Chinese Idioms-庄周夢蝶，Zhuang Zhou Dreams a Butterfly

The Chinese idiom 庄周夢蝶（zhuang1 zhou1 meng4 die2）literally means "Zhuang Zhou dreams a butterfly."

Zhuang Zhou, also known as Zhuang Zi, was a famous Taoist philosopher during Warring States period. Zhuang Zhou was moved by a particularly vivid dream, a dream that led him to ponder the reality of his existence.

One night, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly, flitting about with care-free ease. The dream was been so real that, when he awoke, he wondered if he was Zhuang Zhou who dreamed he was a butterfly or if he was really a butterfly dreaming of being Zhuang Zhou. If the dream seems real,how does one determine which is reality?

Zhuang Zhou posed the question, "Are we awake or are we dreaming?" challenging human notions of what is real and what is illusion. He examined the relationships and connections between different realms world and so-called reality.

Emperor Ming of the Western Han Dynasty was also inspired by a dream, a dream of watching a gigantic, golden man descend from the sky. Because of his interpretation of the dream, Emperor Ming brought Buddhism to China.

This story is an example of how the ancient Chinese understood and mediated the relationship between dreams and reality, and how the dream world,or dimension, helped shape the history of the reality that is our dimension.

The concept behind the Chinese idiom庄周梦蝶has also been presented in various forms in other cultures. It is posed as philosophical theories, the foundation of spiritual quests, and fundamental questions regarding the human condition.

The French philosopher Rene Descartes explored the "dream/reality argument"in his" Meditations on First Philosophy."

Contemporary cinematic approaches to probing this concept include "The Matrix" in which Neo's choice of one pill over another would serve to perpetuate the "dream" or awaken him to the reality of his existence.

In the film"Inception," the characters carry a token to ground themselves to what they believe is reality as they drift between levels of dreams at the risk of getting lost in them forever.

Dream or reality? Zhuang Zhou's question is as important today for those who engage in spiritual quests; human beings earnestly seeking enlightenment.

Chinese Character -Dream 梦（夢 ）

夢（Meng4）,then Chinese character for "dream," is made up of four parts and is ideograph. The two upper parts, ++ and 皿，together resemble the shape of an eyebrow above the eye of a person. The middle part is interpreted as either a bed or the roof of a house;and the lower part 夕is the character Xi1,which means evening. 

As a whole, the character suggests a person going to sleep in the evening, and refers to the dreaming that then occurs.

The character 夢has two shades of meaning. One is based on its pronunciation that is similar to the character 瞢（Meng 2),which can mean having obscured vision, or being unenlightened.

In ancient writings, there is another meaning that refers to a place where the divine and humans communicate. This particular thought reveals the ancient Chinese people's understanding of multiple realities and the relationship between man and Gods.

In the modern Chinese language, the character 夢 is used as both a noun and a verb. It is combined with other characters to form words that refer to something either fantastic or unreal, and they can have both positive and negative meanings.

One example is meng4hua4(梦话), literally dream talk, which can mean a daydream or nonsense. The word meng4xiang3（梦想）means to dream of or vainly hope for something. It can also mean a fond dream or an earnest wish. The phrase meng4huan4 pao4 ying3（梦幻泡影） refers to an illusion, or a pipe dream.

To the Chinese, as with many other cultures around the world, dreams can have significant mystical or existential meanings.

They can be viewed as a communication channel with the supernatural, or they can provide deep insight into events past, or yet to come. However, in the Chinese culture, dreams are seldom disregarded.