Chinese idioms from the Dao De Jing
宠辱不惊 (chǒng rǔ bù jīng)
Reworked from chapter 13
宠辱不惊 (chǒng rǔ bù jīng), “unmoved by favor or disgrace”, is a later idiom that turns around chapter 13 of the Dao De Jing, “Favor and disgrace are alike alarming”.
Character by character
| 宠 | chǒng | favor, being favored |
|---|---|---|
| 辱 | rǔ | disgrace |
| 不 | bù | not |
| 惊 | jīng | alarm, startled |
| 宠辱不惊 | Unmoved by favor or by disgrace; calm whatever one gains or loses. | |
Where it comes from
The idiom is not in the text as such: it reworks the line 宠辱若惊.
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宠辱若惊，
Favor and disgrace are alike alarming,
How the meaning moved
The Dao De Jing does not say 宠辱不惊. Chapter 13 says the opposite and opens with it: “Favor and disgrace are alike alarming” (宠辱若惊). Favor and disgrace both alarm us, the chapter explains, because “gaining it is alarming, and so is losing it”. The idiom keeps three of the four characters and puts 不, “not”, in place of 若, “alike”: it describes the person the chapter hopes for, one whom neither favor nor disgrace can shake. Dictionaries do not say that the idiom was made from the chapter; the match of three characters and the reversed sense are what tie them.
The four characters are first recorded in the New Book of Tang (新唐书), in the biography of Lu Chengqing. As an official in charge of rating others, he gave a man a low mark for a lost grain shipment; the man showed no resentment. Lu raised the mark, saying the loss was beyond his control, and the man showed no joy either. Lu praised him: “Unmoved by favor or disgrace: top mark.” Today the idiom is high praise for composure, said of people who stay level in success and in failure. A much-quoted couplet pairs it with watching the flowers in the courtyard bloom and fall.
Using it today
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无论比赛输赢，老教练都宠辱不惊，赛后照样带队训练。
wú lùn bǐ sài shū yíng, lǎo jiào liàn dōu chǒng rǔ bù jīng, sài hòu zhào yàng dài duì xùn liàn.
Win or lose, the old coach stays unmoved, and after the match he takes the team to training as usual.
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获奖以后，她依然宠辱不惊，每天按时到实验室工作。
huò jiǎng yǐ hòu, tā yī rán chǒng rǔ bù jīng, měi tiān àn shí dào shí yàn shì gōng zuò.
After winning the prize she stayed as composed as ever and went to the lab on time every day.