寻隐者不遇

尋隱者不遇
xúnyǐnzhěbùyù
phrase

Meanings

  1. 1 Seeking the Hermit, Not Finding Him
  2. 2 (title of a famous Tang poem by Jia Dao about a failed visit to a recluse)
  3. 3 (lit.) seek — hermit — not — meet

Examples

Xún Yǐnzhě Bù Yù shì Jiǎ Dǎo zuì yǒumíng de duǎnshī.
'Seeking the Hermit, Not Finding Him' is Jia Dao's most famous short poem.
Tā páshān zhǎo péngyǒu pūle kōng, xiào shuō zhēn shì xún yǐnzhě bù yù.
He climbed the mountain to find his friend only to miss him, laughing: 'truly seeking the hermit and not finding him.'

Tips

history
Title of 》 (Jia Dao, Tang, 9th c.), 20 characters that sketch a whole encounter: 童子不知 (Beneath the pine I asked the boy; he said his master was off gathering herbs. 'He's just in these mountains — but the clouds are deep, who knows where'). Model of 言外之意 (meaning beyond words) in Chinese poetry.
usage
Frequently borrowed in modern Chinese to describe any visit or search that comes up empty — especially when the sought person is elusive, unreachable, or deliberately off-grid.

Stroke Order

xún
yǐn
zhě