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| Tea |
In ancient times, tea
was not known outside China. Rumors of its existence had reached the wise and
the unwise of other countries, and each tried to find out what it was in
accordance with what he wanted or what he thought it should be.
The King of Inja ('here') sent an embassy to
China, and they were given tea by the Chinese Emperor. But, since they saw that
the peasants drank it too, they concluded that it was not fit for their royal
master: and, furthermore, that the Chinese Emperor was trying to deceive them,
passing off some other substance for the celestial drink.
The greatest philosopher of Anja ('there')
collected all the information he could about tea, and concluded that it must be
a substance which existed but rarely, and was of another order than anything
then known. For was it not referred to as being a herb, a water, green, black,
sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet?
In the countries of Koshish and Bebinem, for
centuries the people tested all the herbs they could find. Many were poisoned,
all were disappointed. For nobody had brought the tea-plant to their lands, and
thus they could not find it. They also drank all the liquids which they could
find, but to no avail.
In the territory of Mazhab ('Sectarianism') a
small bag of tea was carried in procession before the people as they went on
their religious observances. Nobody thought of tasting it: indeed, nobody knew
how. All were convinced that the tea itself had a magical quality. A wise man
said: 'Pour upon it boiling water, ye ignorant ones!' They hanged him and
nailed him up, because to do this, according to their belief, would mean the
destruction of their tea. This showed that he was an enemy of their religion.
Before he died, he had told his secret to a few,
and they managed to obtain some tea and drink it secretly. When anyone said:
'What are you doing?' they answered: 'It is but medicine which we take for a
certain disease.'
And so it was throughout the world. Tea had
actually been seen growing by some, who did not recognize it. It had been given
to others to drink, but they thought it the beverage of the common people. It
had been in the possession of others, and they worshiped it. Outside China,
only a few people actually drank it, and those covertly.
Then came a man of knowledge, who said to the
merchants of tea, and the drinkers of tea, and to others: 'He who tastes,
knows. He who tastes not, knows not. Instead of talking about the celestial
beverage, say nothing, but offer it at your banquets. Those who like it will
ask for more. Those who do not, will show that they are not fitted to be
tea-drinkers. Close the shop of argument and mystery. Open the tea house of
experience.'
The tea was brought from one stage to another
along the Silk Road, and whenever a merchant carrying jade or gems or silk
would pause to rest, he would make tea, and offer it to such people as were
near him, whether they were aware of the repute of tea or not. This was the
beginning of the Chaikhanas, the tea houses which were established all the way
from Peking to Bokhara and Samarkand. And those who tasted, knew.
At first, mark well, it was only the great and
the pretended men of wisdom who sought the celestial drink and who also
exclaimed: 'But this is only dried leaves!' or: 'Why do you boil water,
stranger, when all I want is the celestial drink?', or yet again: 'How do I
know that this is? Prove it to me. Besides the color of the liquid is not
golden, but ochre!'
When the truth was known, and when the tea was
brought for all who would taste, the roles were reversed, and the only people
who said things like the great and intelligent had said were the absolute
fools. And such is the case to this day. Master Hamadina
