Notes on reading the Four Great Classics: Pretending to be stupid is a rare ability for adults

\”Laozi\” has a saying: Great wisdom is like foolishness, great skill is like clumsiness. Wise people often know how to be humble and hide their cleverness. Their intelligence is not obvious to others, and they even look a little stupid. However, those who are too smart can easily bring disaster to themselves. The more experience I have, the more I realize that knowing how to act stupid at the right time is a rare ability. \”The Romance of the Three Kingdoms\” Liu Bei, pretending to be stupid is the wisdom to seek good luck and avoid evil. The ancients said that there is no way for blessings and misfortunes, but people call it by themselves. A person\’s blessings or disasters are brought about by his own actions. Pretending to be stupid is a kind of wisdom that seeks good luck and avoids bad luck. In the first year of Jian\’an, after Liu Bei defected to Cao Cao, he was considered an uncle by Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, intending to check and balance Cao Cao. Not wanting to arouse Cao Cao\’s suspicion, Liu Bei spent the whole day watering and growing vegetables in the backyard. When outsiders came to visit him, he even put soil on his face and pretended to be idle. But even so, Cao Cao still doubted Liu Bei and entertained Liu Bei at his house. Cao Cao first asked Liu Bei about the \”dragon transformation\” to test Liu Bei\’s ambition. A total of 448 episodes of Lele Classroom’s four famous cartoons of China [Journey to the West + Dream of Red Mansions + Water Margin + Romance of the Three Kingdoms] Liu Bei pretended to be dumbfounded and said, \”I don’t know whether dragons are better than dragons. I only know how to weave straw sandals and kang mats.\” Recently, there has been a lot of research on the application of manure. The manure should not be too thin, let alone too thick, but just right.\” During the dinner, Cao Cao and Liu Bei cooked wine and discussed the heroes of the world, hoping to test Liu Bei\’s vision. Liu Bei was naturally aware of Cao Cao\’s tricks, so he talked nonsense and elected Yuan Shu from Huainan, Yuan Shao from Hebei, Liu Biao from Jingzhou, and Sun Ce from Dongwu as heroes of the world. Cao Cao rejected them one by one and asked Liu Bei to continue. When Liu Bei saw Cao Cao denying himself several times, he pretended to be flustered and added: \”What about Zhang Xiu, Zhang Lu, Han Sui and others?\” Upon hearing this, Cao Cao\’s tone became even more disdainful: \”Such mediocre people, It\’s not worth mentioning.\” In Cao Cao\’s view, the people Liu Bei listed, such as Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, Liu Zhang, etc., were just wine bags and rice bags. However, Liu Bei regarded them as heroes, which shows his short-sightedness. Cao Cao therefore let down his guard against Liu Bei, and Liu Bei also had the opportunity to lead his troops and flee. Zeng Guofan once said: \”Those who are clever and exposed have poor virtues, and those who are too eloquent are blessed.\” A person who does not know how to restrain himself and shows his sharp edge may seem to steal the limelight, but in fact, he has already become the target of public criticism. But a person who knows how to pretend to be stupid and hide his clumsiness can stay away from right and wrong in the storm. The vicissitudes of life are both a classroom and an examination room. Knowing how to play dumb and keep a low profile is the only way to protect yourself. Grandma Liu in \”A Dream of Red Mansions\”, pretending to be stupid is sober and clear about the world. When I read \”A Dream of Red Mansions\” in the past, I always paid attention to the shrewd Wang Xifeng, the clever Lin Daiyu, and the generous and elegant Xue Baochai. But as I grew older, I began to admire the illiterate Grandma Liu more and more. When they entered the Grand View Garden for the second time, Grandma Liu took the initiative to pretend to be stupid and play the role of a clown. Wang Xifeng allowed Wang Xifeng to put flowers on his head randomly, and imitated the little girl\’s tricks, saying: \”Although I am old, I was also romantic when I was young. If I love a flower girl, it is better for me to be old and romantic now.\” Sure enough, he offended me. Everyone laughed. When eating, Grandma Jia said \”please\”, and Grandma Liu stood up and said loudly: \”Old Liu, Old Liu, eats as much as a cow. He can eat an old sow without raising his head.\” But she puffed up her cheeks. Silent. Everyone was startled at first, and then when they heard, everyone burst into laughter up and down. Of course Grandma Liu knew that everyone was making fun of her, but as she said herself: \”We are coaxing the old lady to have a good time, what\’s the point? You tell me first, and I will understand, but everyone is just making fun of her.\” Son.\” This magnificent Grand View Garden is like an exquisite cage, imprisoning the freedom of the girls. In the case of huge disparity in status, emotional value is the only thing that Grandma Liu can provide to Wang Xifeng and Jia Mu. So, there\’s no harm in pretending to be stupid and being a female sex film. Lao She said: Those who laugh at themselves are mature. Those who dare to make themselves the punchline of laughter know the wisdom of seeing through things without telling them. They know when to be smart and when to act stupid, so they can get along with others more harmoniously. When getting along with others, the most important thing is to act stupid and be clever. Rather than being smart about everything, occasionally letting go and pretending to be deaf and dumb is the only way to be truly sober. \”Journey to the West\” Zhu Bajie, pretending to be stupid is a carefree attitude. There is a hot topic on Zhihu: \”After reading the original work of \”Journey to the West\”, why do so many people start to like Zhu Bajie?\” Netizens expressed their opinions, and the most mentioned word was \”pretending to be stupid\”. On the way to seek Buddhist scriptures, Zhu Bajie ate whenever he could and slept wherever he could, and he pretended to be silly and clown to make his companions happy. No one was more carefree than him. After beating the Bone Demon three times, Tang Monk drove Sun Wukong away, but was captured by the yellow-robed monster. Zhu Bajie had no choice but to go to Huaguo Mountain to mobilize reinforcements, but was ridiculed and teased by the monkey Sun Sun. They first forced Bajie to kowtow and confess, and then said that Bajie didn\’t look like a good person. But when Bajie was insulted, instead of being annoyed or angry, he quickly apologized and said with a smile that he was an old friend of Wukong. The monkeys and grandchildren also disliked Bajie for looking like a pig with a pig\’s head and a pig\’s brain. Bajie immediately pretended to be crazy and allowed the other party to tease him in every possible way. Bajie\’s honest and funny look also made Wukong lose most of his anger. Later, Bajie followed the trend, flattered the Great Sage, and successfully coaxed Wukong down the mountain. If anyone else had to bear the grievances Bajie suffered in Huaguo Mountain, he would probably be depressed for a long time. But Bajie always pretended to be stupid and laughed in response. Anyone who has read \”Journey to the West\” knows that among the four masters and disciples, Bajie suffered the most grievances and blames. For example, Wukong would call Bajie a \”idiot\” and a \”good guy\” when he was angry; his master, Tang Seng, would often blame Zhu Bajie for being too lazy to eat. But Bajie never had a direct conflict with them because of this, but responded to their contempt with a playful smile. It is with this kind of mentality and wisdom that Zhu Bajie was able to gain the recognition of gods and Buddhas all over the sky when he was enshrined in Lingshan, and he became a free messenger of the Pure Altar. There is a saying: Being smart is too tiring, but being stupid makes you happy. What we have to learn throughout our lives is how to be like Zhu Bajie: pretending to be stupid to fight against bad words, and using insensitivity to shield troubles. After all, people who live too soberly will be disturbed by negative emotions all day long and lose the ability to be happy. People who live more foolishly can still choose to live foolishly after accepting all the harm. Such people will live more freely than anyone else. \”Water Margin\” Song Jiang, pretending to be stupid is a way to take advantage of the situation. I wonder if you have noticed that the real masters in life are first-class at pretending to be stupid. For example, in \”Water Margin\”After it was revealed that Chao Gai and other seven people had robbed the birthday card, they were hunted down by the government. Song Jiang was appointed as the Chief of Police at the time. After learning about this incident, he first pretended not to know Chao Gai to stabilize the people in the government. Then he cursed loudly: \”Chao Gai is a traitor. There is no one in our county who doesn\’t hate him. Now that he has done such a thing, he must look good.\” Afterwards, he also courted He Kuan and asked him to wait in the tavern while he Help report to the government. On the way to the county government, he quickly ran to Chao Gai to inform Chao Gai of the incident and asked them to retreat quickly. In this way, Chao Gai and others were given enough time to retreat. Since ancient times, those who achieve great things are masters of pretending to be stupid. At certain critical moments, you should pretend to be stupid when you should, and hide your clumsiness when you should hide it. On the eve of the Battle of Chibi, Jiang Gan lobbied Zhou Yu as Cao Cao\’s counselor. Zhou Yu pretended not to know the purpose of Jiang Gan\’s visit, took him to entertain the generals, and showed off the camp defenses and granaries without warning. He also pretended to be drunk and took Jiang Gan to sleep on the same bed, deliberately letting Jiang Gan see Cai Mao and Zhang Yun\’s false letter of surrender. Jiang Gan thought he had deceived Zhou Yu, but in fact he fell into a trap and killed two of Cao Cao\’s navy generals, paving the way for the iron chain and boat to burn Red Cliff. Pretending to be stupid is a trick and a means for people who achieve great things. The more successful a person is, the better he is at pretending; the more powerful a person is, the better he is at pretending to be stupid. The Analects of Confucius says: Wisdom can be reached, but foolishness cannot. Smart people can be found everywhere, but being able to control the overall situation and switch between inner wisdom and stupidity is never easy. Only those who can do this can navigate the complex world with skill and skill. ▽Based on \”Zhuangzi Dasheng\”, Liang Shuming divided life cultivation into four stages: the first stage, having no confidence but still being aggressive, like a street gangster shouting about scoundrels; the second stage, being competitive, like pointing out the country and inspiring people. A young man with words; in the third stage, although the signs of competitiveness seem to have disappeared, the sparkle in the eyes is still strong, indicating that the momentum is still there and he is easy to be impulsive; in the fourth stage, he shows weakness and pretends to be stupid, and has special skills that he keeps secret from others. When I was young, I always wanted to show my intelligence, for fear that others would say I was stupid. Only now do I understand that those who know how to act stupid are truly great people. Although they look stupid, their hearts are like mirrors and they live a transparent life. People who do this will naturally remain calm and calm throughout their lives. Like it and share it with your friends.