若ruò非fēi一yī番fān寒hán徹chè骨gǔ，哪nǎ得dé梅méi花huā撲pū鼻bí香xiāng

What does 若非一番寒徹骨，哪得梅花撲鼻香 (ruò fēi yī fān hán chè gǔ nǎ dé méi huā pū bí xiāng) mean?

若非一番寒徹骨，哪得梅花撲鼻香 (ruò fēi yī fān hán chè gǔ nǎ dé méi huā pū bí xiāng) is a line of classical verse (shīcí 詩詞). Word for word it reads "if not for the cold piercing to the bone, how could the plum blossom's fragrance reach the nose." In use it means: Without enduring extreme hardship, one cannot achieve true accomplishment; the fragrance is earned by the frost. You reach for it when you want that idea in one breath, and the Water note it carries is why we hand it to those born in the Year of the Tiger.

Literally: "if not for the cold piercing to the bone, how could the plum blossom's fragrance reach the nose."

The reading

The fragrance that stops you on a January morning was not made by the warmth; it was made by the cold that the plum survived without retreating. The blossom owes its power to the exact severity of what it endured. What is achieved without difficulty has a different quality from what required everything, and the nose knows.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeshīcí 詩詞
• FocusLooks ahead
• Element水 Water
• Zodiac tie虎 Year of the Tiger

Source Huang Baishan 黃蘗禪師·《上堂開示頌》 (Tang Dynasty Chan Buddhist poem)

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 Adversity & Resilience, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Tiger, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.