PZI Teacher Archives
-
Allison Atwill -
David Parks -
David Weinstein -
Eduardo Fuentes -
Jesse Cardin -
John Tarrant -
Jon Joseph -
Michelle Riddle -
Tess Beasley
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)
About Enlightenment
Allison Atwill at Summer Sesshin 2019 – Talks about enlightenment on July 27th.
The Transformation of Things
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.
Zhuangzi Dreamed He was A Butterfly
From Sunday July 21st Introductory talk for the 2019 Summer Sesshin