Chapter V · The Brewing: Misreadings — For each sheng of water, divide it into five bowls…
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The passage
“For each sheng of water, divide it into five bowls and drink while hot, in succession. The heavy and muddy settles below; the essence and fineness floats above.”
Misreadings
The most common misreading of “For each sheng of water, divide it into five bowls…” 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.