Monogatari:
Every day full of aroma is a kind of living up to it.
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I remember that in the "Eight Notes of Zunsheng", it is said: "Those who love incense must not be without incense for a day." ”
In his diary of his mountain residence, the Ming dynasty Gao Panlong recorded the refreshingness of his day with incense: "Rinse up, burn incense with a live fire, sit and play "Yi" silently... After lunch, sip tea and burn incense to refresh the meaning, and then read the book until the sun rises. Sit down and burn the incense. ”
Indeed, in the life of the ancients, burning incense was a necessity for daily life, and it was also full of elegant interest. From dawn, afternoon to late night, from reading and drinking tea to sitting and hospitality, every day full of aroma is a kind of living up to it.
At the moment, we often feel that every day seems to be no big deal, ordinary days, then ordinary life.
Through the ancients' daily use of incense, perhaps we can feel it in that solemnity, in fact, every day can also be so fragrant.
For the ancients, the most important thing to do in the morning is not to wash and dress and eat breakfast, but to burn incense and wake up the mind.
Bai Juyi likes to burn incense in the early morning, "the copper stove adds morning incense, the sarong extinguishes the residual candle", so that the sleepy head and eyes gradually wake up, so as not to live up to the sound of birds singing and the morning light of the house.
The early morning of ancient women is also indispensable to the elegant beauty. The poem once wrote, "I have not opened the box to comb my green sideburns, and I will burn incense to the gold." ”
That expectation of treating the morning is not to quickly dress up your messy sleep, but to burn incense in the foxy animal-shaped incense burner, so that the small room can be fresh again, and this sleepy heart will become refreshing.
Nowadays, our life is much busier than the ancients, and when we wake up in the morning, we may have to face the endless work and solve the problems, to be honest, who wants to wake up!
Always have a good incense at the head of the bed, which may also be a motivation to get up, so that we can better face the time of waking up, slowly wake up the body and mind, and return to the spirit.
Take a deep breath in the aroma, usher in another sunrise, tidy yourself up, and set off again.
For literati, how can reading be incenseless? Sometimes, burning incense is more important than eating and drinking.
After Lu You's dismissal in his later years, he lived idly in his hometown of Shaoxing, and his life was often unsustainable, and his meager income could not even make up for wine money, but he still said, "Yu Xi is lonely in this dynasty, burning incense and idly reading Yuxi poems." ”
On difficult days, his happiest thing was to burn a pot of incense, quietly read Li Shangyin's poems in the center of the elegant aroma.
This kind of happiness may be like the Song Ren poem, "Qing Fen wakes up the eyes and ears, and the rest of the breath enters the article." "The smoke and clouds dance, and the aroma seems to drift into the article, making people clear when reading, and their thoughts and inspiration seem to be clearer."
The ancients regarded incense as a "quiet friend" when reading, no matter how poor or rich, as long as there is incense when reading and writing, it is the greatest joy in life, and no matter what, it cannot be abandoned.
Burning incense and reading is a time of day reserved for yourself to enjoy. For this kind of enjoyment, the ancients are a question of whether they have money, but we are troubled by whether we have time.
All year round, the pace is always hurried, don't forget to leave yourself a moment of happiness, treat yourself well.
Huang Tingjian once said that "incense can purify the qi", which not only drives away the miscellaneous smells in the space, but also purifies our distracting thoughts and returns to the emptiness of the mind.
One year, he was relegated to Yizhou, Guangxi, and his new home was simple and damaged, and he could not stop the voices of the people around him, but he optimistically named the house "Noisy Silence".
To make matters worse, the neighbor has a butcher, and the bloody atmosphere is unbearable day and night.
What about Huang Tingjian? He smoked a pot of incense in this dilapidated dwelling, and sat quietly on the bed alone to smell the incense.
The aroma of the incense rose into the air and filled the air, wafting in this room, dispelling the odor wafting from the next door, and making the noise of the city seem to be silent. Only then did he have time to stop, to think, even if he was wandering and wandering for half his life, he still stuck to himself.
Why do we need this incense now? In fact, it is also to give yourself time to calm down and think about what is important and what is meaningful.
Even if you can't think quietly and often every day, I hope that in January, a year, or even a lifetime, you can always have a moment of clarity, plan for yourself, count, and think about your life.
When a guest comes, the joy is infinite, and burning a good incense is also the way of hospitality.
One day, the Song people sat in their own Dongxuan small room several times, and suddenly a friend visited unexpectedly. Long time no see, fast, fast, hurry, hurry up and joyfully call the boy to prepare the incense burner, smoke a good agarwood.
Suddenly, the study was filled with a quiet fragrance, and the breath was quiet and boundless. But the two of them seemed to have endless words, and they talked endlessly. I don't know who is more fragrant with this conversation, this fragrance.
After the friend left, although the incense burned out, the room still had a trace of afterglow. He sat alone in front of the Boshan furnace, unfinished, for a long time.
Nowadays, if our friends come to the house, they may at most eat a meal and have a cup of tea, and it will be over.
In fact, burning a pot of incense is just to sit more in the joyful atmosphere of the aroma, to give each other more time for spiritual communication, to care about each other's recent situation, or to chat about some confusion.
Most importantly, give your friends a little time, and people who know each other will know that you are thinking about them: How have you been doing lately?
The night was quiet, and when it was time to sleep, "a wisp of smoke from the incense, and a moment of sleep." "The ancients would burn a good incense for themselves, so that the fragrant breath would help people relax their spirits and fall asleep."
Zhu Dunru, a Song dynasty man, liked to smoke a furnace of "incense in the wooden tent" in the bed tent, which was the night incense he had just made, made of osmanthus flowers and agarwood, and the aroma was low and long, and it would not be dispersed all night.
He lay still in the incense, haunted by the sweet and pleasant breath, relaxed, and unconsciously fell asleep, even the sound of the wind and light rain outside the window could not be heard.
How long have you not enjoyed this sense of black and sweet happiness?
How many nights after work and tired home, maybe we are all the same, refusing to sleep when we sleep, wanting to sleep but unable to sleep.
The Zen saying goes, "Hunger comes to eat and sleep to sleep." "It is a reminder to pay attention to the most basic needs of life."
Lighting an incense stick by the bed at night is time for yourself to sleep well. The cost of happiness turned out not to be high, sleepy, then rest well, a night without dreams.
Zheng Banqiao said, "Room Ya should be big, and the fragrance of flowers is not much." "Nowadays, although the huts of the ancients have become high-rise buildings, in the place where they live, the incense is not afraid of much.
It's just that we modern people use incense, not necessarily in the smoker to burn incense, you can also put a bottle of fresh incense in the house, or put some bergamot, citrus and other fragrant fruits, raise a pot of fragrant daffodils...
Most importantly, in the nourishment and clarity of the aroma, we can know how to live this day, what should be cherished, what is worth taking care of, and what needs to be considered.
May you also have incense as a companion, always look for joy, every day is a good day!
Resources:
1. "Turning the Days into Poetry, the Days Related to Incense in the Poetry of the Ancients", Incense Road
2. "After being degraded again at the age of fifty, how did Huang Tingjian correct his mentality?" Kikusai
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