Practical guide
Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream: Giles’s 1889 Text, 1922 Extract and Notes
Locate the butterfly passage in two checked Giles versions, separate the translated story from notes, and cite “Metempsychosis” as a translator’s wording.
Both checked versions use the first person; the short extract is not the whole chapter
In the checked Herbert A. Giles versions, the butterfly story is told in the first person. The speaker dreams of being a butterfly, wakes as himself, and then asks which identity is dreaming the other. Do not label one of these versions a third-person account: that would misdescribe the actual wording.
The longer source is Chapter II of Giles’s 1889 Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer. Its chapter title is The Identity of Contraries. The shorter source is Dream and Reality in the checked 1922 revised and greatly enlarged Gems of Chinese Literature. It gives the butterfly paragraph without the whole Chapter II discussion.
These two accessible texts have small wording differences but share the central sequence and Giles’s final term “Metempsychosis.” The comparison below identifies the versions and their limits; it does not manufacture opposing ancient messages from punctuation or a shortened name.
Follow the three changes in the story before interpreting it
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| Stage | What the narrator reports | What the paragraph does not supply |
|---|---|---|
| Dreaming | Being a butterfly and following butterfly fancies, without consciousness of individuality as a man. | A fixed omen for a reader who sees a butterfly. |
| Waking | Awakening and finding himself a man again. | A laboratory account or verified record of sleep. |
| Questioning | Whether he was a man dreaming of a butterfly or is a butterfly dreaming of a man. | A simple answer that identifies the “real” dreamer for everyone. |
The 1889 paragraph names “I, Chuang Tzŭ” at its opening. The 1922 extract opens “Once upon a time I dreamt I was a butterfly.” Both are first-person versions. The missing name in the shorter opening is a useful citation difference; it does not turn the passage into a different narrator’s testimony.
A brief quotation from the 1889 version is: “Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man.” Attribute those English words to Giles’s translation. A personal dream note that records only watching a butterfly has a different scene; it need not be forced into the story’s become–wake–question sequence.
Identify the book, the extract and the digital revision separately
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| Reading | Printed version shown by the checked title page | Digital transcription checked |
|---|---|---|
| Chuang Tzŭ, Chapter II | Giles; Bernard Quaritch, London, 1889 | Wikisource Chapter 2, revision 5503263; last edited July 2, 2015. |
| Dream and Reality | Gems of Chinese Literature; revised and greatly enlarged; Kelly and Walsh, Shanghai, 1922 | Wikisource extract, revision 6558987; last edited December 15, 2016. |
The full-book title page and the anthology title page are separate checks. A familiar title alone is not enough to assign a date to a paragraph. This guide uses the accessible 1922 anthology version, not an unexamined earlier edition of Gems.
The title pages show printed publication information. The Wikisource revision dates show the state of the digital transcription. Neither date tells you when the ancient text was composed. Save both fields in a citation record; do not substitute the website’s edit date for the book’s publication year.
We checked the English transcriptions and the relevant nearby paragraph, not a collation against an ancient Chinese manuscript or every page of either book. A Chinese wording comparison, or a claim about an editor changing the Chinese text, still needs a specified Chinese edition.
Keep Giles’s comments and final English term visible as a translation layer
The Chapter II transcription includes explanatory comments around the dialogue and the final story. After the butterfly paragraph appears the comment “Showing how one may appear to be either of two.” Do not paste that line into a quotation of the dream narrative as if it were another sentence spoken by the narrator. The HTML separates it typographically from the paragraph.
Both checked versions finish by calling the transition “Metempsychosis.” That is the English term printed in these Giles versions. Reporting it accurately does not establish that this is the only possible rendering of the Chinese, nor does it prove a claim about reincarnation or what happens to a particular person.
When a modern explanation adds a confident theory, label it as that explanation’s interpretation. A source record can have separate fields for translated paragraph, translator’s comment and your reading. This prevents a quotation from acquiring extra claims each time it is copied.
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| Copied item | Correct label | Action |
|---|---|---|
| The man–butterfly question | Giles’s translated narrative | Cite the version and Chapter II. |
| “Showing how one may appear…” | Comment after the paragraph | Identify the comment separately. |
| “This proves my life will transform tomorrow.” | A new prediction not in the checked passage | Do not attribute it to the passage. |
A longer chapter gives comparison points, not a universal dream rule
Immediately before the butterfly story, Chapter II includes a dialogue between Penumbra and Umbra about dependence and action. Earlier in the nearby ending section, a dialogue discusses dreaming without knowing one is dreaming and interpreting a dream while still dreaming. These are part of the chapter’s broader discussion, not a list of butterfly omens.
The chapter also puts words about dreaming into a dialogue that names Confucius. Treat a named speaker inside a philosophical dialogue as a speaker in that text. It is not independent evidence that the historical Confucius made the quoted remarks in a witnessed conversation.
You can read the isolated extract first and then return to the longer ending to see what has been omitted. Keep a modest note: “The extract preserves the butterfly story; the chapter contains additional discussions of dreaming and dependence.” A comprehensive account of the chapter’s philosophy would require reading and interpreting more than the selected ending checked here.
Source for this section: [2]
Cite the text, or return to your own butterfly scene
For the full-book version, a usable citation is: Herbert A. Giles, translator, Chuang Tzŭ: Mystic, Moralist, and Social Reformer (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1889), Chapter II, The Identity of Contraries, final butterfly paragraph; Wikisource revision 5503263, checked in this review. Do not invent a printed page for the paragraph from the chapter’s starting page.
For the extract, cite: Herbert A. Giles, Gems of Chinese Literature, revised and greatly enlarged edition (Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, 1922), Chuang Tzŭ — Dream and Reality; Wikisource revision 6558987. Label it an extract rather than “the complete Zhuangzi.”
If you came here because of a remembered dream, the butterfly scene guide asks a different question: what did you actually recall? You can note an association with this story without making it your dream’s verified cause. For a general book-provenance problem, use the Zhougong source guide.
The current butterfly scene guide offers contemporary reflection prompts. Its broad cultural associations are not a verified quotation of this classical paragraph; use the identified Giles texts here for the source question.
Use the original editable record
Download the original record (TXT). Fill actual facts in your own copy; this page collects no answers.
BUTTERFLY PASSAGE — VERSION AND LAYER RECORD Text being quoted: 1889 Chapter II / checked 1922 anthology extract / another version Work and printed version: Translator: Digital revision ID and check date: Locator: chapter and paragraph, without an invented page Narrator and sequence: dreaming / waking / questioning Brief quotation, unchanged: Separate translator comment, if used: Final English term and whose rendering it is: Nearby context actually read: Chinese text edition, if checked; otherwise missing: My interpretation, separate from the quotation: Personal association, if any; not a proven cause or forecast:
Three checks before quoting the passage
The shorter extract omits “I, Chuang Tzŭ” at the opening. Has it switched to a third-person narrator?
No. Its opening still says “I dreamt.” Both checked Giles versions use the first person; the shortened name does not change that.
A copied quotation adds “Showing how one may appear to be either of two.” Is that another sentence of the butterfly narrative?
No. The Chapter II transcription presents it as a smaller-type comment after the paragraph. Keep the translated narrative and the comment in separately labelled fields.
A note calls the 1922 anthology extract “the complete Zhuangzi.” What should change?
Identify it as the Dream and Reality extract in the checked revised and greatly enlarged Gems edition. It is not the whole Chapter II, much less the whole work; record the specific version and locator.
Sources and further reading
- Herbert A. Giles: Chuang Tzŭ, 1889 title and contentsComplete extracted relevant title/contents body, 1889 London Bernard Quaritch identity and Chapter II title. Digital revision/date distinct from print date.
- Giles 1889: Chapter II, checked ending and butterfly paragraphSelected ending of Chapter II read, including penumbra/umbra dialogue, butterfly paragraph and nearby dream dialogue. Full chapter not claimed. DOM confirmed smaller-type comment after the paragraph. No Chinese edition or whole-book collation.
- Giles: Gems of Chinese Literature, 1922 revised title pageFull title/contents/footer read: revised and greatly enlarged, Shanghai Kelly and Walsh, 1922. This check does not verify an earlier Gems edition.
- Giles: Dream and Reality, checked 1922 Gems extractFull relevant Dream and Reality extract and header/footer read. Underlying accessible 1922 Gems title page separately checked. Both versions first person; no fabricated opposing version conclusions.