The story content of the blind touching the elephant

Once upon a time, four blind people wanted to know what an elephant looked like, but they couldn't see it, so they had to touch it with their hands. The fat blind man touched the elephant's teeth first. He said, "I see, an elephant is like a big, thick and smooth radish." The tall blind man touched the elephant's ear.

"No, the elephant is obviously a big cattail leaf fan!" He shouted. "You talk nonsense, the elephant is just a big pillar." It turned out that the short blind man touched the elephant's leg. On the other hand, the old blind man muttered, "Alas, elephants are not that big. It's just a straw rope. "

It turned out that he touched the elephant's tail. Four blind men argued endlessly that they were touching a real elephant. But in fact? None of them are right.

Interpretation: It is a metaphor for guessing at random, trying to make a comprehensive judgment only based on one-sided understanding or partial experience.

From: Nirvana Sutra 32: "Those who touch their teeth are like reed roots, those who touch their ears are like dustpans, those who touch their noses are like stones, those who touch their feet are like pestles, those who touch their feet are like wooden mortars, those who touch their ridges are like beds, those who touch their bellies are like altars, and those who touch their tails are like jars."

Those who touch their teeth are like a radish, those who touch their ears like a cattail leaf fan, those who touch their heads like a boulder, those who touch their noses like a round stick, those who touch their feet like a wooden mortar, those who touch their backs like a big bed, those who touch their stomachs like an urn for holding things, and those who touch their tails like a rope.

Grammar: subject-predicate type; As an object, attribute and clause; derogatory sense

Synonym: six gods without a master

Extended data:

Synonym definition:

Explanation: Six Gods: Taoism believes that human heart, lungs, liver, kidney, spleen and gallbladder are dominated by God, which is called Six Gods. Describe panic and worry, have no clue, and don't know what to do.

Said by: Feng Ming's magnum "Awakening the World", Volume 29: "Scared the magistrate of a county to be unconscious and have no mood to eat wine."

Ex: I got lost in my mind and lost my mind there. ◎ Zhu Ziqing's History of Laughter and History of Laughter

Grammar: subject-predicate type; As predicate, attribute and adverbial; derogatory sense