Caigentan
Encyclopedia
The Caigentan is circa 1590 text written by the Ming Dynasty
scholar and philosopher Hong Zicheng
洪自誠. This compilation of aphorisms eclectically combines elements from the Three teachings
(Confucianism
, Daoism and Buddhism), and is comparable (Goodrich and Fang 1976:678) with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
or La Rouchefoucauld
's Maximes.
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 (Rohsenow 2002:66) 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 (1993:172).
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. These two texts have three early prefaces. The first "Zicheng version" preface is by Yu Kongjian 于孔兼, a contemporary friend who calls the author Hong Zicheng. The second and third "Yingming version" prefaces, dated 1768 and 1794, are by Suichutang zhuren 遂初堂主人 "Suichu Hall Master" and Sanshan bingfu Tongli 三山病夫通理 "Three Mountains Invalid Tongli".
Both Caigentan versions are divided into two ce 冊 "books; volumes".
The Zicheng version has 360 (or 359) entries, and the Yingming version has 383. 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". Besides differing in number and ordering of entries, the Zicheng and Yingming editions also differ in content. "The Yingming version shows many more editorial changes and liberties", write (Aitken and Kwok 2006:171), and subsequent versions also exhibit "editorial excisions and additions". "Generally speaking ", say (Goodrich and Fang 1976:678), "the first part of his work counsels integrity in office, whereas the second part describes the joys of living in retirement. Its general spirit is that of the "Golden Mean"."
Scholarship tentatively dates the Caigentan between 1588 and 1591. Yu Kongjian's undated preface to the Zicheng version (tr. Vos 1991:171) provides internal evidence. It begins, "Sending [uninvited] visitors away, I am leading a retired life all by myself in a thatched cottage." The preface further says, "One day my friend Hung Tzu-ch'eng appeared with his Ts'ai-ken t'an which he showed to me begging me for a preface." 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". Thus, the Caigentan reasonably dates from 1588-1591.
The classic Caigentan "Vegetable Roots Discourse" remains popular in the present day. Digital editions are freely available on the Internet, and comic book adaptations are offered in both Japanese manga
and Chinese manhua
.
genres, the Caigentan is a yulu 語錄 (lit. "recorded sayings") "quotations; aphorisms", a subtype of shanshu 善書 ("good book") "moral-instruction; morality" book category.
The individual entries are predominantly written in pianwen 駢文 "parallel style", an ornate rhythmical prose marked by parallelism
or chiasmus
. For instance,
The Caigentan records life lessons from the decadent and corrupt late Ming society, many of which have universal appeal. Take, for example, this warning to partygoers.
Referring to the first of the Buddhist Four Noble Truths
, Sanskrit
dukkha
(Chinese ku) "suffering; bitterness", this kuhai 苦海 "bitter sea" is the Chinese translation of dukkha-samudra
"sea of bitterness; ocean of suffering".
Retirement and old age are common themes in the Caigentan.
(1985), Thomas Cleary
(1990), Paul White (2000), and Robert Baker Aitken
and Daniel W. Y. Kwok (2006). In addition, there are partial translations by Chao Tze-Chiang (1959) and by Lee Siu-Leung and Fu Yiyao (2002). Three annotated editions (White, Aitken and Kwok, and Lee and Fu) include parallel text
Chinese.
To illustrate the translational range in English, the Caigentan metaphorically compares two traditional Chinese artifacts, the qiqi 攲器 (lit. "leaning/inclining vessel") "a lopsided vessel designed to overturn when full" and the puman 撲滿 (lit. "strike [when] full") "clay coin bank; piggy bank". Compare these translations of 欹器以滿覆, 撲滿以空全. 故君子寧居無不居有, 寧處缺不處完 (1.63):
This qiqi alludes to the ancient Xunzi (28.1, tr. Knoblock 1994:244), where it was an symbolic warning against complacency. When Confucius
visited the ancestral temple of Duke Huan of Qi, he saw a "vessel that inclined to one side", which the caretaker called a you zuo zhi qi 宥坐之器 "warning vessel that sat on the right". Confucius said: "I have heard of such a warning vessel; if empty, it inclines; if half full, it is upright, and if completely full, it overturns". After watching a demonstration of the vessel's operation, he sighed: "Alas! How indeed could there be complete fullness and no overturning!"
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
scholar and philosopher Hong Zicheng
Hong Zicheng
Hong Zicheng was a Chinese philosopher who lived during the end of the Ming Dynasty.Zicheng 自誠 was Hong's zi 字 "courtesy name", his given name was Hong Yingming 洪應明, and his hao 號 "pseudonym" was Huanchu Daoren 還初道人 "Daoist Adept who Returns to the Origin".Hong Zicheng wrote the Caigentan, the...
洪自誠. This compilation of aphorisms eclectically combines elements from the Three teachings
Three teachings
In Chinese philosophy, the three teachings , are usually Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism when considered as a harmonious aggregate. The term may also refer to a non-religious philosophy built on that aggregation.-History:...
(Confucianism
Confucianism
Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...
, Daoism and Buddhism), and is comparable (Goodrich and Fang 1976:678) with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations
Meditations
Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy....
or La Rouchefoucauld
François de La Rochefoucauld (writer)
François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. The view of human conduct his writings describe has been summed up by the words "everything is reducible to the motive of self-interest", though the term "gently cynical" has also been applied...
's Maximes.
Title
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 compoundCompound (linguistics)
In linguistics, a compound is a lexeme that consists of more than one stem. Compounding or composition is the word formation that creates compound lexemes...
caigen 菜根 "inedible root of a vegetable; cabbage stalk" is a literary metaphor meaning "bare subsistence" (originating in Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi
Zhū Xī or Chu Hsi was a Song Dynasty Confucian scholar who became the leading figure of the School of Principle and the most influential rationalist Neo-Confucian in China...
's Xiaoxue 小學 "Minor Learning"). The Chinese proverb Jiao de caigen, baishi ke zuo 嚼得菜根, 百事可做 (Rohsenow 2002:66) 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 (1993:172).
English translations of the Caigentan title range from literal to figurative:
- "Musings of a Chinese Vegetarian" (Isobe 1926)
- "Discourses on Vegetable Roots" (Chao 1959)
- "The Roots of Wisdom" (Wilson 1985)
- "Discourses on a Simple Life" (Vos 1993)
- "Tending the Roots of Wisdom" (White 2000)
- "Zen of Vegetable Roots" (Li and Fu 2002)
- "Vegetable Roots Discourse" (Aitken and Kwok 2006)
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".
Textual history
The history of Caigentan editions is convoluted (see Vos 1993, Aitken and Kwok 2006:165-176). No original text is extant in China, and the earliest printed editions are preserved in Japan.Traditionally, the two received Caigentan versions are identified by whether they list the author Hong's given name
Given name
A given name, in Western contexts often referred to as a first name, is a personal name that specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially in a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name...
Yingming 應明 or courtesy name Zicheng 自誠. These two texts have three early prefaces. The first "Zicheng version" preface is by Yu Kongjian 于孔兼, a contemporary friend who calls the author Hong Zicheng. The second and third "Yingming version" prefaces, dated 1768 and 1794, are by Suichutang zhuren 遂初堂主人 "Suichu Hall Master" and Sanshan bingfu Tongli 三山病夫通理 "Three Mountains Invalid Tongli".
Both Caigentan versions are divided into two ce 冊 "books; volumes".
The Zicheng version has 360 (or 359) entries, and the Yingming version has 383. 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". Besides differing in number and ordering of entries, the Zicheng and Yingming editions also differ in content. "The Yingming version shows many more editorial changes and liberties", write (Aitken and Kwok 2006:171), and subsequent versions also exhibit "editorial excisions and additions". "Generally speaking ", say (Goodrich and Fang 1976:678), "the first part of his work counsels integrity in office, whereas the second part describes the joys of living in retirement. Its general spirit is that of the "Golden Mean"."
Scholarship tentatively dates the Caigentan between 1588 and 1591. Yu Kongjian's undated preface to the Zicheng version (tr. Vos 1991:171) provides internal evidence. It begins, "Sending [uninvited] visitors away, I am leading a retired life all by myself in a thatched cottage." The preface further says, "One day my friend Hung Tzu-ch'eng appeared with his Ts'ai-ken t'an which he showed to me begging me for a preface." In 1588, the Wanli Emperor
Wanli Emperor
The Wanli Emperor was emperor of China between 1572 and 1620. His era name means "Ten thousand calendars". Born Zhu Yijun, he was the Longqing Emperor's third son...
(r. 1572-1620) demoted many scholar-bureaucrats
Scholar-bureaucrats
Scholar-officials or Scholar-bureaucrats were civil servants appointed by the emperor of China to perform day-to-day governance from the Sui Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1912, China's last imperial dynasty. These officials mostly came from the well-educated men known as the...
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
Gao Lian
Gao Lian may refer to:* Gao Lian , ancient dramatist* Gao Lian , a Water Margin character...
's Zunsheng Bajian 遵生八笺 "Eight Treatises on Nurturing Life". Thus, the Caigentan reasonably dates from 1588-1591.
The classic Caigentan "Vegetable Roots Discourse" remains popular in the present day. Digital editions are freely available on the Internet, and comic book adaptations are offered in both Japanese manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
and Chinese manhua
Manhua
Manhua are Chinese comics originally produced in China. Possibly due to their greater degree of artistic freedom of expression and closer international ties with Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan have been the places of publication of most manhua thus far, often including Chinese translations of...
.
Contents
In terms of traditional Chinese literaryChinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
genres, the Caigentan is a yulu 語錄 (lit. "recorded sayings") "quotations; aphorisms", a subtype of shanshu 善書 ("good book") "moral-instruction; morality" book category.
The individual entries are predominantly written in pianwen 駢文 "parallel style", an ornate rhythmical prose marked by parallelism
Parallelism (rhetoric)
Parallelism means giving two or more parts of the sentences a similar form so as to give the whole a definite pattern.Parallelisms of various sorts are the chief rhetorical device of Biblical poetry in Hebrew. In fact, Robert Lowth coined the term "parallelismus membrorum Parallelism means giving...
or chiasmus
Chiasmus
In rhetoric, chiasmus is the figure of speech in which two or more clauses are related to each other through a reversal of structures in order to make a larger point; that is, the clauses display inverted parallelism...
. For instance,
口乃心之門, 守口不密, 洩盡真機; 意乃心之足, 防意不嚴, 走盡邪蹊. (1:220)
The mouth is the portal of the mind. If not carefully guarded, it leaks true intents and motives. Feelings are the feet of the mind. If not carefully watched, they will take you onto all kinds of wayward paths. (tr. Aitken and Kwok 2006:100)
The Caigentan records life lessons from the decadent and corrupt late Ming society, many of which have universal appeal. Take, for example, this warning to partygoers.
Those who pick up their coats to depart at the height of festivity are admired as adepts who can halt at the precipice. Those who pursue their night journey after their candle has burned out are ridiculed as ordinary persons awash in the bitter sea. (2:104, tr. Aitkens and Kowk 2006:147)
Referring to the first of the Buddhist Four Noble Truths
Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths are an important principle in Buddhism, classically taught by the Buddha in the Dharmacakra Pravartana Sūtra....
, Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
dukkha
Dukkha
Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, discontent, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, sorrow, affliction, social alienation, anxiety,...
(Chinese ku) "suffering; bitterness", this kuhai 苦海 "bitter sea" is the Chinese translation of dukkha-samudra
Samudra
Samudra is a Sanskrit term for "ocean", literally the "gathering together of waters" Samudra is a Sanskrit term for "ocean", literally the "gathering together of waters" Samudra is a Sanskrit term for "ocean", literally the "gathering together of waters" (- meaning "together" and -udra meaning...
"sea of bitterness; ocean of suffering".
Retirement and old age are common themes in the Caigentan.
The sun is setting and the evening clouds are more colorful than ever. The year is about to end and the oranges and tangerines are all the more fragrant. Thus noble persons in their old age should all the more enliven their spirits a hundredfold. (1:11, tr. Aitken and Kwok 2006:91)
Translations
The Chinese Caigentan has been translated into many languages. Japanese Saikontan translations are the most numerous, with over 26 annotated editions published (Wilson 1985:17). English translations are available from Isobe Yaichiro (1926), William Scott WilsonWilliam Scott Wilson
William Scott Wilson is known for translating several works of Japanese literature, mostly those relating to the martial tradition of that country. He is recognized by as "today’s foremost translator of classic Samurai texts." Mr. Wilson is also described as the world's foremost expert on the...
(1985), Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary
Thomas Cleary is a prolific author and translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim classics, and of the Chinese Art of War tradition of strategy and statecraft. He lives in Oakland, California in the United States.-Life and work:...
(1990), Paul White (2000), and Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Aitken
Robert Baker Dairyu Chotan Aitken Roshi was a Zen teacher in the Harada-Yasutani lineage. He co-founded the Honolulu Diamond Sangha in 1959...
and Daniel W. Y. Kwok (2006). In addition, there are partial translations by Chao Tze-Chiang (1959) and by Lee Siu-Leung and Fu Yiyao (2002). Three annotated editions (White, Aitken and Kwok, and Lee and Fu) include parallel text
Parallel text
A parallel text is a text placed alongside its translation or translations. Parallel text alignment is the identification of the corresponding sentences in both halves of the parallel text. The Loeb Classical Library and the Clay Sanskrit Library are two examples of dual-language series of texts...
Chinese.
To illustrate the translational range in English, the Caigentan metaphorically compares two traditional Chinese artifacts, the qiqi 攲器 (lit. "leaning/inclining vessel") "a lopsided vessel designed to overturn when full" and the puman 撲滿 (lit. "strike [when] full") "clay coin bank; piggy bank". Compare these translations of 欹器以滿覆, 撲滿以空全. 故君子寧居無不居有, 寧處缺不處完 (1.63):
There is an ancient vessel which is so constructed that when it contains no water, it stands obliquely; when half filled, it stands upright; but when full, it will fall down. There is another antique vessel made of earth and used as a savings-box. It has a small opening, through which coins are dropped. Thus, the former falls when it is full, while the latter is useful because it is empty within. Such is the way of the supreme man. He prefers nothing to something; he is content with want rather than seeking after fullness. (Isobe 1926)
When the water bottle is full, it overturns. When the piggy bank remains empty, it is whole. Therefore, the gentleman: Resides in vacuity rather than existence, and exists in the lacking rather than the complete. (Wilson 1985)
There is a kind of vessel that tips over when it is full. A piggy bank is not broken as long as it is empty. So for enlightened people it is better to dwell in nonbeing than in being, better to be lacking than replete. (Cleary 1990)
The qi vessel tips over when it is filled with water. The puman money stays whole so long as it is not filled up with money. Therefore, the accomplished man prefers to settle in a place where there is neither strife nor striving, and dwell in an incomplete placed, not a finished one. (White 2000)
A vessel topples because it is too full. A piggy bank is saved from being shattered for its emptiness. So a true person prefers "have-not" than "have". Rather be incomplete than to be complete. (Lee and Fu 2004)
The qiqi water vessel tips over when it is full. The puman money-saving vessel is perfect when it is empty. The noble person abides with nothing rather than with something, and is content with lack rather than with completeness. (Aitken and Kwok 2006)
This qiqi alludes to the ancient Xunzi (28.1, tr. Knoblock 1994:244), where it was an symbolic warning against complacency. When Confucius
Confucius
Confucius , literally "Master Kong", was a Chinese thinker and social philosopher of the Spring and Autumn Period....
visited the ancestral temple of Duke Huan of Qi, he saw a "vessel that inclined to one side", which the caretaker called a you zuo zhi qi 宥坐之器 "warning vessel that sat on the right". Confucius said: "I have heard of such a warning vessel; if empty, it inclines; if half full, it is upright, and if completely full, it overturns". After watching a demonstration of the vessel's operation, he sighed: "Alas! How indeed could there be complete fullness and no overturning!"
External links
- "Unearthing proverbs, essential to life but hard to swallow", Mariko Kato, Japan Times
- 菜根譚, Caigentan
- 菜根譚(上), Caigentan (Book 1)
- 菜根譚(下), Caigentan (Book 2)
- Vegetable Root Discourse Blog, Caigentan