Duke of Zhou, named Ji Dan, was a famous politician from the Western Zhou Dynasty (西周)(1100-771BC) who assisted the emperor Wu(武王) and emperor Cheng(成王) in governing the country. He carried out policies of benevolence and established systems of rites and music, making the Western Zhou Dynasty peaceful and prosperous. To honor his contributions to the Western Zhou Dynasty, the later generations respectfully addressed him as the Sage.
Confucius(孔子) praised Duke of Zhou highly for his political achievements that made the society of Western Zhou Dynaty nearly perfect. Confucius had been learning the knowledge Six Arts(六藝) (rites 禮, music 樂, archery 射, riding 御, writing 書, arithmetic 數(shù)) and the systems of Western Zhou Dynasty since he was a child. As the most respectful person in his mind, Duke of Zhou usually appeared in Confucius’s dreams. From then on, when mentioned someone had a dream, people usually said that someone dreamt of Duke of Zhou.
Based on the experiences and practices, an anonymous author wrote a book for interpreting dreams and predicting(預(yù)測) the auspiciousness(吉兆) and inauspiciousness(惡兆), which was named Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams(周公解夢).
As ancient Chinese peoples’ wisdom and experiences crystallized, Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams became less regarded as a superstition(迷信). To some degree, it is scientifically(合乎科學(xué)地) reasonable.
Handed down over thousands of years, the profound book still has many mysteries waiting for us to explore.