Calculating sand in the sea
As a Chinese idiom, Pinyin is R ù h ǎ ISU à NSH ā, which means counting sand on the bottom of the sea. It comes from the inscription on the stone pagoda of guru Fuliang of Lingyin Temple in Hangzhou by Song Lian of Ming Dynasty.
The origin of Idioms
Song Lian of the Ming Dynasty wrote the inscription on the stone pagoda of gufuliang master in Lingyin Temple of Hangzhou: "teaching should be solid, if you indulge in it, if you do not return, you will be trapped in your ears."
Idiom usage
It is often used in figurative sentences
Calculating sand in the sea
to return a thing intact to its owner - wán bì guī zhào
the extinction of a whole family - miè mén jué hù