The ancients' exploration of dreams

The ancients of our country had many accounts of dreams, and the most well-known one is the story of "Zhuang Zhou's Dream Butterfly". Zhuangzi fell asleep soundly one day and found that he had become a butterfly, flying around freely. Only after waking up did I realize that it was a dream. So I thought about it: "I don't know (Zhuang) Zhou’s dream is the butterfly 欤? The Butterfly’s dream is (Zhuang) Zhou 欤?"

The idiom "Nanke Yimeng" also comes from a story about dreams. The Tang Dynasty legendary novel "Nanke Prefect Biography" tells such a story:

One day, a person named Chun Yufen celebrated his birthday . He had a banquet under the big locust tree in front of the door and had a drink with friends. As a result, he was so drunk that he was helped by his friend to take a nap on the corridor. In a trance, it was as if two purple-clothed messengers invited him to a carriage, and the carriage galloped towards a tree hole under the big locust tree. He came to "Dahuai Anguo". The country Cheng dating from cover Road out to greet the king will be the princess betrothed to him, Chunyu Fen to move consort prince, and appointed him as "NanKe Prefecture."

After Chun Yufeng took office, he really lived up to his expectations. He was diligent in government and loved the people, and managed Nanke County to be politically harmonious. After 20 years, it was highly regarded by the king and supported by the people. Unexpectedly, the neighboring country of Tanluo suddenly raged and invaded Dahuai'an country. Chun Yufeng led his troops to fight the enemy, but the result was repeated defeats. Misfortune did not come singly, and his beloved wife died unfortunately...Chun Yufen has since lost the favor of the monarch. He was unhappy in his heart, and he asked the king for permission to return to his hometown to visit relatives. The king agreed and sent the original two purple-clothed messengers back. When Chun Yufeng returned home, he was surprised to wake up when he saw himself sleeping under the porch. It's really "only half a day in the world, twenty years in my dream".

According to the "Book of Jin", Cao Cao once dreamed that three horses were eating in the same trough. Cao Cao had doubts, worried that Sima and his son would snatch Cao's world.

Whether we want it or not, we will dream every night. Life is always followed by many dreams. Because of dreams, life is colorful and passionate; it is also because of dreams that life is unpredictable and elusive. So, what exactly is a dream?

This mysterious stranger in the dark night has been haunting mankind for thousands of years. Its mystery has attracted more people to seek and interpret dreams. It can be said that among all the mysteries of mankind, there is nothing more fascinating than those from the human heart.

In China, dream interpretation, like the Chinese civilization, has a long history. According to legend, Huangdi Xuanyuan wrote "Accounting for Dreams". In the pre-Qin period, some famous scholars began to think about dreams rationally. Later, people throughout the ages have discussed dreams from different aspects, and it is precisely because of these people's constant debates about dreams that the study of dreams in our country is gradually expanded horizontally and gradually deepened vertically. In the exploration of dreams, we in China already have our own ideas and methods, and put forward some theories. For example, the theory of "Evil Evil Dreams" in "The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic", "Six Dreams" in "Zhou Li", "Sentimental Reciprocity" in "Lie Zi", and Wang Qingren's "Brain Qi Block" theory and so on.

Although people throughout the ages have continued to study dreams and have made some achievements at the same time, because dreams are too mysterious, people still cannot fully recognize them. There are many things that cannot be explained according to the theory in the book, so some people think that dreams It is the soul that travels outside of the body, and is an independent spiritual activity. This is also the fundamental reason why the superstition of dreams arose and even affected Chinese history for thousands of years. Zhanmeng has a long history in China. In the era of slavery in the Yin Kingdom, Zhanmeng was a major tool for observing the country’s good and bad and determining national events. Therefore, Zhanmeng’s superstition has become a major part of official religious theology. . However, after the Spring and Autumn Period, Zhanmeng has gradually become a kind of secular superstition. On the one hand, Zhanmeng still maintains its own characteristics, and on the other hand, it is mutually infiltrated with other religious theology.

The exploration of dreams can be traced back to primitive society. At that time primitive people connected dreams with souls. This was inseparable from the low productivity conditions at that time. As for the question of how they connected dreams with souls, now I am afraid it is difficult to find direct evidence. But if we speculate based on primitive people’s intelligence and primitive people’s religious customs, we can find that the primitive people’s concept of dreams and souls came into being in this way.

When primitive people lay in their caves to sleep, their bodies did not leave the caves. However, why did he and his companions go hunting in the wild together in the dream? According to people's imagination at the time, the self hunting outside in the dream would certainly not be the fleshy self lying in the cave, but rather a A self that has no flesh and is not bound by one's own flesh. When primitive people dream, they must also dream of their dead relatives . But isn’t the corpse of a loved one buried a long time ago? Isn’t it already decayed? What kind of thing is that kind of person who has no flesh and is not bound by the flesh?

After a long time of thinking, a concept has gradually formed in the minds of primitive people: in the human body, there is something that dominates the body rather than the body. This kind of thing can leave the body when sleeping, and this kind of thing when dreaming. When moving outside, they will continue to exist after physical death and still be able to move. Therefore, people can still go hunting in the wild in their dreams and still be able to see those relatives who have died. Later they called this kind of thing "soul".

Primitive people formed the concept of the soul by thinking about dreams; in turn, they used the concept of soul to explain dreams and dreams. In this way, primitive people's concept of dreams and souls are inextricably linked. On the basis of the concept of dreams and souls, it is connected with the concept of ghosts and gods, thus forming the dream superstition.

At first, primitive people were not conscious of the superstition of dream signs. They only cared about dreams that were closely related to their own lives. However, as human activities became more and more complicated, the things people had to predict also increased. There are more and more dreams that are included in the prediction. So the superstition of divination has changed from spontaneous superstition in certain dream signs to consciously looking for various dream signs, and from the habitual interpretation of dream signs into a complicated analysis of dream signs.

According to the existing literature, Huangdi is the first person to mention divination. Huangfu Mi said in "Emperor Century": "The Yellow Emperor dreams that the wind blows away all the dust and dirt under the world, and dreams that people hold a mighty crossbow to drive away thousands of sheep." After waking up, the Yellow Emperor self-analyzed: "The wind is the command, and the ruler is also; The dirt goes to the soil, and the last is here. Is there a surname, wind and name in the world, the latter? Fujun, a stranger; also a person who drives thousands of sheep, who can be a herdsman for good. Is there a surname, strength, and shepherd in the world?" , So "according to the two occupying and seeking it", after winning the wind, Limu two famous ministers.

The activities of occupying dreams in the era of Huangdi and Yao, Shun and Yu are only ancient legends. It was not until the Yin Dynasty that Chinese history had reliable written records of dreams and occupying dreams. There are many records about Yin Wang Zhanmeng in oracle bone inscriptions. King Yin always asked whether his dreams were harmed, and whether his dreams were disasters. This shows that King Yin is very concerned about the good and bad of his dreams. On the other hand, it also shows that Zhanmeng occupies a very important position in King Yin's life.

However, the period of the legend of dreams and the extremely frequent activities of occupancy of dreams was before the death of Yin in Zhou Dynasty. It is said that King Zhou Wen and King Zhou Wu had a lot of good dreams at that time, which foretells that Zhou will surely replace Yin.

"Emperor Century" said: Wen Wang Zengmeng "the sun and the moon are on his body." The sun and the moon are the symbols of the emperor, which obviously means that the king of Wen was ordered to heaven. Tai Si's dream is recorded in "Yi Zhou Shu·Cheng Mao Jie": "Tai Si (Wu Wang's mother) dreams of producing thorns in the court of Shang, and the prince sends (Wu King) takes the Zi of Zhou Ting, the tree is in the queer, and the Zi is turned into pine. , Bai, Fu, and Tussah. In my dream, I would like to inform the King of Wen that the King of Wen and the prince made a payment in Mingtang, and the king and the prince made and prayed for auspicious dreams, and were ordered by the emperor to be the emperor of God."

According to Shimengshi, thorns are shrubs, and this dream represents Yin and Shang. Zi is an arbor, and this dream represents Zhou people. Catalpa transformed into big trees such as pine, cypress, cypress, and tussah among the thorns. The meaning of this dream is very clear, which is to make people think that it is the Emperor God who gave the Zhou people the "big life of Shang".

"Shang Shu·Tao Oath" also recorded the words of King Wu's oath when he defeated Zhou: "I dream of coordinating my divination, attacking Xiuxiang, and the business will be countered." What dream did King Wu have, "Too Oath" There is no mention here. In "Mo Zi Fei Gongxia", it was said: "Wang Wu Jianhua, dreaming of the three gods, said: "If you are soaked in wine and morality, you will attack it, and you will make you dare. 'King Wu and attack.'

It can be seen that Zhanmeng occupies an extremely important position in Zhou people's political life, and Zhou Wang's attitude towards dreams is more strict than that of Yin Wang. In the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, all major national events were determined after divination. During the reign of the Zhou king, there were no full-time occupiers.

In the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, people's superstitions about dreams were not very deep. In the Spring and Autumn Period, people took very serious attitudes towards dreams. "Zuo Zhuan" recorded in the seventh year of Zhaogong: Weiqing Kong Chengzi dreamed that the ancestor of the Wei Kingdom, Uncle Kang, said to him: Li Yuan was the monarch. Shi Chao also dreamed that Uncle Kang said to him: I will order Gou Hequn to Fu Renyuan. Because the two dreams were in harmony, after Wei Xianggong died, Confucius made Yuan Li the monarch, and he was Wei Linggong.

In the 17th year of Zhaogong, it was also recorded that Han Xuanzi once dreamed that Jin Wengong was pulling Xunwu and handing Lu Hun to him, so he decided to let Xun and Wu lead the army. After Xun Wu destroyed Lu Hun, he specially dedicated the captives to Jin Wengong's temple.

Confucius Chengzi established the king and Han Xuanzi commanded the command. They both took the dream as the basis, and believed that the words Uncle Kang said in the dream were the orders of the ancestors, and the activities of Jin Wengong in the dream were the will of the ancestors. The depth of people's superstition towards dreams at that time can be seen from this.

However, in the Warring States period, due to the development of productive forces, the role of human beings was fully demonstrated, and atheism thought was unprecedentedly active. At that time, Zhanmeng's market among the ruling class was suddenly reduced. It is rarely seen in the literature of this period about which monarch and his ministers used the dream to decide political and military activities. In the ideological world, no matter it is the representatives of Confucianism Mencius and Xunzi, or the representatives of Legalism Shang Yang and Han Feizi, as well as the Tong family, military school, and Yin Yang family, there is no account of their superstitions about the dreams. Even so, the influence of Zhanmeng among the people is still far-reaching.

The market for Zhanmeng after the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period is indeed getting smaller and smaller, but since the mystery of the dream itself has not yet been revealed, this superstition is still being passed on from generation to generation. But one difference is that superstition itself has changed correspondingly with the changes of the times. Compared with the pre-Qin period, Zhanmeng after the Qin and Han dynasties has undergone significant changes in three aspects:

The first is that Zhanmeng has gradually changed from an official religious belief to a secular superstition among the people. As mentioned above, during the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, Zhanmeng was first of all a belief of the rulers, and Zhanmeng came onto the stage as a system of the country. Whenever something big happened, King Yin and King Zhou would conduct divination seriously. Even if there is no dream, they still pray to God for dreams. People who occupy dreams or dream officials, they belong to the government officials of the country and have a certain political position. After the Qin and Han dynasties, as the market for Zhanmeng in the upper ruling class gradually shrank, Zhanmeng was generally no longer relegated, and there was no longer the position of Mengmeng in the official system. Since then, Zhanmeng was mainly popular among the people, and gradually became a kind of secular superstition, such as: divination, fortune-telling, feng shui, xiangmian, etc.

Secondly, as a kind of superstition, Zhanmeng communicates, penetrates, and uses each other with other religious beliefs. Taoism, which was founded in the Eastern Han Dynasty, had no content about Zhanmeng at first, but after the Jin Dynasty, Taoism began to absorb the superstition of Zhanmeng and serve its purpose. "Baopuzi" records that before the alchemist Li Shaojun passed away, "Emperor Wu dreamed of climbing the mountain with him, half way, and there were messengers riding the dragon and holding the festival, and descending from the clouds. Yun Taiyi invited Shaojun. Dijue, with The words left and right said:'As in my dream, the young gentleman will leave me to go.' For a few days, but the young gentleman said he died of illness." Ge Hong recorded this dream, obviously through the superstition of dreams, preaching that immortals are immortal and can ascend to heaven.

"Youyang Zazu" of the Tang Dynasty pointed out: "Daomen speaks about the dreams of the soul demon, or the work of the three corpses." So far, Taoism has its dream theory. The "soul demon" comes from the traditional concept of dream soul; "the work of the three corpses" belongs to a kind of creation of Taoism. The so-called "three corpses" in Taoism refers to the three worms that cause trouble in the human body, and they are called the "three corpses." It is called Pengluo, Peng Zhi, Peng Jiao, or also known as Qinggu, Baigu, and Xuegu. It is said that the "three corpses" can remember people's faults, and every time on the day of Gengshen, when people sleep soundly, they are "slanderous God". "The slanderous God" is to give a small report to the Jade Emperor. Therefore, Taoism always promotes "no one has dreams" and "real people have no dreams". Therefore, every Taoist priest stayed up all night on the day of Gengshen to prevent the "three corpses" from going to heaven and "the slanderous God".

Buddhism, which originated from India, was superstitious in the beginning of Meng Zhao and Zhan Meng. When Buddhism was introduced to China, it joined hands with the traditional Chinese superstition of dreams. However, Buddhism’s superstition of dreams mainly promotes the good and evil of Buddhism and karma. For example, the so-called "Dream of Heaven and Man" in "The Law of Good Seeing" believes that good people will cultivate good dreams, so that the roots of goodness will grow; evil people will appear nightmares when they do evil, so that they can turn from fear and turn evil into good. The so-called "dreaming" means that if you often think of good things, you will have good dreams, and if you often think about bad things, you will have nightmares.

While Zhanmeng’s superstition infiltrated Taoism and Buddhism, it was also deeply influenced by Taoism and Buddhism. Among the fragments of dream books in the Dunhuang posthumous writings, there are specifically "Dharma Immortal Pian", "Buddhist Dao Music Chapter" and related Zhaoci dictions. However, some promote Taoism, and some promote Buddhism, which also reflects the struggle between Buddhism and Taoism tortuously. For example, "Dreaming about Laozi means being read by others" and "Dreaming about monks and nuns, but what we ask for cannot be achieved", which obviously reflects the tendency of Taoism and its slander of Buddhism. Another example is "Dreaming of monks and nuns to promote prosperity", "Dreaming of the Buddha, great wealth and honor", "Dreaming of Bodhisattvas, the Lord will live forever", these are obviously preaching Buddhism. In addition, Buddhist mantras and Taoist talisman also unknowingly enter the dream.

The last change is that Zhanmeng, as an alchemy, gradually becomes more complex, delicate and smooth. From the materials provided by Zuo Zhuan and The Book of Songs, it can be seen that the pre-Qin Zhanmeng used the "direct interpretation" method to explain the dream meaning, and the good and bad luck of later generations are directly fulfilled in the plot of the dream. For example, in the seventh year of Zhaogong, Mu Zi "Dreams the sky to suppress it and wins victory", and Niu Zhuyu came to help, and then he met Niu Zhuyu. In the same year, Zheng Ren dreamed that Boyou wanted to kill and kill Duan, and then he and Duan were killed one after another.

Another way is "reinterpretation", but it is mainly a "symbolic" solution. In this way, the dream image does not directly express the dream meaning, and the content symbolized by the dream image is the real dream meaning. For example, Lu Qi’s dream of shooting the moon in the 16th year of Cheng Gong and the dream of Shengbo’s wading Huan in 17 years. The two dreams do not indicate that they are going to "shoot the moon" and "wading Huan". "Shooting the moon" and "Waihuan" are only Symbolic meaning. The dreams of Xiong Gu and Huo Snake in The Book of Songs do not indicate that the dreamer will see Xiong Gu and Huo Snake. Xiong Gu and Huo Snake are only a symbol of the birth of boys and girls. But these two methods are very simple, and it is easy for the dreamer to judge whether it is effective or not. But some dreams are not easy to explain. In this way, if the superstition of the dreams exists and develops, new ways of the dreams will appear.

After the Qin and Han dynasties, in addition to the "direct interpretation" and "transfer interpretation", many new solutions were derived from the "symbolic method", such as the "concatenation method", "analog method", "deciphering method", and "interpretation of characters". "Method", "homonym method" and so on. In addition, there has also been a new "reverse" method of occupation. "Reversely speaking", as the name suggests, is that the dream is auspicious and the dream is auspicious, and the dream is reversed to illustrate the meaning of the dream. In this way, whether a dream is "direct solution" or "translated", so that "reversely", the occupier has a lot of initiative and flexibility. In this way, the occupant can easily join the meeting according to the needs of the time, and can cope with the failure or failure.