“Cai Gen Tan” is a collection of quotations on self-cultivation, life, dealing with the world, and leaving the world compiled by Hong Yingming, a Taoist priest in the early Ming Dynasty. It is a rare and precious treasure. It has an incredible power of subtle influence on people’s self-cultivation, character cultivation and moral cultivation. Its text is concise, clear and witty, and it combines elegance and vulgarity. It is like a collection of quotations, but it has the fun that quotations do not have; it is like an essay, but it has the neatness that essays cannot have; it is like a warning, but it has the intimacy and clarity that warnings lack; and there are mountain scenery after rain and the sound of bells in the quiet night, which add color to it. What it says is refreshing and interesting, and the wind and moon are boundless.
《菜根谭》是明朝还初道人洪应明收集编著的一部论述修养、人生、处世、出世的语录集，为旷古稀世的奇珍宝训。对于人的正心修身、养性育德，有不可思议的潜移默化的力量。其文字简炼明隽，兼采雅俗。似语录，而有语录所没有的趣味；似随笔，而有随笔所不易及的整饬；似训诫，而有训诫所缺乏的亲切醒豁；且有雨余山色，夜静钟声，点染其间，其所言清霏有味，风月无边。
《菜根谭·兢业的心思 潇洒的趣味》 洪应明
学者有段兢业的心思，又要有段潇洒的趣味。若一味敛束清苦，是有秋杀无春生，何以发育万物？
Although a scholar should be circumspect in his behaviour, he should also have a lively and untrammeled spirit. What will happen if he exercises self-restraint to such an extent as to allow himself nothing other than a Spartan living? It will be just like having a world always in the grip of autumn’s decay and bereft of spring’s vigour. How then can the universe flourish?
