“心猿意馬”源於漢譯佛經。在魏晉南北朝時期以來的漢譯佛經中,“心如猿猴”、“心如馬”、“心如醉象”、“心馬”、“意馬”、“識馬”、“根馬”、“欲馬”、“愛馬”、“心猿”、“心象”、“意象”等詞語,把心、意識比作跳躍不止的猿猴、馬、象等。在梵文佛典中亦有“心如馬”、“心象”的説法。後來,由於“心猿”與“意馬”出現在同一個語言環境之中,成對使用,晚唐五代形成了“心猿意馬”、“意馬心猿”。 “Emotional horse ” originated from the Chinese Buddhist scriptures. In the Buddhist scriptures of Chinese translation since the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties, “heart like ape”, “heart like a horse”, “heart like”, “heart”, “ ”Know horse “, ”root horse “, ”want to horse “, ”love horse “, ”heart ape “, ”heart icon “, ”image “ and other words, heart Consciousness is more than a leaping ape, horse, elephant and so on. In the Sanskrit Buddhist scriptures are also ”heart like horse “, ”heart like “ argument. Later, because ”Ape “ and ”Italian horse “ appeared in the same language environment, in pairs, the late Tang and the Five Dynasties formed ”Emotional“, ”Emma".