The Cozy Tea Cart

by Lu Tong (790-835 AD)

Lu Tong was a great tea scholar during the Tang Dynasty. He had a great understanding of tea and the essence that it brought to one’s soul. His most famous poem was “The Seven Bowls of Tea” which expresses the spiritual essence of tea. 

Seven Bowls of Tea
The first bowl moistens my lips and throat.
(with its sweet tea water)

The second bowl breaks my loneliness.
(Even if you drink tea alone, the second bowl can break the lonely depressing mood. As tea is like an old friend, talking to it makes you feel more and more relaxed.)

The third bowl searches my barren brain but to find therein some five thousand scrolls.
(The third bowl makes you feel more and more excited and you can’t wait to express all the feelings and thoughts in your heart. It is precisely because of tea that so many emotions and inspirations are triggered.)

The fourth bowl raises a slight perspiration – all the wrongs of life pass out through my pores.
(The fourth bowl of tea is full of emotions. In life, there are many roles to play and many responsibilities to take on. Sometimes it’s not easy when you think about it. But no matter how hard it is, if you can drink a cup of tea, your mind will gradually calm down and all your frustrations will seem to dissipate from your pores with sweat.)

The fifth bowl purifies my flesh and bones and makes me feel light.
(Having been freed from the cares of the world, drinking the fifth bowl of tea brings the mind to a new level. The skin, muscles and bones of the body are cleansed, and one feels refreshed and renewed, both internally and externally, as if one has been reborn.)

The sixth bowl calls me to the spirits of immortality.
(“Spirit” is a subtle state of mind. When you drink the sixth bowl of tea, your mind becomes clear and bright, your body and mind become one with nature, as if you are in dialogue with the gods and can perceive everything in the world, reaching a realm of ease and relaxation.)

The seventh bowl could not be drunk, only the breath of the cool wind raises in my sleeves. Where is Penglai Island, I wish to ride on this sweet breeze and go back.
(Penglai Island is the island for immortals in Chinese mythology. If you did drink the seventh bowl of tea, you would enter a dream-like world, as if you had left the earth and become immortal.)

This poem captures all of what tea is about: Mindfulness, Reverence, and Withdrawal from Worldly Concerns.