The nose is extremely ordinary, you have it and I have it all. From princes, generals and ministers to traffickers and lackeys, if you just take out the noses, you probably won't be able to tell which one is a noble nose and which one is a lowly nose.
Because everyone has the same nose, no one will pay too much attention to it, and no one will talk about your ordinary nose. However, if you have a strange nose, for example, it is so long that it extends past your mouth and reaches your chin, then your nose will become the focus. The Zen Chi Uchigo in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's short story "The Nose" has such a distinctive nose.
Nai Gong has always been worried about his long nose, but on the surface he pretends not to care because he doesn't want others to know that he cares about his long nose.
He was troubled by his nose. One reason was that it was inconvenient to eat. When he was eating, he asked a disciple to sit across from him and hold his nose with a wooden board to prevent him from falling into the bowl. The main reason why he was worried about his nose was that it hurt his self-esteem.
Because people are talking about him, saying that he is lucky to be a monk, otherwise he would not be able to find a wife, and they say that it is for this reason that he became a monk.
These comments have a great impact on the internal donor's self-esteem. Whether he can marry a wife has a great impact on his mood. He must try to restore his self-esteem.
He began to look carefully to see if there was anyone with the same long nose as him, but was disappointed that there was no one. There are no records of people with long noses found in Buddhist scriptures or ancient books.
On the other hand, he tried various methods to shorten his nose, but they all failed.
When a disciple learned the method of shortening the nose from a Chinese doctor in the capital, the priest still acted as if he didn't care about the nose and was reluctant to try the secret recipe. However, he tried every means to give hints, intending to make his disciples take the initiative to persuade him to try this method.
The disciples quickly understood and tried their best to persuade him to give it a try, so the disciples borrowed the donkey to go down the slope.
The article uses a lot of space to write about this method. Let me briefly explain it: first put your nose in hot water and boil it. After it is boiled, lie on your side on the floor and let the disciples step on it to create something. , clip it out and iron it again.
The internal donor’s nose finally became shorter, and he was very happy. But he soon discovered that many people, including his disciples, were ridiculing and talking about him more unscrupulously, and his mood began to deteriorate again, and his temper became irritable.
When he saw a little novice chasing a dog with a wooden plank and shouting "Watch me hit you on the nose", he finally broke out, took the wooden plank and beat the little novice. The piece of wood was the one that held up his nose before.
Finally one day, his long nose returned and he became happy again.
Akutagawa seems to be very good at discovering the flaws in human nature. Maybe that is the real human nature.
People are particularly concerned about their flaws. Even if they pretend not to care, they are afraid of others mentioning them. You can't say you're blind in front of people with impaired vision, and you can't say you're lame in front of people with weak legs and feet. That's the truth. But they can say it themselves to show that they don't care, but they don't really care, just like the internal priests are very concerned about their long noses.
People also like to laugh at other people's shortcomings. Even if they don't say it in person, they will talk behind their backs, and even if they don't talk behind their backs, they will still think about it.
Some people want to do something, but they never take the initiative to propose it. Instead, they find ways to hint to their subordinates or others (usually those who want to curry favor with him or ask for something from him), and let these people in turn suggest it. Even forcing him to do this creates a posture that he has to do, which makes his character more noble.
After the donor’s nose became shorter, other people laughed at him more unscrupulously. He didn’t have the wisdom to understand this problem, and neither did I. The author has a discussion in the article, which is really wonderful.
This kind of psychology is so interesting. It is a bit like the saying, "There are people who are jealous, but there are no people who are laughing." People sympathize with the weak, but they don't want the weak to become strong. They don't see others as better than themselves, and they feel comfortable when others are in more difficult situations than themselves. This is such a wonderful talk!
This is a bit like the early days of reform and opening up or a period before. Although it was very difficult, everyone was the same, they were all poor, everyone was peaceful, and no one was jealous of anyone else.
Compared now with that time, everyone is much richer and has much better living conditions. However, because of the inequality between rich and poor, most people seem to be unhappy and can only earn more money. , only by being richer than most people can you be happy.
This is a bit far-fetched. Human nature is a very complicated thing. From the perspective of human beings as a whole, from ancient times to the present, the changes are really limited, and there may not even be any progress. I have never believed that there will be a day when human consciousness will be greatly improved, and everyone will become a moral person. I think it is just a daydream.
Thanks to my friend @苏格bottom for donating the book