Who is Duke Zhou? What is the relationship between Duke Zhou and sleep?

The relationship between Duke Zhou and dreams comes from the pre-Qin work "The Analects of Confucius·Shu Er". Confucius said: "I am declining! It has been a long time since I dreamed of Duke Zhou!" It means: "I am aging. How wonderful! I haven’t dreamed of the Duke of Zhou for a long time!"

Because Confucius respected the political system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Confucius expressed his longing for the Western Zhou society by "dreaming of the Duke of Zhou". Later, people used this allusion to express their memory of the sages. "Wen Shao Fu" written by Yuan Zhen of the Tang Dynasty: "I dreamed of Duke Zhou, but I didn't see him. I thought about the saintly virtues and thought of Qi." "Temple of Duke Zhou" written by Su Shi of the Song Dynasty: "I have dreamed of Duke Zhou now, and I visited the Forbidden City in the Spring and Autumn Period."

< p> Later, Duke Zhou became synonymous with "dream", and sleeping was called "meeting Duke Zhou".

Interesting Stories about Dreaming of Duke Zhou

There is a story in the Qing Dynasty's ancient joke collection "Xiao Lin Guang Ji": A teacher sleeps during the day and does not allow his students to doze off. When the students questioned him, the master said falsely, "I dreamed of Duke Zhou." Tomorrow, his disciples followed suit, and the master woke him up with a warning and said, "How could you do this?" The disciple said, "I will also see Duke Zhou." "The teacher said: "What did Duke Zhou say?" The reply was: "Master Zhou said that he did not see the teacher yesterday." The main idea is: a teacher sleeps during the day, but does not allow students to nap. The students asked the teacher how you can do it? The teacher lied and said that he was going to see Duke Zhou. The next day, the students followed suit.

The teacher picked up the ruler and beat the student awake, and asked him: "How could you do this?" The student replied: "I also went to see Duke Zhou." The teacher then asked the student: "What did the Duke of Zhou say?" The student replied: "The Duke of Zhou said that he did not see you, teacher, yesterday."