Chinese idioms from the Dao De Jing
长生久视 (cháng shēng jiǔ shì)
Word for word from chapter 59
长生久视 (cháng shēng jiǔ shì), “long life and lasting sight”, closes chapter 59 of the Dao De Jing and means to live long without growing feeble.
Character by character
| 长 | cháng | long, long-lasting |
|---|---|---|
| 生 | shēng | to live |
| 久 | jiǔ | lasting, long |
| 视 | shì | to look at |
| 长生久视 | To live long and keep one's eyes, ears and strength; long life. | |
Where it comes from
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是谓深根固柢，长生久视之道。
This is called deep roots and a firm base, the Way of long life and lasting sight.
How the meaning moved
The four characters end chapter 59: “This is called deep roots and a firm base, the Way of long life and lasting sight.” The chapter is about governing. It opens: “In governing people and serving heaven, nothing is better than frugality”, and moves step by step from frugality to virtue built up “again and again”, to holding a state, to “holding the mother of the state, one can last long.” Long life and lasting sight are first of all the life of a state that does not wear itself out.
久视 is the unusual half. Dictionaries explain it as not growing old, the eyes and ears still sharp. The Han Feizi ties the two halves to the roots of a tree: “when the taproot is firm, life is long; when the roots are deep, sight is lasting.” Later the phrase was taken up by the seekers of long life: the Baopuzi, a fourth-century book on the arts of immortality, says that whoever goes deep into them “can live long and see long” (长生久视). Today it is a literary phrase for longevity, met in writing on health and on Daoist practice.
Using it today
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古代道家追求长生久视，留下了许多养生的方法。
gǔ dài dào jiā zhuī qiú cháng shēng jiǔ shì, liú xià le xǔ duō yǎng shēng de fāng fǎ.
The Daoists of old sought long life and lasting sight, and left many ways of looking after one's health.
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长生久视未必求得到，但规律的作息确实能让人更健康。
cháng shēng jiǔ shì wèi bì qiú de dào, dàn guī lǜ de zuò xī què shí néng ràng rén gèng jiàn kāng.
Long life and lasting sight may be out of reach, but regular hours really do make people healthier.