📖 Meaning
This idiom describes a state of ultimate mastery where mind and hands work in such perfect harmony that all conscious effort disappears. It serves as a metaphor for consummate skill and effortless, fluent execution of a craft.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase draws on the Daoist ideal of forgetting technique through mastery, echoing the Zhuangzi tradition in which a skilled artisan becomes so absorbed that awareness of his own hands vanishes. It emphasizes seamless unity of intention and execution, much like a master calligrapher whose brush moves as if guided by instinct alone. No single classical text is credited as its definitive source.
💡 Example Usage
他练字数十年，如今挥毫泼墨已至心手相忘之境。
After decades of practice, his calligraphy has reached a realm where mind and hand move in perfect unconscious harmony.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 心手相忘
- Pinyin: xīn shǒu xiāng wàng
- Literal Translation: heart, hand, mutually, forget
- Category: Skill
- Characters: 4