Chapter VII · The History · Section 9: At a contemporary tea table — reading “《搜神记》夏侯恺因疾死宗人字苟奴察见鬼神见恺”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Thesis

“《搜神记》夏侯恺因疾死宗人字苟奴察见鬼神见恺” still has operational value at a contemporary tea table, provided Tang conditions are not silently universalised.

Text

“In the Search for the Supernatural: Xia Houkai died of illness; his kinsman Gou Nu, who could see spirits, watched him come to fetch his horse and afflict his wife. Wearing a flat kerchief and single robe, he entered and sat on the great bed by the west wall where he had sat in life, and asked people for tea.”

Context

《搜神记》：东晋干宝志怪小说。夏侯恺：人名。帻（zé）：头巾。

Evidence

• Collation: 各本一致。此条为《茶经》引志怪小说，吴觉农注：可见晋代"人鬼皆嗜茶"的民俗想象。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出此条虽是志怪，却透露了重要信息：晋代民间已视茶为日常饮品，甚至死后犹念念不忘——茶的普及程度由此可见一斑。

Analysis

To repeat this section today is not to copy a Tang utensil list. It is to keep its order of judgment: leaf first, then water and fire, then the table.

Conclusion

The section does not give a universal rule. It demonstrates a method: read the text, the annotation and the Tang context together before making a modern claim.

Source: The Classic of Tea, Chapter VII · The History, section 9; the original is in the public domain.

In Tang context, 吴觉农指出此条虽是志怪，却透露了重要信息：晋代民间已视茶为日常饮品，甚至死后犹念念不忘——茶的普及程度由此可见一斑。. Tea was tribute, medicine and monastery drink at once, not a standalone commodity; the conclusion cannot be transferred without that context.

Modern tea science would split the sentence into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农指出此条虽是志怪，却透露了重要信息：晋代民间已视茶为日常饮品，甚至死后犹念念不忘——茶的普及程度由此可见一斑。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. 各本一致。此条为《茶经》引志怪小说，吴觉农注：可见晋代"人鬼皆嗜茶"的民俗想象。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.