大吹法螺

Chinese

		big; great; huge big; great; huge; large; major; wide; deep; oldest; eldest; doctor	to blow; blast; puff to blow; blast; puff; boast; brag; end in failure	conch shell used as a Buddhist trumpet
simp. and trad. (大吹法螺)		大	吹	法螺
Literally: “to play the Buddhist conch shell trumpet”.

Etymology

From earlier 吹大法螺 (chuīdàfǎluó). This term appeared in various Buddhist texts. The following is one of the examples from the Lotus Sutra:

今佛世尊欲說大法，雨大法雨，吹大法螺，擊大法鼓，演大法義。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]

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今佛世尊欲说大法，雨大法雨，吹大法螺，击大法鼓，演大法义。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

From: Lotus Sutra, translated by Kumārajīva (English translation extracted from [1])

Jīn fó shìzūn yù shuō dàfǎ, yǔ dàfǎ yǔ, chuī dàfǎ luó, jī dàfǎ gǔ, yǎn dàfǎ yì. [Pinyin]

I am very sure that the Buddha, the Bhagavat, will now teach the great Dharma, rain down the great Dharma, blow the conch of the great Dharma, beat the drum of the great Dharma, and reveal the meaning of the great Dharma.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): dàchuīfǎluó

  (Zhuyin): ㄉㄚˋ ㄔㄨㄟ ㄈㄚˇ ㄌㄨㄛˊ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): daai⁶ ceoi¹ faat³ lo⁴

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: dàchuīfǎluó
    • Zhuyin: ㄉㄚˋ ㄔㄨㄟ ㄈㄚˇ ㄌㄨㄛˊ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: dàchueifǎluó
    • Wade–Giles: ta⁴-chʻui¹-fa³-lo²
    • Yale: dà-chwēi-fǎ-lwó
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: dahchueifaaluo
    • Palladius: дачуйфало (dačujfalo)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /tä⁵¹ ʈ͡ʂʰu̯eɪ̯⁵⁵ fä²¹⁴⁻²¹ lu̯ɔ³⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: daai⁶ ceoi¹ faat³ lo⁴
    • Yale: daaih chēui faat lòh
    • Cantonese Pinyin: daai⁶ tsoey¹ faat⁸ lo⁴
    • Guangdong Romanization: dai⁶ cêu¹ fad³ lo⁴
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /taːi̯²² t͡sʰɵy̯⁵⁵ faːt̚³ lɔː²¹/

Idiom

大吹法螺

1. (Buddhism, originally) to preach
2. to brag; to boast; to bluff

Synonyms

• 吹大法螺 (chuīdàfǎluó)

Descendants

• → Japanese: 法螺(ほら)を吹(ふ)く (hora o fuku) (calque), 法螺(ほら)吹(ふ)き (hora fuki) (calque)