沉香之美，氤氳無窮Agilawood is as captivating as can be.

    品一爐好香，可以修身養性、安神寧心。香不僅是中國古代文人的高雅生活，也是現代愛香人士的心靈安頓；而沉香在如此悠久的香道發展史中，始終備受青睞，其來有自。所謂四大名香─「沉檀龍麝」，沉香被列為首位，亦見其在眾香中的地位與價值。

Good-quality incense can calm us down and add pleasure to our life. Ancient Chinese literates enjoyed their life elegantly with incense and so do modern incense-lovers. In the long history of incense, agilawood has been thought highly of and there is a reason for it. Among the four famous incense materials, agilawood is considered the best, followed by sandalwood, ambergris, and musk. Presumably, the value of agilawood is greatly recognized.

    沉香，被稱為木中鑽石、森林黑金、香中絕品，乃因沉香結香過程極為珍貴。沉香是瑞香科(Thymelaeaceae)沉香屬(Aquilaria)的植物，因為遭受電擊雷劈、風摧雨侵，或被蟲咬蟻附、獸啃鼠噬，基於自我保護的天生本能，會分泌樹脂來修補傷口。自療傷口的過程中，被真菌感染，在環境、氣候、温度、濕度等條件多變下，經過悠遠歲月的轉化，或數十寒暑，或數百春秋，集天地靈氣與日月精華，才結成了韵深意遠的香氣，”這就是沉香的由來。

Agilawood is acclaimed as the diamond in the field of wood, or black gold in the forest simply because of its crystallization process. Biologically, agilawood belongs to Thymelaeaceae, Aquilaria. To protect itself after surviving a thunder, storm, insects’ bites, or animals’ gnawing, agilawood secretes resin to heal its wounds. In the self-healing process, agilawood can be infected with germs of all kinds. Additionally, the environment, temperature, humidity, and even the sun and the moon altogether affect the growth of agilawood. Therefore, decades or even centuries later, agilawood turns to be as aromatic as can be.

    宋朝丁謂對沉香極有研究，他說：「真仙所焚之香，皆聞百里，有積烟成雲、積雲成雨，然則與人間共所貴者，沉香、熏陸也。」蘇東坡在《沉香山子赋》如此形容沉香：「實超然而不群。既金堅而玉潤，亦鹤骨而龍筋……無一往之發烈，有無窮之氤氲」。由此可見沉香的香氣是多麼獨特稀有，而且難以用文字形容。

In the Song dynasty, a man called Din-wei did ample research on agilawood. He stated that the aroma of agilawood is for the heaven and agilawood can do wonders. Moreover, Su-shi also described agilawood as unique and marvelous. The fragrance of agilawood is so special and rare that its scent is actually beyond any depiction.

    沉香，生長於莽莽叢林中，在困境中以堅毅的精神自我淬鍊；燃盡自身，將難得的清麗悠遠，杳然飄向滾滾紅塵。當我們品聞沉香之美，在青煙娉婷中，可曾想過，此生將要散發何種生命芬芳？

Agilawood lives in the woods. Challenging as the environment is, agilawood still grows tough and the rare aroma emanating from agilawood reaches the mundane world. Last but not least, as we appreciate the smell of burning agilawood, we may well ponder over how we can live our life to the fullest.