知zhī音yīn難nán覓mì

What does 知音難覓 (zhī yīn nán mì) mean?

知音難覓 (zhī yīn nán mì) is a folk proverb (yànyǔ 諺語). Word for word it reads "one who understands the music is hard to find." In use it means: True friends who understand the depths of one's soul are rare and precious. 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 Dog.

Literally: "one who understands the music is hard to find."

The reading

Zhong Ziqi could hear in Bo Ya's playing what he was really playing-the mountains when he was playing mountains, the flowing water when he was playing flowing water-and when Ziqi died, Bo Ya broke his strings. There was no longer anyone who could hear. Such listeners are rare; such recognition is rarer. Those who truly hear you are worth everything.

What kind of proverb it is

• Typeyànyǔ 諺語
• FocusPresent-minded
• Element水 Water
• Zodiac tie狗 Year of the Dog

Source Shi Ji 史記 / Liezi 列子·湯問 (Tāng Wèn, story of Bo Ya and Zhong Ziqi)

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 Friendship, Trust & Speech, or follow the years these lines belong to: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat, and Year of the Ox.