📖 Meaning
Flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water. It refers to illusions or visions that appear beautiful but are unreal and unattainable. The idiom is used to describe things that look attractive yet have no true substance.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Ming dynasty scholar Xie Zhen's work 'Simao Shihua' (Four Mists Poetry Talks), where he discussed how some poetic meanings can be understood, cannot be understood, or need not be understood, comparing them to flowers in a mirror and the moon in the water. He advised readers not to rigidly cling to surface traces of a poem's imagery. The metaphor draws on the classical Buddhist idea that reflections seen in water or a mirror are illusory and intangible. Over time, the expression came to denote any beautiful but unreal or fleeting vision.
💡 Example Usage
那些虚浮的名利不过是水月镜花，何必苦苦追求。
Those superficial fame and fortune are nothing but moon in the water and flowers in a mirror—why chase them so obsessively?
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 水月镜花
- Pinyin: shuǐ yuè jìng huā
- Literal Translation: water, moon, mirror, flower
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4