📖 Meaning
Flowers reflected in a mirror and the moon reflected in water. Originally referring to an elusive, ethereal artistic mood in poetry, it now metaphorically describes illusions or unreal phenomena that appear real but cannot be grasped. It conveys the sense of something beautiful yet insubstantial.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from a Tang dynasty inscription by Pei Xiu, written for the stela of the eminent Buddhist monk Duan Da (Da Da Fa Shi) at Anguo Temple. The inscription describes how magnificent pillars collapsed in a single day, and speaks of 'water, moon, mirror images'—things without intention to come or go. The Buddhist metaphor reflects the idea that all worldly phenomena are like reflections in a mirror or moon in water: visible yet untouchable, ultimately illusory. Over time the expression entered literary usage to describe any beautiful but unreal vision.
💡 Example Usage
他那些美好的承诺不过是镜花水月，终究无法实现。
Those beautiful promises of his were nothing but an illusion, ultimately impossible to fulfill.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 镜花水月
- Pinyin: jìng huā shuǐ yuè
- Literal Translation: mirror, flower, water, moon
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4