Baddha Konasana
Butterfly

“Once upon a time, I, Chuang Chou, 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 Chou.
Soon I awaked, 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.”

Chuang Chou

“The butterfly dream shows that,
although in ordinary appearance there are differences between things,
in delusions or in dreams one thing can also be another.
The transformation of things proves
that the differences among things are not absolute.”

C. W. Chan

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