The Ten Virtues of Incense
While banished to Rongzhou, Huang Tingjian wrote "The Ten Virtues of Incense," using ten lines to fully express the literati's attitude of engaging with incense as a way of self-conduct.
Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song dynasty (styled Shangu Daoren) suffered many hardships in his later years. While exiled in Rongzhou (present-day Yibin, Sichuan), he kept company with incense and wrote "The Ten Virtues of Incense," summarizing in ten lines the spiritual function of incense for people:
Moving the spirits and gods, purifying mind and body, removing filth, awakening from sleep, becoming a friend in stillness, stealing leisure amid the dust, never tiring of plenty, being content with little, enduring long storage without decay, and being free of hindrance in constant use.
The Ten Virtues Explained One by One
- Moving the Spirits and Gods: The ancients believed that fragrance rises upward and can reach the divine and move heaven and earth; hence incense was used in sacrifices.
- Purifying Mind and Body: A burner of pure fragrance first engages the sense of smell, gradually calming worldly thoughts until both mind and body are purified.
- Removing Filth: Fragrance wards off evil and dispels filth; courtyards, clothing and bedding, and studies all rely on it for cleanliness.
- Able to induce sleep: Agarwood, sandalwood, and benzoin calm the spirit and steady the mind, helping one to relax and fall asleep.
- A companion in stillness: Burning incense in solitude—the fragrance is a quiet companion, seeking nothing from outside.
- Stealing leisure amid the dust: Amid the toil of worldly affairs, a single stick of incense is stealing half a day's leisure from a busy life.
- Abundant yet never tiresome: Fine incense used daily never grows cloying.
- Even a little is enough: A single wisp suffices to delight the senses; no need to be greedy for more.
- Kept long, it never decays: Good incense does not spoil over time; the longer it is stored, the richer it becomes.
- Used often, no hindrance: Burning it regularly does no harm—it rather benefits body and mind, and so may be used daily.
Why it matters
The "Ten Virtues of Incense" elevate "using incense" to "cultivating the mind"—incense is no longer an external object, but a means by which literati counter restlessness and delusion. It is in direct line with the words of Su Shi and Wen Zhenheng inVarious Authors on Incenseand is the key to understanding the spirit of Chinese literati incense culture(香学).