📖 Meaning
To abandon worldly affairs and live independently, detached from society and its concerns. It describes someone who transcends ordinary life and isolates themselves from all social interaction, often with a spiritual or ethereal quality.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase originates from the Northern Song dynasty poet Su Shi's famous prose poem 'Former Ode on the Red Cliff' (前赤壁赋), written around 1082 during his exile in Huangzhou. In the essay, Su Shi describes an ethereal vision of a figure drifting gracefully as if leaving the mortal world behind, transcending into immortality. The line '飘飘乎如遗世独立，羽化而登仙' captures this image of shedding worldly attachments and ascending to become a celestial being. The phrase has since come to denote living in complete seclusion, aloof from society.
💡 Example Usage
他隐居深山多年，过着遗世独立的生活，与外界几乎断绝了往来。
He has lived in seclusion deep in the mountains for years, leading a life detached from the world, having nearly cut off all contact with the outside.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 遗世独立
- Pinyin: yí shì dú lì
- Literal Translation: abandon, world, alone, stand
- Category: Lifestyle
- Characters: 4