Chapter I · The Origin · Section 2: A common misreading — reading “其字或从草或从木或草木并”

Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0

Thesis

The common mistake is to lift “其字或从草或从木或草木并” out of its sentence and turn it into an absolute rule.

Text

“As for the character, it is sometimes written with the grass radical, sometimes with the tree radical, and sometimes with both.”

Context

指"茶"字的三种写法：从草（茶）、从木（荼·读tú 亦或"楛"）、或草木两部并用（"茶"的异体）。

Evidence

• Collation: 本句版本差异集中于"草木并"三字：百川学海本作"或草木并"，四库本同，各本无大出入。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出：唐宋以前"茶"多写作"荼"，从草从木并行，反映了茶由野生草木到人工栽培的过渡；陆羽定"茶"为正字，对后世文字统一影响深远。

Analysis

The usual misreading extracts “其字或从草或从木或草木并” as a slogan. 本句版本差异集中于"草木并"三字：百川学海本作"或草木并"，四库本同，各本无大出入。 In fact every judgment in the chapter carries a limit of place, season and use.

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 I · The Origin, section 2; the original is in the public domain.

The vessel is not background. 指"茶"字的三种写法：从草（茶）、从木（荼·读tú 亦或"楛"）、或草木两部并用（"茶"的异体）。 The same leaf in a different bowl, grinder or sieve changes aroma and texture; vessel and tea are defined together.

Water and fire magnify the difference. The same leaf at a higher temperature or a longer steep changes the sweet-bitter balance; the text only becomes operational at the brewing stage.

In Tang context, 吴觉农指出：唐宋以前"茶"多写作"荼"，从草从木并行，反映了茶由野生草木到人工栽培的过渡；陆羽定"茶"为正字，对后世文字统一影响深远。. Tea was tribute, medicine and monastery drink at once, not a standalone commodity; the conclusion cannot be transferred without that context.