📖 Meaning
To let one's gaze wander far while opening one's heart and mind to broad thoughts. It describes the uplifting feeling of looking out over a vast landscape and feeling one's spirit expand with the view. The phrase conveys a sense of liberating one's thoughts through wide observation.
📜 Origin Story
This idiom originates from the 'Preface to the Orchid Pavilion Collection' (兰亭集序) written by Wang Xizhi during the Eastern Jin dynasty. At the famous gathering at the Orchid Pavilion in 353 AD, Wang and his literary friends gathered to drink and compose poetry. In the preface, Wang described looking up at the vastness of the universe and down at the abundance of all living things, then letting his eyes roam and his mind soar freely, finding such pleasure in sight and sound that life was truly joyful. The phrase has since been used to describe the expansive state of mind that comes from broad, distant contemplation.
💡 Example Usage
站在泰山之巅，游目骋怀，顿觉天地之广阔，胸中块垒尽消。
Standing atop Mount Tai, letting my gaze roam and my mind soar, I suddenly felt the vastness of heaven and earth, and all the gloom in my heart vanished.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 游目骋怀
- Pinyin: yóu mù chěng huái
- Literal Translation: roam the eyes, gallop the mind
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4