Ts'ai Ken T'an

*Ts’ai Ken T’an* (also romanized *Cai Gen Tan*, “Vegetable Roots Discourse”) is a Ming-dynasty Chinese collection of aphorisms and short reflections on self-cultivation, conduct, and the balance of worldly life with inner discipline. The work is commonly attributed to Hong Yingming (洪應明), a late-Ming writer about whom few reliable biographical details are known. Drawing on Confucian, Daoist, and Buddhist ideas, the text offers practical counsel on humility, restraint, friendship, and clarity of mind, often through compact, paradox-tinged sayings. It has been widely read in East Asia as a handbook of moral and spiritual cultivation.