Lu Yu Quotes

Tea tempers the spirits and harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, lightens or refreshes the body, and clears the perceptive faculties.

The clouds above us join and separate, The breeze in the courtyard leaves and returns. Life is like that, so why not relax? Who can stop us from celebrating?

The effect of tea is cooling and as a beverage it is most suitable. It is especially fitting for persons of self-restraint and inner worth.

I was very fond of strange stories when I was a child. In my village-school days, I used to buy stealthily popular novels and historical recitals. Fearing that my father and my teacher might punish me for this and rob me of these treasures, I carefully hid them in secret places where I could enjoy them unmolested. As I grew older, my love for strange stories became even stronger, and I learned of things stranger than what I had read in my childhood. When I was in my thirties, my memory was full of these stories accumulated through years of eager seeking. l have always admired such writers of the T'ang Dynasty as Tuan Ch'eng-shih [author of the Yu-yang tsa-tsu] and Niu Sheng [author of the Hsuan-kuai lu]. Who wrote short stories so excellent in portrayal of men and description of things. I often had the ambition to write a book (of stories) which might be compared with theirs. But I was too lazy to write, and as my laziness persisted, I gradually forgot most of the stories which I had learned. Now only these few stories, less than a score, have survived and have so successfully battled against my laziness that they are at last written down. Hence this Book of Monsters. I have sometimes laughingly said to myself that it is not I who have found these ghosts and monsters, but they, the monstrosities themselves, which have found me! ... Although my book is called a book or monsters, it is not confined to them: it also records the strange things of the human world and sometimes conveys a little bit of moral lesson.

A Thousand mountains will greet my departing friend, When the spring teas blossom again. With such breadth and wisdom, Serenely picking tea— Through morning mists Or crimson evening clouds— His solitary journey is my envy. We rendezvous at a remote mountain temple, Where we enjoy tea by a clear pebble fountain. In that silent night, Lit only by candlelight, I struck a marble bell— Its chime carrying me A hidden man Deep into thoughts of ages past. — "The Day I Saw Lu Yu off to Pick Tea

À cet âge-là, l'esprit est tendre, et ce qu'on y imprime y reste pour longtemps. À tel point qu'aujourd'hui encore, 40 ans après, je peux chanter sans effort les dizaines de chansons que contenait mon "yu lu".

le vent soulève le fleuve et le lac, la pluie assombrit le village les montagnes alentour rugissent comme les vagues déferlantes de la mer un feu doux de fagots du torrent, une chaude couverture barbare en laine, le chat et moi ne franchissons pas la porte

«Che cosa intendi con “lavorare sodo”?» chiese Gao Yao. «Quando il diluvio è arrivato fino al cielo, circondando le montagne e sommergendo le colline, il popolo è stato inghiottito dalle acque» disse Yu. «Ho viaggiato in carrozza sulla terra, in barca sulle acque, in slitta sul fango e in portantina sui monti. Ogni volta che sono arrivato su una montagna, ho fatto tagliare degli alberi e, con l’aiuto di Yi, ho fatto in modo che tutti avessero cibo e carne da mangiare. Ho riportato l’acqua che aveva invaso i campi nel letto dei fiumi e l’acqua che era nei fiumi nel mare. Con l’aiuto di Ji, ho distribuito tra la popolazione beni difficili da reperire. Là dove c’erano carenze, rimediavo prendendo dai luoghi in cui c’erano eccedenze. Ho fatto trasferire famiglie intere. In questo modo tutti si sono sistemati e pace e ordine ora regnano ovunque.» «Bene! Queste sono davvero perle di saggezza» approvò Gao Yao.

Father God, I am working to make room in my life for more of the things that please You. I want my daily activities, priorities, and choices to reflect my love for You and my commitment to You. Give me a discerning mind so that I make space for family, prayer, devotion, worship, and caring for others and myself. Amen. HEART ACTION Take back control of your time and your days. Flip to your calendar and make three white spaces just for you. You'll be on your way to a new sense of freedom and peace. The effect of tea is cooling and as a beverage it is most suitable. It is especially fitting for persons of self-restraint and inner worth. Lu Yu

Le roi Hiang (Xiang Yu n.n.) mena ses soldats du côté de l’est; arrivé à Tong-Tch’en il n’avait plus que vingt- huit cavaliers. Les cavaliers de Han qui le poursuivaient étaient au nombre de plusieurs milliers. Le roi Hiang estima qu’il ne pouvait plus échapper ; il dit à ses cavaliers : « Huit années se sont écoulées depuis le moment où j’ai commencé la guerre jusqu’à maintenant ; j’ai livré en personne plus de soixante-dix batailles ; ceux qui m’ont résisté, je les ai écrasés ; ceux qui m’ont attaqué, je les ai soumis ; je n’ai jamais été battu ; j’ai donc possédé l’empire en m’en faisant le chef. Cependant voici maintenant en définitive à quelle extrémité je suis réduit ; c’est le Ciel qui me perd ; ce n’est point que j’aie commis quelque faute militaire… Alors il divisa ses cavaliers en quatre bandes qu’il disposa sur quatre fronts ; l’armée de Ban le tenait enfermé dans un cercle de plusieurs rangs d’épaisseur ; le roi Hiang dit à ses cavaliers : « Je vais, en votre honneur, m’emparer de ce général que voilà. » Il ordonna à ses cavaliers sur les quatre fronts de descendre’ à fond de train et leur fixa trois lieux de rendez-vous à l'est de la montagne. Puis le roi Hiang descendit au galop en poussant de grands cris ; l’armée de Han se mit en déroute et il coupa aussitôt la tête à un général de Han…. Le roi Hiang lui-même avait reçu plus de dix blessures ; en se retournant, il aperçut Lu Ma-t'ong capitaine des cavaliers de Han et lui dit: « N’êtes- vous pas une de mes anciennes connaissances ? » Ma-t’ong le dévisagea et, le montrant à Wang, il lui dit : « Celui-là est le roi Hiang. » Le roi Hiang dit alors : « J’ai entendu dire que Han avait mis à prix ma tête, (promettant pour elle) un millier d’or et une terre de dix mille foyers ; je vous donne cet avantage. » Â ces mots, il se coupa la gorge et mourut.

After she’s gone, Lu lies alone in his bed, a bit drunk, and thinks of a poem by Li Yu, the last emperor of the Southern Tang dynasty, who met his untimely end by poisoning: How many teardrops Run down your face and across your cheeks? Don’t speak when troubles make you weep Or try to play the phoenix flute through your tears Because then your heart will just break all the more

Measures of Length To give a brief account of matters. In point of measurements, there is first of all the yojana (yu-shen-na); this from the time of the holy kings of old has been regarded as a day’s march for an army. The old accents say it is equal to 40 li; according to the common reckoning in India it is 30 li, but in the sacred books (of Buddha) the yojana is only 16 li. In the subdivision of distances, a yojana is equal to eight krosas (keu-lu-she); a krosa is the distance that the lowing of a cow can be heard; a krosa is divided into 500 bows (dhanus); a bow is divided into four cubits (hastas); a cubit is divided into 24 fingers (angulis); a finger is divided into seven barleycorns (javas); and so on to a louse (yuka), a nit (liksha), a dust grain, a cow’s hair, a sheep’s hair, a hare’s down, copper-water,315 and so on for seven divisions, till we come to a small grain of dust; this is divided sevenfold till we come to an excessively small grain of dust (anu); this cannot be divided further without arriving at nothingness, and so it is called the infinitely small (paramanu).