Breaking the cauldron is a metaphor for a fait accompli that is no longer pursued.

Interpretation: the cauldron has broken when it falls to the ground, and one no longer looks at it. For the already irreparable loss, there is no need to regret. The metaphor is a fait accompli, no longer regret. The word "retort" is used to describe an ancient tiled cooking vessel; "gu" is used to refer to looking back.

Usage: as predicate, object, determiner; a metaphor for a fait accompli.

Origin: When a guest was living in Taiyuan, his cauldron fell to the ground and he left without looking back. Lin Zong saw him and asked him what he meant. He said, "The cauldron is already broken, so what is the use of looking at it?"

-Song Fan Ye, "The Book of the Later Han Dynasty - Guo Tai Biography"

Translation: Meng Min, who was living in Taiyuan, was walking with a cauldron on his back, and when it accidentally fell to the ground and broke, he walked away without caring about it. When Lin Zong saw this and asked him the reason, he replied in; "The retort is broken, what is the use of looking at it."

Chinese Idioms for Broken Cauldron:

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Meng Min, who once went to Taiyuan on an errand. He saw a retort (a kind of pottery used by ordinary people to cook rice) sold by a peddler and he liked it very much. So he spent money and bought the retort without hesitation.

After finishing his work, on his way home, he held the cauldron and looked at it from left to right, then suddenly his feet slipped, and the cauldron fell to the ground and broke. But he did not show any signs of alarm and regret, not even head back, Tai however, to go. This is very strange.

At this time, a famous scholar Guo Tai passed by and saw the whole thing. He saw Meng Min "break the cauldron," he felt that this person must be an extraordinary person, so he rushed to catch up with Meng Min, politely called him to stop, and asked openly and honestly: "A good rice cauldron, so smashed, how can you not even look at it?"

Meng Min replied, "It's broken anyway, what's the use of looking at it? It won't be intact either, and looking at it won't change the fact that it's already broken." Mrs. Guo nodded and felt that what Mrs. Guo Meng Min said was very reasonable, and admired him for this kind of perseverance and decisiveness, and asked each other's names, and from then on they formed a heart-to-heart friend.

No regrets is a very high state. To reach it, not only need to have full preparation beforehand, but also need not give up in the matter. Only then can one have the open-mindedness to break the cauldron afterward.

Meng Min, with the character Shu Da, was a native of Yang's county in Jueru County, and lived in Taiyuan as a guest. Once, the cauldron he picked fell on the ground, and Meng Min left without looking at it. When Guo Linzong saw it, he asked him why, and replied, "The cauldron is already broken, so what's the use of looking at it." Guo Linzong treated him differently and persuaded him to study. Ten years later Meng Min became famous, and the three dukes together paved the way for a call, all of which did not yield.