In the usual tea ceremony, incense burning plays a role in "eliminating delusions" by converging the mind and soothing the breath.
The light smoke seems to be there or not, so that tea people and tea tasters enter a peaceful and tranquil state, and also create a solemn and solemn atmosphere for the tea room environment.
Tea tasting is the most pure thing, if there is no good incense in the furnace, it is lacking - Duan Humor; burning incense has a charm, if there is no famous tea floating bowl, there will be less victory in the end. Therefore, tea fragrance is used in two phases, and one is indispensable, and there can be several people who are blessed. - Ming Xu Wei, "Ming Tan"
Tea and incense are like twin flowers, and they have been extremely closely related from ancient times to the present. In ancient times, people invented a method of drinking tea with "incense", that is, combining spices and tea leaves to decoct together, known as "fragrant tea".
In the Tang Dynasty, people put agarwood and tea cakes into tea mills and then decoction; in the Song Dynasty, when making tea, dragon brain incense or musk, agarwood and other spices were added to make the tea aroma more abundant, this special way of making tea was very popular at that time, and became a tribute, of which "wax tea" is one of the fragrant teas.
There is a method for making lacha in the Yuanren Wang Zhen's "Book of Agriculture":
Wax tea is the most expensive, and the production is extraordinary. Choose the best tender buds, finely milled, into the luo, miscellaneous brains of various balm oil, mixed as the law, printed as a cake. Samples are made in a clever way, waiting to dry, and still embellished with balm oil. Its system is different from the size of the dragon ball and the crotch. This product is only contributed, and it is rare in the folk.
Nowadays, "fragrant tea" is no longer popular, and people prefer to burn incense when drinking tea. Take a sip of good tea, appreciate the clarity and ethereality of nature, watch the cigarettes gather and disperse, quiet as a distant mountain, moving like a flowing cloud, and so beautiful.
Tea and incense are natural good things with a wonderful artistic conception, and the two are accompanied by each other, complementing each other and appearing interesting. Zheng Banqiao in the Qing Dynasty has an inscription painting depicting the excellent mood of "burning incense and sipping tea", and reading it today, you can still feel the leisure and fun in it:
"A hut, a new hedge, snow white paper windows, slightly soaked in green. Sitting alone at this time, a lamp of tea before the rain, a stone on one side, a piece of Xuanzhou paper, a few folded branches and flowers, friends coming, the wind and bamboo sounds, the more noisy and quiet; the house servant sweeps the floor, the maid burns incense, the bamboo shade, the clear light reflects in the painting, and the love is absolutely pitiful. ”
The first day broke the smoke, messy pine bamboo shadow,
The old man burned incense, and the boy drew the well.
—— Lu You "Morning Rise"
The ancients said: "If the heart is disturbed, there are hundreds of diseases, and if you are quiet, you will be sick", and Chinese medicine believes that maintaining a calm mind and a peaceful mental state is an important prerequisite for prolonging life. Song Ren Lu You got up early to "sit on incense and practice meditation", he started a new day of life from "a furnace of morning incense" every day, burning incense can settle the mind, help quiet meditation, is an important method of the ancients to calm and cultivate the gods.
Stay until the afternoon, it belongs to the time of tea and incense. In front of the open window of the study, sencha, burn incense, and feel the beauty of nature in the aroma. If a guest is visiting, burning incense and sipping tea is also a way of hospitality. Han Chun's "Mountain Forest": "Guests do not idle wine and food, a cup of tea simmers and a furnace of smoke"; Zeng Ji "Dongxuan Small Room is a Matter":
There are guests passing by the chamber, and the hu'er has a furnace.
The conversation is like a micro-fu, and the wonderful place should be smelled.
In the fragrance and tea fit in the clear air, the sitting is light, it is the purity of the literati. There is a saying: "Tea bowl lavender stove, talk about the day, quite happy."
The city is full of too much hurry, but occasionally we can be like the ancients, "stealing" half a day's leisure, so that time slows down, even with a pot of incense, a pot of tea time, to wait for their souls.
Not for work and not for socializing, just sitting in a daze with friends, watching the grass and trees, watching the clouds rise and fall, listening to a song, holding a book, chanting a few lines of poetry, so that the body and mind can be nurtured, and the pace of slow life can be regained in true silence.
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