抛砖引玉
- Literal
- throw a brick, attract jade
- Figurative
- To offer a modest first idea so others will come up with better ones; a humble formula for one's own words when opening a discussion.
Where does 抛砖引玉 come from?
The phrase appears in the 《景德传灯录》, the great Song-dynasty collection of the lives and sayings of Chan masters. It records that Master Zhaozhou, at the evening assembly, invited anyone who knew how to ask a question to step forward; a monk came out and bowed, and Zhaozhou remarked that he had thrown out a brick to draw in jade and had got back nothing but a mud brick. Today it serves as a formula of modesty: whoever speaks first at a meeting, or puts out a first opinion, presents it this way, as the brick that will, they hope, bring out everyone else's jade.
Source (出处): 《景德传灯录》
How is 抛砖引玉 used? Two examples
- 我先说说自己的想法，算是抛砖引玉，大家有更好的主意尽管提。
I'll kick things off with my own humble thoughts; if anyone has a better idea, please speak up.
- 这篇小文章只是抛砖引玉，希望能听到更多读者的看法。
This short piece is only meant to start the conversation; I hope to hear what many more readers think.
In Wanyu, all 400 chengyu have audio on every sentence, and you can save them to your decks and review them with spaced repetition. Free.
