Zhuangzi, the renowned philosopher of the Warring States period and founder of the Daoist school, was respectfully called Master Zhuang.
Zhuangzi's main work, the book *Zhuangzi*, is filled with fables that bring his philosophical ideas to life, making profound concepts accessible and engaging for readers.
Zhuangzi wrote a fable called "Zhuangzi Dreams of a Butterfly," about his dream of turning into a butterfly, to illustrate that all differences in the world are relative.
One night, the philosopher Zhuangzi dreamed he had become a butterfly. In the dream, the butterfly fluttered freely through the air, utterly delighted and at ease, so light and joyful that it forgot it was ever Zhuang Zhou—it was simply a vivid, living butterfly.
After a long while, he awoke from his dream, filled with astonishment and delight. He could not tell whether it was Zhuang Zhou dreaming he had become a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming it had become Zhuang Zhou.
He pondered the scenes from his dream, yet could draw no conclusions from them.
Later, the idiom "vivid as if alive" came to describe images so lifelike they seem real.
Source: *Zhuangzi*, "On the Equality of Things"
Meaning of the Idiom: Later, the Chinese idiom "栩栩如生" came to describe images so lifelike they seem real.