My friend Seungbae taught me this four-character aphorism over the weekend.
靑出於藍
청출어람
cheong.chul.eo.ram
blue-occur-from-indigo
“the blue from the side is bluer”(?)
This seems to be a reference to some dying or pigmenting process involving the color blue, wherein the blue accumulated on the side (of a container?) is a deeper blue than the blue drawn from the main reservoir. The idiomatic meaning, however, refers to the student exceeding the teacher.
“The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner. Now, I am the master.” – Darth Vader, to Obi-Wan Kenobi.
[daily log: walking, 6.5km]