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Sunday, July 28, 2019

来谈谈神秘的奇楠

我们来谈谈这个神秘的奇楠。

先说我们知道的。

  1. 它是一种沉香。
  2. 沉香旺正财、招贵人、促健康,还能化险为夷。奇楠是最强的沉香,它能做的比前面说的还要多。
  3. 它很抢手。


以上都没错,但我要强调的是奇楠有多强。


1. 奇楠非常稀有,自古如此。让我用一段古文阐明这点:

棋楠香一山所产,酋长差人看守采取,民下不可得,如有私偷卖者,露犯则断其手。(费信,《星槎胜览》[])

物以希为贵,因为稀有而有价值:

山租输海贝,市舶贱迦楠。(查慎行,《与陈漳浦莘学话旧》[])

这里还有一段冗长的学术介绍:

伽罗香是沉香中的极品,能提供最上等的香调。这个类别在“六国五味”相当特别,因为伽罗不仅是新发现的地理位置(沉香在不同历史时段曾被称为茄蓝、棋楠、琪楠),还是中国在1200年左右开始接触沉香时发明的词汇。换句话说,这个词反映了当时的人对沉香品种相当讲究。奇楠这个词应该是宋元时代由梵文进入汉语,再传到日本并结合其他与美学有关的词汇。此时的日本正值与东南亚,尤其今日越南沿海地区,贸易往来鼎盛时期。(伽罗可指与美丽有关之事物。)日本重视伽罗,中国在下来几世纪亦是如此,明朝时代,奇楠还被细分为几个类别。——《沉香的文化传记:东亚和亚洲地区的香料》,Dinah Jung博士

2. 奇楠极为稀有,所以几乎无法制成手珠。但我们有奇楠牌,数量非常有限。


3. 奇楠极为罕有,价值不菲,加持更非一般:

梵语有许多词汇和概念进入了汉语,例如:佛陀、菩萨以及刹那。 而奇楠则来自“伽蓝”或“伽楠”,因为音译而有不同书写方式。 “伽蓝”除了是奇楠的另一写法,还是寺院的别称。这说明寺院是奇楠飘香之地。 我们只以最好的供养诸佛。

奇楠的另一特点——拥有奇楠的人不会出售手上的所有奇楠。

云大师及师祖们认为拥有奇楠是最上等的加持,完全出售便被视为极其不祥。所以一定要为自己保留一块,不可脱手。这就是为什么极为稀有的奇楠牌,越来越稀有。

——简应隆,执行董事
(译)

Monday, July 8, 2019

Let's Talk About This Mysterious Qinan 奇楠

Let's talk about this mysterious Qinan 奇楠.

Let's start with what we commonly know about it.

1. It is a kind of agarwood.

2. Agarwood boosts direct wealth, benefactors, radiant health, and can convert obstacles into opportunities. Qinan being the most powerful form of agarwood, can achieve all these, and more.

3. Apparently, it's very difficult to buy.

All the above are correct. But let me elaborate on Qinan's INTENSITY.

 
1. Qinan is VERY rare. Not just in our times, but historically so. Let me share some boring academic/ancient texts to highlight the point:

棋楠香一山所产,酋长差人看守采取,民下不可得,如有私偷卖者,露犯则断其手。(费信,《星槎胜览》[明])

(Qinan was found only on one mountain. The chief sent people to guard and to harvest. Commoners were not allowed to own Qinan. If caught stealing or trading Qinan illegally, the punishment was to chop off the hand.)
Therefore, with rarity, comes preciousness, and therefore, super-high value: 

山租输海贝,市舶贱迦楠。(查慎行,《与陈漳浦莘学话旧》[清])

(Rent collected from leasing the mountains is less than the harvest from the seas; taxes [or revenue, or profits] from imported goods is nothing compared to Qinan.)
 

And a rather lengthy academic text for those who can comprehend: 

Kyara has been considered the worthiest type of agarwood to offer the finest fragrance notes. The category is special in comparison with the other five of the rikkoku gomi, as the term does not simply resemble a newly learned (vague) geographical denotation. Rather, it connected to the notion of qinan (various possibilities in Chinese writing, depending on the historical moment and the interpretation by contemporary scholars, e.g.〔茄蓝〕qie lan,〔棋楠〕qi nan,〔琪楠〕qi nan) by the Chinese that arouse around 1200 – the moment when the appreciation of exclusively agarwood came up, thus mirroring the growing aesthetical sensitivity for agarwood varieties. Possibly the term ‘qinan’ emerged from Sanksrit roots which were transmitted to China during the Song or Yuan period, and after its transmission to Japan, merged with expressions denoting other aesthetical concepts and ideals that came up during the heydays of Japanese trade with Southeast Asia and specifically the coast of today’s Vietnam. (Kyara may also allude to issues such as “beauty”.) Like kyara in Japan, the aesthetical notion of qinan was elaborated in China in the following centuries, i.e. the Ming dynasty, and further differentiated into subcategories.

["The Cultural Biography of Agarwood – Perfumery in Eastern Asia and the Asian Neighbourhood" -- DR. DINAH JUNG]

2. And so, with its ultimate rarity, it is nearly impossible to have Qinan beads. There are only Qinan pendants. And very limited.
 

3. And, because of the ultimate rarity of Qinan, its ultimate value, it has ultimate blessings:
Saṃskṛtam 梵语 (or, Sanskrit) gave us many concepts, and the pronunciations to call them by. Like "佛陀 Buddha", "菩萨 Bodhisattva", and even sounds and ideas more commonly used, like "刹那 ksaṇa".
And like "Qinan 奇楠", which came from 伽蓝 or 伽楠, or many other ways of writing it (we have to recognize that Sanskrit is pretty much a tonal language, the ancients were merely using words/script to record the pronunciations).
The issue about "伽蓝" is that other than being the predecessor of "奇楠", it bears another meaning -- "temple", or "garden for the monks". Which leads to a speculation: that it would be in the temples that the fragrance of Qinan was common.
Nothing less than the best for offering to Buddhas.

And so, there's a catch in buying Qinan: not all can be sold in one go.

Master Yun and his predecessors believe that Qinan is the highest order of blessings that can be given to another person. And it is inauspicious to let go of all of them, without keeping some highest blessings for oneself. So, the last piece of Qinan pendant would always be kept away, not to be sold. That makes the-already-very-limited-stock of Qinan pendants, even more limited.

-- Kan, Executive Director

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

The EAGLES Are Here. THREE Of Them.

 
NEW fengshui paintings are here. And they are ALL fengshui fans.

AND, 3 of them are EAGLES.

Yes, you read that right. Not the signature peacock. But eagle.

 
3 eagle fengshui fans, 3 reasons to own them:

1. It's EAGLE. Which means 英雄 hero, and 赢 win. Win like a hero.

 
2. There are ONLY 3. Different sizes. I asked Master Yun, is he going to paint more fengshui fans? Master Yun reveals: not at the moment. First, it is tougher to paint on fans. Second, it is very space consuming, and a logistical hassle.
So, all we have are these 3 eagle fengshui fans.

 
3. Look, you should definitely collect the peacocks. They are the signature of Master Yun's fengshui paintings. But when a special edition comes along, like luxury bags, limited shoes, high culture fashion, they will be recorded in art history. And since there are only 3 eagle fans, chances of your eagle fan to be recorded in history, is high.

 
Soar like an eagle. 

-- Kan, Executive Director