📖 Meaning
To understand and perceive deeply hidden and mystical matters. It describes someone with extraordinary insight into the unseen and supernatural realms, conveying a profound ability to comprehend what lies beyond ordinary perception.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the Southern Dynasties period, specifically the Liang dynasty, in a work titled 'New Inscription on the Clepsydra' (新刻漏铭) by the scholar Lu Chui (陆倕). The original text notes that even ordinary tools can discern heavenly intentions and earthly conditions, and asks how much more so divine creation, which penetrates the hidden and perceives the spiritual. The clepsydra, or water clock, was a vital timekeeping instrument, and the inscription used this phrase to praise its near-supernatural precision in measuring time.
💡 Example Usage
他博览群书，通幽洞灵，对天道玄理有着独到的见解。
Having read extensively, he possesses extraordinary insight into the hidden and mystical, with a unique understanding of heavenly principles and profound truths.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 通幽洞灵
- Pinyin: tōng yōu dòng líng
- Literal Translation: penetrate the hidden, pierce the spiritual
- Category: Wisdom
- Characters: 4