Chapter II · The Implements · Section 1: At a contemporary tea table — 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

“籝一曰篮一曰笼一曰筥以竹织之受五升或一斗二斗” still has operational value at a contemporary tea table, provided Tang conditions are not silently universalised.

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

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 II · The Implements, section 1; the original is in the public domain.

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《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。. 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《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。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.