During the Warring States Period, there was a man in the State of Chu who was very rigid. He did what he wrote in the book, and even learned how to do things that others did. He never thought of making any changes.
Once, when he passed the mountain forest, he saw a woodcutter cutting firewood. Suddenly, the woodcutter was careless. The axe flew off his hand and fell into the valley. The woodcutter calmly made a conspicuous mark on the place where the axe fell, and then walked down the mountain from the side path. He compared the mark on the mountain and soon found the axe in the grass. The man of Chu admired the woodcutter very much.
The man of Chu loved swordsmanship and always carried a sword with him. One day, he took a ferry to cross the river. He stood at the side of the boat, and the scenery on both sides of the river was too dazzling. When the boat came to the river, he was so intoxicated with the beautiful scenery that he accidentally let the sword slip into the river.
He stared at the place where the sword fell. Others urged him to jump into the river to salvage, but the man of Chu smiled and shook his head. A woodcutter carved a sign appeared before his eyes. Then he calmly said: "Don't panic! I have a magic method."
He used a knife to carve a deep mark on the side of the boat where the sword fell, and said to himself, "My sword fell from here!" The boat continued to move forward. When the boat owner stopped, the Chu man stood up, took off his clothes calmly and jumped into the water from the mark on the side of the boat. He fished about in the water, but couldn't find the sword. So he came out of the water and stroked the marks on the side of the boat. He murmured like a dreamer, "My sword fell from here, why can't I find it?"
This poor man of Chu has been talked about till today. Is this his luck or his misfortune? At least, we are lucky to know this story.
Origin: The Spring and Autumn Annals of the Lv Family: Chajin Chapter: "There were people in Chu who crossed the river, and their swords fell into the water from their boats. When they caught the boat, they said, 'It's the place where my swords fall from'. The boat stopped. From the person they signed, they entered the water and asked for it.
Idiom meaning: Seeking the sword by sticking to the boat is an idiom evolved from a fable. It is generally used to mean to stick to dogma, stick to the rules, and be stubborn. Looking at the changing and developing things from a static perspective will inevitably lead to wrong judgments. The Chu people in the article made such mistakes.
Truth: This story tells us that things in the world are always changing, and we can't do things subjectively. One cannot cling to dogma. When the situation changes, the methods and means to solve the problem should also change accordingly, otherwise it will fail. It warns people not to look at problems unilaterally, statically and narrowly.