The phrase "through the flowers, the leaves don't touch the body" comes from the Diamond Sutra. The original words are: "The flowers are separated, and the leaves don't touch the body." This is a state in Buddhism: everything revives in spring, and we go to see flowers, but none of the petals touch us. When people come to earth, they can return from the common.
Then, Tang Xianzu wrote a poem with this sentence in his Peony Pavilion: "A leaf wears flowers without touching the body. In the morning, there are light smoke apricot flowers, and at night, it condenses and blows flat sand. There is a romantic place in the long street, which closely reflects the Su family in Qiantang. Bring back the Hundred Arts Casting Poetry Hall, and you are busy with many poems. Inspire Kyushu's feelings and inject poetry into the program. Peony is dead, and it is romantic to be a ghost. " Describe the story that Du Liniang dreamed that a scholar asked her to write a poem with a willow branch in her hand, and was later carried to the Peony Pavilion by the scholar to have sex.
Now people usually use the meaning of this sentence in the Peony Pavilion, which means that the man in the dust is sexually indulgent, but in the end he doesn't belong to anyone and won't leave any hope and fantasy for any woman. They seem affectionate, but they are heartless.
Extended data:
Introduction to Peony Pavilion:
Du Liniang, the heroine, is born beautiful and sentimental. When she reached the age of cardamom, it was the spring season in "Seeds of Love" in bloom, but she was imprisoned by the feudal ethics at home and could not get freedom and love.
Suddenly, one day, her satrap father Du Bao invited an old Confucian Chen Liangliang to give her a lecture. The pedantic old gentleman explained the "Guan Guan Ji Dove" in The Book of Songs for the first time, which touched Du Liniang's heart.
A few days later. Du Liniang returned from a spring outing in the back garden, and fell asleep when he was sleepy. After a while, a scholar came to ask her to write a poem with willow branches, and then carried her to the peony pavilion to have sex. When she woke up, she knew it was a dream of Conan.
After that, she went to the Peony Pavilion for her dream, but she didn't see the scholar. She was very depressed. Gradually, this yearning became a heart disease, and finally the medicine stone died without treatment. At this time, his father was promoted to Huaiyang's messenger of peace. Before he left, he buried his daughter under the plum tree in the backyard and built a "Meihua Temple", which was guarded by an old Taoist.
After Du Liniang's death, the wandering soul came to the underworld. The judge asked her why she died, and found out in the marriage certificate that she had married Liu Mengmei, the new champion, and allowed her to return to the world.
At this time, Liu Mengmei, a scholar, went to Beijing to take the exam. On the way, she felt cold and sick, and lived in Meihua Temple. After recovering from his illness, he met Du Liniang's wandering soul in buddhist nun, and they married and lived together.
Soon, the matter was discovered by the old Taoist priest, and Liu Mengmei revealed her affair. She secretly asked someone to dig Du Liniang's grave, and Du Liniang was able to see the light of day and come back to life. They immediately became real lovers and came to Kyoto together. Liu Mengmei passed the examination of Jinshi.
After the exam, Liu Mengmei came to Huaiyang and was questioned and interrogated by Du Fu when she found Du Fu. Liu Mengmei claimed to be Du Fu's son-in-law, and Du Fu was furious. She thought the Confucian scholar was talking in his sleep, because his daughter died three years ago, and now how can she be resurrected? Besides, she heard that her daughter Du Liniang's grave was excavated by the Confucian scholar, so she sentenced him to death.
At the trial, the court sent someone to accompany Liu Mengmei's family to Du Fu and reported that Liu Mengmei had won the first prize. Liu Mengmei was able to get away, but the governor still didn't believe that his daughter would be resurrected. He suspected that the champion Lang was also a demon, so he wrote a script for the emperor to judge.
The emperor called Du Liniang to the court and found him to be a real person in front of the "magic mirror". So a decree was issued that fathers, sons and husbands should get to know each other and try to get married first. In this way, a marriage story of life and death and resurrection ended in a happy ending.
(Source: Baidu Encyclopedia: Peony Pavilion Resurrection)