Saikontan - Saikontan

A book of "clean words" that was popular in the late Ming dynasty in China. The author, Hong Yingming, whose courtesy name was Zicheng and who went by the name Huanchu Daoren, lived around the Wanli period (1573-1619). He was from Chengdu Prefecture, Sichuan Province. From around the mid-Ming dynasty, it became popular to base one's education on Confucianism, and also to be knowledgeable in Taoism and Buddhism, becoming a scholar who cultivated all three religions, and the author was one of those outstanding examples. This book consists of 222 articles in the first collection and 135 articles in the second collection, for a total of 357 articles of "clean words." The first collection mainly describes the way to stand in the world and interact with people, and contains many words of moral admonition like instructions for living, while the second collection describes the charm of nature and the joys of retiring to the mountains, and often expounds on the philosophy of life and the laws of the universe. This philosophy of life and the laws of the universe are truths common to the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, and "Qingyan" is a literary expression of this in the form of a collection of sayings, making extensive use of couplets. The title of the book is taken from a line in Wang Xinmin's "Xiaoxue" from the Song dynasty: "If a man is constantly biting the roots of vegetables, he will be able to accomplish a hundred things." It was read by many people in Japan at the end of the Edo period, rather than in China. Hong Yingming also wrote four volumes of the Miracles of the Immortal Buddha (one volume each of The Disappearance of Lies, The Secret of Eternal Life, The Realm of Tranquility, and The Secret of No Life).

[Takao Fujiwara]

"Caigentan" by Imai Uzaburou (1967, Meitoku Publishing)" ▽ "Caigentan" translated and annotated by Imai Uzaburou (Iwanami Bunko)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、明(みん)代の末期に流行した「清言(せいげん)」の書。著者洪応明(こうおうめい)は、字(あざな)は自誠(じせい)、還初道人(かんしょどうじん)と号し、万暦（1573～1619）ごろの人。四川(しせん)省成都(せいと)府の出身。儒教的教養を基礎とし、そのうえに道教、仏教に通じて三教兼修の士となることは、明代中期ごろからの流行であったが、著者はその優れた一人であった。本書は、前集は222条、後集は135条、合計357条の「清言」からなる。前集は、主として世間にたち、人と交わる道を述べて、処世訓のような道徳的な訓戒のことばが多く、後集は、自然の趣(おもむき)と山林に隠居する楽しみを述べて、人生の哲理や宇宙の理法の悟了を説くことが多い。この人生の哲理、宇宙の理法は、儒仏道三教に通じる真理であり、それを語録の形式により、対句(ついく)を多用した文学的表現をするのが「清言」である。書名は、宋(そう)の汪信民(おうしんみん)の『小学』における「人常に菜根を咬(か)みうれば、すなわち百事をなすべし」からとったものである。中国よりむしろ、江戸末期の日本で多くの人に愛読された。洪応明にはほかに『仙仏奇蹤(きしょう)』4巻（『消揺嘘(しょうようきょ)』『長生詮(ちょうせいせん)』『寂光境』『無生訣(むせいけつ)』各1巻）の著がある。

［藤原高男］

『今井宇三郎著『菜根譚』（1967・明徳出版社）』▽『今井宇三郎訳注『菜根譚』（岩波文庫）』

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