záo​qiào

to open an orifice

凿窍 鑿竅 záo​qiào
to open an orifice
(literary) to bore holes or open orifices in the body. It refers to a story in the Zhuangzi where the Emperors of the South and North Sea tried to bore seven holes into the faceless Emperor of the Center, causing his death; thus it metaphorically describes acts that violate nature and destroy innate simplicity.

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