
“Can you notice the marvelous change in the glass?” Federline said to Akhmatova.
“Indeed, it’s so strange... how come it happens?”
Federline took some dry tea from the tea container and showed it to Akhmatova, who was surprised at the sight of the dry tea and then said:“It’s true that the tea cultivated with plenty of sunshine in China can revive its vitality and send its fragrance even in the snow covered Moscow.”
Only a person having a soul like Akhmatova can feel the life of tea when he first sees and drinks it. Picked from trees in spring time, the fresh green leaves will lose their stretched forms and attractive postures after suffering the fire testing. They are sealed! But the seal is for future revival when the right time comes someday in the future. Tea is a plant which can revive in the world!
Tea making between the period of Three Kingdoms and the Ming Dynasty shares the similarity of making coffee nowadays: Make tea leaves into powder first; then cook or brew it with water and it is ready for drink. But tea cake is required to make before it is ground into powder. Till in the Song Dynasty, the tea cake is made with such delicateness that it goes to extremes. Please imagine the process of tea cake making: Squeeze the water of tea leave till whiteness can be seen; make it fragrant after putting spices such as borneol and musk; make it majestic with the picture of dragon and phoenix; make it valuable by presenting it to members of the imperial house. Does it mean the death of tea when it is deprived of its essence of nature by doing so? Although there are many reasons for Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty to accept loose tea as a tribute instead of tea cake, one reason of great significance is that Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang wanted to show his respect to the natural beauty of tea.
Similarly, it’s impossible for us to rediscover original forms of the raw materials when we are drinking wine or other beverages because they are destroyed, smashed or reconstructed. Tea, especially green tea, revives its original shape when we are drinking and we become root-searching teamen. Thus tea becomes a boat which carries an everlasting absolute spirit with its unchanged classic beauty.
The life which is waiting for revival is not only a life full of courage to face death, but also a sensitive one which is easier to be hurt. When being sealed, there is almost no beverage like tea which is so demanding. Since tea is easy to be tainted by other odors, it is not suggested to put it with items of different odors. Since the fragrance of tea will be derogated when it is exposed in the light, it is strongly suggested to seal it completely. Tea will also be devalued if it becomes damp for damped tea won’t have chance to revive its true color. Tea can be stored by refrigeration in which it is like a sleepy beauty who is patiently waiting for the kiss of the prince to come back to life. Therefore the sealed tea reminds me of Qu Yuan who was exiled, of Akhmatova who was suppressed and of people who choose to be silent in every period of time. No matter they are sealed by others or by themselves, I hold a firm belief that they would revive the vitality of life when they are welcome in a right time.
But what if there is no such a good day for them to revive in their life just like a can of refined tea sealed in the darkness forever? Tea would say:“Then, let it be sealed. Who can deny that the state of being sealed is another form of revival?”
Simplicity of Tea
It’s not necessary to follow the convention of seventy percent of tea soup and full wine for guests because what it emphasizes is the implication involved. But it becomes an established practice since more and more people follow the suit. Then when it comes to tea service, no more than seventy percent of tea soup is expected to serve your guests to show the respect, which implies your sincerity and simplicity. When it comes to wine, full wine is expected to serve your guests to show the respect, which implies your hospitality and warmness.
The simplicity of tea is a practice accepted by Chinese people that seventy percent of tea soup is served because they believe that thirty percent of privacy needs to be kept. As for full wine service, I am not sure about the reason since I do not drink wine. But I guess it might be the reason that wine is regarded as something related to man, which is characterized with wildness, freedom, unabashed individuality and extravagant behaviors.
In the Tang Dynasty, the prestigious poet Li Bai described a sentimental picture of wine drinking, in which the poet invited the moon and his own shadow under the moon to drink in the garden. The loneness of the poet is obviously seen. But when Lu Yu the tea sage expressed himself on tea drinking, it was subtle and hard to sense. Therefore, the simplicity of tea is very often beyond words when you feel it.
Lu Yu must be in a state of peace when he drank tea because what he advocated were simplicity and self-control in his abundant descriptions of tea. In his masterpiece the Tea Classic, simplicity of tea is proposed. The word simplicity indicates a sense of propriety, which is highly valued in Chinese culture.
The misunderstanding of simplicity theory for tea drinking can be avoided when it is understood from the essence of tea. Simplicity is a state of esthetics in Chinese culture, which may be reflected in conciseness, subtleness, restraint, self-control. It means a small amount which might prevail over a large amount in the case that one is worth a hundred. It might be the case that silence is gold when an eloquent debate results nothing. It might be reflected on a middle-aged man who shoulders heavy tasks with few words. It also might be reflected on a young lady who hums lines of verse and has a rich inner world. It might be reflected on a tolerant old man who has experienced ups and downs and there is no need to say anything. It might be reflected on an innocent young boy.
Simplicity lies in every common day which excludes holidays; it lies in a husband and a wife who grow old together; it lies in routine work year after year; it lies in a soldier who has no desire to be a general; it lies in spring, summer, autumn and winter; it lies in morning, noon, afternoon and midnight; it lies in adolescents, young people, middle-aged man and the seniors; it lies in the years from the birth to the death.
Simplicity lies in poems in the Tang Dynasty; it lies in traditional Chinese paintings drawn by master Qi Baishi; it lies in essays like Dream Pursuit in the West Lake written by Zhang Dai; it lies in Yixing clay teapot; it lies in the clear water with fish swimming and autumn sky with eagles flying described in Chairman Mao’s poem Changsha; it lies in one line verse composed by a poet in the former age; it lies in a heart in Wang Zenqi’s novel which becomes calmer and calmer with the passing time; it lies in Eliot’s sigh of helplessness towards life; it lies in my dream lover who is drifting away…
Simplicity doesn’t mean shallow. It lies in mutual support between husband and wife; it also lies in helpless loss in memory in life. Sometimes we find no words to say when we are facing each other, just because simplicity is what we have. Simplicity means too much so that it is like the poet Li Qingzhao’s canoe which can’t carry so much worry and so many sorrows.
Simplicity also lies in a state of fate: Sometimes when we choose to pass by each other, not because we have no desire to stay together for life; sometimes when we stride away without looking back, not because we don’t want to gaze at each other; sometimes when we calm down and show the indifference, not because we don’t have great tenderness between us; it is the passion that makes us simple and then simplicity becomes our courage to move on. It is the simplicity that makes us endure what we have to suffer though we thought it was impossible to overcome.
So, I’m sorry my dear friends, if it seems that I am indifferent to you, not because I AM indifferent, just because I am as simple as a cup of tea. Has it ever been handed to you from me long time ago…
Tea, the Best Drink
According to Lu Yu, a person who excelled in virtue would feel better immediately as if he drank nectar after he took four or five sips of tea when he had a headache or backache.
It seems that the effect of tea is subjected to two restrictions: One is that the drinker is supposed to be a man of noble character; the other is that right amount of drinking should be observed — four or five sips are enough.
This rule is rather bookish because some conspirators and ambitious schemers come up with conspiracies for power when they are having tea in teahouses. As to four or five sips of tea, my experience tells that it is far from enough. If Su Dongpo were still alive, he would not agree with the tea sage. When Su Dongpo was a governor of Hangzhou and once caught a cold, he was so crazy about going sightseeing that he didn’t want to take a rest even for one day. He visited all Buddhist temples around the West Lake and drank tea every time he went into a temple. After drinking the tea and having a good sweat, he pulled round. Then he wrote:
The Buddha says the disease symptom doesn’t mean sickness,
Though not a monk, Xie Lingyun has left his family behind.
Why bother taking pills like Emperor Wei to be immortal,
All you need is seven bowls of tea like Lu Tong.
Lu Tong（卢仝） mentioned above is a poet in the Tang Dynasty and he is well known for his Ode to Seven Bowls of Tea, in which he began with the first bowl of tea which could sweep loneliness and avoid feeling low and ended with the seventh bowl of tea which made you refreshed as if the cool breeze was blowing and you would ride the wind to go to the happy land. Both Su Dongpo and Lu Tong share the same idea that drinking tea will bring you pleasure and avoid illness.
How tea was discovered and used is said from medical treatment. According to an ancient Chinese book Shennong Materia Medica, Shennong tasted hundreds of plants in his life and was poisoned by a large number of toxic plants. Fortunately, he was saved after he took a plant called“Tu”荼 which is“tea”茶 today.
Sima Xiangru（司马相如）, the great scholar in the Western Han Dynasty, who sold wine together with his wife Zhuo Wenjun in Chengdu and wrote love letters for Emperor Wu to the Queen Ajiao, wrote an essay titled Wordbook of Fanjiang Pian, in which more than 20 medicines were mentioned, and“chuan cha” 荈诧 is one of them. According to research,“chuan cha” refers to tea.
According to health experts, tea produces more than 60 kinds of health care effects. For example, making refreshment, brightening vision, calming down, helping digestion, etc.. But I strongly believe in one thing: Tea can help people live long. Modern tea sage Wu Juenong passed away when he was 91 and another tea expert Zhuang Wanfang died at the age of 90, which are convincing examples to show that tea drinking may help people reach a long life span.
Recently, tea becomes more and more popular, which results from the belief that tea can reduce weight. I don’t know whether taking tea to reduce weight has anything to do with the practical experience of Taoism’s“losing weight and getting relaxed”. Several years ago, a Japanese film star made a commercial in TV with oolong tea in hand and said her slender figure was the result of having oolong tea, which stimulated women who loved beauty rushed to buy it. This tendency has arrived in China recently and there are various brands of slimming tea on market. Young girls who want to have an attractive figure begin to drink tea, hoping that they can be slim and young forever. In my opinion, tea businessmen do the same as cosmetic businessmen because they’ve already known how to get money from women’s pockets.
Last year in Kunming, Yunnan Province, I met an intelligent and beautiful lady who preferred coffee to show her western taste. She remained calm when I talked about functions of tea: refreshment, brightening vision, calming down, helping digestion etc., but she showed some interest when I mentioned cancer prevention of tea. When I said that tea would help maintain beauty and keep young, she was radiant and asked:“What? What did you say? ” I said tea would help a person keep young and beautiful.
She was in her ecstasy and said:“Then I drink tea!”
复活之草
50年代初的一个深秋季节的日子，苏联女诗人阿赫玛托娃应著名汉学家、苏联作协书记费德林之约，共同翻译中国伟大诗人屈原的《离骚》。费德林费了一番周折，总算弄到一壶编辑部女同事用电热棍烧开的水，然后将他手提包里随时带着的中国龙井茶沏出一杯，郑重地端到阿赫玛托娃
面前。
“在国家出版社里居然能喝到热茶，真是奇迹。”阿赫玛托娃轻声说，她身上是一件年久褪色的旧上衣，一双破旧的编织手套磨损处露出了手指头，她就用这双高贵的手捧起龙井茶。
片刻，没有喝尽的杯子里，茶叶已沉到杯底。刚刚还是蜷缩的干叶，舒展开来，闪出嫩绿色。
“请您注意一下茶杯的奇观！”费德林对阿赫玛托娃说。
“的确，真是怪事……怎么会有这样的变化呢？”
费德林从茶叶筒里拿出干茶叶，阿赫玛托娃吃了一惊，然后，她说“……的确，在中国土壤上，在充足的阳光下培植出来的茶叶，甚至到了冰天雪地的莫斯科也能复活，重新散发出清香的味道。”
只有阿赫玛托娃这样的心灵，才会在第一次见到和品尝中国茶的瞬间，深刻地感受茶的生命。从最新鲜的春意盎然的枝头采下的绿叶，立刻经受烈火的无情考验，它们失去舒展的身体和媚人的姿态，被封藏于深宫。这一切，都是为了某一天，当它们投入沸腾的生活时的“复活”。茶，是世间万物的复活之草！
从前，三国、魏晋之后和元、明之前的茶，和今天的咖啡在制作上的相通之处，就是基本都是捣碎了成粉末状与水煮泡喝的，只是茶事先还要做成茶饼罢了。到了宋代，这种茶饼的制作精美极致，便经过登峰造极之后，终于走向反面。请各位想想，做茶饼要把茶汁榨尽取其白，放入龙脑、麝药取其香，印以龙飞凤舞取其美，献之以皇亲国戚取其贵……难道不正是茶之生命的真正死亡！朱元璋称帝后罢进团茶改进散茶，固然有很多原因，但茶在千百年的生命进程中对自身品质的体现，对自身的美的强烈展示，不能不说是重要原因。
因此，我们喝酒，喝各类饮料，往往难以在视觉中喝回它们的本来面目，它们被打碎了，被重新组装了，这一点颇像我们今天这个时代的某些思潮。当我们喝茶的时候，尤其是喝绿茶的时候，我们却喝出了它的本来形态，茶体现出纯粹的古典之美，我们便喝成了茶的“寻根派”，茶便成了一叶载着永恒的绝对精神的小舟。
等待复活的生命，既是最万死不辞的勇敢的生命，也是最敏感的最容易被伤害的生命。几乎没有哪一种饮料比茶在封存时更讲究了。茶性易染，所以它不能和任何别的有气息的东西放在一起，茶怕光线，所以必须全封闭；茶怕潮湿，受潮的茶犹如过早嫁人的童养媳永远失去青春焕发的那一天；茶可冷冻，在干燥的冬眠状态下它会像睡美人一般长久等待那王子的一吻而苏醒。因此，这封闭的茶也使我想起被放逐的屈原，被迫害冷落的阿赫玛托娃，想起每个时代都有的那些宁愿沉默的灵魂。无论是被他人封存还是自我封存，有一天重见天日，他们“复活”的都依旧是质朴鲜活的生命。
然而，如果永远也没有重见天日的那一天呢？好比精美的茶永远封存在谁也不知道的暗处呢？茶说：那就封存吧，封存难道不是另一种形式的复
活吗？
浅是茶
浅茶满酒，说的是意境，并非茶非得浅而酒非得满。只是这样说的人多了，大家便也就约定俗成，说倒茶了，便道浅，浅浅；说倒酒了，便道满，满满了。
茶要浅，有个道理，叫十分的茶水容量，倒满七分，留得三分人情在；至于酒要满，我非酒中人，不知其所以然。或是因为酒乃阳刚之物，要的便是那种精神的张狂，个性的张扬和动作的夸张吧。
想那高唐盛世，酒仙李白，花间一壶酒，对饮成三人的缥缈月景，比之茶圣陆羽对品茶的不可捉摸，那就可以形容得多了。可见满酒是有形可以讲的，有状可以绘的，浅茶，却多半是只可意会不可言传的，是眼前有景道不得的。
陆羽品茶时想必应该是很静的吧，尽管关于品茶，陆羽表述了许多思想与操作，但他的精神依然是十分简约与克制的。作为茶圣，他在著作《茶经》中曾经严肃地提出了关于浅茶的理论。这里的浅，圣人是把它作为一种程度和分寸而提出来的，是一种精炼和稀罕的贵重美吧。
今天的人们，当然是要从本质上去理解茶圣的浅茶精神，才不至于发生歧义。浅，作为一种审美的状态，大致对应的是东方文化中的简约、含蓄、克制、象征、自律……是少少胜多多许，是以一当百，是雄辩为银后的沉默为金；是寡言的重任在肩的中年男子，是内心世界丰富的吟诗的年轻女人，是饱经人世沧桑一切尽在不言中的宽容的老人，也是天真烂漫的少年童子。
浅是不包括节日在内的每一个平常的日子；是白头到老的发妻；是年复一年的日常工作；是不想当元帅的士兵，是春天、夏天、秋天和冬天；是早晨、中午、傍晚和深夜；是少年、青年、中年和老年；是从出生到死亡的
岁月。
浅是唐代的七言律诗；是齐白石的国画；是张岱的《西湖梦寻》式的小品文；是宜兴的紫砂壶；是毛泽东“沁园春”中的鱼翔于底的清水和苍鹰飞去的秋空；是前朝某一位诗人的只有一句的诗行；是汪曾祺小说中不动声色的细细碎去的心；是艾略特的对生命的一声近乎于无的唏嘘；是我的渐远渐逝的梦中情人……
浅不是浅的，浅是相濡以沫，也是相忘于江湖。有时我们相对无言，那是因为浅太深了。浅使人沉重到无法承受，便犹如李清照载不动许多愁的舴艋舟了。
浅还意味着一种命运的境况——有时候我们擦肩而过，并不是我们不想厮守终生；有时候我们扬长而去，并不是我们不想回眸凝视；有时候我们人淡如菊，并不是我们心中没有浓情蜜意；是太多的深使我们浅了，浅便成了我们的生活的勇气和本领，渗入我们的言行举止，使我们能够承受本来唯恐难以承受的、但是又必须去承受的经历了。
因此，对不起，我的亲爱的朋友，如果看上去我对你惘然，我并非是惘然而无所失的——我正是那一杯浅茶——很久以前，它不是曾经由我递到了你的手中了吗……
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