Hong Zicheng

Who is Hong Zicheng?

Hong Zicheng was a Chinese philosopher who lived during the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Zicheng 自誠 was Hong's zi 字 "courtesy name", his given name was Hong Yingming 洪應明, and his hao 號 "pseudonym" was Huanchu Daoren 還初道人 "Daoist Adept who Returns to the Origin".

Hong Zicheng wrote the Caigentan, the Xianfo qizong, and several no-longer extant books. The c. 1590 Caigentan 菜根譚 "Vegetable Roots Discourse" is an eclectic compilation of philosophical aphorisms that combine elements from Confucianism, Daoism, and Chan Buddhism. The 1602 Xianfo qizong 仙佛奇蹤 "Marvelous Traces of Transcendents and Buddhas" contains legends about Daoist and Buddhist masters. The Qing Dynasty catalog to the Siku Quanshu summarizes the Xianfo qizong:

It covers episodes of about sixty-three Daoist from Laozi to Zhang Sanfeng; comments on immortality; nineteen patriarchs of Indian Buddhism, from Sakyamuni to Prajnatara, and forty-two patriarchs of Chan Buddhism, from Bodhidharma to Chuanzi 船子; and mysteries of eternity.