The Butterfly Dream
If life is a dream, how do you wake up?
Original
昔者莊周夢為胡蝶，栩栩然胡蝶也，自喻適志與！不知周也。俄然覺，則蘧蘧然周也。不知周之夢為胡蝶與，胡蝶之夢為周與？周與胡蝶，則必有分矣。此之謂物化。
In plain words
Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering about, a butterfly through and through, happy and doing as it pleased. He did not know he was Zhou. Suddenly he woke, and there he was, unmistakably Zhou. He did not know whether Zhou had dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly was dreaming of being Zhou. Yet between Zhou and the butterfly there must be a distinction. This is called the transformation of things.
Key words
- 栩栩然xǔ xǔ ránFluttering lightly.
- 蘧蘧然qú qú ránStartled awake, solid and clear.
- 物化wù huàThe transformation of things: seeing how life and death change, and no longer clinging.
Reading it step by step
This may be the most famous dream in Chinese literature. Most readers stop at the question: “Did I dream the butterfly, or is the butterfly dreaming me?” and sigh that life is a dream and nothing can be told apart.
But read one more sentence: “Between Zhou and the butterfly there must be a distinction.” It's the key line.
Why? Let's take it in three steps.
First: enjoy the dream. The butterfly is “happy and doing as it pleased,” so happy it forgets who it is. One commentator has a nice joke here: if Zhuang Zhou dreamed of a butterfly, that's Zhou's pleasure; if a butterfly is dreaming of Zhou, that's the butterfly's bad luck. But dreams always end, so there's nothing to worry about.
Second: what is “the transformation of things”? All things turn into one another; life and death are one more turning. Once you see this, the grip of “I must be exactly this” loosens. It echoes the whole point of this chapter: seen from the Dao, all things are equal.
Third: and yet people and things are different. How? Among all things, only humans can awaken to the Dao. A butterfly doesn't wake up and ask who it is. We do. That is our opening to become great. If not to remind us of that possibility, why would Zhuangzi have bothered to write at all?
Remember the fish from Day 1? It transformed into the Peng. Today Zhou transforms into a butterfly, and wakes again as Zhou. All week, Zhuangzi has really been saying one thing: you can transform, and you can wake up.
That's the end of Week 1. Give yourself fully to the dream, then wake up fully.
Give yourself fully to the dream. Then wake up fully.
Today's question
This week, in which role were you so absorbed you forgot yourself? Was that healthy absorption or getting lost? What does the awake you want to keep?
Quick check
Which line is the key to the butterfly dream?
Humans differ from things: only we can awaken. That is our chance to become great.
Go deeper
Want the full classroom? Here is the matching lecture from National Taiwan University OpenCourseWare (in Mandarin).
Prologue · Free Wandering — A person can become great