📖 Meaning
Originally referring to wandering lost into the immortal realm of Mount Tiantai. It is now used metaphorically to describe a situation where one's future seems bleak and uncertain, with no way forward.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Taiping Yulan (Imperial Readings of the Taiping Era), which quotes the Youming Lu (Records of the Hidden and Visible World). During the Jin Dynasty, Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao of Shan County went together to Mount Tiantai to gather grain bark and became lost, unable to find their way back. According to legend, they wandered into a fairyland where immortal maidens welcomed them, and they stayed for half a year before returning to the mortal world, only to find that several generations had already passed. The phrase thus came to symbolize losing one's way in an otherworldly realm, and later evolved to mean being lost with no path forward.
💡 Example Usage
公司破产后，他顿感天台路迷，不知何去何从。
After the company went bankrupt, he felt as though he had lost his way with no road ahead, not knowing where to turn.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 天台路迷
- Pinyin: tiān tái lù mí
- Literal Translation: Tiantai, road, lost
- Category: Condition
- Characters: 4