📖 Meaning
To shoulder all blame oneself and willingly accept responsibility for one's misdeeds, rather than deflecting fault onto others. It describes a posture of profound self-reproach and moral accountability, often in contexts where one could have easily blamed someone else.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the "Counsels of Great Yu" (大禹谟) chapter of the Book of Documents (尚书), one of China's oldest classics. It describes Emperor Shun (舜) who, when approaching his blind and difficult father Gusou (瞽瞍), "bore guilt and took the fault upon himself" rather than holding his parents accountable. The Song dynasty scholar Cai Chen (蔡沈) elaborated in his commentary that Shun deliberately assumed personal blame for family tensions, refusing to see his parents as the source of wrongdoing. The phrase later became a Confucian ideal of self-examination and filial submission.
💡 Example Usage
事败之后，他负罪引慝，辞去了所有职务。
After the undertaking failed, he took all the blame upon himself and resigned from every position.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 负罪引慝
- Pinyin: fù zuì yǐn tè
- Literal Translation: bear guilt, bring in fault
- Category: Attitude
- Characters: 4