The famous theoretical essay “On the Equality of Things,” by ancient Daoist master and philosopher Zhuang Zi, ends with a cryptic passage in which the sage recounts a dream—he is a butterfly, “conscious only of its own happiness” as such.
Upon waking, Zhuang Zi puts forth the following dilemma: Was he dreaming of a butterfly, or is the butterfly, now asleep, dreaming of him?
Millennia of Interpretation
Carl Gustav Jung, the Swiss pioneer of analytical psychology, held that “Nature is often obscure, but she is not, like man, deceitful. The dream itself wants nothing: it is a self-evident content, a plain natural fact.”
Since at least the Shang Dynasty about 4,000 years ago, the ancient Chinese placed great value on dreams as a means of exploring the world of spirits. The Shang court and aristocracy employed officials who specialized in this field and acted as dream interpreters, as it was believed that dreams reflect good or bad fortune.
The “Rites of Zhou,” a Confucian classic compiled during the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.), divides dreams into six distinct categories; in another text written in the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25–220), this list was expanded to ten. “The Lofty Principles of Dream Divination,” a 16th-century work, gave nine categories. Dreams were interpreted differently depending on the medical or religious context.
Dreams as Lessons
Masters in the Daoist school of spiritual cultivation were known for their indirect methods of instruction. Inspiring enlightenment in disciples naturally, as opposed to through a rigid body of dogma, the dream is commonly seen in Chinese folklore and legends as an allegory for the human condition in the “real world.”
