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

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

the relationship between Buddhism and tea culture

(1) the spread and China of Buddhism

the successor 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; At the beginning of the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was popular among the feudal ruling class, preaching the doctrines of "the spirit of immortality after death", karma, no killing, no stealing, no immorality, no lying, no drinking, compassion-oriented, good deeds and monasticism. At that time, because of frequent wars, smoke everywhere, people's lives were ruined, the hard-working masses, and those who were rich and rich 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 tried its best to absorb Chinese traditional culture in ideology and doctrine, and infiltrated and influenced each other, which 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 and respect for the monarch, which was in line with the doctrine of karma. And directly put forward the "theory of combining Buddhism and Confucianism with Ming". Some Buddhist sects in Sui and Tang Dynasties were founded by blending China's traditional thoughts. Zong Mi, a scholar of Huayan Sect, used the "four virtues" (Yuan, Heng, Li and Zhen) in Zhouyi to blend the "four virtues" (Chang, Le, I and Jing) of Buddhism. With the "Five Commandments" (benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith), the trend of tuning Confucianism in Taiwan is getting stronger and stronger. During the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, more attention was paid to blending China's traditional thoughts. Zhi Yuan, a scholar of Tiantai Sect in the Northern Song Dynasty, preached that "without Zhong Ni's teaching, there would be no governance for the country, no peace for the family and no security for the body". And "if the country is not cured, the family is restless, the body is uneasy, and the way to explain the family is what to do?" He also put forward the idea of "cultivating oneself with Confucianism, governing the mind with interpretation", which means Confucianism and interpretation, and thus developed into a religion with Chinese national characteristics.

(2) The establishment of tea ceremony and the infiltration of Buddhism

The establishment of tea ceremony: China is the hometown of tea, with a long history and splendor, but the word "tea ceremony" has long been forgotten by people, until Japanese scholars once asked Chinese people, "Is there a tea ceremony in China?" A ridiculous and ironic joke. The establishment of China Tea Ceremony is regarded as the next one in academic circles. There is a quote from Lu Yu's "Tea Classics", which is "refined and thrifty". There was a quote from "The Story of Feng's Experience" and it was widely embellished by Hung-chien's theory, so the tea ceremony became popular. " (Please note, it was in the late Tang Dynasty) There was "Tea Ceremony Created by China and Zhu Quan in the Early Ming Dynasty" and so on. A hundred flowers blossom, which shows 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 baking cake tea, and elaborated on the efficacy of tea. He focused on the spiritual enjoyment of tea drinking, and he was undoubtedly the founder of Chinese tea ceremony. But it is a pity that he did not explicitly 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 middle Tang Dynasty. It is clearly put forward in the poem "Xiao Cui Shi makes the king". The poem says:

When you drink it, you will feel refreshed all over the sky;

if I drink my god again, it will suddenly rain and sprinkle light dust;

after three drinks, you get the Tao, so why bother?

this thing is too lofty for the world to know, and people drink too much to deceive themselves.

Look at the night in Bi Zhuo's urn and laugh at the time under Tao Qian's fence.

Cui Hou sipped, and the crazy song was amazing.

who knows that the tea ceremony is all true, but only Danqiu did so.

This poem is a combination of romanticism and realism. The charm of "Three Drinks" is connected, and the layers are deeply fastened, which makes the spiritual enjoyment of drinking tea the most perfect and moving praise. It not only clearly puts forward the word "tea ceremony", but also gives the tea ceremony a strong religious color from the beginning, which is 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 Tang Dynasty court tea set, which has been hidden for more than 11 years, reappears in Famen Temple, the academic circles believe that there are diversified tea ceremonies with different styles in the Tang Dynasty, such as court tea ceremony, monk tea ceremony and literati tea ceremony, thus demonstrating the profoundness and brilliance of the tea culture in the 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 are more than the first two.

The penetration of Buddhism into the tea ceremony is recorded in historical materials in the period of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, when Danqiu and the famous Eastern Jin Dynasty hated Hui Yuan's love for 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.

in the middle Tang dynasty, although it experienced seven or eight years of political turmoil, the period of "revival" appeared one after another. Due to the depression of people's livelihood in the north and the crisis of national financial resources, people of insight realized that the climate in the south was mild, the rain was abundant, the soil was fertile, the resources were abundant, and large areas of land, especially mountainous areas, were not rationally developed and utilized, which had great potential. Therefore, they mobilized the whole people to reclaim land, expand the planting area of grain crops and increase the national tax revenue. This is the social basis for the formation of tea ceremony.

after Lu Yu's "seclusion in Mingxi", he took Huzhou as the center, actively carried out tea activities, and had close contacts with Jiao Ran, Li Ye, Yan Zhenqing, Meng Jiao and other famous monks and sages. They talked about classics, sipped tea and wrote 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 tea parties, tea banquets and various forms of tea ceremony in temples. There are different descriptions in Tang Dynasty's poems about tea affairs. Due to the limitation of space, some sentences are copied in the back: Wu Yuanheng: I am always in the 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 season is blooming, people and heaven will meet. I don't know how to get out of the cage. Jiao Ran: I'm glad to meet you. I'm just opening a wild guest tea. Li Jiayou: The empty room burns incense alone, and the forest is quiet and fragrant. Sip the tea and turn it over, burn the lamp and follow the sunset. Du Mu: Today, by the temples and temples, tea and cigarettes are blowing away. Zhang Jijiu: Make tea under the stars, and find a temple in front of the Five Old Peaks. Si Kongtu: Tea geese add poems, and the sky is clear and the heart is clear. Only one crane is left, and besides, it is an empty forest. Li Xianyong: An empty-door teenager is determined at the beginning, picking fragrant herbs as medicine to get rid of sleep. Lingyi: Izumi is surrounded by fireworks and white clouds. Sit and drink fragrant tea and love this mountain.

From the above poems, we can realize that the tea in the temple is fragrant and strong, and monks can't drink tea all day long when they worship God, meditate, recite scriptures and meet friends. Zen tea ceremony embodies the atmosphere of kindness, simplicity, cultivation, self-cultivation and understanding, and also blends the thoughts and feelings of Confucianism and Taoism. Tang Xizong's gold and silver series tea set hidden in the underground palace of Famen Temple with the highest royal etiquette is more convincing to realize the true meaning of "tea Zen blindly" from the position of design, shaping and decoration (placed in the back room with the Buddhist bone relic).

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

the relationship between Buddhism and tea ceremony

In the Tang Dynasty, Feng's Wen Jian Lu said: "Learning Zen is good for insomnia, and people who don't eat in the evening are allowed to drink tea. "People like to drink and cook everywhere. From then on, it became a custom to follow suit." Also, Du Mu, a poet in the Tang Dynasty, wrote: "Today, the temples are full of meditation, and the tea smoke is blowing away." This vividly describes the quiet and elegant scene when the old monk cooks tea.

With the popularity of tea drinking in large and small temples, monks have strengthened their research on tea collection and processing, so there has been a phenomenon of famous tea in famous mountains and great rivers temples in past dynasties.

Biluochun, for example, is produced in Biluofeng, Dongting Mountain, Jiangsu Province. It was originally called "Shuiyue Tea" and was first made by monks from Yueyuan Mountain 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 are "tea halls" and "tea huts" in ancient temples in the Tang and Song Dynasties, where monks discuss Buddhism and Zen, discuss classics, entertain donor guests and sip fragrant teas.

While advocating tea drinking and planting, the temple integrates Buddhism's strict rules, drinking tea and reading classics with Buddhist philosophy and outlook on life, resulting in "Tea and Buddhism are not separated from each other", "Tea and Zen are integrated" and "Tea and Zen are one".

tea and Buddhism have the same way, both of which are in the subject's feeling, and it is necessary to have a deep taste. Drinking tea needs to be calm and orderly, so as to make the environment and mood quiet, clean and comfortable.