Confucius, the most renowned educator of China's Spring and Autumn period, taught thousands of students, with seventy-two becoming particularly famous—among them Yan Hui and Zilu.
One day, Confucius was talking with Yan Hui and Zilu. Confucius said to Yan Hui, "When I am needed, I go out and serve as an official; when I am not needed, I retire. A spirit like this—only you and I can achieve it!"
Zilu, standing nearby, heard his teacher praising Yan Hui so highly and felt quite unconvinced. He then asked Confucius, "Master, if you were to command the three armies, who would you choose to go into battle with you?"
Zilu, confident in his own bravery, expected his teacher Confucius to choose him for an important mission, but Confucius instead replied, "I would never take someone who fights a tiger with bare hands or crosses a river without a boat, even if they would die without regret—that kind of reckless courage is useless in battle; I want someone who plans carefully, consults others, and listens to advice, ensuring victory."
Among Confucius's disciples, Zilu was the bravest, but he often acted solely on reckless courage. Confucius said this to teach Zilu that when handling problems, he must use his mind to think, not just rely on courage. Otherwise, acting on courage alone would not only fail to achieve great things but could even harm himself.
Later, people called reckless action relying solely on brute force without using one's mind "facing a tiger barehanded and crossing a river without a boat." Fighting a tiger with bare hands is "facing a tiger barehanded," and crossing a river without a boat is "crossing a river without a boat."
Source: *The Analects*, Chapter "Shu Er"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "暴虎冯河" came to describe reckless action relying solely on brute force without using one's mind.