Zhou Yuekang - ear punching furnace
A few sounds of bamboo Xiao Xiao rain on the wall, a wisp of copper furnace faint smoke
The ancients revered nature and closely integrated the well-being of life with the four seasons. Winter is bitterly cold, and everything is recuperating, and the fun activities of this season usually revolve around the fire. Fan Chengda's "Snow Cold Fireside Collection": "The curtain paper pavilion protects the fragrance, saying that there is talk about empty love candle red", Cai Shen's "Zhenxi": "Remember the night snow in the red window, promote the knee around the hearth, and hand over a glass to persuade wine". In the warm pavilion, sit around the fireplace, or burn incense to talk, or drink around the fireplace, showing the joy of leisure and peace. Burning incense, as a leisure and pleasure in winter, is not only pleasant, but also has the purpose of warding off the cold. Warm and soft fragrances are first of all warm in the sense of smell, and some spices have the effect of warming away the cold, which can drive away the cold and dampness, add warmth, and make people suitable for both the inside and the outside. 
Incense on a cold nightThe bottom of the cold curtain gradually became dense, and the stone leaves came to take the second burning. On a cold night in the middle of winter, placing a furnace in the middle of the greenhouse to sort out ashes and burning charcoal and incense was a popular way for literati to cool off in ancient times. In the poems about the leisurely life in winter, there are many references to burning incense. Lu You wrote in "Snowy Night": "The books are full of miscellaneous medicine sacs, and the Hainan incense is burned when they are embraced", and Hongli's "Burning Incense on a Winter Night": "Quiet and deep in the greenhouse, sitting on the bed." I like to Boshangu, talk about burning partridge incense". The partridge incense burned by the Qianlong Emperor is a famous product in the agarwood, named after the color spots such as the feathers on the chest of the partridge, Fan Chengda's "Guihai Yu Hengzhi Zhixiang" contains:The partridge spotted fragrance is also obtained in Hainan Shenshui, Penglai and excellent note. The teeth are relaxed, the color is brown and black and there are white spots like the hair on the partridge's face, and the air is especially clear and graceful like a lotus. 
In winter, the warm pavilion burns agarwood, and the method of frying incense over the fire is wonderful. This method of burning incense does not contain smoke and is especially suitable for confined spaces. When burning incense, first press the incense ash in the furnace into a hill bag, and then use the incense chopsticks to open a buried charcoal hole in the ash, and lightly place the burned incense charcoal in the ash hole, cover a little incense ash, and place a fire barrier on the ash. Finally, the pre-processed agarwood crumbs are placed on the fire barrier, and the fragrant charcoal under the ash is slightly roasted and roasted, and the aroma is slowly volatilized. 
Flame incense is very important for temperature control, if the temperature is too high, the fragrance will be short and scorched. In order to make the smell of incense slowly disperse, it is necessary to put your hand on the top of the gray surface and judge the strength of the incense charcoal fire by your hand. He Ning "Mountain Flower Seed": "A few times to try the fragrance and warm hands, and a taste of wine and lips" is to describe the scene of tasting incense. In Mao Xiang's "Memories of Yingmei'an", there is also a very vivid description of frying incense over the fire:In the cold night room, the jade silk hangs in all directions, overlapping the trees, burns two feet of Xu Jiang wax two or three branches, and the furnishings are uneven. The hall is staggered in the number of Xuan furnaces, the fire is always hot, and the color is like liquid gold and jade. Finely dial an inch of live ash, sand separation on the ash to select the fragrance and steam, in the middle of the night, a fragrance is condensed, not scorched, lush, pure sugar knots. There is Mei Ying Banshu between the hot incense, the breath of lotus goose pear honey spleen, and the quiet nose view. The ancients burned incense and paid attention to the season and taste. The incense burner used for incense should change with the season, Wen Zhenheng's "Long Things": "The summer month should use the magnetic furnace, and the winter month should use the copper furnace", the copper furnace has strong thermal conductivity, and the incense burner also adds the function of keeping out the cold when burying charcoal and incense, Qu Dajun's "Spring Boudoir Song": "The fragrance grows in the hand, and there is no need to dispel the cold rhino" is this meaning. Enjoy the snow and taste the fragranceThe pine snow falls on the pond from time to time, and the lamp is lonely for the sake of burning incense. In the hearts of the ancients, snow was a fresh and holy thing, which could remove heat and annoyance and cleanse the mind. The activities in winter are also mostly related to snow, Gao Lian's "Zunsheng Eight Notes" contains:"The tea is cooked in snow, the taste is clearer, and the river water is also for half a day. Not subject to dirt, the ghost sipping this, enough to break the cold"; "On a cold night in the mountain window, when I listen to the snow sprinkled on the bamboo forest, I can listen to the snow and the bamboo forest, and the sound is leisurely, and I can listen clearly." When the tea is set to listen to the falling snow, it is accompanied by incense to add more elegance. Lu Yuan's "Burning Incense in the Snow Room": "Yinwo is newly married and Xiaokongtong, and the fragrance is endless"; Gu Taiqing's "Huanxi Sand": "Six flowers fly in the cold in winter, and the golden furnace burns the fire and sinks into the sandalwood." Sip a cup of tea and dragon balls. "All of them describe the leisurely and elegant life of appreciating the snow and tasting the fragrance. 
Snow is often silent, and such an environment can provide peace of mind and facilitate the perception of smells. In the ancient "Incense Spectrum", there are many incense recipes suitable for snow, such as: plum fragrance, plum blossom fragrance, spring letter in the snow, and spring pan in the snow. Chen Jing's "Chen's Fragrance Spectrum" "Spring in the Snow":The brain is two and a half cents, musk is half a coin, white sandalwood is two taels, frankincense is seven coins, agarwood is three coins, and cold water stone is three taels (burned). The right piece is very fine, refining honey and goose pear juice and evenly for cakes, deflowering wet in the cold water stone powder, and storing in the magnetic bottle. This side simulates the fragrance of plum blossoms in the snow, and the atmosphere is quiet and cold. Plum blossoms are the beginning of the trade winds and are the first to bloom in the cold winter. In the season when the plum blossoms are not open, the ancients took advantage of this to enjoy the plum blossoms. Qing Wang Xin's "Qingyanlu" commented that this incense is "the system of wonderful run, which is the samadhi thing in the bookcase", and "samadhi" is a Buddhist language, which means to stop distracting thoughts and calm the mind. 
When appreciating the snow, burning a furnace of osmanthus incense is also interesting. Yang Wanli's "Shuangfeng Dingshui Lao Sends Wood Rhino Incense": "The poet sits on the snow window, and the heavenly fragrance comes to the Moon Cave", the poet burns the wood rhino incense in front of the snow window, which is the incense made by osmanthus. Smelling the sweet and soft fragrance of osmanthus flowers, Yang Wanli couldn't help but sigh"There is a miracle this year, and the wood of the first month is open." Wood rhinoceros is another name for osmanthus, the ancients often used it to prepare a variety of incense, to Yu "Yiyuan Tu" cloud: "Picking flowers in the shade to dry to incense, very strange." Chen Jing's "Chen's Incense Spectrum" records the recipe and preparation method of "wood rhino incense".Agarwood half two, sandalwood half two, thatch one or two, the right is the end, with half open osmanthus twelve taels, choose to go to the pedicle to grind into a mud search agent, into the stone mortar pestle thousands of times that is, when the wind and yin dry burn it. In the cold season of the twilight of the year, three or two friends, sitting on the stove, boiling snow and cooking tea, burning charcoal and frying incense, it is really a joy in winter. On the occasion of tasting incense, hot tea warms up the body and exudes a clear charm from the inside out, such a leisurely experience is the leisure method of the ancient literati, and it is also a way to nourish the body and mind.