Lu Tong
March 12, 2014

What's Your Experience Of A Fine Brew? Lu Tong Says - Immortality

I took this photos some years ago on my way to one of my favorite mountain getaways, Dong Pu Hot Springs in Nantou County, Taiwan. Dong Pu is also the eastern trail head to Taiwan's highest peak - Jade Mountain, 3,952 m (12,966 ft). This statue had no name on it, but I took it to be a rendition of the legendary Lu Tong, who wrote this most famous of tea stanzas which is well known in the Chinese.

Lu Tong's Seven Bowls of Tea 七碗诗 卢仝(唐. 790~835)

The first bowl moistens my lips and throat   一碗喉吻潤,

The second bowl breaks my loneliness   二碗破孤悶,

The third bowl searches my barren entrails but to find   三碗搜枯腸,

Therein some five thousand scrolls   惟有文字五千卷,

The fourth bowl raises a slight perspiration    四碗發輕汗,

And all life's inequities pass out through my pores   平生不平事盡向毛孔散,

The fifth bowl purifies my flesh and bones   五碗肌骨清,

The sixth bowl calls me to the immortals   六碗通仙靈,

The seventh bowl could not be drunk   七碗吃不得也,

only the breath of the cool wind raises in my sleeves   唯覺兩腋習習清風生。

Where is Penglai Island, Yuchuanzi wishes to ride on this sweet breeze and go back  
蓬萊山﹐在何處,玉川子乘此清風欲歸去

(Steven R. Jones 2008)