Why did the ancients call sleep "Dream Week"? Who is Zhou Gong?

Sleep, we also call it "Dream Week Gong", why do you say so? The relationship between Zhou Gong and Sleep Dream comes from the pre-Qin work "Analects and Shu Er", confucius said: "Even I am decaying!" Jiu Yiwu no longer dreams of seeing Zhou Gong! Meaning: "How old I am!" I haven't dreamed of Zhou Gong for a long time! ”

Confucius said that the Duke of Zhou was surnamed Ji (姬), courtesy name Dan, the son of King Wen of Zhou and the half-brother of King Wu of Zhou, who was known as the Duke of Zhou because he was in Zhou (in present-day northeast of Baoji, Shaanxi). After the death of King Wu of Zhou, King Cheng succeeded to the throne, when King Cheng was still very young and did not understand the affairs of governing the country. At that time, when the Zhou Dynasty was just established and a hundred wastes were waiting to be rebuilt, Zhou Gongdan took the throne as King Cheng, handled major state affairs, built the Eastern Capital Luoyi, quelled the rebellion of the Three Prisons and Dongyi, made ceremonies and music, and made outstanding contributions to the establishment and consolidation of the Zhou Dynasty.

Zhou Gongdan was an outstanding politician, thinker, and one of the ancient saints most admired by Confucius. Because Confucius greatly respected the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Confucius expressed his yearning for the society of the Western Zhou Dynasty with the "Dream Zhou Gong". Later, people used this allusion to express the memory of the sages. Tang Dynasty Yuan Shu's "Wen Shao Fu": "Dreaming of Zhou Gong and not seeing, thinking of holiness and thinking of Qi." Su Shi's "Zhou Gong Temple" of the Song Dynasty: "I now dream of Zhou Gong, Shang Chunqiu came to the Forbidden City." ”

Later, Zhou Gong became synonymous with "dream", and sleeping was called "seeing Zhou Gong". In the Qing Dynasty's ancient joke collection "Laughing Forest Guangji", there is a story: a division sleeps during the day, and students are not allowed to sleep. The student cross-examined, and the teacher said falsely, "I am the Dream Zhou Gongye." In the bright day, his disciples also followed suit, and the master woke up with a precept: "Why did Ru get this?" Disciple: "I also went to see Zhou Gong'er." Master: "What is the language of Zhou Gong?" He replied, "Zhou Gong said that he did not see the Venerable Master yesterday. ”

The gist is: a teacher sleeps during the day, but does not allow students to doze off. The students asked the teacher how could you? The teacher lied and said that he had gone to see Zhou Gong. The next day, the students did the same. The teacher took the commandment ruler and woke up the student and scolded him, "How can you do this?" The student replied, "I also went to see Zhou Gong." The teacher then asked the student, "What did Zhou Gong say?" The student replied: "Zhou Gong said that he did not see the teacher you yesterday."