Original text:
In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed of a butterfly, a lifelike butterfly. Suddenly I feel like I'm in a state of confusion. I don’t know that Zhou’s dream is Hu Dieyu, and Hu Die’s dream is Zhou Yu? Zhou and Hu Die must be different. This is called materialization.
Translation:
In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he turned into a butterfly, a very vivid and lifelike butterfly. How happy and comfortable he felt! He didn’t know that he was originally Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly I woke up, and in a panic I realized that I was Zhuang Zhou. I wonder if Zhuang Zhou turned into a butterfly in his dream, or if a butterfly turned into Zhuang Zhou in his dream? There must be a difference between Zhuang Zhou and Butterfly. This can be called the intersection and change of crops and me.
In his dream, Zhuangzi transformed into a lifelike butterfly and forgot that he was a human being. When he woke up, he realized that he was still Zhuangzi. It is really difficult to tell whether Zhuangzi turned into a butterfly in his dream, or whether the butterfly turned into Zhuangzi in his dream.
Allusions:
Later, Zhuang Zhou dreamed of a butterfly, Zhuang Zhou transformed into a butterfly, a butterfly transformed into Zhuang Sheng, Butterfly (Hu) butterfly dream, Butterfly dream, Dream butterfly (Hu) butterfly, Dream butterfly, dream butterfly, butterfly, butterfly, butterfly, butterfly Zhuang Zhou, Zhuang Zhou butterfly (Hu) butterfly, butterfly for Zhou, Zhou Wei butterfly, lacquer garden butterfly, Nanhua butterfly, Zhuang butterfly, Zhuang Sheng butterfly, Zhuang Sou butterfly, pillow butterfly, butterfly into the pillow, Zhuang Zhou's dream, Zhuang Sou's dream, Zhuang dream, Zang Zang's dream, dream Zang Zang, dream Zang, dream Xuxu, Xuxu Zangzhang, Zangzhi Xuxu, butterfly Zangzhang" etc. It is used to write about illusions, dreams and confused states; it is also used to write about butterflies.
Source: "Zhuangzi·Equality of Things"? Warring States·Zhuangzi
Extended information:
Zhuangzi elaborated on this in the form of a story as follows: " In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed of being a butterfly. If he didn't know Zhou Ye, then he would suddenly realize that he was a butterfly. This is called materialization."
The general idea is that one day Zhuangzi dreamed that he had become a butterfly. After waking up from the dream, he found that he was still Zhuangzi, so he didn't know that he was the butterfly that dreamed of Zhuangzi. , or Zhuangzi who dreamed of butterflies. Here, Zhuangzi raises a philosophical question - how do people understand reality. If dreams are real enough, people have no ability to know that they are dreaming.
In the eyes of ordinary people, what a person sees and feels when awake is real, while dreams are hallucinations and unreal. Zhuangzi thought otherwise. Although waking is one state and dreaming is another state, they are not the same; Zhuang Zhou is Zhuang Zhou and a butterfly is a butterfly, but they are also different. From Zhuang Zhou's point of view, they are all just a phenomenon, a form and a stage in the movement of Tao.
Zhuangzi is using the simplest fable to illustrate one of mankind's most serious questions, that is, the issue of life and death.