📖 Meaning
Indulging in comfort and idle pleasure is tantamount to drinking poisoned wine — it leads to ruin. This idiom warns that complacency and the pursuit of easy gratification are self-destructive, corrupting ambition and resolve. It urges vigilance against the seductive danger of a life devoted solely to ease and enjoyment.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom appears in Zhu Xi's (朱熹) biographical account of Zhang Jun (张公), Duke of Wei (魏国公), during the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhu Xi criticized the powerful chancellor Qin Hui (秦桧), who had spent twenty years in the capital Lin'an (临安) pursuing a policy of '燕安鸩毒' — prioritizing comfort and personal pleasure over the dynasty's duty to recover lost northern territories. Zhu Xi argued that this entrenched complacency had to be abandoned for the dynasty to restore itself. The phrase later entered the official History of Yuan (《元史》) in the biography of Zhang Zhen (张桢), where it was cited as a warning against luxurious excess.
💡 Example Usage
他深知燕安鸩毒之理，终生勤勉不怠。
He deeply understood the principle that comfort is poisoned wine, and remained diligent and unflagging all his life.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 燕安鸩毒
- Pinyin: yàn ān zhèn dú
- Literal Translation: peace, ease, poisoned-wine, poison
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4