The round cakes are late 2004 - 2005. The 2003 production with a sticker - a small square piece with a series of nos. - on the cake is one worth keeping.
The wrapper on the round cakes look funny - there is a separation line between the coals and the base of the flame, something I've not seen on many of the Baoyan label.
samarkand4376b246$ snipped-for-privacy@news.starhub.net.sg11/12/05 22: snipped-for-privacy@uk2.net
You refer to Christian Judaic scriptures, I presume; because in Buddhist texts tea stains pages here and there. BTW, tea was discovered/invented by some Buddha or other. I guarantee it.
Anyway, I think the legions don't revolve around Shakyamuni, but rather around Boddhidharma, if I'm not mistaken.
Michael
Haha! If you guarantee by betting on your precious stash of pu'er, I'll jump right in and garner them all! :")
No, I'm not referring to the Christian Judaic scriptures, I'm referring to the Chinese versions of Tripitaka which included the diamond, lotus, heart sutras; the sayings of the 6th grand master, the sutras of the underworld buddha, and the History of Chinese Buddhism by Jiang Weiqiao. My tea teacher, who is a staunch buddhist, bade me read them all if I were to learn the art of Chado. Now I suspect it was a feeble attempt to convert me... Tea was believed to be a later import to the buddhist faith when the monks needed to keep awake on the long nights of prayers.
The legend involving Da Mo, or Bodhidharma, was that once during the 9 years closed door meditation he almost fell asleep. Furious at himself to have succumbed to such a thing, he tore off his eyelids and threw them on the ground. The eyelids magically grew into tea plants which he plucked and ate, and found to get a damn good kick out of it which kept him awake all the time. Transport him to Christianity and he would be the patron saint of students burning the night lamp for exams and night shift workers.
There's also a lengend involving Shakyammuni. The one who was formerly known as prince of a south indian state was also a trained doctor. In sutras such as the Lotus sutra and the Amitabha sutra, there are passages on health matters. But in Chinese legends, it was said that Shakyammuni travelled to China (some said Yunnan) and saw that the people there were afflicted with epidemic. Full of compassion, he plucked out his ears, threw them on the ground and out grew tea plants from which he plucked the leaves and taught the people how to consume them.
Oh dear, I just realized there are some brutal self mutilations in buddhistic beliefs, even if it for the greater benefit of mankind...
:")
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