Interpretation of Changqing’s dreams
Written by lovelikethis
I’ve been interpreting his dreams by way of focusing on what was happening in the dreams and why. First though, I’d like to explain why I began thinking of an interpretation for his dreams. I started pondering about what his dreams might mean because time and time again, I always found them to be so fascinating, unusual, and mysterious since they had so many mystical elements that had a lot to do with Changqing’s psychological and emotional states (which is what I believe is the cause of him having those dreams, and not Zixuan giving them to him). Here’s something I thought corresponds very well with why I think Yeping and Changqing dreams of Zixuan (even though he may not remember their past lives together):
“Michel de Certeau’s work, in the latter part of the twentieth century, has compared the procedures common to both mysticism and psychoanalysis, suggesting that the body, far from being ruled by discourse, is itself a symbolic language, and that in both psychoanalysis and mysticism the body is perceived as responsible for a truth of which it is unaware. Thus the body holds the ‘key’ to the ‘truth’ of the ‘space’ represented by the mystical or unconscious. This has caused the modern study of mysticism to focus, like psychoanalysis, on the bodily manifestations of the psyche’s or soul’s condition in order to understand the ‘truth’ of that condition.” — excerpt from http://www.answers.com/topic/mysticism
Changqing/Yeping was unaware of the ‘truth’ because he couldn’t remember his past memories.
Why I believe that corresponds well with Yeping and Changqing’s dreaming of Zixuan was because I thought it matched perfectly with what the two Taoist priests were talking about in episode 9 (with the memories being psychological and feelings being emotional, and the *body* being responsible for the ‘truth’ that the mind wasn’t consciously aware of):
“Memories are linked together with feelings. Memories can be erased, but feelings are like the strings that control a puppet. You won’t know if touching any one of them, will bring the memories out again. Feelings are fleeting like the mist. No one knows where it comes from or where it will end. But it is extremely persistent.”
I found it so interesting how in both of his dreams as Yeping and Changqing, he always goes back to the same spot that he and Zixuan first met (which was the night of the Lantern Festival). When I think about this, it’s actually really sad for me because I think I know why he always returns to this place, but it’s too hard to explain with words so I won’t. So, when not thinking about anything else other than what Yeping and Changqing were doing in their dreams, it made the dreams easier and clearer for me to interpret most of it. I thought it was sort of strange how in his dreams as both Yeping and Changqing, he either kept on looking for or reaching out to Zixuan. In the dream Yeping had, he probably had no idea where he was or what was going on, but I’m sure he felt a strong sense of familiarity, especially when he sees Zixuan and goes after her. The thing is, in his dreams she’s always being taken away from him. In the first dream he had of her when he was still Yeping, Zixuan held his hand and they both run past memories of their previous life shown in the background; but then Zixuan suddenly disappears and leaves him wondering where she went. In the dream that Changqing had, he sees Zixuan wearing the horse mask, walks up to her and takes it off, just before someone pulls her away from him. Again, she gets taken away and he’s left alone, looking for her. So in my opinion, the dreams of him at the Lantern Festival are connected to him and Zixuan’s reality of never being able to be together, because the both of them were always being separated from one another. Whenever he thinks he’s gotten close to her, she “vanishes” and he “loses” her again (and I’m now referring this to both instances of his dreams and reality). I also put those words in quotation marks because I don’t mean for them to be taken literally. Anyhow, the same could also be said about Zixuan “losing” Liufang/Yeping/Changqing every time she also thought things would work out between them. This is actually the usual pattern of their relationship too, in all three lifetimes. At the end when Zixuan and Changqing had to separate, they “lose” each other again, but they didn’t really either, because after all they’ve been through and overcome together, they’ll live on in each other’s hearts.
One more reason why I don’t believe it was Zixuan giving him any of those dreams was because Changqing was fully capable of dreaming about Zixuan on his own, twice at that. Plus, the dream Yeping had was so cryptic and so many weird and confusing things were happening in it (like how people’s dreams are supposed to be: cryptic, weird, and confusing) that I’ve just never felt like Zixuan would ever give him such an ambiguous dream, or if it *was* Zixuan giving him the dream, why would she give him ‘that’ kind of dream? Instead, why not give him a dream that’d make some sense? In his dream, Zixuan kept on appearing and disappearing, looking like an expressionless statue, and then disappears again at the end; to me, it’s exactly like the kind of dream Yeping would be able to have, not the kind of dream Zixuan would give even if she could.
Another reason why I believe Yeping was capable of having that dream by himself was because in episode 18 when he and Zixuan were at the tavern, he tells her that perhaps he practices the Way because he was destined to enlighten her; but then when Zixuan starts reciting the lines, “In life, in death, or separation, I gave my word. To hold your hands, and grow old together,” Yeping started getting teary-eyed. This, I believe, is proof to what I was saying earlier about him having the love for Zixuan that was left over from his previous life as Liufang. Yeping also told Zixuan that every time he sees her, even though he doesn’t know the reason, he seems to feel as if he’s known her before. So he already had feelings for her deep inside him, which is why I believe he’d at least be able to dream about her.
Besides, I refuse to think that Changqing/Yeping’s love and desire for Zixuan wasn’t strong enough that Zixuan would actually *need* to cast spells and give him those dreams. It’d just be awful and incredibly absurd if he needed spells casted on him just so he’d be able to dream about her. The producers and creators of the series make tons of references to Changqing and Zixuan’s relationship that shows just how deep, unsuperficial, and profound their love is and how it transcends time and space and all that stuff, that it wouldn’t make any sense to me if Zixuan would have to give him dreams like he can’t dream about her on his own. It wouldn’t be real unconditional love that he has for her if she actually needed to give him those dreams.
