”Ch’i ‘hu nan hsia pei” is the original Chinese proverb, translated as ”He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.”

A rough interpretation of the proverb would be ”Once a dangerous or troublesome venture is begun, the safest course is to carry it through to the end” .

Or in plain speak, it is easy to get on the Tiger but very difficult to get off without incurring danger to oneself.

Whether in everyday life or in battle, a path is chosen. A strategy is sought. The path must contain multiple outlets. The strategy must have contingency plans. More importantly, we must be willing to take the divergent paths. Otherwise, the limitations of choices will entrap us. If your mind is not opened to other possibilities, or your ego will not permit you to let go of one way and embrace another, the limitation may kill you.

Life seems to eat us alive. We may take on more and more until we are overloaded and incapacitated. Worse yet, we may start down a path only to find we are trapped by our

wants, desires, or prejudices. Even though the trap is of our own making, we can refuse to stop or escape. The title, position, status, or persona we have built may be choking us, but we refuse to relinquish it. The techniques we are using may be ineffective, but we have devoted our lives to learning the style and refuse to change. We choose to choose no other path even though the one we are on is destroying us. By refusing to choose, we have chosen to continue.

The secret of living a better life is the patience and the foresight to see three steps ahead. If we cannot do this there will be many decisions we will make that will lead us to paths of destruction. Wrong associations, drugs, bad business deals, and many other choices may entrap us, making us a prisoner of our own keeping. It is a tiger that, once mounted, will become angry. We fear when we dismount we will face its fangs. Still, we must have the courage to dismount and flee bad decisions of the past. Some are miserable in their jobs. Some are miserable with lack of accomplishment. Some lack hope and feel trapped by life. Have courage. Face the tiger. Be free.

Another interpreation of the aphorism “The one who rides the tiger can never get off” that expresses society’s dependence on science. Automobiles improve transportation and create pollution, medical advantages prolong life and create over-population, pesticides bring cheaper food and create soil problems. Each advance brings on the need for more science to solve the new problems. Society, which likes to live well, is addicted to the products of science, and fortunately a peculiar set of humans are addicted to solving the problems, who finds the obstacle course fascinating and the endlessness of the quest utopia.

Riding The Tiger

It means sore muscles and rear end from riding. When you ride, you take up a lot of the “jolt” with your legs, which stresses your thigh muscles a lot. And the horse goes up and down as it walks (except when you’re going very slowly), which means that your rear end meets the saddle abruptly if you don’t know how to ride well. Six hours is an awfully long time for a first ride – she will indeed be saddle sore for a couple of days. Also, the rubbing of her thighs on the saddle can cause “rug burns” to develop on her legs – raw skin in other words. Two hours max is what I would recommend unless she’s ready to feel like she’s played a full football match – the entire game – as a center halfback. They may think it’s funny, but it won’t be – it will HURT. Aspirin and a hot bath is highly recommended.

A rough English translation of the quote to which I think you refer is “When riding a tiger, the moment of greatest fear and danger is in jumping from its back”

I think I recall it originating in the Tao or the I’Ching…honestly not sure.

The meaning is rather straightforward…on the tiger’s back, in spite of the fear experienced, one is out of reach of the ‘claws and jaws’ at least…it is, however, inevitable that one in this situation must at some point make the leap…risk it all to free oneself from the constant threat…it is that leap that will most greatly test the courage.

It is a warning not to undertake actions from which there is no retreat. An example might be a con man running a Ponzi scheme. He has to keep feeding it with new investor money. Any attempt to stop exposes the fraud. Eventually, he falls off that tiger and is eaten.

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RE:
what do you think this phrase means "He who rides the tiger can never get off" -plz explain!!!?

If you somehow manage to get on a tiger, upon getting off you will be eaten, or at least killed. IE Don’t get into things that are too big for you to handle.

It is impossible to translate this phrase in English – can only be done by symbols in several Asian languages. Thus the challenge of the Quest. Fearful to undertake – yet once begun – impossible to cease.

This a budhist expression refering to ones enlightenment.

The Tiger is a noble, fierce and courageous symbol. and it represents the answers which are burried in you, the saying means once you seek the a pah of enlightenment you are forever changed and will not get off your journey,.

Hope it helps

I’ve heard this before, used in reference to heroin. I don’t know if that’s the origin, but the drug culture uses “ride the tiger’ to refer to heroin use.