| Caigentan | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 菜根譚 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 菜根谭 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | Vegetable Root Discourse | ||||||||||
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The Caigentan (Chinese: 菜根譚) is a circa 1590 text written by the Ming Dynasty scholar and philosopher Hong Zicheng (Chinese: 洪自誠; pinyin: Hóng Zì-Chéng). 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.