Mother of Tea 無 Vast Waters 邊 -Frederick R. Dannaway 無 We’ve convinced this most erudite Daoist scholar, and long time teaist, to pause from his contribu- 量 tions to various academic journals and write for us. In this excellent piece, Dannaway reflects on the "Mother of Tea" with all the historical, scriptural and literary insight at his disposal. These pages are 水 overflowing, and worth reading a few times over. n the year 1833, on the 15th tain water is most exalted, second is superior; garden tea takes second I day of the eight month, a group is river-water and third is deep well place.” There is even a special class of Japanese tea mystics placed water for the all important consid- of water, Immortal (shui xian), asso- a jar of Chinese water deep into eration in choosing the “medium” ciated with the waters and springs the source of the Yodo River that for tea. Water is catalytic, it releases of remote regions. The rather tech- flows into Kyoto. In contrast to the flavor and the Qi from the tea while nical term xian or Immortal, in its wasting of tea as protest in Boston, reacting with the Qi of the kettle simplest form is “man and moun- these sencha adepts felt guilty in and exerting its own unique energy, tain together” (Needham 1974). hoarding the precious—and labo- depending on its source. Many The associations of teas and waters riously imported—Chinese water tea-masters confirm the potency of from remote mountains and Daoist and so decided to release it into specific mountain springs and show Immortals are validated by potent, their home waters and thus share its a preference for old or wild-tree teas Qi-filled puerh teas that are still potency with their countrymen. The (also from famous mountains) for available, for a price, to modern ring-leader of this plot, the literati both flavor and for their energy and tea drinkers. Indeed, seasoned tea tea-master Kakuo, had requisitioned healing powers. These attributes, if drinkers will judge a tea by the Qi the water from China via Nagasaki deduced empirically through gen- they feel from drinking it and some and after a year’s wait was blessed erations of observations as well as antique puerh, properly stored, are with three bottles (18 liters) of the from a Daoist “mystical primitiv- kinetically charged with the energies water. There was a brief reactionary ism”, can be seen to have retained an of their origin. The same preference response to the plan by the govern- influence from the earliest religious for the “wild” versus “cultivated” ment who “feared the Chinese water observations, of water in China and can be found amongst those famil- would poison the drinking supply” into Japan. On a practical level, iar with ginsengs and certain mush- but they eventually acquiesced and water and tea from remote areas rooms as well. The mountains pro- the population imbibed the water in would indeed have special character- duce superior plants and Qi, so it is “minuscule” but nevertheless sym- istics, such as taste or purity, as well logical that the water they produce bolic doses (Graham 1998). as a metaphysical association with be the most coveted. Famous moun- Connoisseurs of tea and tea lit- the powerful mountains and wilder- tains produced famous teas and held erature meet frequently with such ness that were the mystical abodes famous springs. Likewise, the diver- seemingly eccentric exploits of water of the Immortals. As the Tea “god” sion of water for agricultural pur- obsession amongst tea sages. Moun- Lu Yu states, “Tea that grows wild poses was one of the essential steps 31 Vast Waters of “civilization” which in its best The bewildered servant conceded elixir alchemy, macrobiotic potions sense is analogous to the cultiva- that he spilled some and replaced and magical plants. Daoist cosmol- tion of inner energies of alchemy, or it with the water of the riverbanks. ogy permeated Chinese thought “turning the water wheel.” Such anecdotes are common among and the elemental theory based on The myth of the legendary tea masters and serve to highlight the trigrams held deep spiritual sig- emperor Shennong, likely from the fanatical attention to detail that nificance for the cycles of Nature a tribe of the same name practic- went into making their holy liba- and of the fundamentals of reality ing swidden agriculture, is cred- tion. itself. Tea, brewing in water atop a ited with discovering the Leaf in The metaphysical qualities of fanned fire, has a deeply alchemical his taxonomic research on behalf of water were certainly considered by relationship with the elements that the starving, poisoned and uncivi- tea masters as well, and their sym- corresponds to the internal organs lized masses (Dannaway 2009). As bolic expressions can be found in sympathy with the elemental the story goes, he was boiling water amongst the teaware and in scrolls energies. As the outer-alchemical for sanitary reasons when a few hung in alcoves. On Lu Yu’s bra- arts evolved into internal visualiza- tea leaves fell from a gust of wind zier legs, for example, there was tions, a beverage like tea would have into the water, which was perhaps the inscription “k’an (water) above; remained an exoteric link to the a gourd container. If such legends sun (wind) below and li (fire) in past. extend to a prehistory before pottery the middle.” In the windows on Daoist theories certainly spread and metallurgy then water might the rather ornate brazier there were to Japan with the tea seeds brought have been heated in bamboo or in grids. On one grid was a pheasant, by Buddhist priests and Daoist gourds. In light of the cosmological fortune tellers associated with var- and horticultural myths of China ious cults. Rikyu’s traditions men- with the bottle gourd, treated with The spiritual dimension tion such associations, such as the utter mastery by Girardot (1986), of Lu Yu’s tea cannot be advice, “In winter start the kettle at one might speculate that the prim- underestimated, and he 4am, the Hour of the Tiger.” While itive tribesman used stones heated clearly abhorred the vulgar Rikyu would have no doubt pre- in the fire and placed in the bottle ferred famous mountain waters, he gourd to boil water, perhaps mak- “popular” tea culture that was practical in accepting well-water ing it the first “kettle.” Many of the had no religious roots. Tea for his tea. But these were subject to alchemical stills of Daoists were tra- was a medicine and a sac- Daoist/Buddhist considerations: ditionally gourd shaped as well. rament at once healing and Always use water drawn at dawn allowing communication for tea, whether the gathering be in Sage Advice with oneself and divinities. the morning, at noon, or at night. This is a matter of the alertness of the practitioner of Chanoyu— When it comes to water, I bow a fire bird with the trigram li. of making ready sufficient water before the pure-flowing channels of On the second grid there was a for the whole day’s tea from dawn the Min. small tiger whose trigram is sun into night. Just because it is a night or wind. The third grid was graced gathering does not mean one uses A tea master like Lu Yu had such with a fish, trigram k’an as a water water drawn after noon. During a sophisticated palate that he could creature. As Lu Yu wrote, “sun rules the period from dusk to midnight determine with almost supernat- the wind, li rules the fire, k’an rules Yin prevails; water’s spirit subsides, ural accuracy the origin of freshly the water. Wind can stir up the fire poisons are present. Dawn water drawn water. Hearing of the exceed- and the fire can boil water. This is belongs to the beginning of Yang, ing quality of the rivers of Nanling why the three trigrams are on it.” when its pristine spirit surfaces; it in Yangzi, Lu Yu and a friend dis- The spiritual dimension of Lu is the ‘flower of the well.’ This water patched a faithful servant to obtain Yu’s tea cannot be underestimated, is vital for tea and demands careful the precious water. Upon tasting it, and he clearly abhorred the vulgar attention on the part of the practi- Lu Yu judged the water as drawn “popular” tea culture that had no tioner. from the banks, and not from mid- religious roots. Tea was a medicine dle of the river as desired. He even- and a sacrament at once healing As Hirota (1995) notes of spiri- tually elicited a confession after and allowing communication with tual water-drawing, “Seikasui [is] a exactly determining which parts of oneself and divinities. The reverence Buddhist term for water drawn from the collected water in the jar came for brewing tea must be placed into 2 to 4 AM. This water is considered from certain parts of the river. an exceedingly ancient culture of especially pure for compounding 33/ Vast Waters These old Daoist drawings depict man as the mountain, with his internal Qi as the springs, rivers and streams. They mirror the macro in the micro, connecting man to the cosmos and his place in it. Drinking tea often evokes a feel- ing like this, even in those participating in their first ever tea ceremony. We often here people say that they feel like the mountain the tea is cours- ing through like an old river... medicines and for altar offerings.” ods existed in Nature” that were The harmony of utensils, the Elsewhere (Hirota 1995) Rikyu, revealed through a “ritualistic pre- selection of proper fuel for the fire, based on traditions written after sentation method for sencha that the source of the water and tea all his death, alludes to “secret matters adhered to the principles of and combine under the subtle skill of of Yin and Yang” but as to what he respected the elements—Yin and the master to produce the “world meant exactly would be speculation.