📖 Meaning
To scatter chaff and blind someone's eyes. This idiom is a metaphor for how seemingly trivial external things can cause disproportionately great harm or distortion. It warns that even small disturbances, if aimed at a vulnerable point, can overturn one's perception or derail a significant undertaking.
📜 Origin Story
The idiom comes from the 'Tian Yun' (The Revolution of Heaven) chapter of the Zhuangzi, a foundational Daoist text attributed to the philosopher Zhuang Zhou (c. 4th century BCE). The original line reads: 'If one scatters chaff to blind the eyes, then heaven and earth and the four directions will all shift places.' Zhuangzi uses this vivid image to illustrate how small sensory disruptions can completely distort one's perception of reality, a key theme in his philosophy of relativism.
💡 Example Usage
播糠眯目之举虽小，却足以扰乱大局。
An act of scattering chaff to blind the eyes may be small, yet it is enough to disrupt the entire situation.
🏷️ Category
➕ Similar Idioms
➖ Opposite Idioms
🔤 Quick Facts
- Chinese: 播糠眯目
- Pinyin: bō kāng mǐ mù
- Literal Translation: scatter, chaff, blind, eyes
- Category: Philosophy
- Characters: 4