Zhuangzi: Only by dreaming less can we have a real life

Dreaming and awakening are daily mental activities that human beings must go through. Regarding these two spiritual activities, Chinese sages have the saying that "dream consciousness is guan". It is said that during the reign of Emperor Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, a monk traveled through Danxia Mountain in Guangdong Province, and had the realization that "half of his life was spent in his dreams, and today he first felt clear and vain", so he built a half-rock, known as "Dream Jueguan" (Renhua County Chronicle, vol. 1). Zhu Xi, the great Confucian of the Southern Song Dynasty, also said that "the lattice object is a dream jueguan" (Zhu Zi Yu Class, vol. 15). The Ming Dynasty calligrapher Tian Zhiping also named his residence "Mengjue Guan" (Yuding Peiwenzhai Calligraphy and Painting Notation, vol. 40). These "dream perceptions" are all rational reflections on dream activities from the philosophical level of life. When it comes to philosophical reflections on dream activity, we cannot but go back to Zhuangzi, because "Zhuangzi was the first work in the pre-Qin period to contemplate dreams with a purely rational attitude" (Xiong Daolin, Chapter 6 of "Exploring the Culture of Pre-Qin Dreams").

Zhuangzi's philosophical reflections on dreaming are concentrated in the fable of "Changwuzi on The Sacred". Chang Wuzi and Qu Quezi discuss whether the saint can achieve desirelessness and no desire, and all things are one, so as to "swim outside the dirt". For this question, Confucius thought that this was "Meng Lang's words" and nonsense, while Qu Quezi thought that this was "the journey of the mysterious path" and a wise theory. Zhuangzi criticized both of these statements by borrowing the mouth of Chang Wuzi, saying: "Dream drinkers, Dan and weep; dream weeps, Dan and Tian hunt." Fang Qi's dream is also, I don't know his dream also. In the dream, he occupies his dream, and then realizes his dream. And there is great awareness and then knows this and his great dream, and the fool thinks he is aware of it, and steals it. Junhu, Muhu, Guzai! Qiu also and the female, both dream also; to give the female dream, also dream also. It is its words also, and its name is paradox. (Zhuangzi Qiwu Theory)

In this classic philosophical dialogue, Zhuangzi conducts a layered introspective examination of the phenomenon of dreaming. First of all, the content of dreams and consciousness can be reversed and transformed. "Dream drinker, Dan and cry; dream weep, Dan and field hunting." Drinking and rejoicing in dreams, waking up but weeping with sorrow, crying with sorrow in dreams, awakening but hunting and pleasure, and the content of dreams is just reversed. The Taoists also had the "dream of the master servant of the Yin family": the Yin family of the Zhou Dynasty "dreamed of being a servant" every night, while its old servant "dreamed of being a monarch" every night. (Liezi Zhou Mu Wang) Feel the lord and dream as a servant, feel as a servant and dream mainly, and the dream content of the master and servant can be changed frequently.

Second, dreams are divided into real and illusory. For the enlightened, dreams are illusory rather than true, but for dreamers, dreams are true and not illusory. This is what Zhuangzi said, "Fang Qi's dream is also, but he does not know his dream." Buddhism also has a similar saying: "You cannot know without being aware, and what you see in your dreams is not there." The truth and illusion of dreams cannot be distinguished by the dreamer, and only the enlightened can judge.

Third, there is a difference between true and false awareness in awakening. The world probably has the experience of "dreaming in a dream": in a dream, the head is to analyze the dream of his own dream. Zhuangzi called this phenomenon "dream-divination within dreams." When divining a dream in a dream, the dreamer will think that the dreamer is awakened, that the "occupation" in the dream is real, and that the dream occupied is illusory. "Realize and then know its dreams", only after the real awakening, it is found that dreams and occupied dreams are illusory. From the perspective of the truly awakened person, the awakening of the dreamer in the dream is actually just a kind of illusion, an illusion.

Finally, life is like a big dream. In Chang Wuzi's view, "Qiu Ye and female, both dream also", Confucius and Qu Quezi both said that they are dreaming, then Chang Wuzi should be the ultimate enlightened. But Chang Wuzi said, "Give a female dream, and also dream." His judgment of Confucius and Qu Quezi is still dreaming. In other words, the final awakening of Changwuzi may still be in a dream. In this way, you will come to the fatal conclusion that life is like a dream. The world thinks it is awakened, but in fact the world is dreaming. This universal dream state of life, Zhuangzi called it "big dream". Therefore, the xiezhuang people have a saying that "the big dreamer is unconscious in the world" (Tao Chongdao's "Baihuantang Zhuangzi Seal").

Zhuangzi's discussion of dream awakening is to solve the problem of attitude towards life and death, "the distinction between dreams is tantamount to the debate between death and life" (Guo Xiang's "Zhuangzi Notes", vol. 1). In Zhuangzi's view, the reason why life is like a big dream is because the world often looks at the dream of life and death with the perspective of "treating each other". The basic meaning of "treating each other" is that life and events and everything in the universe are in a differentiated and interdependent relationship, and have no independent meaning. Chang Wuzi gave an example of "Li Ji weeping" to illustrate this problem. At the beginning of the capture of the "son of the Aifeng people" Li Ji by the Jin State, she was very sad; but when she arrived at the Palace of the King of Jin, she shared with the king, ate delicious food, and "regretted her crying", regretting that she should not have cried in the first place. The reason why Li Ji wept for a while and wept for a while was because she had the idea of treating right and wrong in her heart: at first, she cried, taking Aidi's life as the right and the captive life as the wrong; later she regretted that her weeping was based on the life of the palace, and the original worry and weeping were wrong. So what is right and wrong? From the perspective of treating each other, this is the confusion of life that can never be said clearly.

The example of "Li Ji weeping with remorse" is to illustrate the problem of "happy life and evil death". Since Li Ji was "weeping" at first, and then "regretting her weeping", how can we know from the perspective of life that "the deceased does not regret his beginnings?" "When the world finally dies, will it not regret the idea of rejoicing in life and greed in life? Happy life and evil death is also a kind of right and wrong: life is right, death is wrong. "Death and repentance" proves that life and death are not so easy to distinguish between right and wrong, perhaps life is not worthy of joy, and death is not hateful. Zhuangzi's dream of "saying death by calvary" is a good confirmation of this: Zhuangzi went to the Chu kingdom to sleep with an empty calf, and dreamed of Calvary at night saying to him that death is happier than life, because after death there is no "tiredness of life" such as greed and irrationality, the curse of axes, the plague of frostbite, and so on. ("Zhuangzi Zhile") For Calvary, death is not only incorruptible, but even "South Wang Le". It can be seen from this that happy life and evil death are nothing more than the confusion of life caused by the idea of treating each other.

If you want to get rid of the confusion of life that is happy to live and die, you must get out of the "big dream" state of dream separation. In the state of "big dreams", the world can never prove whether they are in a dream or awake. When we say that others are dreaming, we may just be dreaming; when we know we are dreaming, we may still be dreaming. Zhuangzi called this situation "paradoxical." "Paradox" is not a formal logical contradiction, but a dialectical trick, "dialectical trick is to reach a higher realm through a contradiction" (Mou Zongsan, "Zhuangzi Qiwu Theory of Speeches", Lecture 14). This higher realm is the state of non-distinction between dreams achieved by "Zhuang Zhou Mengdi". In the last chapter of The Theory of Qi, Zhuangzi had a very famous dream: he transformed himself into a beautiful butterfly dancing; he suddenly woke up and found that he was still Zhuang Zhou. Zhuangzi couldn't figure out whether he had transformed into a butterfly in his dream, or whether his state of awakening was actually just a dream of butterflies. Zhuang Zhou's dreaming state is not distinguished, and Zhuangzi calls it "materialization". "Materialization" means that the material self becomes one, and people and things are no longer treated separately, there is no longer a distinction between right and wrong, life and death, and of course there is no distinction between dreams and enlightenment. "Zhuangzi means to the butterfly, and there is no difference in the dream." (Chu Boxu's "Nanhua Zhenjing Yihai Wei" quotes Lin Zizhi) Entering the realm of "materialization" "can go beyond dreams, awakening, life, and death, and enter a special realm" (Zheng Kai's "Lectures on Zhuangzi's Philosophy", Lecture 10).

This kind of "special realm" that transcends the distinction between dreams and the treatment of life and death is also called "no dreams" by Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi believes that only real people and saints can achieve this realm, so in the book "Zhuangzi", there is a saying that real people and saints "do not sleep and dream". Of course, the "non-dreaming" realm without dream distinction is not completely free of dreaming spiritual activities. "Man has no dreams, and the mallet is discouraged." (Chen Shiyuan's "Dream ZhanYi Yi Zhi • Sage Chapter") People who do not even have natural dream activities can probably only be "mallet-shaped discouraged" vegetative people. (Liu Wenying, "The Superstition of Dreams and the Exploration of Dreams", Chapter 3 of the second part) "No dreams" means that dreams are no longer seen in a differentiated way, "Awake people should not cling to the distinction between dreams and awakenings." Attachment means that you fall into the dream again" (Wang Bo, Zhuangzi Philosophy, Chapter 5).

"No dream" is the true awakening, which Zhuangzi called "great enlightenment": "Having a great awakening and then knowing this is also its great dream". Dajue not only knows that dreams are unreal, but also knows that dreams are illusory. Only by reaching the great state of enlightenment of "not dreaming" can we truly penetrate the "dream awareness barrier", so that "there is no other self, the same right and wrong, synthetic destruction, one amount, the same size... Years and years, life and death, and the same dream" (Wang Yun's "New Biography of the South China True Classic"), no desires and no demands, all things are one, "swimming outside the dirt".

Column Editor-in-Chief: Wang Duo Title Image Source: Visual China Photo Editor: Su Wei

Source: Author: Yang Shaohan Yu Min