Yuquan Temple near Xiling Gorge of the Yangtze River is an ancient temple that was built during the Three Kingdoms period and has a long history. The temple produces a famous tea called "cactus tea".

When it comes to it today, there is also a tragic story that is widely spread in the Jingshan area.

Legend has it that a long time ago, in a war, Yuquan Temple was looted unprecedentedly, Yuquan Temple was burned, and more than 200 monks were killed and half injured. At this time, it happened that an immortal sent by the Great Compassion Guanyin to inspect the water situation of the Three Gorges, happened to pass by here, and was very sad to see this tragic scene.

At that time, the immortal stretched out his right palm, and sprayed forward with fairy water in his mouth, and as the palm of his hand was raised, he gradually grew from the ground, a nest of verdant tea trees, with the growth of tea trees, then a miracle appeared, and those monks who died in the fire also came back from the dead one by one.

The monks in the monastery immediately understood that this resurrection from the dead must be related to the tea tree, so they immediately picked tea and boiled soup for the injured monk to take, and soon, all the monks who drank the "fairy tea" were in good health.

At this time, everyone hurriedly knelt down and prayed to the immortal sent by Guanyin in the South China Sea.

Since then, Yuquan Temple has a tea garden, the tea tree is called out by the cactus to stretch out the palm, the shape of the tea made is like a palm, in order to commemorate the immortal, the monk in the temple called this tea "cactus tea".

At the same time, the Buddha statues of Guanyin Bodhisattva and immortals are engraved on the stone tablet to commemorate their merits, and they still stand in the temple today.

Li Bai, a great poet of the Tang Dynasty, is also a lover of tea drinking and tea culture, and he has a poem: "For fear of the fangfu eagle's beak buds, the old man will send it to the immortal family." Tonight, there is more Xiangjiang moon, shining a bowl full of flowers. ”

These popular poems are like the fragrance of tea, leaving a lingering fragrance through the ages.

Li Bai said clearly in the "A Nephew Monk Zhongfu Presents Yuquan Cactus Tea and Preface" that this is his encounter with the nephew and nephew monk Zhongfu in Jinling in the third year of Tianbao (744), and his nephew gave poetry and cactus tea, and the poet thanked him for this poem.

Among the poems of the Tang Dynasty, this is an early tea poem, which has left a valuable piece of information for the history of tea culture. Li Bai wrote in the Preface:

Yuwen Jingzhou Yuquan Temple is close to the Qingxi mountains, and the caves often have milk caves. There are many jade springs in the cave, among which there are white bats, as big as crows. According to the Book of Immortals, a bat is a fairy mouse. After a thousand years old, the body is as white as snow, and the perch hangs upside down. Cover drink milk and live forever. Its waterside is full of tea grass, and the branches and leaves are like jasper. However, Yuquan Zhengong often picks and drinks it. He is over 80 years old and has a color like a peach blossom. And this tea is fragrant and smooth, which is different from others. Therefore, I can return the child to Zhenku, and help the life of the child. Yu traveled to Jinling, saw the nephew and monk Zhongfu, and showed dozens of pieces of tea. The fists overlap, its shape is like a hand, and it is called cactus tea. Cover the new out of the mountain of Yuquan, the ancient show of the cocoon, because of the persistence of the legacy, and the poem, to answer the remainder, so there is this work. Later, the high monk Dayin, knowing that the cactus tea originated from Zhongfu Zenzi and Qinglian monk Li Baiye.

His poem praises the clouds:

It is often heard that Yuquan Mountain, the cave has many milk caves.

The fairy rat is like a white crow, hanging upside down in the clear creek moon.

Tea is born in this stone, and the jade spring flows endlessly.

Genke sprinkles Fangjin, and takes to moisten the muscles and bones.

The old clumps of green leaves, branches one after another.

Exposed into a cactus to pat the shoulder of the cliff.

The world has never seen it, and its name will be passed on.

Zong Ying is a Zen uncle, and there is a good article for the gift.

Qingjing candle has no salt, Gu Xi Ziyan.

There is a lingering pleasure in the pilgrimage, and the long chant is sown in the heavens.

This poem is a masterpiece of tea singing, and the words praise the wonder of tea drinking, which has been appreciated by tea singers throughout the ages.

The famous cactus tea is a kind of Buddha tea, which is shaped like a cactus and is produced in the extension of the southern foot of Jingshan Mountain. Zen Master Zhongfu only gave Li Bai dozens of pieces, which shows the rarity of Yuquan cactus tea at that time.

Li Bai's footprints are all over the country, and he can also be said to be well-informed about tea, but he is so fond of Yuquan cactus tea, which is enough to prove the quality and charm of cactus tea.

In his poems, Li Bai vividly describes the uniqueness of cactus tea.

The first four sentences write the scene, which is unique, with a preface, and the last eight sentences write tea, born in the stone, the jade spring flows for a long time, "the root Ke sprinkles Fangjin, and the clothes moisten the muscles and bones", and the good growth environment cultivates the superior quality.

The last eight sentences are written to express their feelings. Li Bai was simply ecstatic to get the Yuquan cactus tea, and he claimed in the preface that the future monk Dayin would be able to know this kind of tea, because of Zhongfu Zen Master and my Qinglian monk!

Yuquan Mountain was known as the "Three Chu Famous Mountains" in the Warring States Period, the mountain is majestic, majestic and magnificent, the green hills are undulating, and the streams are vertical and horizontal. Here the mountain is full of clouds and mist, the underground milk cave is secretly born, there is a clear spring gushing out on the right side of the foothill, it is clear and crystalline, it is called pearl spring. Next to the spring is Yuquan Temple, which is a famous temple of Buddhism.

In the Sui Dynasty Kaihuang years, founded by the wise national teacher, is an important ancestral court of Tiantai Sect, but also the Taoist of Zen Buddhism Northern Sect Shenxiu Master Zen, it and Qixia Temple in Nanjing, Jiangsu, Guoqing Temple in Tiantai, Zhejiang, Lingyan Temple in Changqing, Shandong, known as "the four uniques in the world". The monk Li Yingfa is known as Zhongfu, and he likes to drink tea through Buddhism. Such a fairy cave mansion actually produces tea, which is really a blessing from heaven!

Therefore, Zhongfu picks tea in the milk cave every year, makes fairy tea, and treats guests from all over the world with tea to the "cactus" in the shape of the name, and offers tea to the Buddha. It is the so-called Buddha tea.

In that year, Zhongfu traveled to Qixia Temple in Jinling, and fortunately met Li Bai, a clansman, and gave him cactus tea, and Li Bai replied with poems.

The tea is named after the person, so the cactus tea has also been stained into the famous tea recipe of the Tang Dynasty.

On this morning, Nong Tianyi visited Yuquan Temple.

He entered a mountain wall, with a Buddha statue in front of him, and suddenly saw a rocky rock, a brilliant flower burst out of a very narrow crack, and a small pink trumpet raised slightly, listening to the world. It is a grotto community in the mountains, and there is a statue of alms above the flowers, which is quiet, beautiful, and loving.

A low eyebrow, a look up, the flower has naturally become a flower in front of the Buddha, the flower is also extraordinary, it is a raw flower. The root of the ground is rehmannia root, which is a rare Chinese herbal medicine, which grows extremely carefully, and deeply inhales the essence of the earth's qi. "Nongtian's eyes are sharp, and he sees through it at a glance.

At this time, Nong Tianyi entered the tea room in the temple to taste tea and talked with a monk.

Monk Dao: Yuquan cactus tea integrates the three major processing technologies of green tea steaming, frying and baking, forming a unique quality characteristics: the appearance is flat like a palm, the color is emerald green, and the white is exposed; After brewing, the buds and leaves are stretched, and the soup is tender green.

Nong Tianyi took a sip of tea and said: The taste of drinking is fresh and refreshing, and the fragrance is light and elegant and lasting.

According to the modern biological point of view, Yuquan cactus tea is rich in tea polyphenols, theanine, vitamins and other substances, which has the effects of dispelling fatigue, clearing the heart, quenching thirst, diuretic and antidiarrheal, clearing heat and detoxifying, relieving cough and asthma, and eliminating appetite and weight loss.

The production history of cactus tea, according to the 178th volume of "Quantang Poems" and the "Yuquan Temple Chronicles", was founded in Yuquan Temple in the Tang Dynasty and has a history of more than 1,200 years.

The monk talked about the tea in the past of the temple: whenever the spring tea burst out, the monks in the temple picked up the young leaves of the tea tree on the side of the milk cave on the bank of the Yuquan Creek formed by the pearl spring water, and used the skilled tea-making technology to make the famous tea that is flat like a palm, fragrant and smooth, clear and fragrant to drink, and has a sweet tongue.

Nong Tianyi went on to say: Pearl Spring lives up to its name. There are many milk caves, and the spring water is extremely deep.

The monk continued: By the time of the Song Dynasty, Yuquan Temple "had nine capable buildings, eighteen capable halls, and three thousand seven hundred monks' houses." "The scale is huge, and the monks are in the thousands. Buddhist monks sitting meditation is a compulsory course, sitting meditation is to refresh the mind with tea, every temple must have tea, every monk must be good at tea.

As soon as Nong Tian was a little familiar with Buddhism, he said: Drinking tea can refresh the mind and clear the mind and connect with the sitting meditation idea of Zen Buddhism, so there is a saying of "Zen tea taste".

The monk saw that Nongtian was full of air and eloquence, and he talked extraordinary, and he already had some admiration: the donor is a master!