Vegetable Roots Discourse: Wisdom from Ming China on Life and Living (Hardcover)

~ Zicheng HONG (Author), Robert Aitken (Translator), Daniel W.Y. Kwok (Translator) "Those dwelling in the house of virtue may be lonely at times, but those who prosper by fawning upon the powerful are forlornly alone for..." (more)
Key Phrases: noble person

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It can be enjoyed merely for its sage advice and for the charm of the Chinese idiom that Aitken and Kwok have preserved." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Description

Written 400 years ago, by a scholar in the Ming Dynasty, The Caigentan or Vegetable Roots has been a fundamental literary guide for hundreds of years, outlining Asian philosophy. This edition, translated by Robert Aitken and Daniel W.Y. Kwok, contains 360 observations of life: its exaggerations, absurdities, grotesqueries, and falsities. Terse, humorous, witty, and timely, these Taoist, Buddhist, and Confucianist epigrams provide fundamental principles of life. Though often strict, puritan, and tough to live by, they provide the foundation for the art of living. Pocket-sized and agreeing seamlessly with the impulses of all ages, this discourse is read as a set of philosophical notions on personal development for all types.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Counterpoint (January 11, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593760914
• ISBN-13: 978-1593760915
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,112,065 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good reading, March 16, 2006

By	Ian A. Pojman (Chicago) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Just got this book through chance. It's a great read. I think the blurb in the book summed it up well when it said something about uniting the traditional buddhist and taoist values with the more confucian. It reads like confucianized tao te ching - lots of parables of wisdom but made more "real life" - thus a but more accessible to a casual reader as opposed to the tao de ching, which a more light reader may not be able to grasp.

I am very happy with the translation, although I do not speak chinese, i feel as if there was a lot of care put into it. Great book. great job by the translators.