📖 Meaning
This Buddhist idiom describes fitting the vast Mount Sumeru into a tiny mustard seed without any reduction or increase. It conveys the boundless power and inconceivable spiritual ability of the Buddha-dharma. It is also used metaphorically to praise writing or poetry that is extraordinarily profound and imaginative.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom originates from the Vimalakirti Sutra (《维摩经》), specifically the chapter on inconceivable liberation (不思议品). The text states that a bodhisattva dwelling in this liberation can place the immense height and breadth of Mount Sumeru inside a mustard seed without any increase or decrease. Mount Sumeru is the central cosmic mountain in Buddhist cosmology, while a mustard seed represents the smallest conceivable container. The image illustrates that in the realm of ultimate reality, the distinction between large and small dissolves. The Song dynasty poet Xin Qiji later employed this image in a lyric to express the relativity of size and perspective.
💡 Example Usage
这首长诗意境开阔，深得须弥芥子之妙，于方寸间见天地。
This long poem has an expansive artistic conception, achieving the marvel of fitting Mount Sumeru into a mustard seed—revealing the whole world within a small space.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 须弥芥子
- Pinyin: xū mí jiè zǐ
- Literal Translation: Mount Sumeru, mustard seed
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4