本běn是shì同tóng根gēn生shēng，相xiāng煎jiān何hé太tài急jí

What does 本是同根生，相煎何太急 (běn shì tóng gēn shēng xiāng jiān hé tài jí) mean?

本是同根生，相煎何太急 (běn shì tóng gēn shēng xiāng jiān hé tài jí) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "originally from the same root grown, why cook each other so urgently." In use it means: Those of the same origin should not harm each other; the cruelty of turning on one's own kin. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Wood note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Dog.

Literally: "originally from the same root grown, why cook each other so urgently."

The reading

The poet's brother ordered him to write in seven paces or face death, and he walked and wrote of beans boiling under fire from their own stalks. They grew from the same root, and the stalk is burning the seed of itself. Some betrayals are the most particular kind of cruelty: the violence of the familiar.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element木 Wood
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source Cao Zhi 曹植·《七步詩》 (Qī Bù Shī, Seven Steps Poem, Three Kingdoms period)

Sits beside

Keep reading

Return to the Proverb Pond to draw another of the eighty-seven, or hear one read aloud. Read the rest of its chapter in Home, Family & Roots, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.