Author:
周文公旦 Zhōu Wén Gōng Dàn, Zhou Dynasty, ca. 1100 BC.
Editor and translator: Arne Walter Ziems, www.othala.me
Bibliographische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek:
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über www.dnb.de abrufbar.
© 2020 Arne Walter Ziems
Herstellung & Verlag:
BoD – Books on Demand GmbH, Norderstedt
ISBN: 978-3-7494-0523-7
The Duke of Zhou´s catalogue of dreams is the oldest known book on dream interpretations known today. The full name of the author is Zhōu Wén Gōng Dàn. He was a member of the royal Zhou family of the same dynasty and he lived in the 11th century before Christ.
If you browse the Internet for interpretation of dreams, sooner or later you will stumble upon references to the Duke of Zhou. These stand out because of their high accuracy regarding the interpretation of the dream images. However, all the English ones and most of the Chinese ones too are rewritten and reinterpretated, they do not give the original text. All of them mix up different sources of dream books into their content and call that the work of the Duke of Zhou. I could not find any translation of the original text into English or German, so I decided to fill that gap. Individuals fully proficient with the English as well as Chinese language may not be fully satisfied with this translation, as I do not speak Chinese and certainly did not catch the intricacies of the language in all cases. However, this was not my aim at all. My aim is to grasp the images of the text and put them into words, to give the reader an idea of the principles the Duke of Zhou pinned down in his work. He does not give explanations on how or why, but by reading, certain patterns of how the dream symbols work become apparent. Dreams themselves are translations of ideas into images, by analysing the symbology and combinations of them one arrives at applicable patterns. You take the idea of a thing, animal or function etc. and then by combining it with the interaction of another symbol of the dream, you can describe the idea which is delivered by the dream. E.g. putting an Eagle or a lion on a national flag follows the same principle.
The original text of the book is available only on a few Chinese websites. This is where I got the source material for this translation.
The format of the original text is strict. Almost every line consists of seven characters. Each line contains two parts: the first part describes a dream image and the second part presents an interpretation. Both parts may differ in the amount of characters used. For convenience I marked the two parts of each line with a comma.
The book is written for males. A lot of the time the person dreaming is referred to as “Master/Ruler/Owner”. So if you find the reference to “Master”, it is yourself as the dreamer who is meant.
The book was written 3100 years ago in feudal China. The only way to gain a lifelong income was to join into the service of the Emperor and become a government official. Translate that to a modern day job, the meaning of the symbol is still valid while the image of it is outdated. Problem here is that most of us are not familiar with the signs of rank at that time, so putting on certain hats, belts, colours etc. did signify a certain position or function within society at the time written which are not that easily accessible. The same goes for the religion, rites and philosophy of that time, some references of the original text. “Official post arrives” in the original text may indicate a coming promotion in your office, at work or somewhere else.
Then there is the language and the characters. Some characters I translated interchangeably, like e.g. “bad luck” may be as well be read as “misfortune”, “inauspicious”, “unlucky”, “malicious”, “fierce” or “evil”. Or “auspicious” can at the same time carry the meaning of “extremely lucky”, “good fortune” etc.
The same character can have a multitude of meanings, a lot of the time the meanings may be contradicting themselves. When characters are describing different things of meaning or different items, I translated them all and marked them with a slash (/), e.g. wheat/barley/oats, or toad/frog etc.
When I felt that a word was missing within the original set of characters, I added words for better understanding of the idea, these are marked with round brackets (x). Some characters used in the text are so old that these are not to be found in modern day dictionaries, in such cases I marked the character of unknown meaning with a question mark (?).
Chinese characters carry their meaning in images, every character represents an image in itself. That image can have several meanings which may change when you combine other images or characters with them. I did my best to catch and translate the idea being delivered but I am aware of the fact that my knowledge of Chinese culture and also language is way too shallow to do an agreeable job. Yet I feel however this translation may be carved with an axe, it may help some people.
If you are apt in ancient Chinese language and culture, please come out with a more proper translation and let me know.
Otherwise have fun and lots of delightful insights while reading the catalogue of Dreams written by the Duke of Zhou.
Arne Walter Ziems
June 2020
www.othala.me
天門開貴人薦引 | ||
天光照主疾病除 | 天晴雨散百憂去 | 天明婦人生貴子 |
天門赤主有大起 | 仰面向天大富貴 | 乘龍上天大主貴 |
上天求妻兒女貴 | 天上取物位王侯 | 飛上天富貴大吉 |
登天上屋得高官 | 天裂有分國之憂 | 天星明主公卿至 |
天愈鐃益壽命吉 | 渡天河主有所吉 | 天地合所求皆得 |
天公使有大吉祥 | 日月初出家道昌 | 日月照身得重位 |
日月落憂沒父母 | 日月昏暗孕婦吉 | 日月欲出有官職 |
日月合會妻有子 | 日月啣山奴欺主 | 負抱日月貴侯王 |
吞日月當生貴子 | 禮拜日月大吉昌 | 日光入屋官位至 |
日初出無雲大吉 | 日出有光有好事 | 雲開日出凶事散 |
日入懷貴子月女 | 拜星月燒香大吉 | 雲忽遮日有陰私 |
星入懷主生貴子 | 星落有病及官事 | 星列行主添奴婢 |
持執星宿大富貴 | 流星不落主移居 | 巡天摩星位公卿 |
雲起四方交易吉 | 五色雲主大吉昌 | 雲赤白吉青黑凶 |
見浮雲作事不成 | 雲霧遮事大吉利 | 黑雲至地時氣病 |
霜雪降主事不成 | 雪下及時大吉利 | 雪落身上萬事成 |
雪不沾身主孝服 | 雪落家庭主喪事 | 陰雨晦暗主凶事 |
行路逢雨有酒食 | 雷霆作事官位至 | 雷聲恐怕移居吉 |
雷從地震主志遂 | 身被霹靂主富貴 | 電光照身有吉慶 |
赤虹見吉黑虹凶 | 霞滿天百事歡悅 | 狂風大雨人死亡 |
風吹人衣主疾病 | 忽大風國有號令 | 風如吼主遠信至 |
天門開貴人薦引
The opening of the Door of Heaven, Nobility arriving
天光照主疾病除
When Heaven illuminates, getting rid of disease
天門赤主有大起
Heaven´s Door red or bare, there will be huge raise or promotion
上天求妻兒女貴
Facing up and looking for the sky above, wife and children noble
登天上屋得高官
Ascending to the Heaven´s realm/room, obtaining high official rank
天愈鐃益壽命吉
Heaven full of cymbals/bells, propitious gain in lifespan
天公使有大吉祥
Ambassador of Heaven, hugely auspicious
日月落憂沒父母
Sun, Moon falling, worrying father and mother may die
日月合會妻有子
Sun and Moon conjunct, wife has offspring
吞日月當生貴子
Swallowing/taking the Sun and Moon, precious offspring born
日初出無雲大吉
Sun rising with no clouds, greatly auspicious
日入懷貴子月女
Sun entering the bosom/heart/mind, precious Moon daughter
星入懷主生貴子
Star enters bosom/heart/mind, noble child born
持執星宿大富貴
Holding a Star constellation in one´s hand, great abundant wealth
雲起四方交易吉
Clouds rising on all four quarters, auspicious change coming
見浮雲作事不成
Seeing floating clouds, work matters won´t do
霜雪降主事不成
Frosty snow falling, Masters matters won´t do
雪不沾身主孝服
Snow not moistening oneself, Master in mourning clothes
行路逢雨有酒食
Walking a path and meeting rain, possessing wine and food
雷從地震主志遂
Thundering earthquake, Master´s ambitions succeeding
赤虹見吉黑虹凶
Seeing clear rainbow auspicious, dark rainbow inauspicious
風吹人衣主疾病