Chinese idiom

The idiom “True scripture is hard to acquire,” which is still widely used today in both spoken and written Chinese, originated from one of the four masterpiece novels in Chinese history “Journey to the West.” This novel is based on Monk Xuan Zang’s historical journey to India to acquire true Buddhist scriptures.

According to Chinese legend, Bo Le (伯樂) was originally the name of a god in charge of the horses of Heaven. He was the master at judging a horse’s qualities just by its appearance. The name was later given to those in the human world who excelled at horse appraisal.