"Spring Mountain, moonlight, tea smoke, falling flowers, clear springs, Hsinchu, halls, wooden tables, lights, crowds gather in all directions. I heard the awakening of the spring mountains, the singing of the streams, the germination of green leaves, and the sincere conversation and heart-to-heart between me and me, me and the world, and me and a cup of tea. ”
The night of Jingshan
Sentence / Kusa Haku
Published in the Literary Newspaper on April 11, 2024
At dusk that day, I entered the famous Jingshan. From a village at the foot of the mountain to a temple at the top of the mountain, tea gardens and bamboo forests float by in the twilight outside the window. The mountains and forests are silent, the mountain roads are winding, the spring breeze is filled with the fragrance of flowers and plants, and the monks' houses in the Zen monastery are like in front of you, such as in the forest. On the way to the top of the mountain, the sky is darkening, the shadows of the trees are dappled, and the wind is shaking, like the Wizard of Oz. There was joy and hope in the heart, and there was a sense of apprehension, as if on the way to a feast.
A tea banquet has been waiting on the mountain for a long time.
Spring mountains, moonlight, tea smoke, falling flowers, clear springs, Hsinchu, halls, wooden tables, lights, crowds gather in all directions. Comes from tea. No matter what kind of identity and circumstance the visitors usually have, when they arrive at the mountain temple and enter the tea house and Zen courtyard, only the "tea man" is left. Tea people are not only people who drink tea and gossip, but also people who are here at the moment. Broken attachment. Ecstasy. Fugue.
Drinking tea under the lamp, I also heard people talk about tea. Indifferent, idle eyes, every time I hear the heart, a smile appears at the corner of the mouth and eyebrows. Unconsciously and unconsciously, it is completely subconscious. This feeling has been lost for a long time, and I am grateful for the generosity and beauty of the sharers. Selfless, undiscriminating. How many winds and rains does a person have to go through to stand under the light and moon at this moment. What the sharer complained about is nothing more than "tea", nothing more than "return". Back to yourself, back to the moment, back to the heart. And tea is a god-given medium.
The huge house, not to mention the crowds, but also a lot of people gathered, but at the moment they collectively held their breath, very quiet. Drinking tea, asking for tea, what you want is this quietness. Once the human heart is calm, the taste will naturally appear. People who don't know each other have also seen the true meaning. Tea and water depend on each other, water understands the heart of tea, and tea also knows the meaning of water. The two are intimate, each doing his best, each getting what he wants.
It has always been difficult to say lightly in front of people, but for tea, people can talk and speak. The topic started with tea, but it didn't stop there. I heard the awakening of the spring mountains, the singing of the streams, the germination of green leaves, and the sincere conversation and heart-to-heart between me and me, me and the world, and me and a cup of tea.
People's hearts are quiet, and tea smoke rises. In the wind and smoke of history, the ancient road of Jingshan came to Faqin Zen Master, Lu Yu, Su Dongpo one after another, they opened the mountain to plant tea, boiled tea and wrote scriptures, sencha wrote poems, and now the tea forest camellia is still there, the pen and ink poetry is still there, and the spring stone relics are still there. After that, Ouyang Xiu, Lu You, Xu Wei came, Jin Nong, Gong Zizhen also traced, countless local tea people, exotic monks, came to Jingshan, drank the tea of Jingshan, counted the clouds on Jingshan, and listened to the light rain and falling flowers in the spring mountain. Everyone is trying to connect with a mountain, a cup of tea.
Among the monks and Zen masters who traveled to and from Jingshan Temple, I recognized a person called Xindi Juexin. He was a Zen master of the Rinzai sect in Japan, who crossed the sea in 1249 to the Southern Song Dynasty at that time. It is worth mentioning that the Southern Song Dynasty painting monk Fa Chang is the heir of the unquasi-teacher, and "Six Persimmon Pictures" is his representative work - this painting was given by him as a gift to the Japanese monk Yuaner Yuanyuan who practiced in the same temple. As a monk who also crossed the sea, Xindi Juexin also took two treasures from the Southern Song Dynasty at that time, one was the soybean paste of Jingshan Temple, which opened the history of Japanese soy sauce, and the other was the shakuhachi of Huguo Temple in Hangzhou, which was shaped like Xiao and sounded like the lonely peak of the bright moon, which became a magic weapon for Japanese monks to practice.
Since then, the sound of shakuhachi has disappeared, and "Six Persimmon Pictures" has also become a national treasure in a foreign country, only wandering in special spaces, but it has never been truly forgotten.
Unexpectedly, Jingshan is also the birthplace of the Japanese tea ceremony, and the matcha of Jingshan Temple is actually the originator of Japanese matcha. And the first time I drank matcha was at Kinkakuji last fall. Walking on the hillside behind the temple at sunset, you can see the main body of the relics hall covered with gold leaf from different heights and angles, like a splendid palace made of red gold, shining behind the pine forest, or at the end of the brocade meadow, the light falls from the sky from the sky, as if it has been washed, and you are amazed. On that day, we took off our shoes and entered a tea house in the forest, where the pale yellow tatami mats were covered with a long red soft carpet, and everyone sat on the ground, sitting on the red horizontal side. When the tea tray was brought in, I saw two small wooden bowls, one red and one black. A dark green matcha is served in a dark wooden bowl with white flowers floating on the surface of the bowl. In the center of the mahogany bowl is a small, chic white pastry with mountain and temple reliefs that shape Kinkaku-ji and are so beautiful that you can't bear to eat it for fear of spoiling the shape and physiognomy.
Within ten minutes of sitting and drinking tea, the pine breeze outside the bamboo curtain blows, and the sunlight shines through the branches and leaves to sprinkle dot-like light spots, which fall on the pale yellow and dark tatami mats. Then shine back onto the interior wall. The statue in the shrine seems to be listening to the sound of pine waves. The peace gained in that moment became a comfort for the whole journey.
Later, I called it tea time, the experience of time brought about by matcha and meditation.
Six Persimmons
Actually, before going up to Jingshan, we had a "little tea" experience in the tea house at the foot of the mountain. At first glance, I thought that the flower arrangement on the tea ceremony was a peach blossom, and the petals of the pink powder were also pink and green when reflecting the leaves. After being reminded by his companion, he found that there was also a weeping begonia. The same pink flower branches are inserted in the lake-green glass bottle, like the reflection of the Xiangfei flower branches on the bank of the spring water, inexplicably giving birth to a sense of pity.
On the plain tea table, there are tea spoons, tea whisks, Tianmu cups, soup bottles, tea boxes and other things. Matcha powder is ready. Hot water is ready. There is also spring light outside the window, and everything is shining. The brown color is expensive green, and the camellia is only white. The process of ordering tea is quite cumbersome, and the most important thing is how to pour soup and whisk to hit the white flowers with a tea whisk. The best tea, the white milk floating cup, such as the sparse stars and the light moon, will eventually appear "bite", the white mist in the cup is flooded, but it does not move at all.
It was the first time for us to "order tea", looking at the tea set in front of us, full of interest, but flustered and clueless. Holding a cup in his left hand and a tea whisk in his right hand, his wrist was sore, but he still didn't dare to rest for a moment. The tea soup gradually foamed, and the color transitioned from emerald green and milky green to milky white, as if it was holding half a snowflake. We write and draw flowers on "snowflakes". Some people write the word "spring" and then write the word "empty". Some people painted peach blossoms, and then painted green leaves, accompanied by flowing water.
"Ordering tea", taking stock of the state of mind at this moment, looking at the white fog and snow waves in the lamp, as if looking at the moon in the water and the flowers in the mirror. Life is never a process of epiphany, but more of a gradual realization, which requires time and order of presence and participation.
When the lamp looks back at the tea in the daytime, the red flower branches on the banquet have the urge to return to the nature of the mountains, even if it is just to smell the smell of plants, flowers and trees. The lodge has a Japanese-style garden, where the flowers and trees bloom densely under the lamp, and the fallen flowers are also dense, with piles of snow petals and layers of red stamens, as if time has taken off the splendid coat.
I don't want to go to bed, so in the spring night in the mountains, the flowers are also awake, and when everything in the world is awake, the song of the insects also joins in. When you drink tea, you will hear the sound of falling flowers. When you look up, you can see the moon. The round of Tianxin is the glow of the full moon. More flowers are hidden in the dark, and it is not true to see them at night, but I still want to see them. Stop-and-go, just walking around a few flower trees, and walking back to the starting point. The trees bloom, the branches disappear, and only the flowers are visible. Even the flowers disappeared, and only a vast white mist was seen. The flowering made the flower tree lighter, as if it was not blooming on the branches, but in the boundless void. Thinking like this, I feel that this night is very unreal, this courtyard is very unreal, this flowery forest is like an artificially erected stage, and the contemplation of the body and mind is like a dream.
Back to the house, under the lamp to read Lu Yu's "Book of Tea", read about the tea tree entity, suddenly surprised, "its tree is like a melon reed, the leaves are like gardenias, the flowers are like white roses, the real is like a palmetto, the pedicle is like a lilac, and the root is like a walnut", and suddenly felt that the ordinary sight of the tea tree is completely blind, as if he has never really seen it, let alone can not identify it from thousands of trees.
Tomorrow is the first fresh leaf of Jingshan Zen tea sprinkling mining ceremony, tea people come to this mountain temple, most of them are to witness this grand occasion. At the end of the night, there are tea plantations and camellia flowers all over the mountains. Tea picking needs to be solemn, as is ordering tea, offering tea, and drinking tea, and anything related to tea needs to be left behind. At the top of the hill is a tea plantation. In addition to the tea tree, there are no other trees in the tea plantation. It is said that in addition to tea trees, it is best to grow some other flowers and plants in the tea garden, such as Qingming grass, Yingshan red, cherry trees, bayberry trees, and orange trees.
Outside the window of the hostel stands a Tokyo cherry blossom, and the smell of the night is rushing in before all kinds of colors. I don't know what a beautiful scene it will be tomorrow morning. I imagined what a splendid and bright scene it would be if there was such a flower tree in that flat and fertile tea plantation.
As I thought so, I looked up and saw the moon on the eaves again.
New Media Editor: He Jing
Pictured: Photo.com
i: iwenxuebao
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