Reading Notes W5: The Story of the Stone, Part B

Cao Xueqin, “The Story of the Stone” (517-540)

Zhen Shiyin:

·         Retired gentlemen

·         Quiet

·         Unambitious

·         Devoted to garden

·         Devoted to wine and poetry

·         Had no son

·         Only had a little girl

·         He is already past 50

·         When in drowsy state, he drifted off into some dream-like state.

·         He leads us to this dream where we seem to be taught some sort of lesson.

Plot of this dream:

·         Zhen listens in on a conversation between a monk and a Taoist.

·         They talk about a stone that: “the stone is destined to find enlightenment by suffering the pains of love, loss, and disillusion as a human being” (519).

·         Tells story of stone that is unused by a goddess, which in turns makes this stone wander towards a place where the fairy Disenchantment lives. There, the Disenchantment was able to tell that the stone was unusual: “gave him the honorary title of Divine Luminescent Stone-in-Waiting in the Court of Sunset Glow” (527).

·         This name could possibly be due to the fact that he was waiting while being unused by a god?

·         The stone found a Crimson Pearl Flower that he watered every day to the point that he gave it life.

·         The flower became a fairy girl that became obsessed with the stone because he gave her a consciousness.

·         Because of this unusual affair between him and this fairy, the Disenchantment decided to send the Crimson Pearl down to the great Illusion of Human Life, along with The Stone. The Monk is to register him to go down and that is why they are having this conversation.

·         Crimson Pearl= group of amorous (or Romantic) young souls.

·         Shiyin steps in and mentions Karma, which are the good and bad deeds that decided the future lives of a soul. In this case, the stone’s affair and past events leading him to go to world of human life: “The great Illusion of Human Life”.

·         Zhen wakes up and later comes across the monk and Taoist after waking up.

·         This dream is to lead into the now human life of the stone.

·         This is where the words “THE LAND OF ILLUSION” on page 528 come into play because it is the starting point of The Stone’s human life. “The LAND OF ILLUSION”= “the great Illusion of Human Life”.