盲人摸象

mángrénmōxiàng
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 blind men touching an elephant
  2. 2 take a part for the whole
  3. 3 draw conclusions from incomplete evidence

Examples

Zhǐ kàn yí gè shùjù jiù xià jiélùn, jiùshì máng rén mō xiàng.
Drawing conclusions from one data point is just blind men feeling an elephant.
Wǒmen duì zhè jiàn shì liǎojiě bú gòu, búyào máng rén mō xiàng.
We don't understand this matter well enough — let's not mistake a part for the whole.

Tips

history
From the Buddhist 《涅槃》 (Mahaparinirvana Sutra): a king asks several blind men to describe an elephant by touch — one grabs the tusk and says 'like a radish', one an ear ('like a fan'), one the leg ('like a pillar'). The parable illustrates how partial perception produces wrong wholes.

Stroke Order

máng
rén
xiàng