THE BUTTERFLY DREAM (Taoist Parable)
Once upon a time, I, Zhuangzi, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was Zhuangzi.
Soon I awakened, and there I was, veritably 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.
Between a man and a butterfly, there is necessarily a distinction.
The transition is called the transformation of material things.
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