Monday, June 23, 2008
Posted by Miss Neddy at 10:48 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

To be worthy of the title of “saint”, a person must of course display qualities well beyond the average human. Although Lu Yu was not called the Tea Saint during his lifetime, his life and his actions made him well worthy of the term. Devoid of ambition and greed (except for perhaps tea), Lu Yu turned down not one but two emperors’ requests to serve the Imperial Court. Emperor Tang Daizong, and his son, Tang Dezong, both offered Lu Yu positions of power within the court, having heard of his wits, intelligence and dedication to tea. Incidentally, Tang Dezong as the first emperor to impose a tax on tea; one wonders if it was a backhanded way of punishing Lu Yu.

Lu Yu, though he rebelled against the monastic life imposed on him as a child, nonetheless led a near-monastic life in the world outside the monastery. He never married, was a vegetarian and in many respects, behaved as a monk. Perhaps old habits die hard. His personal name Yu 羽, means “feather”, and true to his name, Lu Yu stepped lightly on the world, not settling down in any place for long till he was in his sixties.

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