Once, a doctor was explaining the effects of pears and dates. He said, "Pears are good for the teeth but harmful to the spleen; dates, on the other hand, are good for the spleen but harmful to the teeth."
A bystander overheard this and quickly said, "I have a great idea that can absorb the benefits of both raw pears and dates for the human body while avoiding their harms." The doctor, seeing how confidently he spoke, thought he had met a capable person and asked with great interest, "May I ask what your wonderful idea is?"
"That's simple," the man replied. "When I eat a raw pear, I only chew it with my teeth and never swallow, so the pear benefits my teeth without harming my spleen. When I eat a jujube, I swallow it whole without chewing, so the jujube benefits my spleen without harming my teeth."
Those nearby laughed at him, saying, "Eating like that, aren't you just swallowing whole dates without chewing?" Later, people used the idiom "swallowing a date whole" to describe learning without understanding or analysis.
Source: Bai Ting (Yuan Dynasty), *Zhan Yuan Jing Yu*
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "囫囵吞枣" came to describe learning without understanding or analysis.