Buddhism was founded by Prince Siddhartha Gautama of the ancient Indian Kapilavastu Kingdom (in present-day Nepal) in the 6th – 5th century BC. It was initially introduced into China from the Western Regions. However, the formal spread of Buddhism in China took place in the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it witnessed significant development during the Wei, Jin, and especially the Southern and Northern Dynasties. Nevertheless, Buddhism, especially the temple economy, achieved remarkable growth during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, particularly in the heyday of the Tang Dynasty.
It is said in history that “tea thrived in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty.” The prosperity of tea in the Tang Dynasty grew vigorously on the basis of the development of Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism. According to “Records of Things Heard and Seen by Feng”, during the Kaiyuan period, Chan Buddhism flourished in Lingyan Temple on Mount Tai. Those who practiced Chan meditation were required to stay awake and not eat in the evening, and were only allowed to drink tea. “People carried tea with them and boiled and drank it everywhere. Since then, people imitated each other, and it gradually became a custom.” “Chan” is the transliteration of the Sanskrit word “Dhyana”, which means “cultivating the mind” or “meditating quietly” in Chinese. When people closed their eyes and meditated quietly, they were very likely to fall asleep. Therefore, those who practiced sitting meditation were only allowed to drink tea. From the above, it can be clearly seen that it was precisely because of the “flourishing” of Chan Buddhism in the north that promoted the popularization of tea drinking in the north. And the popularization of tea drinking in the north, in turn, promoted the production of tea in the south, thus also promoting the greater development of the entire tea industry in China.
However, this does not mean that tea was only associated with Buddhism after the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. In fact, as early as the Wei and Jin Dynasties or even earlier, tea had already become a common beverage used by monks and Taoists in China during their cultivation or practice. For example, in “The Classic of Tea” by Lu Yu, there are many references to historical materials about monks and Taoists drinking tea in the Western and Eastern Jin Dynasties and the Southern Dynasties. Among them, the “Continued Biographies of Famous People by Shi Dao Gai” quoted in it says: “Shi Fa Yao, surnamed Yang, was from Hedong. During the Yongjia period, he crossed the Yangtze River and encountered Shen Tai Zhen Jun at Xiaoshan Temple in Wukang. When he was old, he drank tea.” Another excerpt from “Records of the Song Dynasty” says: “Prince Zi Luan of Xin’an and Prince Zi Shang of Yuzhang visited Taoist Tan Ji on Mount Bagong. The Taoist set out tea. Zi Shang tasted it and said, ‘This is like sweet dew. Why call it tea?’ ” and so on. All of these indicate that during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, monks and Taoists in China, at least those in temples south of the Jianghuai region, already had the custom of advocating tea. However, it should also be pointed out that, in connection with the historical development of the tea industry, the widespread drinking of tea by Buddhist monks and the positive influence of Buddhism were mainly things that happened after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, as reflected in the above historical materials.
The relationship between tea and Buddhism in China is a mutually promoting one. Buddhism, especially Zen Buddhism, has a need for tea, and this tea-loving fashion has promoted the development of China’s tea industry and tea culture. In the sitting meditation of Chinese Zen Buddhism, in addition to choosing a quiet environment for the meditation room, attention is also required to the “Five Adjustments”, namely, adjusting diet, adjusting sleep, adjusting the body, adjusting breath, and adjusting the mind. Obviously, the “Five Adjustments” mentioned here, especially adjusting sleep, have a certain relationship with drinking tea. Perhaps it is precisely because tea plays such an important role in Buddhism and sitting meditation that some Buddhist monks later did not hesitate to fabricate myths or use the method of grafting to try their best to describe tea as a gift from the Buddha and the merit of monks.
For example, regarding the origin of tea trees, there is such a myth spread among the Japanese people. It is said that Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, once fell asleep suddenly during meditation. When he woke up, he was filled with remorse and angrily cut off his own eyelids. When he threw the cut eyelids on the ground, a miracle happened. Where the eyelids fell, a tall and leafy tree grew up in an instant. Everyone was surprised. They picked some leaves from the tree, boiled and tasted them. Once they drank it, their spirits were doubled and their sleepiness disappeared immediately. Thus, the sacred tree of tea and the beverage of tea came into being. Then, when and how did China’s tea industry originate? In the 1930s, there was such a record in “All About Tea” published in the United States, which said that a monk named Jia Luo in China “returned from studying Buddhism in India during the Wei Dynasty and brought back seven tea trees and cultivated them on Min Mountain in Sichuan.” The book vaguely claimed that China’s tea trees were introduced from India, which is really nonsense. The notes of the Qing Dynasty people in “Remaining Stories of Long and Shu” recorded: “On the Upper Qing Peak of Mount Meng, there is a stone on the top as big as several rooms. There are seven tea trees growing on the stone without any cracks. It is said that they were planted by Master Ganlu by hand”; and “Also So”: “On the top of Mount Meng in Mingshan County, ‘there are tea trees… named Immortal Tea. It is said that they were planted by Master Ganlu, whose secular surname was Wu, and the species came from the transliteration of Mount Meng in the Western Regions. In fact, the above-mentioned contributions of the Buddha and monks to tea praised in the Buddhist community are, to a certain extent, nothing more than an illustration of the importance of tea to Buddhism. Because as we all know, tea originated in China, and tea planting, tea making, tea drinking, and even tea customs all over the world were directly or indirectly introduced from China. Buddhism played a significant role in the process of dissemination.
Since tea has been generally valued by all sects and schools of Buddhism, in all famous temples and large monasteries, not only are there tea houses or tea rooms specially set up to entertain distinguished guests, but even some Buddhist instruments are named after tea. For example, in the Buddha halls and Dharma halls of most temples, there are bells and drums, and the bells and drums often ring for a long time. If there is only one bell and one drum in the temple, they are generally set up in the south, with the bell on the left and the drum on the right. If there are two drums, they are set up separately at the corners on the north side. The one set up in the northeast corner is called the “Dharma Drum”, and the one set up in the northwest corner is called the “Tea Drum”. Obviously, this “Tea Drum” is undoubtedly a piece of evidence of Buddhism’s advocating tea.
Because the relationship between tea and Buddhism is so close, in many temples in the south, especially after the middle of the Tang Dynasty, there emerged a tea-loving fashion where every temple planted tea and every monk drank tea. For example, Liu Yuxi’s poem “Trying Tea Song in the Temple on the Western Mountain” chanted: “There are several clusters of tea behind the eaves of the mountain monk. In spring, new shoots grow against the bamboo. The monk gracefully gets up to welcome the guests and picks the tea leaves shaped like eagle beaks from the fragrant clusters. In a short while, the tea is fried and fills the room with fragrance. Then, he pours the water from the Golden Sand Spring below the steps to make tea.” In the Tang Dynasty, temples often planted tea in front of the temple, in the courtyard, behind the temple, and outside the walls. They planted, made, and drank tea by themselves. Because of this, since the Tang Dynasty, temples all over the country and famous monks of all dynasties have left countless historical materials about tea in historical records. As long as you browse through “Complete Tang Poems” a little, you can immediately outline the fashion of drinking tea in Tang Dynasty temples. For example, the poem monk Qi Yi chanted in his poem “Hearing That Friends in the Taoist Forest Tasted Tea and Thus Sending This Poem”: “The tea leaves like spears and flags slowly rise in the green garden. On the first sunny day after Grain Rain, the azaleas are in full bloom. The picked tea leaves are steamed with the morning dew on the mountain and then ground and boiled with pine powder in the spring spring.” The artistic conception in Zheng Chao’s poem “Seeing Off Monk Xiu” says: “In the ancient hall where incense is burned, the emaciated monk sits on the edge of the stone. The tea smoke disperses the snow on the tiles, and the traces of cranes are on the ice of the pool.” Liu Deren’s poem “Taking Shelter from the Heat Under the Pagoda of Ci’en Temple” says: “The monk makes me feel peaceful, and the light water gives off the fragrance of tea. After sitting for a long time, I look at the East Tower, and the sound of the bell shakes in the setting sun.” Cao Song’s poem “Staying in the Temple by the Stream” also has the verse “When I was young in the stream in the cloud, my Zen mind was even more leisurely at night. I fried tea to entertain the quiet people and sat against the green mountain under the moon.” From the above historical materials, it is not difficult to see that the time for drinking tea in Tang Dynasty temples ranged from early spring to cold winter throughout the year. In a day, it was from morning to night, from sunset until late at night, so-called “day and night without interruption”. In terms of the occasions for drinking tea, for example, Mu Rong’s poem “Visiting Baoben Temple” says: “The tea smoke curls up around the Zen couch, and the bamboo shadows sweep the moss quietly.” Ben Jiayou’s poem “Inscribing on a Room in Jianfu Temple with Huangfu Shiyu” chants: “I burn incense alone in the empty room, and the quiet chime sounds long in the empty forest”; “I drink tea and read the Buddhist scriptures, and light the lamp as the sun sets.” Wu Yuanheng’s poem “The Late Spring Tea Party Hosted by Master Ben of Zisheng Temple” has the lines “After a rain in the Zen courtyard, there are thousands of tea plants in the lotus world. The season is in the fragrant dusk, and people and heaven meet here.” There are also Li Zhong’s poem “Presented to Master Xianye in the Upper Capital” with the line “Sometimes I go to visit the master on a whim and boil tea and chant poems until the sun sets in the west”; and Huang Tao’s line “I can’t bear to leave when I tie my horse among the pine trees. I drink several rounds of fragrant tea and play a game of chess” and so on. All of these reflect that in the Tang Dynasty temples, not only when chanting scriptures, sitting in meditation, and doing Buddhist practices, but also on occasions such as dining, enjoying the cool, resting, chanting poems, and playing chess, tea was indispensable. Perhaps it is precisely because of this that Master Cong Ren, a famous monk in Zhaozhou in the Tang Dynasty, had a pet phrase, which was “Go and drink tea”. Whether it was relevant or not, he always said “Go and drink tea”. This is of course a typical example. Zhaozhou was in the north, and tea drinking was already so common in the northern temples. From this, we can also imagine how prosperous tea drinking was in the southern temples at that time.
It should also be pointed out here that, as described in Lu Yan’s poem “Tea Poem in Dayun Temple”: “The tea with a single bud is called a top-quality product, and the monks’ tea-making methods are of extremely high skill.” Temples in China not only attach great importance to tea, need tea, but also are a center for producing tea, researching tea, and promoting tea. Taking the situation in the Tang Dynasty as an example, as we all know, Lu Yu, the “Tea Sage”, was brought up by the temple. His initial understanding and interest in tea were also obtained from the temple. The “Tea Song”, which was widely circulated in society at about the same time as “The Classic of Tea” and also played a certain role in the development of China’s tea industry, was written by the poet monk Jiao Ran, Lu Yu’s good friend despite their age difference. In addition, apart from a large number of tea poems handed down, Jiao Ran also once wrote an article titled “Tea Secrets”, and he also had quite a lot of research on the functions of tea and the art of boiling and drinking tea. Another example is the Tribute Tea Court or Tribute Tea Workshop in the Tang Dynasty, that is, the place where the Huzhou Purple Bamboo Shoot and Changzhou Yangxian Tribute Tea were supervised and made every year (undoubtedly it was also the center of tea making or tea production technology in China at that time). Its location was set up in the “Upper Auspicious Temple” in Guzhu. The Upper Auspicious Temple was originally built in Wukang during the Chen Dynasty of the Southern Dynasties. During the Zhenyuan period, in order to attach the Tribute Tea Workshop to a large temple, the Auspicious Temple was specially relocated from Wukang to Guzhu.
In ancient times, only temples had the conditions to research tea, improve its quality, and promote it. Because temples had a certain amount of farmland, and the monks, especially those senior monks, did not participate in productive labor. They had the time and culture to pay attention to the art of tea picking and making, tea tasting, and write poems to promote tea culture. Therefore, there was an old saying in China that “Famous temples have always produced famous teas.” For example, Li Zhao’s “Supplement to the National History” in the Tang Dynasty mentioned some famous teas, such as Fuzhou Fangshan Luya, Jiannan Mengding Shihua, Yuezhou Yonghu Hango, Hongzhou Xishan Bailu, Qizhou Qimen Tuanhuang, etc. Their genuine products all came from temples or temple monks. Another example is the “Shuiyue Tea” of Shuiyue Nunnery on the West Mountain in Suzhou, the “Tianmu Mountain Tea” in Yuqian, Hangzhou, the “Ya Mountain Tea” in Ningguo, Xuancheng, the “Shugang Tea” in Yangzhou, the “Rizhu” in Kuaiji, the “Shuangjing Baiya” in Hongzhou, etc. in the Northern Song Dynasty. Whether they were tributes or offerings, they were also precious products created and publicized by monks and Taoists. Taking some famous teas produced in modern Anhui as examples, for example, “Huangshan Maofeng” is mainly produced in the areas around Songgu Nunnery, Diaoqiao Nunnery, and Yungu Temple on Huangshan Mountain; “Liu’an Guapian” is better when produced in the area of Shuijing Nunnery on Qiyun Mountain; “Huoshan Huangya” is produced in Changling Nunnery in Dayang Township; Songluo Tea in Xiuning was first created by the monk Dafang in the Ming Dynasty, and so on. All of these indicate that due to Buddhism’s own need for tea, in the process of borrowing from and absorbing tea culture, Buddhism has also vigorously promoted the development of China’s and even the world’s tea industry.
