Dream Galaxy

Diary & poem of record · People & kin

I dreamed of you three times last night

Jiangzhou (Jiujiang), China · c. 815

不知憶我因何事，昨夜三迴夢見君。

Original text — Dreaming of Weizhi, Bai Juyi

I do not know why you were thinking of me — last night I dreamed of you three times.

Translation · Editorial translation (draft)

Open this dream in the galaxy →

Source
Dreaming of Weizhi — Bai Juyi, c. 815
Rights
Public domain (ancient text)
Record type
Diary & poem of record
Place
Jiangzhou (Jiujiang), China · Chinese
Date
c. 815
Uncertainty
Low — Bai Juyi to his exiled friend Yuan Zhen; a Tang belief held that someone who misses you appears in your dream.
Imagery
Friend · River
Feelings
Longing · Tenderness

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Family members, friends and strangers populate most dreams. Freud read many such dreams as wishes in disguise; contemporary researchers emphasise continuity with waking relationships and concerns.

Freud, Dream Psychology (1920)

Mythological

Dreams in epic and scripture are often addressed to someone — a wife waiting for a husband, a son receiving a vision for his family — and are told aloud to be understood.

Odyssey XIX; Genesis 37

Chinese traditions

Confucius lamented that he no longer dreamed of the Duke of Zhou; in Chinese letters, dreaming of someone is a measure of how much they are on one’s mind.

Analects 7.5

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images