/Nguyen Ngoc Tuan/
Monk Tue Tinh once said: “Tea refreshes the soul and cools the body. Drinking one hundred thousand worries disappears.” Therefore, Tea in Vietnam is not a religion but a part of life.
In every house in the countryside, or under the roof of a temple right in the middle of Hanoi, the ancient capital of Hue or Ho Chi Minh City, and all over the country, every day, we still drink a unique drink – fresh Tea. , thanks to the nationalization of Tea by the Vietnamese Tea Saint – Zen Master Tue Tinh (1330-1400).
Zen master Tue Tinh’s name is Nguyen Ba Tinh. When he became a monk, he took the Dharma name Tue Tinh, also known as Hue Tinh. He came from a poor farming family; his father was Nguyen Cong Vy, and his mother was Hoang Thi Ngoc in Nghia Lu, Da Cam district, Hong Chau, now Phu Nghia village, Cam Vu commune, Cam Giang district, Hai Duong province.
He was born during the reign of Tran Du Tong (14th century). When he was 6 years old, his parents both died. A monk at Hai Trieu Pagoda took him home to be raised and educated in nearby Yen Trang. At the age of 10, Ba Tinh was taken by the monk of Giao Thuy pagoda in Son Nam (Nam Dinh) to study at the monk of Dung Nhue pagoda in the district. There, he was called Tieu Hue, so he was nicknamed Hue Tinh. He studied literature and medicine to help treat diseases at the temple.
At 22, he took the Huong exam and won, but he stayed at the temple to become a monk and took the Dharma name Tue Tinh. At 45, he took the Dinh exam and passed Hoang Giap. At 55, he was forced to go on a mission to China. The Ming Dynasty retained him to work at the Institute of Thai Medicine.
He was devoted to finding traditional medicine and treating diseases with conventional medicine, following the motto: “Southern medicine cures Southern people”.
“Want to help the people.
Find the medicine first.
Heaven’s book has determined the Southern state.
The land products of other Northern countries”.
(Axis of male interpretation to estimate wealth – Tue Tinh)
Vietnam is the homeland of the tea tree; the tea tree has grown naturally for many generations and is an ancient herb. Zen Master Tue Tinh has affirmed in his books that the quality of Southern Tea contains many medicinal properties. Precious and drinking fresh Tea is a standard drink that can also treat diseases.
In the book Nam Duoc Miraculous Effect, he recorded 499 herbal medicinal herbs, of which 188 is Minh Tra: “188. Minh Tra: Delicious Tea, sweet taste, bitter, slightly cold, suitable for internal organs, eliminating wind, clears eyes lightheadedness, lowers phlegm, treats dysentery, digests food.
The book Truc explains the rich properties of medicinal herbs: “Tea originally purifies the mind and quenches thirst; drinking a bowl will make all worries disappear.”
In addition to using fresh tea leaves as a drink that both quenches thirst and relieves illness, Zen Master Tue Tinh also processes dried Tea and uses tea water as a traditional medicine to treat diseases. In the book “Southern Medicine Divine Effect” it is also written:
There is a perfect treatment for back pain in back pain: “Good tea boiled in 5 times stronger water, mixed with 3 times vinegar and drank immediately will heal”.
Kinh treatment for cold sores: Hoc Duong, early spring tea. Burn the ash and mix it with oil, spread it on the leaves, and put it in. It’s perfect.
Tea in Vietnam is not only a standard drink but also used as medicine. He affirmed that the quality of Southern Tea contains many valuable medicinal properties.
Using simplicity to suppress complexity is the ingenuity of a great physician. The tea tree is straightforward but precious; anyone can use it and find it everywhere. From then on, every corner of the garden will become a precious medicinal garden, limited to tea plants and many other herbs that Zen Master Tue Tinh found and widely disseminated to the entire people.
All his life is attached to Nam Duoc and especially to the tea plant; the pages of Zen Master Tue Tinh in the book “Nam Duong Quoc Ngu Phu” also recorded the name of Vietnamese Tea: “Sparrow tongue tea is good tea”. It is a famous tea that every tea lover dreams of tasting once.
Tue Tinh not only built the foundation of traditional Vietnamese medicine, but he also promoted the value of Vietnamese medicine. Developing tea plants, using Tea to quench thirst, using Tea to treat diseases is one of the Southern medicines that he promotes and develops in every family, every temple garden,… to:
“Hope to see:
The people are healthy, happy, and peaceful.
Long-term sustainable state
Only then will we not betray our broad and profound wisdom
The same goes for this southern country.”
(Excerpted from the explanation of rich male medicinal properties – Tue Tinh)
His tradition of traditional medicine has been inherited and promoted brilliantly by future generations. Tea trees were planted around home gardens, and pagoda gardens developed into tea villages. The unique tea-drinking hobby of Vietnamese people today is due to the merits of the Vietnamese Tea Saint – Tue Tinh.
I am so proud of Zen Master Tue Tinh, Vietnam’s Tea Saint, who nationalized Tea and helped preserve the unique custom of drinking fresh Tea for our Vietnamese people to this day.