tea fairy【茶仙】

微博：dearqqzhao赵清 /ins：dearqqzhao

《红楼梦》中描述妙玉煮茶所用之水，是五年前在玄墓蟠香寺收的梅花上的雪融之水。《遵生八笺》亦有言，“茶以雪点，味更清冽，所为半天河水也”。可见古人对茶的研究和讲究。此中缘由，乃因中国道家追求阴阳均衡，地为阴，天为阳，而茶叶大多性质阴寒，所以用天上的阳水（雨水，雪水，甘露等）煮沸，来冲泡地上的阴寒之茶。

画中茶仙胸前左右，一束天上水，一束地上茶，交汇于茶仙手中，成就一杯沁心甘喉的香茶，也正是阴阳均衡成美之意。

水与茶一边一束，山茶花左右各一，手势左上右下，而茶仙正襟坐镇当中，微微阖眸，神态淡泊中透出威仪，整幅画面采用对称与平衡的构图，以体现中式茶文化的仪式感与精神内涵。

加之忙碌的仙童，护法的金刚，虚空中怒目扫视的法眼等细节，衬托出整幅画严肃与活泼、淡泊与喜悦的对比，正如同茶水层次丰富的口感与意味深长的意境。

It is written in A Dream of Red Mansions that the beautiful nun Miaoyu uses rare and mystical water to brew tea: snow-melt of a winter five years before, collected from the plum blossoms whose aroma coils around the tombs of her temple. So, too, is it written in the ancient Chinese medical treatise, Zun Sheng Ba Jian, “tea accompanied by snow, a clearer taste will flow; it is the water which carries the energy of the sky.” Fundamental to Taoism is the pursuit of a balance between yin and yang. Yin is associated with the earth, and yang with the sky. Thus the tea leaves are qualitatively yin, and matched with yang water—rain, snow, dew—joined and blended through a process of precisely applied heat, a cup of sweet and fragrant tea is created, harmonizing the elements of yin and yang. This is but a small sample of the esoteric knowledge and tasteful care that the ancients applied to their appreciation of tea.