Out of body, out of this world
Even Zhang Jiuling's mystical experiences were better than yours
Feelings (5) Zhang Jiuling Long miles through Wu and Yue, This evening I visited them in a dream, No longer close kin with my bones, My pillows and blanket became that terrain. Your butterfly dream sows confusion? Then how could you envy the fish in the river? Yes, I saw the immortals’ sea-mount But returned, and awoke, and was changed forever. 张九龄 感遇·其五 吴越数千里，梦寐今夕见。 形骸非我亲，衾枕即乡县。 化蝶犹不识，川鱼安可羡。 海上有仙山，归期觉神变。
The butterfly dream was a thought experiment by the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi. One night he dreamed he was a butterfly. When he woke up, he wondered if he could be sure that he was a man who had dreamed of being a butterfly, and not a butterfly currently dreaming that he was a man.
In another thought experiment, Zhuangzi considered whether he could truly understand the feelings of happy fish in the river, if he had never been a fish himself.
Zhang Jiuling mocks Zhuangzi's pretentious sophistry. Zhang has dreams just as vivid and transformative as Zhuangzi's, but he remains always fully aware of his identity.
I love the caustic arrogance of this poem. Zhang Jiuling is just as full of himself as in the complaint poems, but here that unshakeable confidence is used to deliver a less whiny message: a weird trip to a mystical world.
This poet has a real attitude, and I really like his attitude. Your analysis seems spot on.
But, I have a “But”.
In this translation, the word “sea– mount” really threw me for a loop. Did the poet mean seamount, an actual mountain under the sea, or is the hyphenated “sea-mount” an attempt at a more mystical entity? Likely.
I conjured an image of a warrior God like creature riding a large seahorse. Wrong.
Doing my own research, I discovered that the fish in Sichuan Province is highly prized for its flavor and tastiness.
I took one pass at a rudimentary Ai translation, and it was revealing enough for me.
The sea-mount the translator refers to is a mystical, magical place. Or is it a hybrid vision?
My AI translator gave me this for the second part of the poem:
“I still don’t recognize it
when it turns into a butterfly,
but I can envy the Sichuan fish.
There are fairy mountains
on the sea, and I will feel
magical changes when I return.”
I would guess a much richer image exists than “fairy mountain” for what the poet intended.
How did you decide on “sea-mount”? Did you intend it as both a place and as an entity that carries a rider? The sea itself could be a mount to convey oneself.
Thanks for bringing this poet to my attention. I am really enjoying his work. Your work also.