Caigen Tan by Taoist Hong Yingming in the Early Ming Dynasty
Translation:
Walk on the narrow road and leave some space for others; When you meet something delicious, you should set aside three points for others to taste.
Introduction of works
Caigen Tan is a collection of aphorisms and essays focusing on the thought of life. It adopts a citation system and combines the Confucian doctrine of the mean, Taoist inaction and Buddhist philosophy of life. From the structural point of view, "Caigen Tan" has beautiful words, neat antithesis, far-reaching implications and food for thought. It is a popular reading that is beneficial for people to cultivate their sentiments, temper their will and strive for progress.
Extended data:
Brief introduction of the author
Hong Yingming, Ming Cheng, was a Taoist at first. His residence, year of birth and death, and average life expectancy are unknown. He was a thinker and scholar of the Ming Dynasty, who lived in Ming Shenzong during the Wanli period. In addition to the famous Caigen Tan, he also compiled four volumes of fairy tales.
The summary of Siku Quanshu says that this book has many stories about the family of the Buddha's second child. In Preface to Wonderland of the Fairy Buddha, he was introduced to "yearn for flowers when he was young, and live in meditation in his later years", which shows that he was keen on official career fame in his early years and sought immortality in seclusion in the mountains in his later years. Around the 30th year of Wanli (1602), he once lived in Qinhuai River in Nanjing and devoted himself to writing.
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