chuang chou dreaming a butterfly

chuang chou dreaming a butterfly

Zhuang Zhou's dream of butterfly is a Chinese idiom, which comes from Zhuangzi's Qi Wu Lun. It means that Zhuang Zhou's dream has become a butterfly, or a butterfly's dream has become Zhuang Zhou.

The origin of Idioms

The idiom "Zhuang Zhou Meng die" comes from "Zhuang Zi · Qi Wu Lun": "in the past, Zhuang Zhou's dream was Hu Die, which was lifelike and self-evident! I don't know Zhou Ye. If you suddenly feel it, you will feel it again. I don't know that Zhou's dream is Hu dieyu, and Hu dieyu's dream is Zhou Yu? Zhou and Hu Die must be separated. This is called materialization. "

Idioms and allusions

In the form of a story, Chuang Tzu expounds Zhuang Zhou's dream of a butterfly as follows: in the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he had become a butterfly. How happy and comfortable it was to be a vivid butterfly! I didn't know I was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly wake up, panic between just know that I am Zhuang Zhou. I don't know whether Zhuang Zhou became a butterfly in his dream or a butterfly in his dream? There must be a difference between Zhuang Zhou and butterfly. This is called crop, my cross and change.

Chuang Tzu's dream turned into a vivid butterfly, forgetting that he was a human being before waking up to find that he was still Chuang Tzu. It is hard to tell whether Zhuangzi became a butterfly in his dream or a butterfly in his dream.

Idiom usage

grammatical function

Zhuang Zhou's idioms are subject predicate structures. It can act as an object in a sentence.

Application examples

Death and separation are like Zhuang Zhou's dream of butterfly. Hu Wenhuan, Ming Dynasty, selected Qun Yin Lei