见不善如探汤

見不善如探湯

jiànbùshànrútàntāng

phrase

Meanings

1 seeing evil, recoil as from touching boiling water
2 avoid wrongdoing as one would avoid scalding water

Characters

good (不善 = bad / evil)

to reach into / touch

boiling water (classical)

Examples

见善如不及，见不善如探汤。

Jiàn shàn rú bù jí, jiàn bù shàn rú tàn tāng.

Pursue goodness as if you could never catch up with it; recoil from evil as from touching boiling water.

一名廉洁的官员应当见不善如探汤。

Yī míng liánjié de guānyuán yīngdāng jiàn bù shàn rú tàn tāng.

An upright official should shrink from wrongdoing as from scalding water.

Tips

history

From 《论语·季氏》 (Analects). Confucius describes two types of people he has heard of — and one type (those who pursue good like chasing the unreachable and flee evil like touching boiling water) he has seen. 汤 in classical Chinese means 'hot water / boiling broth', not the modern 'soup.'

usage

Always quoted with its companion 见善如不及. 汤 here is tāng = boiling/scalding water — the image is of recoiling reflexively on contact.

Stroke Order

见 jiàn

不 bù

善 shàn

如 rú

探 tàn

汤 tāng