, Darryl

迷者不問
mei.sha.fu.mon

Literally: lost – person – non – ask

Alternately: “The (truly) lost are those who do not ask (the way).” An admonition to ask questions when there’s something you don’t understand. If you get lost – literally or figuratively – and don’t ask the way, you’re just going to go on being lost.

Notes: This phrase comes to us from the writings of Confucian philosopher Xunzi, aka Xun Kuang.

But until I knock to ask, how will I know where to knock to ask?

[Image by 川瀬巴水 (Hasui Kawase), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]