壶中日月 — “A secluded and tranquil life”

Q: What is the Chinese definition of 壶中日月?

旧指道家悠闲清静的无为生活。

壶中日月 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “a secluded and tranquil life”. Detached from worldly affairs, often associated with Daoist ideals of spiritual freedom and an otherworldly existence. Literally, “Sun and moon in a pot/gourd”.

Frequency

壶中日月 Pronunciation and Pinyin

壶中日月 Character Breakdown

Stroke Order

Character	Pinyin	Strokes	Meaning
壶	hú	10	pot, kettle, or flask
中	zhōng	4	middle, in, China, hit, win
日	rì	4	sun, day, Japan
月	yuè	4	moon or month

Example Sentence with 壶中日月

很多厌倦了都市喧嚣的人，都梦想着能寻一处清幽之地，过上壶中日月般的生活。

Many who are weary of the city's hustle and bustle dream of finding a peaceful retreat to live a life of tranquility, like the sun and moon in a pot.

Origin and Story of 壶中日月

Yuntai Mountain, near Chengdu, became renowned because Zhang Daoling, a patriarch of the Zhengyi Daoist sect, cultivated himself there.

Celestial Master Zhang appointed his disciple Zhang Shen as the abbot of Yuntai Daoist Temple.

Zhang Shen was the immortal known as Hú Gōng (Pot Lord). He possessed a wine pot from which, by chanting a spell, wondrous sights like the sun, moon, stars, blue sky, vast lands, pavilions, and towers would appear. Even more astonishing was that he would enter the pot to sleep every night.