tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post8093130626371681071..comments2024-03-16T11:51:28.412-04:00Comments on CHA DAO: A Song-Dynasty Tea Poem: Zhu Xi's "Tea Stove"coraxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03645573592247798140noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-18845425064643847502009-05-23T13:09:27.980-04:002009-05-23T13:09:27.980-04:00This is a lovely poem and I really enjoy the true ...This is a lovely poem and I really enjoy the true translation. The photo of the handwritten poem is indeed lovely. So artful and a lovely possession to have.ItsAboutTeahttp://itsabouttea.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-5841557898040031892009-05-03T13:40:00.000-04:002009-05-03T13:40:00.000-04:00Steve: I'd be a little weary of playing up the po...Steve: I'd be a little weary of playing up the potential Daoist connections too much. I don't remember Zhu Xi as being particularly interested in Daoism and his philosophy is, if anything, a rejection of both Daoism and Buddhism.MarshalNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776398824139018801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-91688830251961223602009-04-27T11:00:00.000-04:002009-04-27T11:00:00.000-04:00Laochagui,
Thank you very much for your work on Z...Laochagui,<br /><br />Thank you very much for your work on Zhu Xi and his tea poetry. Your choice of poem is quite wonderful for it reveals the sophistication of the man and his keen sensitivity to the fine aesthetics of tea.<br /><br />As you have noted, translation of Chinese verse is difficult but quite an enjoyable challenge, especially when length is short and language, pithy. In the case of your selection, there is the added twist of the poet borrowing a complete line from the Book of Songs to punctuate his exact meaning as rightly pointed out. Moreover, Zhu Xi’s verse is idiomatic, particularly in the third line describing boats. His imagery is varied and complex, with intricate plays on fire and water, liquid and vapor, drifting and wafting.<br /><br />Basically, Zhu Xi’s poem is on the joy of companionship and conviviality as well as tea. He offers the image of two friends in separate boats taking their leisure on a calm lake or slow river. On board, one boils water on a stone stove to make tea as they float upon the water, drifting along in tranquil harmony. Finishing their bowls, they sit contented and replete; the long taste of tea straying from their palates, their noses still seeming to catch the subtle aroma of tea in the air.<br /><br />This particular poem acknowledges the Daoist roots of tea. Zhu Xi playfully adopts for the moment the name 仙翁 xianweng, Old Immortal, and refers to his brazier, a stone stove, 石灶 shizao. After the ninth century when Lu Tong 陸仝 wrote the Song of Tea and imagined that he had transformed from a man into an immortal, it was was common for poets to pose as spirits in their own tea poetry. In Zhu Xi’s poem, the philosopher is Old Immortal and, poetically speaking, he has in essence become the spirit of the stove, a deity with a rich lore in Daoism.<br /><br />Zhu Xi alludes, of course, to Zaojün 灶君, Lord of the Stove, a minor Daoist deity popularly known as the Kitchen God, patron saint of cooks and alchemists. As tea master, Zhu Xi identifies himself with the Lord of the Stove and partakes of the deity’s mystical connections with alchemy and longevity. Beyond the common kitchen deity, there are more august figures of greater antiquity. In ancient times, the hearth was the province of a female spirit of the furnace, who appeared in the guise of a beautiful maiden in fiery red robes. The furnace spirit was identified with the even older divinity Da Siming 大司命, Director of Destinies, who regulated the length of human lives. In the Han dynasty, the Daoist prince Liu An 劉安 wrote in the Huainan zi 淮南子 that the hoary sage Yandi 炎帝, the Fire Emperor, died and became a stove. Yandi was the noble title of Shen Nong 神農, the discoverer of tea. Thus, tea and stove are inseparable in the mythic figure of Shen Nong the Divine Cultivator, and Zhu Xi refers obliquely to this archaism as well. Furthermore, philosophical Daoism is fully apparent in Zhu Xi’s philosophy, but in addition to his thinking and meditative practices, there is evidence that he incorporated Daoism in his personal and literary life. For instance, his many names and sobriquets have the word 晦 hui, a Daoist term meaning dark, obscure, or hidden.<br /><br />Whatever the case, in appreciation of your effort and selection of the poem, I wish to offer the above interpretation and a slightly different translation.<br /><br />仙翁遺石灶<br />宛在水中央<br />飲罷方舟去<br />茶煙裊細香<br /><br />Old Immortal unveils a stone stove<br />Right in the middle of the water.<br />Tea drunk, our skiffs drift together<br />The scent of tea, lingering delicate fragrance…<br /><br />In companionship, from one cup to another,<br /><br />Steve.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16115542.post-26396502044925656262009-04-20T00:35:00.000-04:002009-04-20T00:35:00.000-04:00MarshalN made some comments on this poem which are...MarshalN made some comments on this poem which are very helpful to understand the poem.<br /><br />"'wan' in this context should be rendered as "just like" "as if"...<br /><br />"And for the third line, I'm not entirely sure whether or not there is the implication of more than one boat. Rather, I take fangzhou to just be a boat. 一片方舟, for example, is a pretty typical way to describe a small boat. <br /><br />Also, I'm not sure if tea smoke is quite literal -- certainly, the smoke from the charcoal would indeed be lingering as well, but I wonder if he really meant the steam from the tea (and by implication, the aroma). <br /><br />"Anyway, these are just thoughts/suggestions. Chinese verse is a pain to translate properly, as there are multiple meanings, sometimes intended..."<br /><br />When I protested that I still didn't understand the meaning of the second line, MarshalN looked it up and found:<br /><br />"...the line "wanzai shui zhongyang" is actually a quotation from the Shijing...and there the meaning is "as if". If we had the Shijing memorized (as we should) then we'd know the reference right away."<br /><br />Here is the poem (The reeds) referred to with an English translation by Arthur Waley<br /><br />http://www.cp.com.cn:8246/b5/www.cp.com.cn/emd/26/newsdetail.cfm?iCntno=3885<br /><br />After more discussion we concluded that 方舟 may mean two boats after all. Depending on the context, this word has about three different meanings, it shall be left up to the reader to imagine the scene to his or her own liking.LaoChaGuihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11088458603246488712noreply@blogger.com