Summary: There are three ways to interpret the meaning of the word 'tea'. The first is' grass and wood man ', the second is' 108', and the third is' equal and sum '. In the usual sense, the definition of the tea character in tea culture is based on the square Chinese characters used to metaphorically represent the meaning of grass and wood people. In fact, this type of text decoding is very intuitive, concrete, and easy to translate into text. It can be argued that although tea and humans belong to different categories, they both have a moral foundation based on the principles of yin and yang. Tea ceremony and ethics, as well as human ethics, are not only the moral convergence points across species, but also the prominent points that distinguish them from other national drinking cultures. Undeniably, without the tea essence of Caomu people, there would be no tea culture. Without tea culture, there would be no tea taste, elegant tea customs, as well as tea nature, tea use, and tea longevity. Moreover, there would be no human admiration that transcends time and space, such as the "magical oriental leaves" and the "ever good tea is like a beautiful woman".
However, I believe that the cultural meaning of the character 'tea' should be elevated to a higher level on the basis of the Grass and Wood people, which is the Chinese abbreviation for 'wait' and 'harmony' (for now, it is understood that it has a deeper Zen meaning than the Grass and Wood people's understanding). Undoubtedly, the meanings of "waiting" and "harmony" in the tea character are also the crystallization of Eastern wisdom. Understanding the essence of these two words is not difficult. You only need to read Lu Yu's "Classic of Tea" thoroughly, and you can easily realize that the essence of tea is the innate and acquired qualities of "equality" and "harmony". Essentially, whether it is the innate taste of tea, the later development of tea, or even the emotions and tastes of tea, tea theory and beauty, they all stem from the inherent "equality" and "harmony" of tea. Moreover, it is the root and soul of tea. Indeed, the objectified 'equality' is the root, and the cultural 'harmony' is the soul.
Based on the above understanding, the meaning that this article wants to express is that once you enter the inner layer of tea culture, you will find that the concretization of tea culture is concentrated on one point, which is the "wait" that takes time. From tea trees to tea leaves, from tea leaves to tea soup, from tea soup to tea flavor, from tea flavor to tea ceremony, everything requires time, needs, and so on. To wait for the tea trees to grow, to wait for the picking time, to wait for the tea master to make them, and to wait for the water to boil and the flavor to come out on the tea table... No matter what kind of tea soup you are holding, "waiting" is the most basic implication about this cup of tea.
In short, tea rejects haste, especially good tea. So, an equivalent word is worth your careful consideration.
However, standing at a higher level of spiritual and cultural significance than the taste of tea soup and tea, even ordinary tea drinkers can touch and appreciate that the core essence of tea culture derived from tea, abstracted from Chinese culture, is the word "harmony". This includes the peaceful, clear, and balanced aspects of tea nature, which stem from the harmony of the heavenly way of "law in yin and yang"; The ultimate function of tea in terms of harmony, harmony, and elegance is the sum of humanity in terms of "harmony and numerology".
Beneath the surface lie plants and mortal men,while the inner layer is the interpretation of the tea characters "waiting" and "harmony" and the tea culture. It is a harmonious and diverse culture that coexists with harmony and win-win outcomes. It is also a solid cultural foundation for the construction of the human cultural community. Especially with the heavy support of International Tea Day and World Intangible Cultural Heritage, we have even stronger reasons to believe that the excellent traditional tea culture originated in China will shine more and more brightly and brilliantly in the entire history of human civilization.
