The Formation and Evolution of Teahouses

From Temple Teahouses to Folk Teahouses

Drinking tea first became a fashion in temples in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Buddhism prevailed, and there was a tea hall in the temple, where monks discussed Buddhism and entertained diners to have tea and tea. There is a "tea drum" in the northwest corner of the Dharma Hall to knock and summon monks to drink tea. Monks meditate every day and drink tea when they burn a pot. There is also a "tea head", which specializes in making tea and offering tea to guests. This is probably the earliest form of large-scale collective tea drinking.

Tea is used to support the three treasures (Buddha, monk and monk) and entertain guests in the temple, and strict tea drinking etiquette and fixed tea drinking procedures have gradually formed. The abbot always invites monks and nuns in the whole temple to drink tea, which is called "ordinary tea"; During the annual "big invitation", the abbot will hold a tea party after the new deacon is confirmed. Tea has become an indispensable part of Zen activities from its original medicinal function of refreshing the brain, and then it has become a medium for practicing precepts and understanding Buddhism. Tea and Zen are more and more integrated, and finally condensed into Zen forest French, which has been passed down through the ages and is favored by Chinese and foreign countries. "Tea is Zen, and giving up Zen means no tea. I don't know the taste of Zen, that is, I don't know the taste of tea. " (Zean Zongpeng's "Tea and Zen") At this point of "enlightenment", tea and Zen have reached the same. Jingshan Temple, which was founded in the Tang Dynasty, has been the crown of Zen forest in the south of the Yangtze River since the Song Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty. Its "Jingshan tea banquet" is very famous. When there are ceremonies such as robes given by the court and Zhang Xi, a tea banquet will be held to invite monks and literati in the temple. In the Song Dynasty, Japanese Zen masters came to Jingshan Temple to learn Buddhist scriptures, and the spirit of Jingshan Tea Banquet was introduced to the island country, which promoted the development of Japanese tea ceremony.

The tea drinking custom of monks in temples has a great influence on folk tea drinking. According to "Feng Shiwen Ji Jian" performed in the Tang Dynasty, "During the Kaiyuan period (AD 7 13-74 1), there was a demon-reducing master Daxing Chan in Lingyan Temple in Taishan, who could not sleep at night and could not eat, so he was allowed to drink tea. People take themselves everywhere to cook and drink. Since then, imitation has become a custom. " In the heyday of the Tang Dynasty, "all princes and courtiers drank." (Don The Chef's Manual). Tea parties and poems were popular among literati, which influenced the upper rulers and gradually led to a large-scale official tea banquet. Drinking tea became a custom, which contributed to the emergence of the earliest tea shops in China. There is a clear record of tea shops in Wen Jian Ji by Feng: "There are many shops in Kaiyuan, selling fried tea, not asking the vulgar, and throwing money to drink." These shops have a certain scale, but they haven't been named teahouses yet.

The wind of drinking tea touched all kinds of people, and with the huge output of tea and frequent trade, the court saw that tea, like salt and iron, had become an indispensable thing in people's lives with rich profits. In the first year of Jianzhong in Tang Dezong (AD 780), tea tax was levied on tea-producing areas all over the country. Tea tribute policy is also an important means for the royal family to search for people's fat and paste. Tea farmers need to pay tribute to the royal family for picking the best quality tea before Qingming. The Tang government specially sent eunuchs and tea envoys to set up a "tribute tea garden" in Yangxian County to manage tribute tea in Yangxian County. The poet Lu Tong's poem "Giving a Pen to Thank Meng for Suggesting Sending New Tea" contains the sentence "The emperor must taste Yangxian tea, but the hundred herbs dare not open first". In the late Tang Dynasty, a Qingming tea banquet was held in the court. After the emperor received the tribute tea, he first offered sacrifices to his ancestors, then gave it to his recent ministers for love, and held a "Qingming banquet" to entertain the ministers.

Scholars like to taste tea and study tea art, which has played a positive role in the development of teahouses. Lu Yu (about 733-804 AD), closely related to Zen, is an iconic figure in the history of tea culture development. Orphan since childhood, adopted by Zen master Zhiji, good at making tea. His Book of Tea is an ancient "encyclopedia of tea" in China, which briefly discusses the leaves, water, utensils and environment of drinking tea, and improves the spiritual realm of drinking tea.