Xuan Chu said: "Two immortals, if dreams are like life, then how can you get out of this dream-like life? ”

Come to think of it, every time I have dreams in my life, I have had a lot of strange dreams since I was a child. Life is one world, and dreams are another life.

In the end, the world in the dream is the real world, or the world you live in is the real world, this is indeed a dream-like life.

The young man in white smiled and said, "Princess Zichen, the squint, the fan!" ”

Xuan Chu said, "What do you mean by immortals? ”

The young man in white said with a smile: "Confucius is obsessed with persisting in worshiping the way of the first king, and he used the dog that sacrifices to the gods as a metaphor, saying that the way of the first king is just a dog that has been used." Before being used, the dogs are placed in elaborate baskets, covered with embroidered scarves, and after fasting and bathing, the shamans carefully take them out and worship them to the gods. However, after the dogs were used, they were abandoned on the side of the road and trampled by passers-by or picked up for firewood. At this time, I also want to put it in a basket, cover it with an embroidered scarf, and lean on it to have a sweet dream of sacrificing dogs to the gods. Shi Jin said that Confucius wanted to restore the way of the previous kings, and he was dreaming of such a dream, and the dilemma he encountered in cutting down trees in the Song Dynasty and cutting off Chen Cai was the inevitable result of confusion. Here, we do not analyze whether Jin's criticism of Confucius is correct, but only point out that Shi Jin believes that Confucius is confused by following the path of the previous kings, and uses the metaphor of "dream".

Chu said, "Uh, I don't understand......"

The fairy in red said: "Since dreams and jue have become a pair of important metaphors in Zhuangzi, metaphors refer to confusion and enlightenment, Zhuangzi has actually dissolved, and the dream era takes dreams as the real dream, therefore, there are very few stories of dreams in Zhuangzi, only Tianzi's Wenwang Dream involves Zhanmeng, and omits the link of Zhanmeng. Zhuangzi often uses dreams, and the focus of dreams is no longer to explain previous events, but to express one's own thoughts. ”

Chu Chu said: "This ......" Why don't they understand what they say!

The young man in white said with a smile: "Let's first look at how the dream of King Wen of Zhanmeng is not really the essence of Zhanmeng involved in Tian Zifang's chapter. King Wen's dream is such a story......"

Chu said, "What story? ”

The young man in white said with a smile: "King Wen watched Yu Zang and saw a husband fishing, and he couldn't fish." There are anglers who do not hold their fishing, and they often fish. King Wen wants to give the government, and he is afraid of the minister's father and brother's Fu'an; I want to release it in the end, but I can't bear the lawlessness of the people. So the doctor said: "The widow of the past dreamed of a beloved, black and bearded, riding a barge horse and partial red hooves, and said, 'The government is in Zangzhang, and almost the people are in trouble!'" The doctors suddenly said, "The first king is also." King Wen said: "Then it will be divided." The doctors said: "The order of the ancestors, the king has no other, what is the matter!" So he welcomed the government of Zang Zhang. King Wen wanted to appoint Jiang Taigong, but he was worried that the minister would oppose him, so he pretended that his father Ji Li had a dream and asked him to entrust Jiang Taigong, and in this way, King Wen let Jiang Taigong participate in politics smoothly. From this point of view, King Wen's dream is not so much a record of King Wen's dream, but rather a record of King Wen's political operation. This must be pointed out. Because, if King Wen really had this dream, then this dream is a typical "dream occupation" style. As pointed out above, the dreams of the Book of Poetry and the Zuo Chuan era are all in the style of "Zhanmeng", and under the style of "Zhanmeng", dreams are considered to be very meaningful and are the revelation of divine will, and "Zhanmeng" is nothing more than the "divine will" hidden in the dream to be used to guide future life. ”

Xuan Chu: "But under the record of Zhuangzi, King Wen did not really have this dream, but pretended to have this dream, and this kind of pretense was impossible in the era of "occupying dreams". From the dreams recorded in the left biography, it can be seen that the attitude towards dreams under the "dream occupation" method is extremely serious, and it is extremely rare to pretend to be a dream. Indeed, if dreams are supposed to be the transmission of divine will, who would dare to pretend to be divine will? The dream of King Wen recorded by Zhuangzi is a pretense, indicating that in Zhuangzi's time, "Zhanmeng" has declined, so dreams can also become a means of political operation, which is the same as the Warring States Policy and the dream quoted above, which is of a strategic nature. However, in King Wen's dream, King Wen's pretense was successful again, and the ministers accepted the instructions of the dream, so that King Wen's plan to appoint Jiang Taigong to govern was realized, which shows that the concept of "divining dreams" still dominates people's understanding. ”

The fairy in red said: "If the dream of King Wen shows the decline of the dream, then the "dream of support" that appears many times in Zhuangzi has also changed its nature, first of all, the dream that appears in the form of a dream is often not a real dream, but just a story in the style of a dream; Secondly, the focus of dreams is no longer to explain previous events, but to transform into an allegorical way of expressing thoughts. To illustrate this, let's take a look at a few stories of "dreaming" in Zhuangzi and analyze their characteristics. ”

The young man in white smiled: "Let's look at the oak dream of the world first." The story says that a craftsman surnamed Shi took his apprentices to the country of Qi, and saw an oak tree that served as a community tree in a place called Quyuan, and the apprentices were attracted by the tall and luxuriant oak tree, and stopped to watch for a long time like everyone else, but the stonemason did not look at it and went straight forward, because the tall oak tree was a "loose wood" that was not made of timber and was useless for the craftsman's production. In the evening, the oak tree dreamed of the stonemason, and he said a reason for the useless and useless, claiming that he "asked for nothing to use for a long time, and died a few times, but now it is obtained, and it is of great use." It is also useful to give it, and it has to be so big and evil? "The oak tree means that if it were a useful "tree", it would have been cut down and dismembered long ago, and it would not have been possible to grow into a large tree with lush foliage. In the end, Sheshu ridiculed the stonemasons as "scattered people who have died a few times, and they know the scattered wood", but the stonemasons fully understand the oak tree after waking up, and accept the oak tree's understanding of "use". ”

The fairy in red said: "The dream of the oak tree is obviously a fable, and through this fable, Zhuangzi discussed the question of what is used. We know that usefulness and uselessness are an important theme of Zhuangzi, and at the end of the Wandering, Zhuangzi and Hui Shi discuss the usefulness of the big tree and the big gourd. Therefore, in the eyes of Hui Shi, it can not be a big gourd with a water scoop, in the eyes of Zhuangzi can help people to drift in the rivers and seas, and in the eyes of Hui Shi, it can not be a material, and in the eyes of Zhuangzi, it can be established in the land of nothing, so that people who know how to be free can sleep comfortably and enjoy the pleasure of life. The oak tree dream once again opens up the topic of what is useful, and the oak tree plays the role of educator in the dream, turning the stonemason from a utilitarian benevolence to a transcendent Zhuangzi. ”