one 's heart is like dead ashes -- utterly dissipated

one 's heart is like dead ashes -- utterly dissipated

As a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is x ī NR ú s ǐ Hu ī, which originally means indifference and no emotion; now it also describes depression and extreme indifference. It comes from Zhuangzi's Qi Wu Lun.

Notes on Idioms

Dead ash, cooled ash.

The origin of Idioms

Zhuangzi's Qi Wu Lun: "can the solid form make you as haggard, and the solid heart make you as dead as ashes?"

Idiom usage

A person is depressed. Ba Jin's home 20: "I can't easily forget the past, even though my heart is dead." Jin Mayu's poem "man Tingfang to Mr. He Er of Song Dynasty" reads: "if you are dead hearted, you will be in a state of harmony." Liu Yuxi's Shangdu situ Qi in the Tang Dynasty: "frustrated and sick, failing to wait for the new year, heart as cold as ash, head with white hair." In the Song Dynasty, Sima Guang's Wu Wei Zan Yi Xing He Shu said, "those who learn from Huang's old man regard his heart as dead and his shape as withered wood as Wu Wei, but the old man thinks otherwise." Chapter 38 of Jing Hua Yuan: "if you make up your mind, where can't you go? Why should you hold your dragon's whiskers as attachment?"