He Who Drank Wine in Dream Weeps at Dawn

answered by Zhuangzi, Discussion on Making All Things Equal

기원전 4세기경

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

Ugetsu (1953)

dir. Kenji Mizoguchi · Japan

Drawn by dreams of wealth and glory, a person leaves home and family to chase phantom desire, waking from the dream only after losing the truly precious thing that was beside them. It asks what was dream and what was real while chasing empty desire, and why that realization always comes too late.

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Only after chasing empty desire and losing what truly mattered, does a person learn what was dream and what was real?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

夢飲酒者，旦而哭泣；夢哭泣者，旦而田獵

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

He who drank wine in a dream weeps at dawn; he who wept in a dream goes hunting at dawn.

💡 TL;DR

Zhuangzi said that he who drank wine in a dream weeps at dawn, and he who wept in a dream goes hunting at dawn — that even this life we live may be a great dream.

📝The Classic Answers

Zhuangzi said that he who drank wine in a dream weeps at dawn, and he who wept in a dream goes hunting at dawn — that even this life we live may be a great dream. I read this as a warning to those chasing empty desire. One who leaves home drunk on the dream of wealth and success loses, the more dazzling the dream, the true and precious thing that was beside them. And as if waking from a dream to meet the morning, only after losing all do they learn what was real. Mostly that realization comes too late. So as not to let the real that is beside me now slip away while drunk on a dazzling dream, I choose to ask often what is dream and what is real.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you are chasing a goal now, coolly check once: 'is there something truly precious I am letting slip while pursuing this?'

📖 Classic Source: Zhuangzi, Discussion on Making All Things Equal. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.