导读：每个人都经历梦境——梦魇（nightmare）抑或是美梦，醒后一身冷汗还是回味不断？谜一般的梦境到底包含怎样的暗示？先贤们在很久以前便已开始对梦展开研究了，究竟是迷信还是科学？一起来看看吧。今天你做梦了吗？

As the Hollywood blockbuster Inception wowed audiences around world, more and more people are interested in dream exploration.

Dreams are reflections of humans' inner spaces and a connection between human subconscious and consciousness. And in human civilizations, dreams have always been regarded as a mystery. In primitive tribes, dreams were thought to be the indication of God or the haunting of the devil.

Ancient Stories about Dreams in China

Dream culture is an important part of ancient Chinese culture. There are many ancient stories about dreams in China, and the most famous one is Zhuangzhou Dreamt of Butterfly.

There are also some other stories on dreams such as Golden Millet Dream and Jiang Yan dreamt about the blooming of his writing brush.

The Book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams

Dream interpreting is popular in China, and the most famous reference for dream interpreting is the book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams.

Ancient Chinese people thought that dreams can imply auspicious and inauspicious things. The book Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams was usually used as a reference for ancient people to interpret their dreams. Since different dreams have different meanings, people can get implications of auspiciousness or inauspiciousness by interpreting them, as ancient people had the idea that dreams were the implication from God.

Dream Interpreting Has Some Scientific Basis

Actually, dream interpreting is not totally a superstition. It does have some scientific merit.

1. Dream is the reflection of fact. Many dreams are actually the repetition of things that happened in an awakened state. This kind of dream can be easily understood without dream interpreting.

2. Dream is the body's self-implication. Traditional Chinese medical science stated that dreams are related to the health condition of human's bodies. When Yin and Yang are unbalanced, dreams come into being. According to Chinese philosophy, Yin and Yang were two opposing principles in nature: the former negative, the latter positive. Yin is female and Yang is male.

If someone dreamt that he or she was roasted by a big fire and it is too hot to bear, it means the body's inner heat is too strong. As a result, he or she may easily get angry or nervous.

3. Dreams are usually contrary to the facts, which coincide with the philosophy that things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme.

Based on the experiences and practices, an anonymous author wrote a book for interpreting dreams and predicting the auspiciousness and inauspiciousness, which was named Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams.

As ancient Chinese peoples' wisdom and experiences crystallized, Duke of Zhou Interprets Dreams became less regarded as a superstition. To some degree, it is scientifically reasonable. Handed down over thousands of years, the profound book still has many mysteries waiting for us to explore.