Birthday poem · January 11Minor Cold, the 23rd solar term: the weather turns colder.
Birth character
山 shān · mountain
山 is a picture of three peaks; it means mountain.
只緣身在此山中
“For we are lost in the heart of the very place.” — Su Shi, ‘Written on the Wall at West Forest Temple’
Other dates with this poem: November 12
The poem
“Reading on a Winter Night” 冬夜讀書示子聿
- 古人學問無遺力The ancients spared no effort in their learning;
- 少壯工夫老始成what you work at when young bears fruit only when old.
- 紙上得來終覺淺What you learn from paper always stays shallow —
- 絶知此事要躬行to truly know a thing, you must do it yourself.
Why this poem
Lu You to his son: what you learn from books stays shallow until you practise it.
This day in the Chinese calendar
Solar term: Minor Cold.