📖 Meaning
Describes a Buddhist practitioner who cultivates with tireless diligence and ascetic discipline. It originates from the practice of never letting one's side rest on a sleeping mat, symbolizing relentless spiritual effort without indulging in comfort.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom comes from the story of the Venerable Pārśva (胁尊者, 'the Ribs Venerable'), recorded by the Tang dynasty monk Xuanzang in the Great Tang Records on the Western Regions (大唐西域记), in the section on Gandhāra (健驮逻国). Pārśva practiced such severe austerities that he never lay down to sleep—his ribs never touched the mat. Through this relentless discipline he attained awakening and became a revered patriarch of Buddhism. The phrase thereafter became a metaphor for extreme diligence in spiritual or religious cultivation.
💡 Example Usage
他修行精进，胁不沾席，数十年如一日。
He practiced with such devotion that his ribs never touched the mat, steadfast for decades as if it were a single day.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 胁不沾席
- Pinyin: xié bù zhān xí
- Literal Translation: ribs, not, touch, mat
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4