LU YU, FIRST TEA MASTER
Of all the tea masters who lived during the T’ang dynasty, Lu Yu was the best known, so famous, in fact, that he has been called the “father of tea,” “deity of tea,” “sage of tea,” and the “immortal of tea.”
Although there is some question as to the exact date and place of his birth, Lu Yu was probably born in the district of Chin Ling some time between 728 and 733 . There are countless stories and legends about him, most of which say that he was abandoned as a baby and adopted by the Buddhist monk Zhiji, spending his early years in the monastery.
In spite of the surroundings of his youth, however, Lu Yu proved to be temperamentally unfit for the life of the priesthood. He was in a state of constant rebellion that caused the monks to punish him by assigning him difficult and menial tasks. The monks hoped that as Lu Yu performed these tasks, he would learn the necessary discipline and humility to continue with his priestly studies, but it was all to no avail. At the age of thirteen, Lu Yu ran away to join an opera troupe and fulfill his dream of becoming a clown. He seemed perfectly suited to this life and delighted audiences wherever he went, playing the fool and making people laugh.
In spite of his restlessness, however, Lu Yu exhibited an unusually keen intellect, and he soon became bored with performing with the troupe. Although he did not miss the austerity and simplicity of the life of the monks, he did miss his life as a student. Fortunately, one of Lu Yu’s greatest admirers was an official who became aware of the young man’s intellectual yearnings. His patronage allowed Lu Yu to further his education by studying the ancient writings while he continued with his profession.
Then, in 760, an armed rebellion forced Lu Yu to leave the district where he was performing with the opera troupe. Along with many others, he took refuge in the village of Huzhou, in present-day Zhejiang Province—an unexpected turn of events that proved to be fortunate for this clown-turned-scholar. Among other things, the climate of this region was perfect for growing tea. The weather was warm, there was plenty of moisture, and the ground was rich and fertile. Tea gardens and teahouses were in abundance.
Like other young men, Lu Yu was attracted to the tea-houses, where, as was the custom of the day, men gathered. These establishments throughout the country were places where friends and scholars came together, not only to drink and talk about tea, but also to discuss art and listen to music. In the best teahouses, the air was perfumed with rare incense and flowers, and only the finest teas were served. In such an atmosphere, one could relax and enjoy the most subtle nuances of aesthetic pleasures, including an appreciation for the taste of the best-quality teas.
After a time, Lu Yu became friendly with a man named Jiao Ran, who owned one of the teahouses of the Zhejiang region, and before long Lu Yu grew fascinated, then obsessed, with tea. It was here in the teahouse of his friend that he found the perfect outlet for his scholarly ambition. He was soon not only running the teahouse for Jiao Ran, but also learning as much as he possibly could about tea.
Lu Yu’s Tea Classic
Tea became the focus of Lu Yu’s life. He was relentless in his quest to learn everything there was to know about tea. The result of this consuming passion was the three-volume, ten-part book called Ch’a Ching, the Tea Classic, published in 780.
The book deals with the following aspects of tea:
1.Origin of the tea plant
2.Tools for gathering the leaves
3.Production and manipulation of the leaves
4.Description of the twenty-four implements necessary to serve and enjoy tea
5.How to make a cup of tea (methods of infusion)
6.Rules for drinking tea
7.Historical summary of tea and its usage
8.Sources of tea, plantations, and so forth
9.Nonessential tools
10.Illustrations of tea utensils
Farmers and agriculturists interested in learning to cultivate tea found an unlikely hero in Lu Yu, the man who’d gone from monk to clown to scholar to tea master. With an increased demand for tea came a corresponding demand for information about how to grow it. Although tea had been cultivated in the Szechwan district for hundreds of years, by the mid-tenth century, the practice of growing tea had spread through the Yangtze Valley and along the coast as well. With a growing market, farmers planted tea wherever they could find a patch of land, and by this time, tea cultivation was common and widespread. Nonetheless, knowledge about how to grow the plants and harvest the leaves was still spread only by word of mouth, passed from one generation to the next or from one neighbor to another.
~~Tea- The Drink That Changed the World -by- Laura C. Martin
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