Inception and Philosophy by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein

Author:Thorsten Botz-Bornstein
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Open Court
Published: 2011-10-03T10:00:00+00:00

Dream in Daoism

Zhuangzi (369 B.C.–286 B.C.) was an ancient Chinese philosopher famous for his contribution to the development of Daoist philosophy. In his works, Zhuangzi writes extensively about dreams, the best known of which is ‘the butterfly dream’. Here’s my translation of ‘the butterfly dream’:

Zhuang Zhou (Zhuangzi’s real name) once dreamt of a butterfly, a butterfly fluttering and flying around happily. For a while, he forgot that he was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly, he awoke and there he was, unmistakably Zhuang Zhou. He did not remember whether he was Zhuang Zhou dreaming of a butterfly or if he was a butterfly dreaming to be Zhuang Zhou. However, there must be a distinction between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly. [How can this be explained?] This must be the transformation and unity of things in nature. [He was himself and at the same time the butterfly.]

Zhuangzi’s ‘butterfly dream’ revolves around three main ideas: 1. the forgettable self-being; it is through dreaming that your own existence in reality can be forgotten by being transformed into another existence; 2. dream as life and life as dream; 3. the idea of transformation and unity.

These three ideas come from the profound attitude that Zhuangzi held towards reality. To Zhuangzi, reality is false. Instead of fighting against the false in order to obtain individual freedom within reality, Zhuangzi chooses to escape from reality through spiritual imagination. The free world is beyond reality and beyond dreams, in a realm where ‘I’ no longer exist as an individual but as a part of the whole (nature). It does not matter if Zhuangzi’s being defines reality or if the butterfly’s being defines dreams; what matters is that Zhuangzi and the butterfly are united at the end.

Through the experience of unity, we learn to let go, to forget and to go with the flow. We learn to accept that both reality and dreams are outside of our control. To think of dreams in Daoism is a way of practicing the Dao; it’s a mediation enabling us to experience the transformable nature of things. It is a “Way” that enables spiritual imagination. This understanding of dreams differs from traditional Western ideas. The Indian philosopher Radhakrishnan once wrote that “we have in the West the realism of the men of action; in the East we have the sensitivity of the artist and imagination of the creative dreamer” (“Dreams in Buddhism and Western Aesthetics,” p. 65). According to Thorsten Botz-Bornstein, the Western concept of dreams makes a stable link between dream and reality.

Western theorists have often objectified dreams in order to interpret their meanings from the point of view of a non-dreaming status (p. 67). In traditional western psychoanalysis, for example, dreams are interpreted through signs. Semiotics and structuralist film theory also adapt the code of dreams in order to establish a meaningful reading of movies. Dudley Andrew has explained that “movies are now thought to be a specific melange or system of codes of meaning whose elements and interrelations could be detailed” (Concepts in Film Theory, p.

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