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to say foolish things and repent thereof in his sober moments. It is better than water for it does not carry disease; neither does it act like poison as water does when it contains foul and rotten matter.”
    The latter statement is undoubtedly true, because the water for tea was always boiled, ridding it of many disease-bearing organisms.

    THE FIRST CULTIVATION OF THE TEA
    Tea was indisputably valued as medicine in the latter part of the fourth century and during the fifth century. The increased use naturally created a greater demand for the leaves, which was met by harvesting leaves from the wild and, eventually, by cultivating the tea plant.
    Wild tea plants in southwestern China grew quite tall, making harvesting diffcult. Farmers and peasants solved this problem, at least in the short term, by simply cutting the trees down to get the fresh leaves. This practice continued until it became obvious that it would soon deplete whole forests of tea trees, and a primitive silviculture was initiated around the middle of the fourth century. Farmers observed that tea plants grew well in gravelly soils that had good drainage, and they duplicated those conditions for cultivating tea.
    The first tea cultivation probably occurred in the hill district of Szechwan, where the trees were planted on hillsides. Planters today, like their counterparts 1 , 700 years ago, know the value of well-drained soils, and in many places around the world, tea shrubs are still planted on hillsides, where drainage is excellent.
    During the time of the Northern Wei Dynasty ( 386 – 535 CE ), tea leaves were at least primitively processed, and, presumably, the taste improved. A dictionary of this period states that in the district between the provinces of Hupeh and Szechwan, tea leaves were harvested, made into cakes, and roasted until hard and reddish in color. The cakes were then pounded into small pieces and placed in a chinaware pot. This may be the first indication of the unrelenting quest for the best processing methods to produce the best-tasting teas, a quest that we continue even today.
    During the Southern Dynasty ( 420 – 478 CE ), the cultivation of tea was common, and it was considered a valuable crop. During this time, the imperial court demanded that a tea tribute be paid by the peasants. The writer Shan Ch’ien-Chih reported that “Twenty lis [a li is a little over 700 yards] west from the city of Wucheng, in the province of Chekiang, there is the Wen mountain, on which grows the tea reserved to the emperor as tribute tea.”
    This first tribute was a precursor of tea taxes that were to have repercussions for many cultures around the world.
    BUDDHISM AND TEA:
THE LEGEND OF PRINCE BODHIDHARMA
    The early history of tea centers around China, even though the tea plant (in varying forms) is indigenous to both southwestern China and the Assam region of India (and many other places in southeastern Asia). It is puzzling that the Chinese made such thorough use of the plant, from the days of antiquity, while the Indians did not. There are few references to the use of tea in India until about the sixth century, and even then, usage of the plant was not widespread. It is during this period, however, that one of the most famous of all legends about tea is said to have occurred. It happened like this:
    Prince Bodhidharma (also known as Pu Tai Ta-Mo in Chinese, and Daruma Daishi in Japanese) grew up near Madras, India, in the Sardilli family, in the fifth century. He was a wealthy and favored young prince. When he was a young man, he came upon the teachings of Buddha and thereafter dedicated his life to study and meditation. He studied for many years and became so skilled and knowledgeable that, in 470 , he was asked to travel to China to reintroduce Buddhism. (Buddhism had reached China 600 years before this time, but had begun to die out there.) It is known that Bodhidharma traveled first to Canton in 470 and that in 520 he traveled