Chapter VI · The Drinking · Section 2: At a contemporary tea table — reading “茶之为饮发乎神农氏闻于鲁周公”

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Thesis

“茶之为饮发乎神农氏闻于鲁周公” still has operational value at a contemporary tea table, provided Tang conditions are not silently universalised.

Text

“As a beverage, tea began with Shennong, the Divine Farmer, and became known through the Duke of Zhou of Lu.”

Context

陆羽认为茶作饮料始于神农氏，到周公时广为传扬。神农尝百草的传说与之相关。

Evidence

• Collation: 各本一致。吴觉农引《神农本草》“神农尝百草，一日而遇七十毒，得荼而解之”，证茶之为饮托始于神农。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农认为"发乎神农"是托古立言：神农尝茶解毒是传说，但反映了远古先民"以茶解药毒"的药用实践——茶先为药、后为饮，此说被后世广泛接受。

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 VI · The Drinking, section 2; the original is in the public domain.

In Tang context, 吴觉农认为"发乎神农"是托古立言：神农尝茶解毒是传说，但反映了远古先民"以茶解药毒"的药用实践——茶先为药、后为饮，此说被后世广泛接受。. 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. 吴觉农认为"发乎神农"是托古立言：神农尝茶解毒是传说，但反映了远古先民"以茶解药毒"的药用实践——茶先为药、后为饮，此说被后世广泛接受。 The variables remain useful, but none of them alone explains the cup.

Storage adds another variable: moisture and temperature. 各本一致。吴觉农引《神农本草》“神农尝百草，一日而遇七十毒，得荼而解之”，证茶之为饮托始于神农。 Old and young tea do not share one shelf life, so “the older the better” is not a rule.