PZI Teacher Archives

Zhuangzi Dreamed He Was a Butterfly

KOAN:

Once Zhuangzi dreamt he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting gaily about. He knew nothing about Zhuangzi. Then suddenly he awoke and he was at once solidly and unmistakably himself, Zhuangzi. But he didn’t know whether he was a man who dreamt he was a butterfly or was a butterfly dreaming he was a man. Surely there’s a difference between Zhuangzi and a butterfly. This is what we call the transformation of things.

—from the Zhuangzi, a Daoist text (authored by Master Zhuang)

Video September 12, 2019
26' 38"
Video August 15, 2019

The Transformation of Things

Allison Atwill

Allison talks about the transformation of things from a story in the Zhuangzi, where Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly. Our plans to become a butterfly are a kind of pressing into ourselves and the world. The flaw is in thinking we have to learn how to transform. Morning dharma talk in Summer Sesshin at Mount Madonna Center, recorded in July 2019.

58' 22"
Video July 22, 2019
14' 30"