There are several versions of this sentence on the Internet
1. Wise people specialize in a few aspects, but their knowledge is not extensive; And people who study too many fields can't reach the level of a wise man.
2. People who like to show off their cleverness don't have extensive knowledge, and people with extensive knowledge don't show off on purpose.
My own explanation is that a true wise man is only proficient in one aspect, and his knowledge is not necessarily extensive, and he will not show off himself everywhere. And people who show off their extensive knowledge everywhere will not be particularly proficient in everything.
Analysis Most people will show off everywhere when they have a little skill, hoping that others can understand their talents and admire their knowledge. And he will be cocky and don't look at others. Only when you have suffered losses and learned a lesson can you repent. The real wise man can be wise as a fool, and can contain light without showing it.
extension of philosophy
Su Shi is a genius in China ancient literature. His poems, paintings and calligraphy are all pervasive, and he has achieved good results in all aspects. He is a free and easy-going and open-minded person, and he has become a model of the world and is admired by later literati. However, when he was young, he also liked to show off his talents and was teased by others.
Su Shi and Fo Yin are good friends. They often play jokes on each other and play tricks on each other. When they played together, Su Shi smiled and asked Fo Yin what he looked like. Fo Yin replied, "I think you look like a Buddha." Su Shi laughed, and Fo Yin asked him why he laughed. Su Shi replied, "You look like a Buddha, and I look like shit!" As he spoke, he doubled up with laughter. After a long time, when he stopped laughing, Fo Yin said, "You can see what you have in your heart." Su Shi realized that he wanted to play a trick on others, but others played a trick on him.
On another occasion, when Su Shi studied Buddhism, he felt that he had reached a certain level, so he wrote a poem: "It's the first day to look forward to the sky, and the light shines brightly. The eight winds can't blow, sitting on the purple lotus. " "Eight winds" refers to eight situations that people often encounter in their lives, such as "weighing, ridiculing, destroying, fame, profit, decline, suffering and happiness". He felt that he had a deep understanding, so he immediately asked the boy to cross the river and show it to Jackson Fo Yin. After reading it, Fo Yin knew that Su Shi was showing off his literary talent, so he wanted to play a trick on him and immediately wrote four words for the boy to give to Su Shi. Su Shi opened it and it turned out to be "fart! Fart! " Four words. He got up at once and went to argue with Fo Yin.
When Su Shi met him, he shouted, "Zen master! It doesn't matter if you don't like my poem, and you can't insult people! "Fo Yin said quietly," When did I insult you? " Su Shi took out the paper and said, "You must give me a statement today!" The Zen master immediately burst out laughing: "Eight winds can't blow, but a fart passes through Jiang Lai." Su Shi was very ashamed after hearing this, knowing that his cultivation was not enough.
When Su Shi was an official in the imperial court, he visited Wang Anshi once. It happened that Wang Anshi was not there, and Su Shi was waiting in the study. He saw a poem on the table that had only written two sentences-"The bright moon is barking and the yellow dog is lying in the heart." Su Shi looked and looked, thinking that Wang Anshi was really scribbling. How can the bright moon be called in the branches? How can the yellow dog lie on the flower heart? So I changed my pen and changed the poem to: "The moon shines in the sky and the yellow dog lies in the shade of flowers."
when Wang Anshi came back, he was extremely dissatisfied with Su Shi's change of his poems, so he was demoted to Hepu. Su Shi knew that he had no other fault and felt that Wang Anshi was really narrow-minded. One day, when he went out for a walk, he saw a group of children gathered around a pile of flowers and shouted "Yellow Dog Rollo". Out of curiosity, Su Shi went over and asked the child what to shout. The child said, "Let's tell the bug to come out quickly so as to catch it." Su Dongpo looked close to the flower and saw several small insects as big as sesame crawling in the stamen. Ask the child what kind of bug is this? The child said, "yellow dog bug." When Su Shi left the flowers, he heard a crisp birdsong in a tree not far away and asked others, "What kind of birdsong is this?" Others replied: "This is called the bright moon bird." At this moment, Su Dongpo suddenly realized that he was self-righteous and corrected Wang Anshi's poems, so Wang Anshi taught himself a lesson.
After these teasing and lessons, Su Shi began to become introverted, no longer deliberately showing off in front of others, and wrote a poem for his son: "Everyone raises his son to be smart, and I was delayed by cleverness all my life. I only hope that my son is stupid and Lu, and he will go to the public without illness or disaster to express his thoughts of being stupid and not arrogant.