Mark the boat to try to find the lost sword 　 Insist on strict precedences or existing models without regard to changes in circumstances

A man from the State of Chu was crossing a river with his much treasured sword. When the ferry got to the middle of the river, his sword dropped into the water with a slip of hand. Immediately he took out a knife from his pocket and made a mark on the gunwale of the boat.

"This is where my sword fell off." he said. The ferry sailed on.

As soon as the boat stopped, he jumped into the water to look for his sword at the place where he had marked the boat.

The boat had moved a long way but the sword had not. Is this not a very foolish way to look for a sword?

This set phrase, , satirizes those who lag behind the changed realities in their understanding and those who stick to conventions and don't know how to make appropriate adaptations under the specific conditions. Things are constantly changing like the sailing boat. This viewpoint of development and change is the naive dialectic in ancient China.