Dream Galaxy

Anecdote collection · People & kin

She came to say a final goodbye

Mizhou (Zhucheng), China · c. 710

嘗晝寢，忽夢見一女子，年十五六，容色妍麗，來與己會。如是者數月，寢輒夢之。後一日，夢女來別，音容淒斷

Original text — Taiping Guangji, dream volumes 276–282, Li Fang et al. (compilers)

Napping by day, he dreamed of a lovely girl of fifteen or sixteen who came to meet him. For months, whenever he slept he dreamed of her. Then one day she came in a dream to say farewell, her voice and face heartbroken.

Translation · Editorial translation (draft)

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Source
Taiping Guangji, dream volumes 276–282 — Li Fang et al. (compilers), 978
Rights
Public domain (ancient text)
Record type
Anecdote collection
Place
Mizhou (Zhucheng), China · Chinese
Date
c. 710
Uncertainty
High — Anecdote preserved in the Taiping Guangji (978); the dream is reported, not first-hand.
Imagery
A stranger · Partner
Feelings
Longing · Grief · 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