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The companion of nature is her way of growing up You don’t even
in accordance with the time and place. Staying close to
nature allows people to return to their true state: they will have to think about
unconsciously pay attention to the growth of plants and
the change of the season. For example, Zongzi will greet anything, but focus
flowers and farewell ducks. In her eyes, there is no differ-
ence between everything; she has the same source of ev- on what you have to
erything else. While paying attention to the growth of the
human seedling, I am in turn touched by her and reflect do in that moment.
on the initial attitude of perception, which I had never
realized before. To put it simply, our lives are about cloth-
ing, food, shelter and transport. What we need is clothes
with comfortable textures and plain colors; food with the
original taste; habitable shelters and accessible transport.
All of these create a natural sense of balance, granting us
peace and a way to find the true self, the ego. Then, we
can leave it behind and move towards a stance with no
self. This is the path of the Tao that I am pursuing today.
Returning to the countryside is just an external form. You
don’t even have to think about anything, but focus on what
you have to do in that moment and reduce your desires. her a few times during our construction of the Qing Liang
In this way, you will naturally reach the path of the Tao Di, when she came to Wuyi Mountain with her family to
for everyone, which is your own “Qing Liang Di”. start a business. In my impression, she was a very enthusi-
“Liao Qin, try the tea.” master said. astic girl with a ponytail, hard-working, active and motiva-
I took up the cup and had three sips to finish the tea. tive. She dyed all the cloth in the master’s house, a harmo-
The lake outside the house blurred our thoughts, and I nious color that blended in just right with the whole
remembered Lu Tong, the poet from the Tang Dynasty who building. She reminded me of a clip from a documentary. It
could not help but to chant a few lines of poems after was about a tea person who would pick a wild vegetable that
drinking seven bowls of tea: “Drinking five bowls clears only grows in winter, believing it to be a gift from nature
your muscle and bone, and drinking six bowls enlightens and that eating it would give him the same resilient energy.
immortal spirit; one cannot drink seven bowls, as he will The rice here was delicious, and my master told me
only feel winds blowing through the two armpits, ah!” A that it was grown by a farmer at the bottom of the moun-
proverb says music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, tain. At lunchtime, we strained and then steamed rice. I
wine and tea are the seven daily necessities for scholars, thought that the rice would not be very tasty in this way,
and firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea are but I actually found a very clean, pure taste. I wonder if
the seven necessities for common people. This means, anyone understands it. It’s worth mentioning that the
after drinking the tea, it would be the time to eat. Master stained rice soup was so good, sticky and warm with a
has an open kitchen, with earthen walls and an earthen fragrance similar to osmanthus. It really puts the beauty
stove, with an entrance but no door, as well as an open of life into place, so reassuring. For dinner, a pot of casu-
window. Shall we say it has a door or not? Some dishes al stir-fried rice with nori was a surprisingly wonderful
were placed on the windowsill, and outside the window a culinary experience. We all seemed to forget about tea for
large piece of meat hung near the entrance. I thought it a moment. Later, the master filled a cloth bag of rice for
should be a piece of air-dried bacon, with a hard texture me to take back to Wuyi Mountain.
without any spice coating. I didn’t think to ask before I That day was the fifteenth day of the second lunar
left, and I was really impressed by the very grounded form. month, the Waking of Insects according to Chinese solar
I met an old friend in the kitchen, with long twisted terms. There was no thunder as usual, but the bright moon
braids, soft yet strong. The firewood crackling under the hanging between the pines.
stove and the spatula with clear scraping made the meal Before the farewell, the master’s cat followed to see us
Zongzi, who has been drinking tea with Liaoqin since she was just over a year old, would follow suit and learn how to make tea herself. Putting
smell good even before we started eating. Before I came, the off. We started the engine but again drove back to the woods.
on her own bamboo hat and staying barefoot, she would shake the tea leaves, carefully settle the tea, and observe the bugs inside the tea – just
master joked to let me show my cooking skills, but it seems Zongzi said in the car, “Master, you must go to the mountains
like a little tea person. The companion of nature is Zongzi’s way of growing up in accordance with the time and place. Staying close to nature allows
my clumsy techniques would make no use here. I didn’t feel to find Ling Wu (cat’s name, meaning spiritual enlighten-
people to return to their true state: they will unconsciously pay attention to the growth of plants and the change of the season. For example,
Zongzi will greet flowers and farewell ducks. In her eyes, there is no difference between everything; she has the same source of everything else. strange to meet her here, but it was a surprise. I had met ment), or it will turn into a forest animal.”
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