This is a beautiful insightful story about Chuang Tzu, a great mystic who lived in China.
One morning, Chuang Tzu looked very sad while sitting in his bed. His disciples had not seen him this sad before. And never had they found him sitting in the bed after having woken up. Why was he sad? Was he feeling sick?
They finally asked him what the matter was. He said,”The matter is really difficult. Perhaps all of you can help me. I will tell you what the matter is – Last night, I dreamt that I was a butterfly, moving from one flower to another.”
“Isn’t that absolutely normal for a dream? We all experience both the absurd and the beautiful while we dream. And in this case, you dreamt the beautiful kind. Why are you so worried?”, said one of the disciples.
“You haven’t heard the entire problem”, Chuang Tzu said. “The problem is now that I am awake I am wondering whether Chuang Tzu dreamt that he was a butterfly or is the butterfly now asleep and dreaming that it is Chuang Tzu. Both are possible – if Chuang Tzu can dream of being a butterfly, the butterfly can also dream of being Chuang Tzu.”
The disciples remained silent as they had nothing to say.
Chuang Tzu was pointing out to something that most religions have preached from time to time, that everything is a dream. The butterfly is a dream, Chuang Tzu is a dream. Then what is real? The real lies far away.
And in this dream, one must not get disturbed. It doesn’t matter whether you are a butterfly or a dragon or a king. You must accept it without any resentment so that you can take your first steps on the stairway that leads to the real world of God.
Chuang Tzu also says when we are easy and continue on our path, then we are right.
And that the right way to go easy is to forget the right way. Because if we are too concerned with finding the right way first, instead of being easy we would be uneasy.
Just forget. Be easy. And that’s all.
