Proverbs of Life Wisdom: Zuigutang Jiansao (The Sword Sweep of the Hall of Drunken Antiquity)

An ancient saying goes: First, dare to know all the good people in the world; second, dare to read all the good books in the world; third, dare to see all the good mountains and rivers in the world. With high mountains and flowing water, follow your heart's desire, accompanied by two or three close friends, and forget to return."

Wisdom proverbs passed down from the Ming Dynasty, every word and sentence unravels the sorrows of life!

"Zuigutang Jiansao" (The Sword Sweep of the Hall of Drunken Antiquity) is a work by the Ming Dynasty author Lu Shaoheng, completed in the fourth year of Emperor Xizong's Tianqi era (1624). The book is divided into twelve volumes: Awakening, Emotion, Steepness, Spirit, Simplicity, Scenery, Rhyme, Wonder, Elegance, Heroism, Method, and Grace. The content covers virtue, self-cultivation, social conduct, reading, career building, family and state affairs, and love. It also chronicles the lifestyle and tastes of late Ming literati, including mountain excursions, garden aesthetics, culinary tastes, art appreciation, Zen meditation, and the cultivation of one's nature. The writing style is light and elegant, skilled at analyzing the logic of things. Along with Hong Yingming's "Vegetable Root Talks" (Caigentan) from the Ming Dynasty and Wang Yongbin's "Night Chats by the Hearth" (Weilu Yehu) from the Qing Dynasty, it is known as one of the "Three Great Extraordinary Books of Conduct."

Due to the change of dynasties and the Qing Dynasty's suppression of such "xiaopin" (literary sketches) works, this book did not circulate widely in China after its publication. More than two hundred years later, in the sixth year of Japan's Kaei era (1853), it was reprinted and published by Ikeuchi Hōtoki and Rai Atsushi. The book became well-known in Japan and remained very popular through the Taisho era.