惡貫滿盈 (È guàn mǎn yíng)
(1) lit. strung through and filled with evil (idiom); filled with extreme evil
(2) replete with vice
(3) guilty of monstrous crimes
(4) sins strung fully [on a string]
This idiom comes from “Shang Shu – Taishi” (尚書 – 泰誓, or the Book of Documents – Great Speech / Declarations): Shang [ruling government]’s crime surpassed its allotment, Heaven [thus] punished it.
In the waning years of the Shang Dynasty, King Zhou of Shang was tyrannical and brutal, provoking great indignation among the common people. Even the vassal lords could no longer put up with him, believing that he did not act properly as a country’s ruler. At that time there was a vassal lord named Ji Chang, who was arrested by King Zhou for having advocated benevolent rule and opposed his tyrannical ways. Later, his son Ji Fa ascended to the throne and made alliance with other feudal lords to attack King Zhou of Shang. Their army crossed the Yellow River and headed for Shang’s capital, where they fought a large battle against King Zhou’s army at Muye. Since Ji Fa led [his fiefdom] by being a model of benevolence and righteousness, he was well received by the common people, who accorded his army great support. On the other hand, the common people detested King Zhou’s army bitterly, as a result King Zhou was defeated and in the end [committed suicide by] setting himself on fire, with the Shang Dynasty perished along with him.
Prior to Ji Fa leading his troops to attack King Zhou, he made a declaration (proclamation) to the entire army where he listed the crimes committed by King Zhou of Shang, saying that King Zhou’s misdeeds had already come to an end [e.g. sins strung fully on a string], and he must receive punishment for the heinous crimes that he had committed. He called on all the vassal lords to work together to remove the evil for the common people.
From https://dict.idioms.moe.edu.tw/bookView.jsp?ID=688
The name “Shangshu” (尚書 – e.g. “Venerated Documents”) originally meant “The Book (or Document) From Ancient Time”, which was a general term [at the time], but later became a proper name. “Taishi” (泰誓 – e.g. Great Speech) was a chapter [in the book] in which King Wu of Zhou made proclamation (oath) to his troops at the assembly of the vassal lords in Mengjin, prior to attacking King Zhou of Shang. In the waning years of the Shang Dynasty, King Zhou of Shang was tyrannical and brutal, with the common people living in misery, and the vassal lords also harboring dissents. At the time there was a vassal lord named Ji Chang (later [was known as] King Wen of Zhou), who implemented benevolent governance in his state [e.g. fiefdom] and won the common people’s hearts together with the supports of the other vassal lords. After Ji Chang died, his son Ji Fa succeeded him at the throne (becoming King Wu of Zhou) and led the vassal lords in going on an expedition against King Zhou [of Shang].
The army crossed the Yellow River at Mengjin and was ready to advance to the Shang’s capital of Chaoge. At this time, King Wu of Zhou gathered his army and proclaimed an oath, saying thus: “The sins of the Shang Dynasty are like coins being strung on a string, and the string is already full of them! Currently, it is not I who wish to attack Shang, [rather] it is the Heaven’s will who wants me to do this. If I am to disobey the Heaven’s mandate, then I will have committed a great crime!” The morale of the soldiers greatly increased after they heard King Wu of Zhou’s proclamation, and in the end they defeated the Shang army at the battle of Muye, overthrew King Zhou, and established the Zhou Dynasty. Later, the idiom “Sins strung fully [on a string]” evolved from this [proclamation by King Zhou], and is used to describe sins of great evil, where the sinner’s final days are [fast] approaching.
[Note: ancient Chinese coins have a hole in the middle.]
—– VOCABULARY —–
貫 guàn – to pierce through; to pass through; to be stringed together; string of 1000 cash [[quán: dây xâu tiền thời xưa; lượng từ – một ngàn tiền gọi là “nhất quán” 一貫; nguyên tịch, chỗ ở đã nhiều đời; thông, suốt; nối nhau, liên tiếp, liên tục; mặc, đội; rót, trút vào; giương, kéo ra]]
滿盈 mǎn yíng – full up
盈 yíng – full; filled; surplus [[doanh: tràn đầy, sung mãn; đầy, đủ; tăng thêm; thừa thãi; kiêu ngạo, tự mãn; đầy tràn, phong phú]]
泰 tài – safe; peaceful; most; grand [[thái: hanh thông, thuận lợi; yên vui, bình yên, thư thích; xa xỉ; cực; rất, lắm]]
誓 shì – oath; vow; to swear; to pledge [[thệ: lời thề, lời hứa quyết tâm không đổi; thề, quyết; răn bảo]]
誅 zhū – to put (a criminal) to death; to punish [[tru: đánh dẹp, thảo phạt; giết; trừ khử, diệt trừ; trừng phạt, diệt trừ; trừng phạt, trừng trị; khiển trách; yêu cầu, đòi hỏi]]
紂 zhòu – saddle crupper (harness strap on horse’s back) [[trụ: vua “Trụ” 紂, một bạo chúa đời nhà “Ân” 殷, đốt chết kẻ trung lương, mổ đàn bà chửa; người tàn nhẫn, bất nghĩa]]
暴虐 bào nüè – brutal, tyrannical [[bạo ngược, hung ác, tàn bạo]]
激起 jī qǐ – to arouse; to evoke; to cause; to stir up [[kích khởi]]
憤慨 fèn kǎi – to resent; resentment [[bực tức, bực bội, không bằng lòng]]
憤 fèn – indignant; anger; resentment [[phẫn: thù, hận; tức giận, uất ức; phấn: muốn hiểu ra, hết sức tìm tòi giải quyết vấn đề]]
慨 kǎi – indignant; generous; to sigh (with emotion) [[khái: tức giận, căm phẫn; than thở; hào hiệp, khảng khái]]
既 jì – already; since; both … (and …) [[kí: đã, rồi; hết, xong, toàn bộ; không lâu, chốc lát; rồi, thì; đã … còn, vừa … vừa]]
看不過 kàn bu guò – cannot stand by idly and watch; unable to put up with it any longer
實施 shí shī – to implement; to carry out [[thực thi, tiến hành, thực hiện]]
抓 zhuā – to grab; to catch; to arrest; to snatch;to scratch [[trảo: gãi, như “trảo dưỡng” 抓癢 gãi ngứa, “trảo đầu” 抓頭 gãi đầu; quắp lấy, quơ lấy, bám; bắt, tóm; nắm]]
起來 qǐ lai – to stand up; to get up
qi lai – (after a verb) indicating the beginning and continuation of an action or a state
聯合 lián hé – to combine; to join; unite; alliance [[liên hiệp, liên hợp]]
牧野 Mù yě – Muye district of Xinxiang city 新鄉市|新乡市[Xin1 xiang1 shi4], Henan
牧 mù – to herd; to breed livestock; to govern (old); government official (old) [[mục: chăn nuôi súc vật; tu dưỡng, nuôi dưỡng; cai trị, thống trị; người chăn nuôi súc vật; nơi chăn nuôi súc vật; quan đứng đầu một việc]]
由於 yóu yú – due to; as a result of; thanks to; owing to; since; because
率 shuài – to lead; to command; rash; hasty; frank; straightforward; generally; usually [[suất: noi theo, dựa theo; dẫn, mang theo; đại khái, đại thể; hấp tấp, nông nổi; thẳng thắn, ngay thẳng; tỉ lệ, mức]]
給予 jǐ yǔ – to accord; to give; to show (respect)
支持 zhī chí – to be in favor of; to support; to back; support; backing; to stand by [[ủng hộ, giúp đỡ, phù trợ, yểm trợ]]
卻 què – but; yet; however; while; to go back; to decline; to retreat; nevertheless; even though [[khước: từ chối, không nhận, như “thôi khước” 推卻 thoái thác; lùi về, thối lui; rồi, mất, được; vẫn, nhưng; biểu thị phản vấn, sao, sao lại? đang; lại]]
深惡痛絕 shēn wù tòng jué – to detest bitterly (idiom); implacable hatred; to abhor; anathema
惡 wù – to hate; to loathe; ashamed; to fear; to slander [[ố: ghét, chán; xúc phạm, mạo phạm, làm cho nổi giận; sợ hãi; xấu hổ]]
絕 jué – to cut short; extinct; to disappear; to vanish; absolutely; by no means [[tuyệt: đứt, cắt đứt; ngưng, dừng, đình chỉ; cạn, hết, kiệt tận; bất tỉnh; không có đời sau (để tiếp nối); chống, cưỡng lại; rẽ ngang, xuyên qua; cao vượt, siêu việt; xuất chúng, trác việt, có một không hai; xa xôi, hẻo lánh; cùng, hết hi vọng]]
自焚 zì fén – self-immolation
焚 fén – to burn [[phần: đốt; nướng phạm nhân (một hình phạt thời xưa); khô, ráo, hanh]]
列舉 liè jǔ – a list; to list; to enumerate [[liệt kê, kể ra]]
懲罰 chéng fá – penalty; punishment; to punish [[trừng phạt, trừng trị]]
號召 hào zhào – to call; to appeal
協力 xié lì – to unite in common effort [[hiệp lực, cùng chung sức]]
屬於 shǔ yú – to be classified as; to belong to; to be part of
泛稱 fàn chēng – general term
泛 fàn – to float; to be suffused with; general; extensive; non-specific; flood; pan- (prefix) [[phiếm: trôi nổi, bồng bềnh, lênh đênh; hiện ra, bốc lên; tràn, ngập; lật, lật đổ; thua, bại; không thiết thực; ố, bẩn, ô nhiễm]]
專名 zhuān míng – proper noun
篇 piān – sheet; piece of writing; bound set of bamboo slips used for record keeping (old); classifier for written items: chapter, article [[thiên: sách, thư tịch; văn chương đầu đuôi hoàn chỉnh; lượng từ – bài, phần (đơn vị dùng cho thơ văn)]]
孟津 Mèng jīn – Mengjin county in Luoyang 洛陽|洛阳, Henan
津 jīn – saliva; sweat; a ferry crossing; a ford (river crossing) [[tân: bến, bến đò; đường giao thông trọng yếu; nước dãi, nước miếng; thấm nhuần, trợ giúp]]
誓師 shì shī – to vow before one’s troops
異心 yì xīn – disloyalty; infidelity
廣 guǎng – wide; numerous; to spread [[quảng: tòa nhà lớn không có bốn tường, điện lớn; bề ngang, bề rộng; mở rộng, tăng gia; truyền bá, phổ biến; rộng; cao xa; đông người]]
民心 mín xīn – popular sentiment
其 qí – his, her, its, their, that, such [[kì: nó, chúng, họ, thửa (ngôi thứ ba); của nó, của họ, v.v. (thuộc về ngôi thứ ba)]]
進發 jìn fā – to set out; to start
聚集 jù jí – to assemble; to gather
聚 jù – to congregate; to assemble; to mass; to gather together;to amass; to polymerize [[tụ: họp, sum họp; súc tích, tích trữ; thu góp, bóc lột; làng, xóm; của cải tích trữ]]
繩子 shéng zi – cord; string; rope
貫穿 guàn chuān – to run through; a connecting thread from beginning to end; to link
遵守 zūn shǒu – to comply with; to abide by; to respect (an agreement)
守 shǒu – to guard; to defend; to keep watch; to abide by the law; to observe (rules or ritual); nearby; adjoining [[thủ: Tên chức quan. Phép nhà Hán, ông quan đứng đầu một quận gọi là “thái thủ” 太守, đời sau gọi quan “tri phủ” 知府 là “thủ” là do nghĩa ấy; tiết tháo, đức hạnh; phòng vệ, bảo vệ; giữ, giữ gìn; coi sóc, trông nom; tuân theo, tuân hành; đợi; nhờ vào, dựa vào]]
終於 zhōng yú – at last; in the end; finally; eventually
推翻 tuī fān – to overthrow
翻 fān – to turn over; to flip over; to overturn; to rummage through; to translate; to decode; to double; to climb over or into; to cross [[phiên: lật, trở mình, đổ; giở, lật qua; lật lại; vượt qua; dịch, chuyển từ tiếng này sang tiếng khác; bay liệng; biểu thị sự tương phản – lại, thì lại, trái lại]]
末日 mò rì – last day; end; final days; doomsday