Confucius is a master-class figure who is good at self-deprecation. He and his disciples in Zheng Guo were separated, wandering outside the East Gate alone. Zigong was looking for a teacher everywhere, and someone told him: “There is a man standing outside the East Gate, who looks like a bereavement dog, is it your teacher?” Zigong found Confucius and retold the man, Confucius He smiled bitterly and said that he described it vividly: “Yeah, I am indeed like a dog of the family!”
Confucius lobbied everywhere in the chaotic world, bumping into walls everywhere, embarrassed and frustrated. He can recognize this, indicating that he is very self-aware. It seems that the first element of self-deprecation is self-knowledge.
Liu Ling, a scholar of Wei and Jin dynasties, is a master of drinking and a master of self-deprecation. After Liu Ling was drunk, he was not sleeping like a dead pig. He was thin and dry, and his appearance was unimpressive. Once he was drunk, he clashed with someone. The man plucked up his sleeves and stretched his fist to “repair” Liu Ling. Liu Ling also lifted his clothes, but he didn’t come to use force, he showed a terrible Countless rows of ribs, said slowly: “Look, is there a place on my chicken rib where you put your fists?” The man left with a laugh. Liu Ling laughed at herself in time, which had the effect of four or two pounds, not only saved the pain of a meal, but also passed down a good story.
Self-deprecating also requires an open chest. Because open-minded people are generally more humorous, and an important principle of humor is that they would rather make fun of themselves than others. Self-mockery is a manifestation of self-knowledge, self-entertainment, and self-confidence, and is a kind of high-level humor.
Song Dynasty poet Shi Manqing, qiyuxuanang, poems and wine. On one occasion, Shi Manqing was riding a horse, the horseman was out of control, the horse was shocked, and Manqing fell to the ground. The horseman was terribly scared, but the horseman was terrified, but he said slowly to the horseman: “Fortunately, I am a bachelor of stone, if it is a bachelor of tile. If it’s broken, wouldn’t it be broken sooner?”
I saw two epitaphs recently, which are very funny and full of self-deprecation. One is Qi Gong, a calligrapher. He wrote his own epitaph at the age of 66. The inscription says: Middle school student, associate professor. Bo is not refined, and expertise is not thorough. Although famous, it is not enough. High cannot succeed, low cannot. Paralysis tended to the left, and Zeng was right. The face is slightly round and the skin is too thick. The wife is dead and there is no future. Mourning is still fresh, the disease is still the same. Sixty-six, not bad. Eight treasure mountains, get together. Ji Pingsheng, said posthumously. Body and name smell together.
There is also a famous dramatist Weng Ouhong who died of illness in 1993. This “Zi Zhi Ming” is a summary of Mr. Weng’s life during his lifetime: it is a seed for reading, and it is also a river and lake actress; he has also painted his face, and he has also written Zhu Mo as a text; he is a flower lice in a chrysanthemum, and he does not tire of silverfish in Shulin. ; The book is broken through thousands of volumes, only a green one; the road travels thousands of miles without a thin layer of cloud; rather leaning over flowers and birds, rather than bending down to the gentry; Bu Hanqing without the shadow of the bead curtain, Yiliweng without the heart of the jade hall; see through He did not do it, he was busy with some idleness; he did not return but returned, and he is the ancients of this generation.
Poet Beidao said that, according to him, not many Chinese literati know how to laugh at themselves, so it is important to be light. My understanding is that the weight of self-deprecating is difficult to grasp, and self-deprecating is too light, such as tickling across the boot, suspected of hypocrisy; And self-deprecating is too heavy, devalue oneself worthless, and close to self-deprecating and self-deprecating. Qigong’s “body and name, all stinks together”, there are some serious words, Weng Oihong’s self-deprecating is appropriate, “Ning bowed to flowers and birds, rather than bow to the gentleman”, is probably the most essential background of all literati who are good at self-deprecating.
Due to professional reasons, literati are often subject to various criticisms. Literati choose to laugh at themselves, and the subconscious mind has such a mentality: I have long mocked and even “underestimated” myself. What strength?