Chapter IV · The Vessels · Section 6: In Tang context — reading “其水用山水上江水中井水下其山水拣乳泉石池漫流”

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Thesis

“其水用山水上江水中井水下其山水拣乳泉石池漫流” only becomes legible inside Tang tribute tea, monastery tea and literati life.

Text

“For water, mountain spring is best, river next, well lowest. Of mountain springs, choose the milky fountains that seep from rocky pools; avoid rushing, churning torrents.”

Context

乳泉：石乳般的泉水。石池漫流：从石池缓缓流出的水。瀑涌湍漱：奔涌湍急的水。

Evidence

• Collation: 此句为五之煮名句，各本一致。吴觉农注："乳泉石池漫流"指流速和缓、杂质沉淀后的活水。
• Existing readings: 吴觉农指出"瀑涌湍漱勿食"极有科学眼光：急流之水挟带泥沙与气泡，杂质多、口感糙；缓流石池水经砂石过滤更清冽——"静水流深"正合好水标准。

Analysis

The largest gap between Tang and now is that tea was simultaneously medicine, tribute and everyday practice. 吴觉农指出"瀑涌湍漱勿食"极有科学眼光：急流之水挟带泥沙与气泡，杂质多、口感糙；缓流石池水经砂石过滤更清冽——"静水流深"正合好水标准。 Without that, the chapter collapses into botany.

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 IV · The Vessels, section 6; the original is in the public domain.

As a new reader, I first took “其水用山水上江水中井水下其山水拣乳泉石池漫流” as a conclusion. Reading the annotation to section 6 again, it is clearly a judgment with conditions attached.

Textually, 此句为五之煮名句，各本一致。吴觉农注："乳泉石池漫流"指流速和缓、杂质沉淀后的活水。. The point is that “the original” is not a single stable text; name the edition before making a strong claim.

A maker reads “其水用山水上江水中井水下其山水拣乳泉石池漫流” through weather and soil first. 乳泉：石乳般的泉水。石池漫流：从石池缓缓流出的水。瀑涌湍漱：奔涌湍急的水。 That is not far from how we judge a mountain and a picking window today.