Chapter II · The Implements · Section 1: A common misreading — reading “籝一曰篮一曰笼一曰筥以竹织之受五升或一斗二斗”

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Thesis

The common mistake is to lift “籝一曰篮一曰笼一曰筥以竹织之受五升或一斗二斗” out of its sentence and turn it into an absolute rule.

Text

“The ying — also called lan, long, or ju — is woven of bamboo. It holds five sheng, or one, two, three dou; the tea picker carries it on the back when gathering leaves.”

Context

籝（yíng）：竹编的采茶筐。受：容量。负：背负。

Evidence

• Collation: 底本以宋百川学海本为据。本句各本大体一致，唯"受五升"以下容量，四库本作"受五升或一斗二斗三斗"，异文只在断句之辨。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农《茶经述评》指出：籝即采茶篮，唐代茶区普遍使用，容量分档是为"随日采多寡而备"，这种因采摘量定容器大小的做法，与后世"一篮一岗"的采工制度一脉相承。

Analysis

The usual misreading extracts “籝一曰篮一曰笼一曰筥以竹织之受五升或一斗二斗” as a slogan. 底本以宋百川学海本为据。本句各本大体一致，唯"受五升"以下容量，四库本作"受五升或一斗二斗三斗"，异文只在断句之辨。 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 II · The Implements, section 1; the original is in the public domain.

A maker reads “籝一曰篮一曰笼一曰筥以竹织之受五升或一斗二斗” through weather and soil first. 籝（yíng）：竹编的采茶筐。受：容量。负：背负。 That is not far from how we judge a mountain and a picking window today.

The vessel is not background. 籝（yíng）：竹编的采茶筐。受：容量。负：背负。 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.