Elias Thorn VRT0
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06 / Elias Thorn · VRT0

The garden between records

Records in this room

01storyEzekiel · The chariot vision02researchAncient Text Research Kit03storyAt the threshold of Kesh · The temple hymn’s conclusion04storyA Vessel on a White Lotus · Amoghapāśa05storySamuel · The source of the voice06storySpeech that went unheard · Vāk and understanding07storyWind, Dust and the Body · An Incantation of Ningirim08storyMoses · Fire in the bush09storyElijah · After the fire10storyA Voice from the Depths · Jonah11storyJacob · The place he did not know12storyThe empty space · A wheel, a vessel and a room13storyJacob · Tell me your name14storyKena · That through which15storyThe yaksha · Power that is not enough16storyWho knows the beginning · The hymn of origins17storyThe Waters of Nun · Book of the Dead18storyZhuang Zhou · The butterfly dream19storyForm and Emptiness · Heart Sūtra20storyThe Kālāmas · When you know for yourselves21storyThe ending of hostility · Pairs22storyThe cessation of suffering · What can change23storyDiscern and choose · Thought, word and deed24storyMusa · Where the two seas meet25storyThe Plant That Could Not Be Kept · Gilgamesh26storyAfter the Flood · Gilgamesh and Genesis27storyNachiketas · The third boon28storyThe unborn · The body and its dweller29storyA Weapon That Can Be Recalled · Mahābhārata30storyThe Stayed Hand · Abraham and Isaac31storyJob · Before explaining32publicationSuffering is not a required course.33storyAn explanation is not pain relief.34storyWhat Shall I Bring? · Micah and Hosea35storyWho sinned? · A question on the road36storyTo follow · To save and to lose37storyLife within me · No longer I38storyThe transfiguration · A voice from the cloud39storyAre you Elijah? · Three Gospel testimonies40storyWords on the Gates · Deuteronomy41storyElijah and Elisha · On the other side of the Jordan42storyThe seven seals · Who can stand?43storyThe image of the beast · Breath and a name44storyThe river and tree after the end · After the visions of judgment45storyAt the foot of Sumeru · Four mountains46storyMani · The name Maitreya47storyWait here for Maitreya · A dialogue48storyBuddha Mani · The Moon God49storyA place by the water · The garden between records

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Zhuang Zhou · The butterfly dream

Zhuangzi · chapter 2, “Qiwulun,” concluding episode

Once Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly, a butterfly fluttering freely, pleased with itself and doing as it wished. It did not know that it was Zhou. Suddenly he awoke and was unmistakably Zhou. He did not know whether Zhou had dreamed he was a butterfly or a butterfly was dreaming it was Zhou. There must be a distinction between Zhou and the butterfly. This is called the transformation of things.

Reading notes

The dream is not presented as a simple error that waking fully corrects. The question remains: did Zhuang Zhou dream he was a butterfly, or is a butterfly dreaming it is Zhuang Zhou? The account keeps both perspectives in play.

The ending nevertheless acknowledges a distinction between Zhou and the butterfly and names what happens the transformation of things. Reducing the episode to “nothing exists,” or taking it as proof of a simulation, would go beyond the text.

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