Chapter IX · The Omissions: Misreadings — As for the making tools: if at early spring, during…
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The passage
“As for the making tools: if at early spring, during the cold-food days, one gathers with many hands in a wild temple or mountain garden, steaming and pounding on the spot, then drying over fire — the seven implements can all be dispensed with.”
Misreadings
The most common misreading of “As for the making tools: if at early spring, during…” is to treat a Tang observation as a universal rule.
“Wild is better than garden” made sense in a particular landscape and market. It is not a law that every modern tea garden is inferior.
Ask instead: what was the observation responding to, and what part of it still holds?
Reading note
Read the passage once for the image, once for the judgment, and once for the practice it implies.
Practice
- Name one thing the passage asks you to notice.
- Compare it with a tea you know.
- Keep the question open.