Lu Yu And The Book Of Tea

Lu Yu's The Book of Tea was the world's first commentary on tea, exerting a profound influence after its appearance. Books on tea in later generations were all affected by it in one way or another. Because of this, Lu Yu was idolized by later generations as "God of Tea," "Saint of Tea," "Ancestor of Tea," "The Immortal of Tea," and so on. There also emerged innumerable stories and legends based on Lu Yu.

Lu Yu belongs to Tang Dynasty, born around AD 733 and died in AD 804. He was an orphan and was adopted by a monk named Zhiji. It is said that one day when Zhiji went out, he found three wile geese protecting a newly born baby with their wings. Surprised at this, Zhiji took the baby back out of compassion. Lu Yu grew up in the temple. Zhiji intended him to become a Buddhist, but knowing that Buddhists couldn't marry nor have offspring, Lu Yu was more inclined to Confucianism. Angry at this, Zhiji punished Lu Yu by making him do all kinds of chores like cleaning, herding, washing toilets, etc. Tea drinking with Chinese tea sets was very popular in temples at that time, so naturally Lu Yu got to know something about tea. Later, finding the temple too stifling. Lu Yu ran away to join a theatrical troupe at the age of 12. He played puppet show, acrobatics and magic. Talented and versatile, Lu Yu was soon promoted to the position of director. During one show, he was recognized by an official who helped him get a chance to be educated. Afterwards, Lu Yu traveled around and inspected local tea areas, often consulting tea farmers as to how to select Chinese tea and make tea. With years of accumulation, he withdrew to live in a remote mountain and put his heart into writing his book. Eventually Lu Yu succeeded in accomplishing the grandiose and ever- eminent masterpiece—The Book Of Tea

Historical literature doesn't say much as to exactly how fabulous Lu Yu's tea-cooking skill really is, but folklores can make up for this lack. One story has it that once an official met Lu Yu near Yangtze River Knowing that Lu Yu's tea-cooking skill was the world's best and the water in Nanling area of Yangtze River was of top quality, the official found it a once-in- a-lifetime opportunity and especially sent soldiers to Nanling to fetch water. Before long, a soldier brought the water. Scooping it out and glancing at it briefly, Lu Yu said, "although the water is from Yangtze River, it doesn't belong to Nanling but likely from the coast." The soldier argued, "I went to Nanling in person and hundreds of people saw me draw water there. How can it be wrong?" Lu Yu didn't say anything. The soldier poured water into a tea pot. When it was half full Lu Yu suddenly said, "Stop! From here it's Nanling water." The soldier was astonished. The fact was the soldier did draw a full jar of water, but the boat was so unstable that half of the water spilled over. Afraid of being criticized, he refilled the jar with coast water, only to find that Lu Yu exposed his lie at one glance. Both shocked and scared, the soldier exclaimed that Cod of Tea did deserve his fame and dared not hide the truth longer.

Lu Yu wasn't very good-looking and was innately inarticulate. But he was horn with a generous heart, sincerely admiring other people's merits and felt genuinely sad when seeing others' demerits as if he suffered from those too. Because of this, many poets and personages liked to make friends with him. Writing The Book of Tea, Lu Yu made quite a sensation, so the emperor called for him to be an official. However, Lu Yu enjoyed a life of freedom and leisure, lingering in tea gardens every day and sang and relaxed with friends. In his old age, Lu Yu changed his hostile attitude towards Buddhism and became good friends with many famous monks and learnt much from them. Tales had it that Lu Yu was sent to his ancestral home after his death and buried beside the tomb of his stepfather monk Zhiji, as a compensation for his rebellion in youth.

The Book of Tea comprises three volumes, ten sections. The first section—source—deals with origin, name, type, producing place and characteristics of tea. Second section—tool—talks about picking and making tools and using methods of tea. Third section —making—expatiates the time and requirements of picking tea, explains the six steps of making tea, and classifies tea cakes into eight ranks in light of their shape and color. Fourth section—apparatus—records 23 kinds of tea-cooking tools. Fifth section—boiling— tells ways of cooking tea and evaluates water quality. Sixth section—drinking—reviews the history of tea drinking and shows different ways of drinking tea.

Seventh section—history—-is the largest part of the book. It collects literature on tea from ancient books, gathers 43 historical figures from ancient times to Tang Dynasty, and compiles 48 legends, anecdotes, fables, and so forth. Eighth section—production—divides tea leaf producing area in the whole country into eight parts, and classifies tea leaves of each part into four grades, with elaborate specifications. Ninth section—omission—discusses which apparatus can be omitted under what conditions in what ways. Tenth section—picture—is about Lu Yu's advocacy of drawing the above content and hanging it on the wall for constant observance to guide one's tea-cooking skill. The book of tea covers the whole process from tea picking to tea making, and refers to every aspect of tea culture. It can be called an encyclopedia of tea. This book is later translated into several languages and exerts an enormous effect in the world as well. As Lu Yu was gradually apotheosized, tea sellers in later generations put his statue in apparatus, believing that Lu Yu could bless them with a blooming business. Some sold their tea with Lu Yu's statue as a gift. As long as one bought a certain amount of tea, he could get a statue for free.