The Tea Classic

Lu Yu (733-804), author of the Classic of Tea, describes an art of living around this beverage of unsuspected refinement. He distinguishes nine essential elements: brewing, plant selection, utensils, fuel, water, drying, powdering, cooking and tasting. He traveled throughout China's main tea-growing regions to gather information about the plant, classify the best plants and engage in a criticism of tea qualities that is on a par with wine oenologists.

In Lu Yu's time, poetry, painting, music and tea tasting were already, and would become even more so after him, avenues of spiritual development. Influenced by his best friend Jiaoran, a famous Chan/Zen poet and monk, and having himself been brought up in a Chan monastery, Lu Yu also presents tea as a path to enlightenment, helping to spread this beverage so appreciated by the learned, as illustrated by this verse by Wang Wei (699-761): "A cup of tea! I live again!"

According to Lu Yu, tea was prepared in a very different way from the way leaves are infused today. It is described with a number of highly poetic images that refer to animals or plants and demonstrate Lu Yu's great sense of observation of the plant world. This text exerted considerable influence, not only in China itself, but also in Japan and Korea.

Leaving the monastery at the age of 12 to lead a life of acrobatics, Lu Yu was soon noticed for his diverse talents by high-ranking officials and men of letters. At the age of 22, during the An Lushan revolt, he emigrated south to Wuxing (present-day Huzhou, Zhejiang) and led an itinerant, eremitical life, revolving around his passion for tea. Protected by the famous calligrapher and scholar Yan Zhenqing, he frequented great poets. He died in 804 and was buried in a monastery near Wuxing.

Introduction and translation: Catherine Despeux

Catherine Despeux, sinologist and professor emeritus at the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales, is administrator of the Institut d'études bouddhiques.

Well-known to the public for her works on Taiji Quan, Qi Gong and acupuncture, she is the author of numerous works and essential translations on Taoism and Chan Buddhism.