I

In Master Tasan’s poem to Zen Master A-am, “Asking for Tea,” he writes,

       In the morning, when flowers begin to open
       and snowy-white clouds drift in the sunlit sky,
       or when waking from sleep in the evening
       and the luminous winter moon splits a jade stream ——
       these are auspicious times for tea.

II

       A silk tent’s shade
       has an oddly favorable influence
       on tea leaves,
       so when heating
       with a bamboo stove
       in a tea contest,
       the water must boil calmly.
       When using a hot-burning pine charcoal,
       choose pure water.

       The tea, judged by richness:
       the road fills
       with fresh scents of tea ——
       people forget to return home.

              — from Chen Meigong’s poem, “The Tea Contest”

III

Li Po once said,

       Master Chen of Jade Well Temple is eighty, but his complexion is
       like a peach or plum. The scent of his tea is untainted —— different
       from others. Therefore, one can return to youth, like a once dried-
       out tree that suddenly sprouts leaves. People can live a long life with
       his green tea.

IV

       Rain on the Legs and Snow Blossom ——
       how these two are enough.

              — from Dongpo’s poem, “Response to QianAndao’s ‘Sending Jianan Tea’”

V

       When you hear the sound
       of wind in the pines
       and rain on the leaves of trees,
       remove the copper kettles
       from the bamboo stove.
       Wait until all becomes quiet ——
       a bowl of Spring Snow
       is sweeter than cream.

              — from Luo Daijing’s poem, “Boiling and Steaming”

Epilogue

The season’s first tea from Ch’oŭi
steams scents of green,
the first bird-tongue leaves
harvested before the Season of Rain for Grain.
One need not mention
Moonlight on Mountain Water
or House of the Clouds ——
we enjoy the year’s full cup and smile
of his Startling Thunder.

       — written by Lay Devotee White Hill, Secretary to the King.

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Ch’oŭi (1786-1866) was a Korean Buddhist monk given a traditional Confucian education, making him a uniquely trained scholar of his period. Ch’oŭi is considered one of the first pre-eminent experts on the subject of green tea in Korea.

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Ian Haight’s collection of poetry, Celadon, won Unicorn Press’ First Book Prize. He is the editor of Zen Questions and Answers from Korea (White Pine). Other awards include Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Translation, and grants from the Baroboin Buddhist Foundation. Poems, essays, interviews, reviews, microfiction and translations appear in Barrow Street, Writer’s Chronicle, Hyundai Buddhist News, Full Stop, MoonPark Review and Prairie Schooner.

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T’ae-yong Hŏ has been awarded translation grants from the Daesan Foundation and Korea Literature Translation Institute. With Ian Haight, he is the co-translator of Borderland Roads: Selected Poems of Kyun Hŏ and Magnolia and Lotus: Selected Poems of Hyesim —— finalist for ALTA’s Stryk Prize. Working from the original hansi, T’ae-yong’s translations of Korean poetry have appeared in Agni, New Orleans Review, and Atlanta Review.

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