Jianbao life

Chapter 15 Tea Ceremony

Chu Chen smiled and said, "If you want me to say that today's tea, water, utensils, and arts are all excellent, I happened to be lucky today. Thanks to the two of you, I was able to drink this fragrant osmanthus. Good tea like rain."

After listening to what Chu Chen said, Zhu Dafu and Song Jun couldn't help looking at each other and smiling, as they both agreed.

"Okay, what Xiaochen said is right. Tea, water, utensils, and art are indeed indispensable. Now Uncle Wu is going to test you. What do you think of our tea tasting this time?"

Chu Chen scratched the back of his head in distress and said, "Uncle Fu, this is actually the first time I tasted tea. I don't know much about tea ceremony, but it's all knowledge I read from books. If I say Wrong, don't be offended by both of you."

Seeing the encouraging eyes of Zhu Dafu and the others, he went on to say:

"Song Huizong Zhao Ji proposed in "Grand View Tea Theory" that drinking tea should pay attention to "the essence of picking, the workmanship of making, the victory of quality, and the subtlety of cooking", and at the same time it also requires "eliminating stagnation and stagnation, leading to clear and clear tea." "Harmony in the middle, clean in the middle, high in rhyme and tranquility", these few words of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, we can see that tasting tea requires both material and spiritual requirements."

"The material aspects include water, utensils, and environment. Let's talk about the environment first. The ancients said that the best environment for tea tasting is clear mountains and beautiful waters, small bridges, pavilions, piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, and a secluded and elegant room. The ideal environment for drinking tea, most people can't meet this requirement, but in general, as long as the environment is quiet and beautiful."

"There is no need to say more about the environment here. It can be described in three words. It is quiet and natural, simple and elegant, and ingenious. Every time I come to Uncle Fu, I can't help but make me feel relieved. I feel refreshed and happy. Of course, there is no problem."

"Water suitable for tea has three requirements. One is "clear" water quality, colorless, transparent, and free of sediment; the other is "sweet", which refers to sweet, cold, or sweet and bitter. There is a sweet feeling, quite aftertaste; the third is "clean" means clean and refreshing, and in our current words, it means no pollution."

"Satisfying these three requirements is good water for making tea. The water we used to make tea this time is Yuquan water in the "No. [-] Spring in the World". This water is worthy of its name. , the rhyme is shown and reflected, it is really fragrant and has a meaningful aftertaste."

"As the saying goes: "Water is the mother of tea, and the pot is the father of tea." As soon as I came in, I was deeply attracted by this set of tea sets. Just these teacups, which are as white as jade and as thin as paper, make people feel pleasing to the eye. , not to mention the most important purple clay pot."

"I don't know too much about purple clay teapots. Judging from its style, it should be a teapot with sand-adjusting hat. The overall shape is simple and simple, and it endows strength with ingenuity. It shows the superb production skills of the producer. And this pot still has a hint of fire, so it can't be the work that Master Song just brought over?"

The two of them were not in a hurry to tell Chu Chen the answer, but just smiled and motioned him to continue.

"Yang Shen in the Ming Dynasty once said: "Your writing tea songs is like writing history, not only tasting tea but also tasting scholars. "This sentence points out the artistic conception of tea tasting, and Zhang Yuan, who is also from the Ming Dynasty, said in "Tea Records" that "Sipping alone is called God, two guests are called victory, and three or four are called fun." ", this "spirit, victory, and interest" also highlights the spiritual aspect of the tea ceremony."

"Of course, the environment is different, the people are different, and the spirits comprehended from tea are also different. There is a way that the benevolent sees benevolence and the wise sees wisdom. As far as I am concerned, I think that tasting tea is like tasting life. Three sips of tea let me experience the sweetness of life and the bitterness of life, and the aftertaste in the last sip is the sweetness of bitterness."

"Let's talk about tea art at the end. Why put it at the end? On the one hand, I don't know anything about tea art. The main reason is that I think tea art plays a linking role in the whole tea tasting process. spiritual bridge."

"Simply put, without Master Song's superb tea art, the substance of the tea ceremony would not be able to reflect its essence, and the understanding of the spirit of the tea ceremony would be impossible to talk about."

"The above are just some of my humble opinions. If there is anything that is not in place or wrong, please forgive me."

After talking about this opinion, Chu Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He racked his brains to think of these things. If they are not satisfied, there is nothing they can do.

Zhu Dafu nodded with a smile and said: "Xiaochen, what you said is quite right. It is completely impossible to tell that this is the first time to taste tea. Even some people who often taste tea may not be able to get some of your opinions. It seems that you are very familiar with the tea ceremony. Still very sensible."

Chu Chen said with some embarrassment: "I don't want you to praise me like Uncle Fu, but after tasting tea this time, I am really interested in the tea ceremony, and I feel that drinking tea often can calm my character. Ask the master a lot."

Song Jun smiled and nodded and said: "It's okay, but I don't dare to ask for advice. We can discuss with each other. To be honest, young people nowadays are not interested in the tea ceremony much, and they can't calm down. They think it's too troublesome."

After Zhu Dafu heard about it, he also nodded and said: "Indeed, people nowadays are more and more eager for quick success, and their minds are full of money as their goal. Don't talk about tea ceremony, just talk about piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting. How many young people are willing to do it?" Put your whole heart and soul into it?"

"I think this is due to the lack of perseverance on the one hand, and at the same time, it is also because of the high pressure of life now. Who would not want to relax if you can relax, but there is no way, you must first meet the needs of life. Let's talk about the price of this year. Compared with last year, the increase is much better." Of course, the same young people have to explain to the young people.

Zhu Dafu laughed angrily and said, "Boy, are you saying that Uncle Fu doesn't know that a man who is full doesn't know that a man is hungry?"

"No, no, how dare I say that, I just said that the habit of some people is also caused by the general environment, and there are not a few monks who beat the clock for a day." Chu Chen waved his hands quickly.

"Okay, okay, don't talk about state affairs, let's talk about this purple sand pot again, just look at it this way, Xiao Chen, tell me the truth, how about this pot?"

Chu Chen carefully looked at the purple clay pot on the table again, thought for a moment and said: "From the bottom of my heart, this purple clay pot is quite good, "mud, shape, workmanship, style, work", although it is expensive for me I haven't seen it, but the other four aspects can be said to be very superb, and it is a very good purple clay pot."

As soon as Chu Chen finished speaking, Song Jun hurriedly said: "Old Zhu, what's the matter, Chu Chen also thinks this pot is good, just promise me."

Seeing this, Chu Chen was confused and didn't know what was going on between the two of them, so Song Jun opened his mouth to explain the reason.

It turns out that Song Jun’s pot-making skills were passed down from his ancestors. He learned from Shi Dabin’s lineage back then. However, time passed and when this family-handed craftsmanship was passed down from generation to generation, some things were lost. This is also a kind of ancient handicraft inheritance. disadvantages.

In Song Jun's generation, he wanted to restore some lost craftsmanship. Although the idea was good, he suffered from the fact that he didn't have a work by Shi Dabin to refer to.Accidentally, he knew from a friend that Zhu Dafu was a genuine product of Shi Dabin, so he came to ask Zhu Dafu if he could transfer the pot to him.

Shi Dabin's genuine product was not easy to come by, and Zhu Dafu also loved it very much, so of course he refused to change hands.However, Song Jun's perseverance is amazing, it can be said that he is persevering, after several times, Zhu Dafu was also moved by his sincerity.

Even so, Zhu Dafu was somewhat reluctant, so he asked him to make one according to the shape of the real one, and if he was satisfied, he would pass the real one on to him.

It is indeed difficult to say that this is not small, but Song Jun is worthy of being a master pot maker. Although Zhu Dafu was not satisfied with the first two times, it was also very charming, which made him admire Song Jun and his skills.

Today is the third time Song Jun brought his works here. This time Zhu Dafu couldn't find any faults after seeing it, so he said to Song Jun, I have a nephew who will come here later, if he thinks it's good , and passed Shi Dabin's genuine product to him.

After hearing the reason, Chu Chen couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. Zhu Dafu was obviously not willing to change hands of the collection. Now that this happened, there was no reason not to change hands, which made him feel a little restless.

Seeing this, Zhu Dafu smiled and said: "Xiao Chen, you thought that Uncle Fu would be angry with you, but in fact, when Master Song brought this pot before, I knew I couldn't hide it, and as for bringing you, I can't do it." It’s because there is indeed some resentment in my heart.”

Seeing Zhu Dafu's reluctance, Song Jun said, "Mr. Zhu, otherwise, I rented this pot. After I study it for a while, I will return it to you."

Zhu Dafu smiled and waved his hand: "I've thought about it too, that pot is nothing more than a collection with me, and sometimes it won't see the sun for several months, and I'm not good at tea ceremony, so it can be used for you. The effect is much more, you wait a moment, I will go and take out the pot."

After a while, Zhu Dafu came back carefully holding a brocade box and put it on the table. At that moment, Chu Chen and Song Jun had already cleaned up all the tea sets on the table.

Opening the brocade box, a sand-tuning hat pot with the same shape as Zecai was displayed in front of everyone.

Zhu Dafu indicated that he could start watching, Song Jun said: "Chu Chen, you watch it first, I have watched it many times before."

Chu Chen was not polite when he heard the words, put on his gloves, carefully took out the purple clay pot in the box, and began to observe.

Shi Dabin, a native of Yi*xing during the ten thousand years of the Ming Dynasty, when talking about purple clay teapots, no one would fail to mention Shi Dabin's "Shihu". He is the most famous and influential pot maker after Gongchun.When posterity mentions his works, they are all full of praise, and some even praise him highly.

(End of this chapter)