There is a beautiful story about
Chuang Tzu, a great mystic of China. One morning, sitting in his bed, he
looked very sad. His disciples had never seen him so sad. And never
after waking up had he remained in his bed, sitting. What had happened?
Was he sick?
They
gathered around and asked him, “Master, what is the matter?” He said,
“The matter is really difficult, I cannot solve it; perhaps you may be
of some help. I will tell you what is the matter. In the night I dreamed
that I had become a butterfly, and I was moving from one flower to
another flower.”
The
disciples said, “This is nothing to be sad about. In dreams we all do
strange things; and this is not a bad thing, to be a butterfly –
colorful, beautiful, moving from one juicy flower to another juicy
flower. Why are you so worried?”
He
said, “You have not heard the whole thing. The problem is, now I am
awake and I am wondering whether Chuang Tzu dreamed that he is a
butterfly, or now the butterfly has gone to sleep and is dreaming she is
Chuang Tzu.”
Both are possible. If Chuang Tzu can dream that he is a butterfly, what can’t a butterfly dream that she is a Chuang Tzu?
The
disciples remained silent; there was no answer to it. Chuang Tzu was
pointing towards a certain phenomenon that all religions have been
teaching – that everything is a dream. The butterfly is a dream, Chuang
Tzu is a dream. Then what is real? The real is far away. And in this
dream, don’t get disturbed. Whether you are a camel, or a donkey, or a
monkey – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you accept it without
any resentment so that you can reach one day the real world of God.
