Words for Living a Simple Life

Chinese idioms describing the simplicity of life:

1. Holding Park and Containing Truth

Holding: preserving; Park: plain; Truth: pure and natural. Taoism advocates that people should maintain and contain the natural nature of simplicity and innocence, and should not be tainted or damaged by hypocrisy and cunning.

Origin: Laozi, Chapter 19: "Seeing vegetation and embracing simplicity, being less selfish and less desirous." Jin - Tao Qian, "Advising the Farmer": "Be proud and self-sufficient, embrace simplicity and contain truth."

2. Hairpin, Thorns, Skirt and Cloth

Thorns are used as hairpins and coarse cloth as skirts. It describes a woman's simple attire.

Origin: Han Dynasty - Liu Xiang, "Biography of a List of Women": "Liang Hong's wife, Meng Guang, has a thorn hairpin and cloth skirt."

3. Breathing together

Exhale and inhale, simple and coherent. Metaphorically speaking, the understanding is the same, the interests are related.

Origin: Ming Chen Joming, "Selected Ancient Poems of Cai Beans Hall - Nineteen Ancient Poems," 10: "The veins are organized and connected, and if they breathe in and out, the search for them has an end, and they are far away from one another.

4. Hardship and simplicity

This refers to the style of hard work, diligence and thrift.

Origin: Yao Xueyin, Li Zicheng, Chapter 17: "In order to realize this far-reaching political purpose and make every effort to achieve hard work and simplicity in life."

5. Thorny Hairpin and Cloth Skirt

Thorny branches are used as hairpins, and coarse cloth is used as skirts. It describes women's simple attire.

Origin: Southern Dynasty - Song Yu Tongzhi, "For Jiang However, Princess Jean Shang's Table": "I will be crowned in the near future, and all of them have their own rooms, so the thorn hairpin and cloth skirt are enough to fulfill the rite of passage."

6. Plain and simple

Thrifty, not ostentatious.

Origin: "Yuan Shi - Ugusun Ze biography": "often said: 'Shi non-thrifty to raise clean, non-clean to raise virtue.' Body a cloth robe for several years, his wife is simple and unadorned, people all say, Ze does not think so."