弘明集 9.96

9.96

答曰。此難可謂窮辯。未可謂窮理也。子謂神遊胡蝶是真作飛蟲耶。若然者或夢為牛則負人轅輈。或夢為馬則入人跨下。明旦應有死牛死馬。而無其物何耶。又膓繞昌門此人即死。豈有遺其肝肺而可以生哉。又日月麗天廣輪千里。無容下從返婦近入懷袖。夢幻虛假無有自來矣。一旦實之良足偉也。明結想霄坐周天海。神昏於內妄見異物。豈莊生實亂南園。趙簡真登閶闔。郢外弟蕭琛亦以夢為文句甚悉。想孰取視也。

The reply: This challenge can be said to exhaust debate, but not to exhaust principle. Do you think that when the spirit traveled as a butterfly, it truly became a flying insect? If that were so, when one dreams of being an ox, one would bear the shaft of another's cart; when one dreams of being a horse, one would pass beneath another's crotch. The next morning there should be a dead ox or a dead horse, but why is there no such thing? Furthermore, if one's entrails encircled the Chang Gate, that person would immediately die; could one leave behind liver and lungs and still live? Moreover, the sun and moon cling to the heavens, spanning thousands of li; they could never descend to pursue a runaway wife and closely enter her bosom and sleeve. Dreams and illusions are empty and unreal, arising from nowhere. To suddenly take them as real is truly astounding! Clearly, harboring thoughts while sitting at night can encompass the heavens and seas; when the spirit is obscured within, it falsely sees strange things. Did Zhuangzi truly flutter about the southern garden? Did Viscount Jian truly ascend to the Heavenly Gates? My cousin on the maternal side from Ying, Xiao Chen, also wrote a piece on dreams in great detail; I wonder if you would take a look at it.