Buddhism and Japanese tea culture [the relationship between Buddhism and tea culture]

China was the first country to drink tea. With the spread and influence of Buddhism, the tea culture in China has a certain connection with the teachings of Buddhism. The following is the relationship between Buddhism and tea culture that I have carefully combed for you. Let's have a look.

The Relationship between Buddhism and Tea Culture

(A) Buddhism and the spread of China.

Descendants of Buddhism: Buddhism is one of the three major religions in the world. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, it was introduced to China from India; Popular in the feudal ruling class at the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it preached the doctrines of "immortal spirit after death", karma, no killing, no stealing, no fornication, no lying, no drinking, compassion-oriented, good deeds and monasticism. At that time, because of frequent wars, smoke everywhere, people's lives were in ruins, hardworking people and rich people in Rong Lu could get spiritual comfort from Buddhist teachings, and the ruling class could use Buddhism to anesthetize the people, so it spread quickly. The disseminators of Buddhism realize that to make Buddhism take root in China, it must be combined with the national conditions of China. After Buddhism was introduced into China, in order to survive and develop, it absorbed China traditional culture in thought and doctrine, infiltrated and influenced each other, and became an important part of China culture. In the late Eastern Jin Dynasty, Hui Yuan, a Buddhist leader, tried his best to communicate Confucian feudal ethics with Buddhist karma, and advocated filial piety to the monarch, which was in line with the theory of karma. And directly put forward the "theory of combining Buddhism with Confucianism." Some Buddhist sects in Sui and Tang Dynasties were founded by combining China's traditional thoughts. Zong Mi, a scholar of Huayan Sect, used the "four virtues" in Zhouyi (Yuan, Heng, Li and Zhen) and integrated the "four virtues" of Buddhism (Chang, Yue, I and Jing). With the "five precepts" (benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faithfulness) in Taiwan Province, the trend of training Confucianism is getting stronger and stronger. During the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, more attention was paid to the integration of China's traditional thoughts. Zhiyuan, a scholar of Tiantai Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty, preached that "without Zhong Ni's teaching, there would be no governance in the country, no security at home and no security in the body". And "if the country dies, the family is uneasy and the body is uneasy, what is the way to explain the family?" He also put forward the idea of "cultivating oneself with Confucianism and governing the mind with Buddhism", that is, Confucianism and Buddhism, which developed into a religion with China national characteristics.

(B) the establishment of tea ceremony and the infiltration of Buddhism

Establishment of Tea Ceremony: China is the hometown of tea, with a long history and splendor. However, the word "tea ceremony" has long been forgotten by people, and even developed to the point that Japanese scholars once asked China people, "Is there a tea ceremony in China?" A ridiculous and ironic joke. The establishment of China Tea Ceremony is regarded as the next topic in academic circles. There is a saying in Lu Yu's Tea Classic called "frugality". There is a quote from Feng's Tale, which was widely polished by Hung-chien's theory, so the tea ceremony became popular. "(Please note that it was in the late Tang Dynasty), there was the Tea Ceremony initiated by China and Zhu Quan in the early Ming Dynasty, and so on. A hundred flowers blossom, indicating that everyone is studying deeply and the situation is gratifying.

Lu Yu, who is good at growing vegetables and tea, pioneered the "three boiling" cooking method of baked cake tea. He discussed the efficacy of tea in detail, and he focused on the spiritual enjoyment of drinking tea. There is no doubt that he is the founder of China Tea Ceremony. But unfortunately, he did not clearly put forward the word "tea ceremony" in the Book of Tea, which is puzzling.

According to the information in the author's hand, the word "tea ceremony" was first written by a monk in the south of the Yangtze River in the mid-Tang Dynasty. Xiao Cui Shi clearly put forward "the way of a gentleman" in a poem, which said:

If you drink it, you will feel refreshed and refreshed.

Drink my god again, and suddenly it is like flying rain and sprinkling light dust;

After three drinks, you will get the word. Why bother?

This thing is noble and unknown to the world. The world drinks too much and deludes itself.

Worried about watching the night in Bi Zhuo's urn, laughing at Tao Qian's hedge.

Cui Hou took a sip of his crazy song.

Who knows that the tea ceremony is all true, only Dan Qiu did it.

This poem is a combination of romanticism and realism. The charm of "three drinks" is connected layer by layer, which makes the spiritual enjoyment of drinking tea the most perfect and moving praise. It not only clearly put forward the word "tea ceremony", but also cast a strong religious color on the tea ceremony from the beginning, which was unmatched by any monk or scholar in the tea culture circle centered on Huzhou in the middle Tang Dynasty. Combined with other important tea events in Jiao Ran, the author thinks that Jiao Ran is the founder of Zen Tea Ceremony in China. As the palace tea set hidden for more than 1 100 years reappears in Famen Temple, the academic circles believe that there are diversified tea ceremonies with different styles in Tang Dynasty, such as palace tea ceremony, monk tea ceremony and literati tea ceremony, which shows the profoundness and brilliance of tea culture in Tang Dynasty, which is a breakthrough in academic research. However, among the three kinds of tea ceremony, Biju thinks that the monk tea ceremony is the main one, and its charm and influence exceed the first two.

The penetration of Buddhism into tea ceremony is recorded in historical materials, including Danqiu in Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and Hui Yuan in the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not like tea. It can be seen that "tea Zen blindly" has a long history. However, the author believes that the formation of climate began in the middle Tang Dynasty.

During the mid-Tang Dynasty, although it experienced seven or eight years of political turmoil, the "revival" period appeared one after another. Due to the depression of people's livelihood in the north, the national financial resources are in crisis. People of insight realize that the south has mild climate, abundant rainfall, fertile soil and abundant resources, and large areas of land, especially mountainous areas, have not been rationally developed and utilized, which has great potential. Therefore, they mobilized the whole people to reclaim land, expand the planting area of grain crops and increase the national tax revenue, and achieved remarkable results. This is the social basis for the formation of tea ceremony.

After living in Mingxi, Lu Yu took Huzhou as the center, actively carried out tea tasting activities, and had close contacts with famous monks and sages such as Jiao Ran, Ye Li, Yan Zhenqing and Meng Jiao. They talk about classics, drink tea and write poems. Thus promoting the formation and development of tea ceremony, the author believes that Huzhou is the birthplace of tea ceremony.

The rise of tea ceremony has promoted the popularity of temple tea parties, tea banquets and various forms of tea ceremony. There are different descriptions of tea in Tang poetry. Limited by space, I copied some sentences: Wukong: I am always in an empty room during the day, but I know Wukong from my heart. After the rain in the meditation hall, the lotus world is full of flowers. When the flowers bloom, people and the sky will meet. I don't know how to get out of the cage. Jiao Ran: Nice to meet you. I'm just opening a wild tea. Li Jiayou: The empty room burns incense alone, and the forest is fragrant. Sip tea and turn over, and light the lamp with the sunset. Du Mu: Today, beside temples and temples, tea and cigarettes are being blown away. Zhang Jijiu: Making tea under the starry sky, looking for a temple in front of the Five Old Peaks. Si Kongtu: Tea geese add poetry, the sky is high and the clouds are light, and the heart is clear. There is only one crane left, and besides, it is an empty forest. Li Xianyong: An empty-door teenager is determined to win, and he takes medicine to solve his difficulties. Paranormal: The spring is surrounded by fireworks and white clouds. Sit and drink fragrant tea and love this mountain.

From the above poems, we can appreciate the fragrance and richness of tea in the temple. Monks can't worship God, meditate, recite scriptures and make friends all day. Zen tea ceremony embodies the atmosphere of kindness, simplicity, self-cultivation, self-cultivation and understanding, and also integrates the thoughts and feelings of Confucianism and Taoism. The Tang Xizong gold and silver series tea set hidden in the underground palace of Famen Temple, the highest royal etiquette, can more convincingly understand the true meaning of "tea Zen blindly" from the aspects of design, modeling and decoration (placed in the back room with Buddhist relics).

Zen tea ceremony reached its peak in the Song Dynasty and spread to Japan, South Korea and other countries. Now it has spread to the western world and made efforts to promote cultural exchanges between countries.

The Relationship between Buddhism and Tea Ceremony

In the Tang Dynasty, Feng said, "Learning Zen is good for insomnia, and people who don't eat at night let them drink tea." People everywhere like to drink and cook. Since then, imitation has become a custom. Also, Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote: "Today, meditation is full, and tea and cigarettes blow far away. "This vividly describes the elegant scene when the old monk cooks tea.

With the popularity of tea drinking in temples of all sizes, monks have strengthened their research on the collection and processing of tea, so there have been famous teas in temples of famous mountains and rivers throughout the ages.

For example, "Biluochun" is produced in Biluofeng, Dongting Mountain, Jiangsu Province, formerly known as "Shuiyue Tea", which was first made by monks in Dongting Mountain. Wuyi rock tea is the best made by Zen monks in Wuyi Temple. Junshan Silver Needle is produced in Baihe Temple in Junshan.

The combination of tea drinking and Buddhism has greatly promoted the development of tea culture. According to ancient books, there were "tea halls" and "tea houses" in ancient temples in the Tang and Song Dynasties, where monks discussed Buddhism and Zen, discussed classics, entertained patrons and sipped fragrant teas.

While advocating tea drinking and planting, the temple integrated Buddhism with Buddhist philosophy and outlook on life, resulting in the ideas of "tea and Buddhism are inseparable", "tea and Zen are integrated" and "tea and Zen are integrated".

Tea is the same as Buddha, both of which are felt by the subject and have a deep taste. Drinking tea needs to be calm and orderly, so that the environment and mood can be quiet, clean and comfortable.