諺語 · a single proverb
天下無不散之筵席
Simplified: 天下无不散之筵席
What does 天下無不散之筵席 (tiān xià wú bù sàn zhī yán xí) mean?
天下無不散之筵席 (tiān xià wú bù sàn zhī yán xí) is a colloquial saying (súyǔ 俗語). Word for word it reads "under heaven there is no banquet that does not break up." In use it means: Every gathering, however warm, must eventually end. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Metal note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Rooster.
Literally: "under heaven there is no banquet that does not break up."
The reading
You are already grieving the end of something you are still inside of, and that grief is the receipt for how good it is. Nothing at this table was meant to last, which is precisely why you should taste it now. The lamps going out later is not a betrayal, it is the shape of an evening.
The story
The saying is recorded in Feng Menglong's Ming story collection Xingshi Hengyan: under heaven there is no banquet that does not break up. Its image is the warm table whose lamps must eventually go out, and it is used to console people at partings, naming the plain fact that every gathering, however good, is bound to end.
If you are already grieving the end of something you are still inside of, let that grief be the receipt for how good it is, and taste the evening now. Nothing at the table was meant to last, so be fully present at it rather than bracing for the lamps to go out.
What kind of proverb it is
Source 醒世恆言
Sits beside
Keep reading
Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Nature, Seasons & Health, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Rooster, Year of the Rabbit, Year of the Ox, and Year of the Monkey.
Questions
Is 天下無不散之筵席 a real Chinese proverb?
Yes. 天下無不散之筵席 (tiān xià wú bù sàn zhī yán xí) is a colloquial saying (súyǔ 俗語), and it comes from 醒世恆言. It is living Chinese heritage, given here with per-character pinyin and its source so you can trust the line, not a phrase invented in English.
How do you pronounce 天下無不散之筵席?
In Mandarin it is tiān xià wú bù sàn zhī yán xí. Read the pinyin above each character to follow the tones, or press the speaker beside the calligraphy to hear your browser read 天下無不散之筵席 aloud in Mandarin.