不求甚解

Pronunciation: bù qiú shèn jiě Literal meaning: Not seeking thorough understanding

Origin & Usage

Tao Yuanming, describing himself under an assumed name, wrote 好读书，不求甚解 — fond of reading, and not (不) pressing (求) for exhaustive (甚) explanation (解) — adding that whenever he did grasp something he would forget to eat for pleasure. In context it rejects the commentarial scholarship of his day rather than admitting to laziness, and the enjoyment is the whole point. The phrase has since gone both ways: critical of shallow reading, approving of somebody who reads for the sense rather than to pass an examination.

Examples

English: "His superficial reading left him with only a shallow understanding."

Chinese: 他浅尝辄止的阅读让他不求甚解。