Al-Shahi in Modern Poetry (The Heritage of Ancestors and the Inheritance of Descendants)

Abstract

The relationship between people and the tea plant began the moment they recognized its effect on their minds. This marvelous plant quickly became their sole preoccupation and main concern, receiving the attention necessary to qualify it as a primary source of income for producing and exporting countries. It is worth noting that the tea plant originated in China. Legends recall that the story of tea began even before the Common Era. One Chinese legend attributes the discovery of the tea plant to Daruma (or Bodhidharma), the founder of a Buddhist sect. While meditating on the universe, he found himself succumbing to sleep. Upon waking, he was so enraged that he punished himself by cutting off his eyelids. Where he buried them, a strange plant sprouted, whose leaves yielded a fermented drink with the property of warding off drowsiness. Thus, the tea plant was born, and with it, the ritual of its consumption.