The Nomadic Flâneuse

The bird nest thought got developed further yesterday when visiting friend’s friend’s friend for tea. Sunny Sunday afternoon, delicious delicate teas, some Taiwan Oolong, some Fujian Cliff, some Hong Kong Pu-erh. As Li Bai said, one cup after another, over and over and over.

Too bad that we were in a New York apartment instead of the mountain where his hermit friend lives, otherwise if we got tea drunk, I could just lie down on the rock and tell the friends that “Now I’m drunk and feel sleepy, my friend you better go – And tomorrow come back if you wish, bring your lute with you!”, even not realizing that I was the visitor coming from the city to drink with the host living among the flower blossom, and the one who should be leaving when the host might be drunk and sleepy!

Always wonder at which cup did Lu Tong start to be tipsy, and after which cup was he really drunk. Since I don’t have five thousands scrolls of literary core in my entrails, neither have I experienced too many inequities to be casted out, somehow when I am inebriated the first sensation is always the lightening and purification of my flesh and bones.

Again the ancient Chinese didn’t do a good job backing up their database of literary scrolls. It seems some archives on Lu Tong write 五碗肌骨清, while some others mention 五碗肌骨轻. Were the actual flesh and bones of the mortal poet purified or lightened before he reached his immortality and connected with the celestial spirits? Maybe both are necessary, and me, I have yet to have the honor and fortune.

Back to the land of earthlings, one of the motivations of Zheng He the great explorer’s seven voyages was to find the unicorn, and the appearance of the exotic giraffe presented by Arab traders was interpreted as an auspicious sign from heaven by court astrologers: Benevolent is this beast, One encounter only from time immemorial. Illuminated under its divinity, Ascend to the land of abundance (仁哉兹兽 旷古一遇 照其神灵 登于天府). The delicacy of bird’s nest is just an accidental side-discovery.

I am not sure whether the colloquial literature in Ming Dynasty would be considered by Lu Tong as the literary core, or maybe he was a purist only respected the teaching of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors and the Four Books and Five Classics? (Geeeeeee don’t the ancient Chinese love simple numbers!) Anyhow I had some scrolls scrolling from Ming Dynasty, the Vegetable Roots Discourse (菜根谭),

There is exquisite pleasure in fixing your

eyes on half-opened flowers and in drinking

only to a half-tipsy state. Full flowering

and total intoxication will surely lead to

self-loathing. People whose plates are full

should ponder this deeply.

花看半开，

酒饮微醉，

此中大有佳趣。

若至烂漫酕醄，

便成恶境矣。

履盈满者宜思之。

In tea drinking, it is not the blend that

is important but that the pot must not be

allowed to be dry. In drinking wine, it is

not the strength of the wine that matters

but that the wine cup must not be empty.

The unornamented lute is always tuned

even without strings, and the flute is

perfectly suitable even without tunes.

It may be impossible to surpass Emperor Xi,

is it certainly possible to reach the level

of Ji and Ruan.

茶不求精而壶亦不燥,

酒不求洌而樽亦不空;

素琴无絃而常调,

短笛无腔而自适.

纵难超越羲皇,

亦可匹俦稽阮.

Hong Zicheng the author of Vegetable Root Discourse is a minimalist with unlimited artistic impulses and visions. As to me, I was really glad to have the exquisite pleasure of delicious blends and conversations.