Dream Galaxy

Anecdote collection · Light & dark

Holding the sun on a mountain top

Tang China · c. 760

嘗夢陟高山之巔，下瞰人境，杳不可辨。仰而視之，見瑞日在咫尺，紅光赫然，洞照萬里。公因舉左右手以捧之，炎燠之氣，如熱心目。久而方寤，視其手，尚瀝然而汗。

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

He dreamed he climbed to the summit of a high mountain and looked down on the human world, too far below to make out. Looking up, he saw the auspicious sun within arm’s reach, blazing red, lighting ten thousand li. He raised both hands to hold it; its heat seemed to warm his heart and eyes. When at last he woke, his hands were still dripping with 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
Tang China · Chinese
Date
c. 760
Uncertainty
High — Anecdote preserved in the Taiping Guangji (978); the dream is reported, not first-hand.
Imagery
Mountain · Sun · Light · Heights · Sky
Feelings
Awe · Wonder

How traditions have read this kind of dream

Psychological

Dreamers often report vivid light, shadow and colour. Ellis observed that vision dominates dreams even though the eyes are closed; some later writers treat light and dark as figures for knowing and not-knowing.

Ellis (1911), ch. IV

Mythological

Sun, moon and stars bow to Joseph in his dream; across cultures celestial lights mark rank, destiny and the order of the cosmos.

Genesis 37

Chinese traditions

The moon in Chinese poetry is a shared light across distance — the same moon seen by people far apart — which is why it appears so often in dreams of absent loved ones.

Su Shi; Du Fu

These are cultural lenses, not a diagnosis.

Dreams that share its images