The story of "Zhuang Zhou Dreams of a Butterfly" tells that Zhuang Zhou had a dream in which he dreamed that he had turned into a butterfly, and he felt happy and contented. Because this dream was so real, after Zhuang Zhou woke up, he couldn't tell whether he had become a butterfly in the dream, or whether the butterfly had become himself in the dream. In other words, he couldn't tell who he was.
Why Zhuangzi had such weird ideas was actually because Zhuangzi himself was a Taoist. In other words, Zhuangzi himself was also studying philosophical issues and cosmic issues. Therefore, when he had such a dream, he did not just wake up and forget it like ordinary people. Instead, he grasped such a natural life phenomenon and philosophized it. theorize.
If you look carefully at the story "Zhuang Zhou Dreams of Butterflies", it is not difficult to feel Zhuang Zi's romantic philosophical thoughts. Although this story is short and concise, it truly depicts the materialized concept that people cannot truly distinguish between reality and illusion, illusion and life and death. Therefore, the hidden philosophy of this story of Zhuang Zhou dreaming of butterflies is so clever that many poets like to quote it later, such as Li Shangyin's "Jin Se" and Li Bai's "Ancient Zhuang Zhou Dreaming of Butterflies".
Up to now, the allusion of "Zhuang Zhou dreamed of butterflies" has almost formed a fixed scene, that is, "life is like a dream, and dreams are like life". In fact, it is normal to find that you have turned into a butterfly or other things in a dream. Different people may have different thoughts after such a dream, but for Zhuangzi, it is a real realization. Such a noble philosophy came out. As a thinker, Zhuangzi was better at thinking and better at explaining what he thought.
The "Xiaoyaoyou" and "Equality of Things" written by Zhuangzi later mentioned the philosophical thought of "Zhuangzhou Mengdie". "Equality of Things" contains the concept of the unity of nature and man, equality and harmony between man and nature, which further reflects the theoretical point of view in the article that there is no difference between all objects in the world, and there is no difference between objects and people. Therefore, the story of Zhuangzi dreaming of butterflies should mean that people and butterflies are just different in general appearance, but they are still the same in essence. Therefore, there is no difference between people and things, which is in line with Zhuangzi's philosophy. Equality of things.