Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC0
Thesis
Read through modern tea science, “以绢素或四幅或六幅分布写之陈诸座隅则茶之源之” is not a lab result but a set of variables: cultivar, soil, light and plucking standard.
Text
“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.”
Context
绢素：丝绢。把全书内容分四幅或六幅书写陈设，随时看见，随时牢记。
Evidence
- Collation: "四幅或六幅"各本一致；十篇之中"之图"本为读法而非内容，历代学者认为此章是陆羽提示的"学习法"而非独立茶事。
- Existing readings: 吴觉农指出"十之图"实为全书总结：陆羽建议把九篇内容画成图表悬于座隅，以便"目击而存"——这既是最早的茶学挂图，也暗示《茶经》成书之用心：不只著书，更欲传习。
Analysis
Modern tea science would split “以绢素或四幅或六幅分布写之陈诸座隅则茶之源之” into cultivar, soil, light and plucking variables. 吴觉农指出"十之图"实为全书总结：陆羽建议把九篇内容画成图表悬于座隅，以便"目击而存"——这既是最早的茶学挂图，也暗示《茶经》成书之用心：不只著书，更欲传习。 They remain testable, but only with their conditions attached.
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 X · The Illustration, section 1; the original is in the public domain.
Experience should be explained, not mystified.