Dream Within a Dream by Chuang Tzu

The one who dreams of drinking wine,
In the morning may be crying.
The one who dreams of crying,
In the morning may go hunting.
When one is in a dream,
One does not know one is dreaming.
One may even dream while in the middle of dreaming.
Only after awakening does one realize it was a dream.
Similarly, only after one experiences Great Awakening,
Does one realize that this is all one big dream.
But the fool thinks he is awake.
He is self-assured in knowing this.
The so-called kings!
The so-called ministers!
Persist in their delusions.
Chu and you are both dreaming,
I say you're dreaming, I'm dreaming too.
This kind of talk,
Its name is "bizarre."
(Translation by Derek Lin)

Wednesday, January 28, 2009 at 12:02am