Saturday, July 10, 2010

Zhuangzi - The butterfly dream

昔者莊周夢為蝴蝶,栩栩然蝴蝶也,自喻適志與,不知周也。俄然覺,則蘧蘧然周也。不知周之夢為蝴蝶與,蝴蝶之夢為周與?周與蝴蝶則必有分矣。此之謂物化。

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting and fluttering around, happy with himself and doing as he pleased. He didn't know he was Zhuangzi. Suddenly he woke up and there he was, solid and unmistakable Zhuangzi. But he didn't know if he was Zhuangzi who had dreamt he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuangzi. Between Zhuangzi and a butterfly there must be some distinction! This is called the Transformation of Things.

-- copied from Wikipedia.

I recently read a book about 'Eastern Philosophy'. This book was published by a publisher where my uncle is working for (also CEO is my mom's cousin). It was pretty popular introductory book about eastern philosophy. I should have read this book long long time ago, but hardly remember the contents.

I enjoyed reading this book and also revisiting easter philosophy. I realized that my way of thinking is truly influenced by those philosophies. Somehow... the story of butterfly dream from Zhuangzi touched me. What is a life and what we pursue in life...

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