南茶幷序

Preface and Poem of Southern Tea[1]

錦舲 朴永輔

By Geumryeong Bak Yeong-bo[2]

The text of the manuscript letter sent to Cho-ui and still extant, owned by Bak Dong-chun.

Translated by Brother Anthony and Steven D. Owyoung

序

Preface

南茶 湖嶺間産也

Nam-cha, southern tea, refers to the tea produced in Ho-nam and Yeong-nam.[3]

草衣禪師 雲遊其地

Seon Master Cho-ui journeyed there like a cloud,

茶山承旨及秋史閣學 皆得以文字交焉

corresponding with both Dasan[4] and Chusa[5] by exchanges of letters.

庚寅冬來訪于京師 以手製茶一包

In the winter of the year Gyeongin,[6] he visited Seoul with a package of tea made by himself to give to people.

爲贄李山中得之 轉遺及我

He kindly gave some to Yi San-jung who then gave some to me.

茶之關人如金縷玉帶

Tea draws people together like golden threads and jade belts,

亦己多矣

I now know this is the truth.

淸座一啜

After drinking the tea in a bright place,

作長句二十韻

I composed a rhyming poem of twenty seven-character couplets

以送禪師慧眼正之兼求和

that I sent to the Master, who read it with insight, and replied briefly.

南茶

Poem of Southern Tea

古有飮茶而登仙

In ancient times, some tea drinkers rose to become immortal;

下者不失爲淸賢

others, failing that, were enabled to become pure and virtuous.

雙井日注世已遠

Ssangjeon and Ilju teas[7] are now far gone from the world,

雨前紅穀名今傳

Ujeon[8] and Honggok[9] are nothing more than remembered names.

花瓷綠浪珍賞

Treasure the patterned, sea green porcelains.

眞味中華已經煎

Having brewed the true flavor of Chinese tea,

東國産茶茶更好

Tea of the Eastern Realm[10] is better.

茗如芽出初芳姸

Tea buds emerge quite fragrant and beautiful.

早或西周晩今代

From the early Western Zhou[11] until these latter days,

中外惟別大相懸

The difference between Chinese and other teas has always been great.

凡花庸草各有譜

Flowers and plants all have distinct features.

土人誰識茶人先

Who among Koreans first recognized tea?

鷄林商客入唐日

Silla merchants went to Tang China,

携渡滄海萬里船

Carrying tea in ships across the vast blue sea for ten thousand li[12]

康南之地卽湖建

The earth of Gangjin and Haenam is like that of Hunan and Fujian,

一去投種遂如捐

Returning, they sowed seeds and cultivated tea.

(南方海山間多有之

Much grows in the south between the mountains and the sea,

康津海南其最也)

Gangjin and Haenam producing the most.

春花秋葉等閑度

Spring flowers and autumn leaves, the seasons slip by.

空關靑山一千年

Through empty passes and over green mountains for a thousand years,

奇香鬱晄久而顯

A wonderful scent lingers and a glossy flush appears.

採春筐莒來因緣

Spring picking baskets come out as if ordained.

天上月榻小龍鳳

In Heaven, atop the table of the Moon, small dragon and phoenix cakes are made,[13]

法樣惟鹿味則然

The making is simple but the flavor is true.

草衣老師古淨業

Venerable Cho-ui’s pure and ancient way:

濃茗洗積參眞禪

To wash and store and make strong tea, to practice true Seon,

餘事翰墨倒寥辨

And to write in leisure with brush and ink about the profound and the lasting.

一時名士辨香虔

In time, famous scholars appreciated his tea and made reverence.

雪飄袈裟度千里

In swirling snow, a Buddhist monk[14] crossed a thousand li

頭綱美製玉團圓

bearing tribute tea,[15] beautifully made jade wafers and rounds.

故人贈我伴瓊玟

An old friend now gives me jade-like tea.

撒手的皪光走筵

I grind it until the white powder flies over the mat, making it bright.

我生茶癖卽水厄

My weakness for tea is just like “drowning.”[16]

年深浹骨冷淸堅

The chill long lodged deep in my bones has gone clean away.

三分湌食七分飮

I eat three cents worth of rice and drink seven cents worth of tea.

法家薑椒瘦可憐

To purists, ginger and pepper [prevent] leanness,[17] a pity.

伊來三月把空椀

For three months, I held an empty tea-bowl.

臥聽松雨出饞涎

While dozing, I hear the kettle boiling:[18] my mouth waters.

今朝一灌洗腸胃

Now, this morning, as I drink tea to cleanse my innards,

滿室霏霏綠霧烟

a green mist floats, filling the room.

只煩桃花色長老

I am bothered that the peach blossoms fade and fall,

愧無菊虀酬樂天

ashamed that I have no chrysanthemum spiced wine to entertain Bo Juyi.[19]

庚寅十一月望日錦

In the Gyeongin year, eleventh month, fifteenth day,

朴永輔 手和南

Bak Yeong-bo respectfully [clasps his] hands and bows.[20]

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[1] Poem of Southern Tea: Nam-cha byeong-seo南茶幷序 (a.k.a. 南茶幷書 or, in Korean, 남차병서). The text of this poem is preserved in 2 versions, the first being the actual autograph version sent to the Ven. Cho-ui and the second being that reproduced in the unpublished anthology of Bak Yeong-bo’s poems preserved by his descendants (Jeong Min 265). There are many slight variations between the two texts; Jeong Min 266-268 prefers the version found in the anthology, which seems to be an authorial revision of the original text. This English version follows the earlier, manuscript version.

[2] Geumryeong Bak Yeong-bo錦舲 朴永輔 (1808-1872 A.D.), scion of an aristocratic yangban family, was still a young man when he composed this poem. He went on to hold significant government positions. His poem seems to have done much to make his fellow aristocrats aware of Cho-ui and his tea.

[3] Horyeong 호령, an abbreviation of Ho-nam and Yeong-nam, the western and eastern portions of southernmost Korea, the provinces of Jeolla and Gyeongsang.

[4] Dasan茶山 다산was one sobriquet of Jeong Yak-yong 丁若鏞 (1762-1836 A.D.), a philosopher and leading thinker of the Practical Learning movement.

[5] Chusa秋史 추사was the sobriquet of Kim Jeong-hui 金正喜 (1786-1856 A.D.), a member of the Practical Learning movement and renowned calligrapher.

[6] Gyeongin year = 1830.

[7] Ssangjeon or Shuangjing 雙井 (Twin Wells) and Ilju or Rizhu 日注 (Radiant Sun) were loose leaf Chinese teas of the Song dynasty in the eleventh and twelfth centuries A.D.

[8] Ujeon우전 or Yüchian cha 雨前茶 (Before Rain tea) was picked as small, tender tea buds during the spring harvest between April 5 and April 20.

[9] Honggok or Honggu cha 紅穀茶 (Red Grain tea).

[10] Eastern Realm 東國or Dongguk, an ancient name for Korea.

[11] A reference to the Chinese tribute tea sent to the victorious Zhou by their allies the BaShu after the defeat of the Shang dynasty in the eleventh century B.C., the event recorded in the geographic history of Szechwan from ancient times to the fourth century A.D. by Ch’ang Ch’ü 常璩 (ca. 291-361 A.D.), Hua-yang kuo-chih 華陽國志 (Records of the Lands South of Mount Hua), ch. 1, no. 3, ch. 3, nos. 14 and 16, and ch. 4, no. 7.

[12] A li里or ri 리, a little more than a third of a mile.

[13] In Chinese myth, the moon was the home of the immortal Chang’e 嫦娥 and her pet rabbit that made the elixir of everlasting life. Xiao longfeng 小龍鳳 (small dragon and phoenix) referred to Chinese tea cakes made at the imperial gardens for the Northern Song palace.

[14] In the poem, the Buddhist cassock or jiasha 袈裟or gasa, was used to represent a monk.

[15] Touwang頭綱or du-gang was a special Chinese tribute tea of the Song dynasty. Of the highest grade, it was a caked tea produced at North Garden on the imperial estates of Fujian.

As the new tea of the season, touwang was presented to the throne before the Qingming Festival 清明節, i.e., before April 5^th.

[16] “Drowning,” known as shui’e 水厄 or su-aek , was a derogatory slang for tea. In the fourth century A.D., the Chinese Eastern Jin official Wang Meng王濛 (309-347 A.D.) was an avid tea drinker who foisted his habit on subordinates whenever they visited him. Unused to the disturbing effects of tea, they detested the drink and grumbled, “Today, we have to drown.” The story was a lost passage from the Shishuo xin yü 世說新語 (New Account of Tales of the World, ca. 430 A.D) recorded in the “Yinshi bu飲食部 (Drinks and Food),” T’ai-p’ing yü-lan (Imperial Digest of the T’ai-p’ing Reign Period, 977), ch. 867, no. 25.

[17] “Purists” likely referred to the Tang dynasty Chinese tea master Lu Yü (ca. 733-804 A.D.) who disdained the vulgar practice of adding fruit and herbs to flavor tea (Lu Yü 陸羽 (trad. 733-804 A.D.), “Yincha 飲茶 (Drinking Tea),” Ch’a-ching 茶經 (Book of Tea, 780 A.D.) (Pai-ch’uan hsüeh-hai 百川學海, ed., 1273 A.D.), ch. 3, part 6, p. 3a.). Spices like ginger and pepper, as well as strongly flavored alliums, were regarded by Daoists as prohibited foods that made the body heavy and impeded a long and healthy life and the attainment of immortality (cf. the saying, “bitter tea, if taken with chives, will make the body heavy,” attributed to the immortal Master Gourd in Lu Yü 陸羽, “Shi 事 (Affairs or Writings on Tea),” Ch’a-ching 茶經 (Pai-ch’uan hsüeh-hai 百川學海, ed., 1273 A.D.), ch. 3, part 6a, p. 6a).

[18] In the art of tea, the soft, gentle sounds of the boiling kettle was called “pines and rain,” songyü松雨or song-u, the “soughing of wind and rain in the pines.”

[19] The Tang dynasty Chinese poet Bai Juyi 白居易 (772-846 A.D.) is a poetic reference to honor and represent Yi San-jung who gave Bak Yeong-bo the tea.

[20] The Buddhist practice of folding or clasping the hands and bowing respectfully is represented by the phrase su hwa-nam手和南.