Caigentan

This compilation of aphorisms eclectically combines elements from the Three teachings (Confucianism, Daoism and Buddhism), and is comparable[1] with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations or La Rochefoucauld's Maximes.

Chinese Caigentan combines cai 菜 "vegetables; greens; (non-staple) food; dish; course (in menu)", gen 根 "roots (of plants); bottom (of mountains)", and 譚 "talk; conversation; discourse".

This compound caigen 菜根 "inedible root of a vegetable; cabbage stalk" is a literary metaphor meaning "bare subsistence" (originating in Zhu Xi's Xiaoxue 小學 "Minor Learning").

The Chinese proverb Jiao de caigen, baishi ke zuo 嚼得菜根, 百事可做[2] literally means "[One who has] chewed vegetable roots [for lack of anything better to eat] can accomplish anything", or figuratively "One who has gone through hardships can do anything".

"By vegetable roots, food such as turnips, radish, carrots and sweet potatoes is meant", says Vos.

[3] English translations of the Caigentan title range from literal to figurative: Isobe clarifies the title as meaning "Talks by a man who lives on vegetable roots", or more freely "Talks by a man who lives a plain and humble life".

Traditionally, the two received Caigentan versions are identified by whether they list the author Hong's given name Yingming 應明 or courtesy name Zicheng 自誠.

The first book is subdivided into four sections, titled Xiushen 修身 "Self-cultivation", Yingchou 應酬 "Social Relations", Pingyi 評議 "Critiques", and Xianshi 閒適 "Leisure"; the second book is titled Gailun 概論 "General Comments".

In 1588, the Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) demoted many scholar-bureaucrats involved in a scandal, including Yu Kongjian who retired to the lower Yangzi River valley, where he and his fellow exile Hong Zicheng lived.

In 1591, the Caigentan was first published as an appendix to Gao Lian's Zunsheng Bajian 遵生八笺 "Eight Treatises on Nurturing Life".

Digital editions are freely available on the Internet, and comic book adaptations are offered in both Japanese manga and Chinese manhua.

In terms of traditional Chinese literary genres, the Caigentan is a yulu 語錄 (lit.

[14] The Caigentan records life lessons from the decadent and corrupt late Ming society, many of which have universal appeal.

Those who pursue their night journey after their candle has burned out are ridiculed as ordinary persons awash in the bitter sea.

[17] English translations are available from Isobe Yaichiro,[4] William Scott Wilson,[6] Thomas Cleary,[18] Paul White,[8] and Robert Baker Aitken and Daniel W. Y.

To illustrate the translational range in English, the Caigentan metaphorically compares two traditional Chinese artifacts, the qiqi 攲器 (lit.