Page:A history of Chinese literature - Giles.djvu/75

 That the idea of an indefinite future state was familiar to the mind of Chuang Tzu may be gathered from many passages such as the following :

" How then do I know but that the dead repent of having previously clung to life ?

"Those who dream of the banquet, wake to lamenta- tion and sorrow. Those who dream of lamentation and sorrow, wake to join the hunt. While they dream, they do not know that they dream. Some will even interpret the very dream they are dreaming ; and only when they awake do they know it was a dream. By and by comes the Great Awakening, and then we find out that this life is really a great dream. Fools think they are awake now, and flatter themselves they know if they are really princes or peasants. Confucius and you are both dreams ; and I who say you are dreams, I am but a dream myself."

The chapter closes with a paragraph which has gained for its writer an additional epithet, Butterfly Chuang :

, "Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my in- dividuality as a man. Suddenly, I awaked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man."

Chuang Tzu is fond of paradox. He delights in dwelling on the usefulness of useless things. He shows that ill-grown or inferior trees are allowed to stand, that diseased pigs are not killed for sacrifice, and that a hunchback can not only make a good living by wash'

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