行到水穷处

行到水窮處

xíng dào shuǐ qióng chù

quotation

Meanings

1 walking on until the stream runs out
2 reaching the point where the path seems to end
3 metaphor for hitting a dead end, but only apparently

Characters

exhausted / end

Examples

HSK 3

人生有时就是行到水穷处，坐看云起时。

Rénshēng yǒushí jiùshì xíng dào shuǐ qióng chù, zuò kàn yún qǐ shí.

Life is sometimes a matter of 'walking until the water runs out, then sitting to watch the clouds rise.'

HSK 7-9

研究遇到瓶颈，但行到水穷处往往意味着新的开始。

Yánjiū yùdào píngjǐng, dàn xíng dào shuǐ qióng chù wǎngwǎng yìwèizhe xīn de kāishǐ.

The research has hit a wall, but 'reaching where the water ends' often signals a fresh start.

Tips

history

From Wang Wei's (王维, Tang dynasty) 《终南别业》: 行到水穷处，坐看云起时 - 'I walk to where the water ends, then sit and watch the clouds rise.' Wang Wei, the Buddhist painter-poet, turns a hike up the Zhongnan mountains into a koan: at the apparent dead end, a new scene opens from above.

usage

Almost always quoted with its other half 坐看云起时. The couplet is invoked in modern Chinese to console someone facing an apparent dead end: the exhausted stream only means cloud-birth is near.

Stroke Order

行 xíng

到 dào

水 shuǐ

穷 qióng

处 chǔ