📖 Meaning
To not know what is beneficial and what is harmful. It describes someone who acts without understanding the consequences or risks involved. Often used to criticize reckless or naive behavior that disregards real danger.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Warring States period text Zhuangzi, in the chapter 'On the Equality of Things' (齐物论), written by the Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zhou. In a dialogue about the limits of human understanding, a character is challenged with the rhetorical question of whether one truly does not know benefit and harm, and whether the perfected person is likewise free from such distinctions. Zhuangzi uses the exchange to question the rigid opposition people draw between gain and loss. The idiom later came to describe ignorance of real consequences in worldly affairs.
💡 Example Usage
他不知利害地独自闯入深山，结果迷了路。
Not knowing any better, he ventured into the deep mountains alone and ended up getting lost.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 不知利害
- Pinyin: bù zhī lì hài
- Literal Translation: not, know, benefit, harm
- Category: Wisdom
- Characters: 4