In 549 BCE, Mu Shu, a high-ranking minister of the Lu State, was sent by his ruler on a diplomatic mission to the Jin State. Fan Xuanzi, the chief minister of Jin, hosted him with a grand banquet.
During the banquet, Fan Xuanzi asked Mu Shu, "The ancients said, 'Immortal even in death.' Do you know what these four words mean?"
Mu Shu did not understand the intent of Fan Xuanzi's question and did not answer immediately. Fan Xuanzi, thinking he had stumped Mu Shu, said smugly:
"Our ancestors were the Taotang clan before Emperor Shun, the Yulong clan during the Xia dynasty, the Shiwei clan during the Shang dynasty, and the Tangdu clan during the Zhou dynasty. After the Zhou royal house declined, our state of Jin became the hegemon of the Central Plains, and it was our Fan clan that held power in Jin. Our family has passed this legacy down through generations—what is called 'perishing yet never decaying'—I suppose this is what it means!"
Upon hearing this, Uncle Mu felt deeply displeased and said,
"As far as I know," the official replied, "what you just described is called hereditary privilege—generation after generation enjoying official salaries—not true immortality. There was a virtuous minister of Lu named Zang Wenzhong, who passed away many years ago. Yet some of his wise sayings have been passed down through the ages. That, I believe, is what it truly means to be immortal even after death."
Mu Shu continued, saying:
Fan Xuanzi said, "I have heard that the highest form of immortality is to establish virtue, the second is to establish achievements, and the third is to establish words. If one achieves all three, it is called the 'Three Immortalities.' Even achieving just one can be considered immortal. Merely preserving one's family name, maintaining the ancestral temple, and continuing sacrifices through generations is ordinary and cannot be called immortality."
Fan Xuanzi, finding himself with no comeback, could only shift the conversation to other matters.
Later, the idiom "dying yet undying" came to describe someone whose fame or legacy endures beyond death.
Source: *Zuo Zhuan*, "Duke Xiang's Twenty-Fourth Year"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "死而不朽" came to describe how someone whose fame or legacy endures beyond death.