📖 Meaning
To transcend the physical body and set aside worldly ambitions, entering a state of selflessness. It describes a Daoist ideal of spiritual detachment, where one lets go of both bodily concerns and mental desires to unite with the Dao.
📜 Origin Story
This phrase originates from the Han dynasty scholar Yan Zun's work 'Daode Zhigui Lun' (Discourse on the Direction of Virtue), in the chapter 'Shangde Bu De' (Superior Virtue Is Not Virtuous). Yan Zun was a Daoist thinker of the Western Han period who elaborated on Laozi's philosophy. The phrase encapsulates his teaching that one should abandon attachment to physical form and conceal worldly ambitions to attain harmony with the Dao.
💡 Example Usage
修道者追求遗形藏志的境界，以求与天地合一。
The cultivator seeks the state of abandoning form and concealing ambition, striving to become one with heaven and earth.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 遗形藏志
- Pinyin: yí xíng cáng zhì
- Literal Translation: abandon form, conceal will
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4