The Classic of Tea · Chapter X · The Illustration: Full Text

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC0

Full text

[1] “Write it out on silk, in four or six panels, and place them by your seat — then the Origin, the Implements, the Making, the Vessels, the Brewing, the Drinking, the History, the Producing Regions, and the Omissions are all kept before your eyes.”

Note

This chapter has 1 sections. The English text above is a working translation for discussion; the Chinese original is in the public domain. Name the edition when quoting, since Chapter One and several other chapters contain variants.

Source: Wikisource

Pinning the full text is the right move. Read the plain text first, then the annotation; do not let a second-hand explanation replace the source. This chapter has 1 sections; make a card for each.

One textual warning: both the old annotation to 其字 and the 叶/蕊/茎/蒂 phrase have variants. Name the Baichuan Xuehai or Siku edition, or a collation problem will look like a doctrinal one.

From the making side, the most neglected line is “picked out of season, made without care”. The chapter is not only about the plant; it puts quality responsibility on people, and that still holds.

Modern tea science can add mechanisms for 烂石, 砾壤 and 黄土: acidity, drainage, mycorrhizal association. But adding a mechanism does not mean Lu Yu knew it; keep experience and explanation distinct.