In Dreamland Zen Story VERSION 1

Today we enter… In Dreamland.

This story doesn’t shout.It wanders.Between sleep and waking.Between illusion… and the soft ache of truth.

Let’s walk inside the dream together.

Let the Story Unfold

A monk once came to the Zen master Gasan and said,“Last night I dreamed I was a butterfly.”

Gasan looked at him and asked,“Were you a man dreaming of being a butterfly…or are you now a butterfly dreaming you are a man?”

Sit With the Meaning

It’s a question with no answer.Not because it’s trickery —but because it opens a door the mind can’t walk through.

The monk had a dream.But the master asks…Which part is the dream?

This life?That one?Both?

Zen doesn’t try to explain reality.It points at it — and lets the bottom fall out.

Because if you’re certain this is the real world…you might be asleep.

But if you wonder —if you pause and listen to the edge of the dream —you’re waking.

The goal isn’t to decide.It’s to dwell in the question.

Awareness itself becomes the only ground.

Turning Inward With Your Parts

• Is there a part of you that needs firm answers — what’s real, what’s not — in order to feel steady?• What arises when you consider that your sense of self might not be as fixed as it seems?• Can you sense a part that remembers moments of dreamlike awareness — and longs to return there?• What happens in your system when you let the boundary between real and imagined soften, just a little?

Let Expression Rise

Let yourself linger in the dream.Let it stir, shift, shimmer.

Choose what feels most alive:

IFS Journaling — Write from the voice of the part that fears losing its grip on what’s real. What does it protect? What memories is it guarding?IFS Parts Art — Draw the butterfly, or the man, or the moment they blurred. Let your parts choose who’s dreaming.Somatic IFS — Close your eyes. Recall a dream that felt more real than life. Breathe into the body that remembers. Let it speak in sensation, not sentence.

And if none of these feel right…it’s perfectly okay to simply rest with the story.Let the silence do the holding.

Stay here with your parts as long as you like, and we’ll meet again in the next story. 🕯️