Chapter 21 say dream

say dream There is a dream talk in the fake "Liezi", which is very well said: "The Yin family of the Zhou Dynasty ruled over labor, and those who served under it invaded the morning and evening without rest. Some old servants were exhausted and made them work hard. During the day, they moaned and went to work, and at night, they were tired and fell asleep. The spirit Desolate, dreaming of being a king in the past: standing above the people, taking care of the affairs of the country; visiting Yan Palace, doing whatever you want, very enjoyable. When you feel it, you will return to service.... Yin's heart is in the world, thinking about Zhong's family business, and his heart is shaped Tired at all times, sleepy at night. In the past, I dreamed of being a servant: walking and serving, and doing everything;

The number of scolding sticks and tarts is endless.In sleep, he raves and groans, completely resting. ..." The original intention of this article is to say, "The repetition of bitterness and rest is the constant of number; if you want to feel dreams and dreams at the same time, how can you get evil?" There is a lot of mystery in it, and I can't understand it; That's why I was drawn from afar.I just don't think dreams are a bad thing.Even if it is true as the story says, it is still very interesting.Because life is limited, if we can have such clear dreams every night, we will reach two days after one day, and one hundred years after fifty years of age; such a cheap thing is really worth it.As for the "bitterness and joy" in dreams, according to my ordinary opinion, it is after all "bitterness and joy" in "dreams", so there is no need to worry about it.If I have to be fussy, I want to say boldly: he and those who put up red notes on the wall saying, "Dreams at night are unlucky, books are broken" are just as ignorant of dreams!

But Zhuangzi said, "A perfect man has no dreams." In the pseudo-"Liezi" it also said, "The ancient real people forget themselves when they feel awake, and they don't dream when they sleep." - Zhang Zhan's note said, "A real person never forgets, but When you don’t sleep, why do you have dreams?” It can be seen that our sages don’t take dreams very seriously, at least they always think that dreams are not very clever things.But Confucius was different from them. He regretted "no longer dreaming of Duke Zhou"; he naturally loved dreaming, or at least he was not against dreaming. ——It is almost the so-called dreamer who dreams when he is dreaming?I think that "the perfect person" and "true person" have no place for us after all, so we don't have to think about it; just look at the condition of "being sleepless", can you and I do it?Alas, if you advocate or practice "eight hours of sleep", don't even try to be a "perfect person" or a "true person"!But don't worry, there's someone else to help us: we know that even fools have no dreams!They are a pillow of darkness and sweetness, humming until dawn, and even the shadows of some children's dreams can't be found!Fortunately, we still have a few dreams. Although we lose the qualification of "perfect man" and "true man", we are also freed from fools because of this. It is not just luck.As for the "perfect man", what is the difference between the dreamlessness of a "true man" and the dreamlessness of a fool?But it is a problem.If I want to be lazy, I'd better pick up what I said above and answer: "A real person...doesn't sleep..." But a fool is "a pillow of black and sweet, hum until dawn"!One more thing, this is what Confucius called "the superior wisdom and the inferior fool are inseparable".Speaking of Confucius, Confucius was not opposed to dreaming, so couldn't he also be a "perfect man", a "true man"?I said, "Weiwei, no no!" Confucius is a "sage" and has his own special status. There is no need to fight for the title of "the most perfect man" or "true man".But you have to know that only by dreaming and being able to dream of the Duke of Zhou can you become a saint; we are still not enough.

We finally can only be second-rate people.But there is also a high and a low in the middle.The tall one is like my friend Mr. P: he dreamed of flowers, poems, and gorgeous clothes... It really is like all dreams are sweet.Low as I am: When I was in the south of the Yangtze River, I was originally among the fools, and as usual I slept in pitch darkness until the light of day;After coming to the north, somehow, I suddenly became wiser, and I had dreams every night, and there were different dreams.But after all, I am a newly promoted person. Although I have dreams, I can't have a clear dream!All night long, the dream is upside down, and when I wake up, I don't know what to say, and I suddenly feel lost.The most embarrassing thing is that every morning when I am about to wake up, I have a residual dream, and I can't get tired of it; suddenly my eyes open, as if falling into a deep valley, everything is silent-only a corner of the sun is waiting on the wall!I will never get up at this time, I must concentrate and think carefully, trying to recover the taste of the dream in case; but as usual, I can't think of it, I just feel confused and seem to miss something.Even so, one thing is known: the world in the dream is free, allowing you to wander and fly; when you open your eyes, you will be tied up with dense hemp ropes, which will make a big difference!I am indeed in a trance now, and what has been written here will suffice to teach you.But I don't curse the dream for that; I just blame my poor art of dreaming and my inability to dream clearly.If you have a clear dream, if you have a clear dream every night, I think it's okay to be in a trance.As it is now, a series of muddled dreams are trying to turn this "I" into a black ball, but it is somewhat inconvenient.Yes, I have to learn some skills and have some good dreams about him tonight.I praise Meng through and through, because I am an amateur and will always be an amateur.

(Originally published in "Tsinghua Weekly", Volume 24, No. 8, October 1925)