Dream Galaxy

Anecdote collection · People & kin

The feathered man who opened my heart

Zhou court, China · legendary (Western Zhou)

昭王即位三十年，王坐祗明之室，晝而假寐。忽白雲蓊鬱而起，有人衣服皆毛羽，因名羽人。王夢中與語，問以上仙之術。……羽人乃以指畫王心，應手即裂。王乃驚悟，而汗濕於衿席

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

In the thirtieth year of his reign King Zhao napped by day in the Zhiming chamber. White clouds suddenly billowed up, and a man clothed entirely in feathers appeared. In the dream the king asked him the arts of the immortals… The feathered man traced a line over the king’s heart with his finger, and it split open at his touch. The king woke with a start, his bedding soaked in sweat.

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
Zhou court, China · Chinese
Date
legendary (Western Zhou)
Uncertainty
High — Anecdote preserved in the Taiping Guangji (978); the dream is reported, not first-hand.
Imagery
A stranger · Sky · Bird
Feelings
Awe · Fear

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