📖 Meaning
A metaphor for reaching a dead end where one must decisively cut ties and choose a new path without looking back. It also describes the act of letting go of all concerns and attachments in a moment of crisis, abandoning everything to face the unknown.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom has no single recorded classical source. It draws on the visceral image of a person clinging to a cliff edge who must release their grip—either to fall or to seize another hold. The phrase gained currency in colloquial and literary Chinese as a powerful metaphor for the moment of ultimate renunciation, when further hesitation is impossible and one must act with absolute resolve. It is sometimes associated with Chan (Zen) Buddhist rhetoric about casting off attachments, though no canonical sutra is cited as its origin.
💡 Example Usage
事到如今，他只能悬崖撒手，赌一把了。
At this point, he had no choice but to let go of everything and take a gamble.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 悬崖撒手
- Pinyin: xuán yá sā shǒu
- Literal Translation: cliff, release, hand
- Category: Determination
- Characters: 4