World Philosophical Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
Sufism

295 quote(s) | Page 1 / 12

W e have no freedom to achieve our goal
Until from Self and fools we free the soul.
To be admitted past the veil you must
Be dead to all the crowd considers just
Once past the veil you understand the Way
From which the crowd's glib courtier blindly stray
If you have any will, leave women's stories,
And even if this search for hidden glories
Proves blasphemy at last, be sure our quest
Is not mere talk but an exacting test.
The fruit of love's great tree is poverty
Whoever knows this knows humility

quote 4527 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds

A sluggard once approached a fasting saint
And, baffled by dispair, maded this complaint:
"The devil is a highwayman, a thief,
Who's ruined me and robbed me of belief."
The saint replied: "Young man, the devil too
Has made his way here to complain - of you.
'My province is the world,' I heard him say;
'Tell this new pilgrim of God's holy Way
To keep his hands off what is mine - if I
Attack him it's because his fingers pry
In my affairs; if he will leave me be,
He's no concern of mine and can go free'."

quote 4526 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds, p99

A n old, sad woman talked to Mahna's Sheikh:
"Teach me to pray for joy, for pity's sake -
I've suffered so much that I cannot bear
To think of future grief - give me some prayer
To murmur every day." The sheikh replied:
"How many years I wondered far and wide
Until I found the fortress that you seek -
It is the knee, bend it, accept, be meek;
I found no other way - this remedy,
And only this, will cure you of your misery."

quote 4525 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds, p123

G od said to Moses once: "Go out and find
The secret truth that haunts the devil's mind."
When Moses met the devil that same day
He asked for his advice and heard him say:
"Remember this, repeat it constantly,
Don't speak of 'me', or you will be like me."
If life still holds you by a single hair,
The end of your toil will be dispair;
No matter how you prosper, there will rise
Before your face a hundred smirking "I"s.

quote 4524 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds, p150.

U ntil this dog, the Self, can be subdued
Our life is folly endlessly renewed

quote 4523 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds, p96

A man who lived by digging graves survived
To ripe old age. A neighbour said: "You've thrived
For years, digging away in one routine -
Tell us the strangest thing you've ever seen."
He said: "All things considered, what's most strange
Is that for seventy years without a change
That dog, my self, has seen me digging graves,
Yet neither dies, nor alters, nor behaves!"

quote 4522 | Attar
The Conference of the Birds, p96

I f there is any lover in the world, 0 Muslim, it is I.
If there is any believer, infidel, or Christian hermit, it is I.
The wine, the cup-bearer, the musician, the instrument and the music,
The beloved, the candle, the liquor and the inebriation, it is I.
The seventy-two religious sects in the world
Do not really exist;
I swear by God every religious sect-it is I.
Earth, air, water and fire: do you know what they are?
Earth, air, water and fire-and the soul as well; it is I
Truth and falsehood, good and evil, pleasure and suffering, beginning and end,
Knowledge, learning, asceticism, devotion and faith-it is I.
Be assured that the fire of hell and its flames,
Paradise, Eden and the angels of heaven-it is I.
Heaven and earth and all they hold: angels, demons, and men - it is I.

quote 3799 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Mathnawi; Winfield, 1898

D on't laugh like children! You do not understand my state.
Read a chapter from me, unfold a secret from her [the creative Force]:
I am drunk of that wine forbidden by the lawgivers;
I am drunk of the wine of oneness; I am free of color and smell.
I am oblivious to this place; my mind is elsewhere;

quote 3798 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Divan-i Shams; Winfield, 1898

T he universe was not there; only I was. Adam wasn't them only I was. That light of unity was "I"; I am the Everlasting, and I am the prophet Elias. -The universe gets its light from me; Adam took his form from me; I am the All-Wise, the Knower, the Judge of all judges.

quote 3797 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Divan-i Shams; Winfield, 1898

O Thou Soul who art free of "we" and "I,"
0 Thou who art the subtle Essence of the souls of men and women,
When a man or woman unites with Thee, Thou art that One; when their individuality is obliterated, Thou alone art.
Thou didst contrive this "I" and this "we" only so that Thou mightest play the game of worship with Thyself,
So that all "Is" and "Thous" should become one Soul, immersed at last in the one Beloved.

quote 3796 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Mathnawi; Winfield, 1898

A ll that is other than the true "I" must be slain.

quote 3795 | Jalâl ud Dîn Rumi
Mathnawi; Winfield, 1898

L isten, riffraff: Do you want to be ALL?
Then go, go and become nothing.

You are nothing when you wed the One;
But, when you truly become nothing,
You are everything.

Regard yourself as a cloud drifting before your Sun;
Detach yourself from the senses,
And behold your intimacy with the Sun.

If you lose yourself on this path,
Then you will know for sure:
He is you, and you are He.

quote 3794 | Iraqi
in Chittock & Wilson, 1982; p. 10,112,123,120

T he world but seems to be,
Yet it is only a blending of light and shade.
Discern the meaning of this dream;
Discriminate between time and Eternity.
All is nothing, nothing.
All is He, all is He.

quote 3793 | Iraqi
in Chittock & Wilson, 1982; p. 119

W hen shall You and I divorce ourselves
So that "You" and "I" are gone,
And only God remains?

If You are everything,
Then, who are all these people?
And if I am nothing,
What's all this noise about?
You are the Totality;
Everything is You. Agreed!
Then, all that is "other-than -You"-
What is it?
Oh, indeed I know, nothing exists but You!
But, tell me, whence all this confusion?

He Himself speaks of Truth;
He Himself listens.
He Himself shows Himself;
He Himself sees.

quote 3792 | Iraqi
in Chittock & Wilson, 1982; p. 127,99,80

I sought solitude with my loved one,
Yet find there is no one here but myself.
And if there were a "someone else," then, truly,
I should not have attained her.

When I clutched at His skirt,
I found His hand in my sleeve.

I am the one I love;
He whom I love is I.
Two, yet residing in a single body.

If I have become the Beloved,
Who is the lover?
Beloved, Love and lover-three in one;
There is no place for union here,
So, what is this talk of "separation?"

What He takes,
He takes with His own hand from Himself;
What He gives,
He gives from Himself to Himself.

Hunter, prey, bait, and trap;
Candle, candlestick, flame, and moth;
Beloved, lover, soul, and soul's desire;
Inebriation, drinker, wine, and cupAll is He!

Is it You or I this reality in the eye?
Beware, beware of the word, "two."

"I" and "You" have made of man a duality;
Without these words, You are I and I am You.

quote 3791 | Iraqi
in Chittock & Wilson, 1982; pp. 95,117,125,76,96,110,77,103

O You who are so unbearably beautiful,
Whose beloved are You?" I asked.
"My own," He replied;
"For I am one and one alone-
Love, lover, beloved, mirror, beauty, eye!"

quote 3790 | Iraqi
in Chittock & Wilson, 1982; p. 111

B eloved, I sought You here and there,
Asked for news of You from all I met.
Then I saw You through myself,
And found we were identical.
Now I blush to think I ever searched
For signs of You.
By day I praised You, but never knew it;
By night I slept with You without realizing it,
Fancying myself to be myself;
But no, I was You and never knew it.

quote 3789 | Iraqi
in Chittock & Wilson, 1982; pp. 120, 124

I f men knew themselves, they would know God; and if they really knew God, they would be satisfied with Him and would think of Him alone.

quote 3787 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Landau, 1959; p. 79

A s for the theorists and thinkers, and the scholastic theologians, with their talk about the soul and its properties, none of them have grasped the Reality; such speculation can never grasp it. He who seeks to know the Reality through theoretical speculation is flogging a dead horse; ... for he who seeks to know It by any means other than the one proper to It, will never grasp It.

quote 3786 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980; pp. 153

T herefore, know your self, who you are, what is your identity. ... Consider well in what way you are Haqq, and in what way Khalq, as being separate, other.

He who knows himself knows his Lord; ... indeed, He is his very identity and reality.

quote 3785 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980; pp. 126, 153

I n one sense the Reality is creatures; in another sense, It is not. ... Whether you assert that It is undivided or divided, the Self is alone. The manifold [universe] exists and yet it does not exist.

quote 3784 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980; p. 88

I t is none other than He who progresses or journeys as you. There is nothing to be known but He; and since He is Being itself, He is therefore also the journeyer. There is no knower but He; so who are you? Know your true Reality. He is the essential self of all. But He conceals it by [the appearance of] otherness, which is "you."

If you hold to multiplicity, you are with the world; and if you hold to the Unity, you are with the Truth .... Our names are but names for God; at the same time our individual selves are His shadow. He is at once our identity and not our identity ... Consider!

quote 3783 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980; pp. 136, 126-127

N othing but the Reality is; there is no separate being, no arriving and no being far away. This is seen in true vision; when I experienced it, I saw nothing but Him.
When my Beloved appears, with what eye do I see Him? With His eye not with mine; for no one sees Him except Himself.

quote 3782 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980.; p. 108

K now that whenever something permeates another, it is assumed into the other.
That which permeates, the agent, is disguised by that which is permeated, the object.
In this case, the object is the manifest [universe], and the agent is the Unmanifest, the Hidden.

On Him alone we depend for everything; our dependence on other things is in reality dependence on Him, for they are nothing but His appearances.

The eye perceives nothing but Him; only He is to be known.
We are His; by Him we exist, and by
Him we are governed; and we are, at all times and in all states, in His presence.

quote 3781 | Ibn 'Arabi
in Austin, 1980.; pp. 92,98,137

S uch knowledge can only be had by actual experience, nor can the reason of man define it, or arrive at any cognizance of it by deduction, just as one cannot, without experience, know the taste of honey, the bitterness of patience, the bliss of sexual union, love, passion, or desire.

quote 3780 | Ibn 'Arabi
Meccan Revelations, I

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Wisdom and teachings ofSufism

Wisdom and teachings of
Sufism