📖 Meaning
Literally referring to the four basic postures of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down, it denotes one's every action, movement, or gesture in daily life. The idiom stresses that all conduct, at any time and in any place, is included.
📜 Origin Story
The term has no recorded literary source (出处不详) and is not traced to any specific classic or author. It is widely regarded as Buddhist terminology, derived from the concept of the four dignified postures (四威仪) that practitioners maintain throughout the day. Over time it entered general usage to mean every move one makes in ordinary life.
💡 Example Usage
修行人讲究行住坐卧皆可参禅。
Practitioners hold that one can engage in meditation through every act of walking, standing, sitting, and lying down.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 行住坐卧
- Pinyin: xíng zhù zuò wò
- Literal Translation: walk, stand, sit, lie
- Category: Action
- Characters: 4