The answer first: of the sayings on incense appreciation left by the ancients, no more than ten truly deserve to be called "guiding principles." The core ones are Huang Tingjian's Ten Virtues of Incense, Wen Zhenheng's Changwu Zhi · Incense and Tea, Zhou Jiazhou's preface to Xiang Cheng, Su Shi's "Matching Huang Luzhi on Burning Incense," Chen Jiru's Xiaochuang Youji, and Gao Lian's Zunsheng Bajian on incense. What they discuss is not "which incense smells good" but "what incense does for a person"—clearing the mind, being a quiet friend, stealing leisure, cultivating one's nature. Below, each is read closely: first the plain-language meaning, then the original text, and finally the source and common pitfalls.
Key Points
- The main thread of incense-appreciation sayings is "incense for cultivating the mind," not scoring incense: Huang Tingjian's Ten Virtues of Incense is the source of this thread.
- The line "the uses of incense and tea are the most extensive" appears almost identically in Wen Zhenheng's Changwu Zhi and Zhou Jiazhou's preface to Xiang Cheng; Ming dynasty literati shared one set of discourse.
- Su Shi's "let the nose contemplate first" pulls incense burning from ritual to intuition—nose-contemplation is a channel parallel to poetic thought.
- Chen Jiru's "incense makes one serene" is an aesthetic evaluation, not a purchasing standard; do not use it as a criterion for judging whether a fragrance is good or bad.
- There are three don'ts in reading famous sayings: do not detach them from their genre, do not apply them across dynasties, and do not treat imagery as technical specification.
First, make the meaning clear. In his later years Huang Tingjian was banished to Rongzhou (present-day Yibin, Sichuan). Life was hard, and with incense as his companion he wrote ten short lines summarizing ten uses of incense for a person: communicating with the divine, purifying body and mind, removing filth, aiding sleep, being a friend in solitude, a means of stealing leisure from busyness, not cloying when smelled much, sufficient when smelled little, not spoiling after long storage, and causing no hindrance when used often.
Original text (full Ten Virtues, common edition):
Moving ghosts and spirits, purifying mind and body, able to remove filth, able to awaken sleep, becoming a friend in stillness, stealing leisure amid dust, not tiresome in abundance, sufficient in scarcity, imperishable after long storage, unobstructed in common use.
Source: Ten Virtues of Incense by Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song, see this siteThe Ten Virtues of IncenseLine-by-line explanation. Among the ten lines, the ones most worth pondering are "becoming a friend in stillness" and "stealing leisure amid dust"—incense is personified; it is not an object being used but a companion staying with you. Another line is "sufficient in scarcity": one wisp is enough; do not be greedy for more. These four characters, placed today, are almost aimed at the "hoarding crowd."
Changwu Zhi has twelve volumes; the final volume, "Incense and Tea," defines the nature of incense at its opening. The gist: the uses of incense and tea are the most extensive; when recluses and eminent men sit discussing the Way, they use them to clear the mind and gladden the spirit; at first light or in the dusk, when interest wanes, one can use them to open the heart and pour out one's feelings.
Original text (excerpt):
The uses of incense and tea are the most extensive: for the lofty recluse beyond worldly things, sitting and discoursing on morality, they can clear the mind and gladden the spirit...
Source: Changwu Zhi · Volume Twelve · Incense and Tea by Wen Zhenheng of the Ming. This is an excerpt from a common edition, not a verbatim definitive text.
The value of this famous saying lies inRankingWen Zhenheng was the great-grandson of Wen Zhengming and an aesthetic authority of the late Ming. He placed incense in the final volume of the book, ending it alongside tea, which amounts to saying "incense is one of the everyday superfluous things, not a ceremonial display object." In the same volume he also makes specific remarks on incense burners, which we cover separately in another article.A Close Reading of the Incense Vessels Chapter of Zhangwuzhidevoted to it.
Volume 28 of Xiangcheng is Zhou Jiazhou's own preface, which paraphrases as follows: The uses of incense are the broadest of all… I loved it since youth, collected from various schools, and accumulated it over many years before compiling this book.
Original text (excerpt):
香之为用，其利最溥。……余少而好之，搜辑诸家，积有岁年，乃成是编。
Source: Ming dynasty, Zhou Jiazhou, Xiangcheng, Volume 28, Postface; see this site.Volume 28 Translation and Annotation。
Careful readers will notice that "香之为用，其利最溥" and Wen Zhenheng's line come from almost the same mold. This is no coincidence: late Ming literati shared a common discursive resource, and mutual quotation and rewriting were very common.Scholars disagree on which came first and who quoted whom; we keep this as-is in our collation notes and do not pass judgment. When reading ancient texts and encountering such "clashing lines," the safest approach is to place them side by side for comparison rather than hastily deciding who copied whom.
Su Shi's two gathas on Huang Tingjian (Lu Zhi) burning incense are the most frequently quoted passage in incense poetry. The meaning is: these four gathas on burning incense spread with the wind across the southeast; their principle cannot be reached by conceptual thinking—let your nose contemplate it first.
Original text (excerpt):
四句烧香偈子，随风遍满东南；不是闻思所及，且令鼻观先参。
Source: Northern Song, Su Shi, "Two Poems in Response to Huang Luzhi on Burning Incense," first of two; excerpted per the popular edition.
The two characters "鼻观" (nose contemplation) are the key. Buddhism has the doctrine of "the six faculties interpenetrating"; Su Shi borrows it to give Chinese incense culture(香学) its most important methodology:the fragrance of incense is not comprehended through speculation—let the senses receive it first, then speak of understanding. In today's incense-appreciation training, the principle of "record the feeling first, look up the material later" is exactly this line.
Gao Lian was a native of Qiantang in the Ming dynasty. Zunsheng Bajian has nineteen volumes divided into eight sections; the "Yanxian Qingshang" section includes a dedicated discussion of incense. The gist is: incense is chiefly for delighting the feelings and nurturing one's nature, in accord with the mind-cultivation meaning of the "Ten Virtues of Incense," placing incense within the life aesthetics of leisure, appreciation, and health cultivation.
This famous saying is not a single sentence but anorientation. Its significance lies in moving incense out of "ritual" and "cultivation" and settling it into daily life—the study, the bedroom, rainy days, the arrival of guests. We write this point up separately inThe Incense Life in Zun Sheng Ba Jian, which will not be elaborated here.
In Xiaochuang Youji there is a series of parallel phrases, with incense listed first. The gist: incense makes one profound and deep, wine makes one distant, stones make one refined and enduring, the qin makes one silent.
Original text (excerpt):
Incense makes one secluded, wine makes one distant, stones make one refined, the qin makes one silent.
Source: Ming dynasty, Chen Jiru, Xiaochuang Youji, excerpted from the commonly circulated edition.
This one is most easily misused. "Secluded" describes the sense of space and psychological distance that an aroma gives—it smells deep, quiet, drawing inward. It isa literary evaluation, not a quality grading. Some people use "secluded" as a criterion for selecting incense, and end up treating materials with faint or weak aroma as top grade—this is mistaking an adjective for a specification sheet.
The shopkeeper adds one more remark: the best way to read these famous sayings isto light a censer of incense while reading. When you read "a friend in stillness" and there happens to be an aroma in the room, that sentence truly lands. The shop always keeps several incense sticks and incense powders suitable for beginners; if you pass through Songzhuang, Tongzhou, Beijing, you can come try a censer; if it is not convenient, call 400-809-1913 and we will send a small sample for trying incense.
By Huang Tingjian of the Northern Song (style name Shangu Daoren), written in his later years when he was exiled to Rongzhou (present-day Yibin, Sichuan). The full text has ten sentences; see this site'sXiang Zhi Shi Defor item-by-item explanation. It is one of the earliest documents in Chinese incense culture(香学) to systematically summarize "the functions of incense," and later incense arts quote it extremely often.
No. This is a refined saying from Chen Jiru's Xiaochuang Youji, and it belongs to aesthetic and literary evaluation, describing the psychological feeling that fragrance gives people, not a quality grading standard. To judge the quality of an incense, one still has to return to verifiable indicators such as the production region, the method of resin formation, oil content, and the layers of fragrance charm.
Su Shi's meaning is that fragrance is not understood through reasoning; let the senses receive it first. In practice, this means: when appreciating incense, first record your own first impressions (cool, sweet, bitter, floral, milky, woody, explosiveness, lasting power), then compare them with materials about the incense material and production region, so as to avoid the self-suggestion of "first knowing what it is and then working backward to the taste."
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