📖 Meaning
The idiom derives from three ancient masters—Zhao Wen playing the lute, Shi Kuang striking his staff to keep rhythm, and Hui Shi debating while leaning against a parasol tree—each reaching the pinnacle of their art and sustaining it into old age. It now describes someone who exhausts their mental and spiritual energy in devoted pursuit of mastery.
📜 Origin Story
The phrase originates from the Zhuangzi chapter 'On the Equality of Things' (齐物论), written by the Daoist philosopher Zhuang Zhou during the Warring States period. The passage describes how Zhao Wen's lute-playing, Shi Kuang's rhythmic staff-striking, and Hui Shi's parasol-tree debates all represented supreme accomplishments that the three masters carried into their final years. Shi Kuang was a legendary blind musician of the Jin state, and Hui Shi was a renowned logician and close friend of Zhuangzi. The combined phrase later came to signify the exhaustion of one's mind and spirit through relentless intellectual or artistic endeavor.
💡 Example Usage
为解此难题，他支策据梧，夜以继日地推演推敲。
To crack this difficult problem, he exhausted his mental energy, working day and night on his deductions.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 支策据梧
- Pinyin: zhī cè jù wú
- Literal Translation: support, staff, lean against, parasol tree
- Category: Perseverance
- Characters: 4