Dream butterfly in Zhuang Zhou-the ultimate aesthetic experience

Recently, I was reading Feng Youlan's A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy, in which a chapter specifically introduced the Taoist school represented by Zhuangzi and Zhuangzi. I think this is a philosophical expression with China characteristics.

Westerners say that China has no systematic philosophical theory. For example, when people begin to read China's philosophical works, the first impression is that the speeches and articles are basically short, and there is no connection between them. Just like reading the Analects of Confucius, each chapter is a few sentences, and there seems to be no connection between the upper and lower chapters. There are only more than 5,000 words in Laozi, but we can get a glimpse of all the philosophical thoughts in Laozi. Most articles in Zhuangzi are full of metaphorical arguments.

In the past, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he had become a butterfly, a very vivid butterfly. How happy and comfortable he felt! I didn't know I was Zhuang Zhou. I suddenly woke up and realized that I was Zhuang Zhou. I wonder if Zhuang Zhou became a butterfly in his dream, or if the butterfly became Zhuang Zhou in his dream?

Zhuang Zhou was the first philosopher in human history to think about dreams and reality. How to distinguish between dreams and reality?

If in real life, you ask someone: am I awake or dreaming now? People will think you are a mental patient.

However, how can you prove that one's life is not a big dream? When a person dies, he wakes up from a dream, or after he dies, he finds himself in another dream. Big dreams are covered by small dreams, and small dreams are stacked by big dreams, and they are endless. Sometimes I have to admire the way of thinking of philosophers; Sometimes we have to be afraid of the philosopher's way of thinking. Some seemingly ordinary problems will be really terrible if we think from a philosophical point of view.

If life is like a dream, where is the meaning of our existence? It's too negative to think so; If life is like a dream, whether it is poor or rich, it will pass. When we wake up, the pain and suffering in front of us will eventually disappear, so what are we afraid of? Thinking in this way is also the positive significance that philosophy brings to life.

Let's talk about Zhuang Zhou Meng Die again. Dreams and butterflies are both beautiful images and the ultimate aesthetic experience. Since ancient times, the beauty of dreams has been lingering in people's minds. Tang Xianzu wrote in "Four Dreams in Linchuan": "Dreams become dreams because of feelings, and dreams become plays because of dreams." The four dreams of "Four Dreams of Linchuan" have interpreted the complicated world events and woven the sentimental world. In dreams, people can realize the realization of identity, the satisfaction of money, the perfection of love, and all kinds of disappointments in life, which do not exist in dreams. A Dream of Red Mansions is a dream in the final analysis. Jia Baoyun's fifth dream sleepwalking gave the world a hint. The couplet at the entrance of the dreamland: fake and serious. Isn't this life too?

For China people, butterflies are the embodiment of beauty. Liang Zhu turned into a butterfly in "Four Folk Stories", bearing many people's good wishes for love. Love is invisible and intangible. People use butterflies to make it concrete.

Pairs of butterflies are the embodiment of love, colorful colors represent the glory of love, and "busy enjoying flowers" represents the beauty and sweetness of love.

People in China have always liked beautiful things, and elegant aesthetic taste has always been sought after by literati in past dynasties. Therefore, the image of Zhuang Zhou's dream butterfly deserves people's consideration not only in the philosophical level, but also in the aesthetic field.

Dreams and butterflies have become an aesthetic symbol and experience in the aesthetic sense.