What is the Way?

Someone asked, “What is the Way?” I said,
“This way is to abandon desires.”
Oh lover of the King! Know that your way is to
seek the pleasure of that Generous Lord.
When you seek the Beloved’s desire and
pleasure, seeking your own desire is forbidden.
The spirit will be totally transformed into love
for the Beloved, for the ascetic cell of the noble travelers is
Love.
His Love is not less than the top of some
mountain — His Love’s mountaintop is enough for me!
The cave where you can find the Friend is
Love — then the spirit will gain the adornment of Love’s
beauty.
Whatever purifies you is the correct road — I will
not try to define it.
Be silent and hold fast to the shaykh-Love — for
in the two worlds, he is your leader.

– Ode 374
Translation by William C. Chittick
“The Sufi Path of Love”
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

 

Javed Taufeeq Niazi sings manqabat of Imam Hussain (as)

” O heart clasp onto the person of the Sultan of Saints

I mean, Hussain ibn Ali, the heart and soul of the Saints”.

Hz Shah Niaz BeNiaz (ra)

 

The Beautiful Names of God

 

Seek the King of Hearts

O lovers, O lovers,
heaven’s drum calls my spirit and says,
It’s time to leave this world.

Look!
The camel driver has risen,
The caravan is about to leave.
He says, “Forgive me for waking you . . . .
But why, O pilgrim, are you asleep?
Before you and behind you
the camel-bells are ringing.
It’s time to go.

With each passing moment
a soul sets off to find itself.
From the stars,
suspended like candles
from the blue vault of heaven,
wondrous souls have appeared
and the Unseen has revealed itself.

The revolving spheres have lulled you
into a deep sleep.
Beware of this floating life.
Beware of this weighty slumber.

O heart, seek the King of Hearts.
O friend, seek the Eternal Friend.

O watchman, be wakeful –
the whole city could be lost
if you fall asleep!

Tonight, amidst the shouts and din of the city,
Amidst the light of candles and torches –
Tonight this fecund world
will give birth to eternity.

You were dust and now you are spirit.
You were ignorant and now you are wise.
The one who brought you here
will bring you still further.
Your pain will become your pleasure
as He draws you near.
Don’t be afraid –
His flames are like cooling water.
To give your soul life is His sacred duty,
To break your binding chains is His only mission.

O foolish puppet, popping up from your box,
You call out to the world,
This is mine!
How long will you jump up?
If you don’t bend your neck
He will bend it for you!

You put others down
and spin a web of deception.
O imposter,
You think God is a plaything in your hand?

O donkey, you belong with the straw.
O cauldron, you deserve to be blackened!
O outcast,
you deserve to be at the bottom of a well!

“In me there’s another force
that gives rise to these harsh words.
Scalding water
is caused by fire, not water.”

I have no stone in my hand,
no argument with anyone.
I put down no one,
for I am as sweet as a bed of roses.

That Supreme Source speaks through me . . . .
It has given you a hint – that is enough.

Now let me sit here,
on the threshold of two worlds,
Lost in the eloquence of silence.

– ( Hz Mawlana Rumi) Version by Jonathan Star

 

The Two Eyes

Oh there is  many a one whose eye is awake

and whose heart is asleep: what, in truth, should be

seen by the eyes of creatures of water and clay?

(But) he that keeps his heart awake-though the eyes of his head may sleep

it (his heart) will open a hundred eyes.

…..Be awake…..be a seeker of the (illumined) heart….

But if your heart has been awakened, sleep sound: thy

(spiritual) eye is not absent from the seven (heavens) and six (directions).

Hz Mawlana Rumi (Masnavi BK 3).

 

Generosity and the nature of the Wali

We often forget how intrinsic good character is to the Sufi path. People often focus upon awrad and wazaif or their complements such as visions and spiritual experiences and forget that the true testing ground of the Sufi is his/her interaction with fellow creatures. So here are a few reminders.

” God has shaped the character of the wali’ on nothing but generosity” says a tradition sometimes described as a hadith and a saying sometimes ascribed to Sayyidna Ali (ra) informs us “Sufism is good nature, he who has the better nature is the better sufi”. Imam al-Qushayri (ra) cites a dictum describing sufism as “an open hand and a good heart”, but perhaps one the the most thought provoking sayings on this subject is from his master Ustad Abu Ali ad-Daqqaq (ra) who says, ” Sufism is a path which is only right for people with whose spirits God sweeps the dunghills”.

 

Wisdom of the Zen Masters 3

The Purpose of Zen

Over the course of centuries, Zen has branched out into different schools with individual methods, but the purpose is still the same- to point directly to the human mind (read heart).

Changing Methods

Zen teachers of true vision and great liberation have made changes in method along the way, to prevent people from sticking to names and forms and falling into rationalizations.

Half-Baked Zen

What is most difficult to rectify is half-baked Zen, where you stick to quiet stillness and consider this the ultimate treasure, keeping it in your heart, radiantly aware of it all the time, carrying around a bunch of mixed up knowledge and understanding, claiming to have vision and to have attained the approval of a Zen master, just increasing your egotism.

Zen Master Yuanwu

“Take heed, o people of understanding!”

 

Wisdom of the Zen Masters 2

Labels and Objective Truth

Because you grasp labels and slogans, you are hindered by those labels and slogans, both those used in ordinary life and those considered sacred. Thus, they obstruct your perception of objective truth and you cannot understand clearly.

Supernormal Faculties

The six supernormal faculties of the enlightened are the ability to enter the realm of form without being confused by form, to enter the realm of sound without being confused by sound, to enter the realm of scent without being confused by scent, to enter the realm of flavor without being confused by flavor, to enter the realm of feeling without being confused by feeling, to enter the realm of phenomena without being confused by phenomena.

Zen Teaching

I have no doctrine to give people- I just cure ailements and unlock fetters.

Zen Master Linji.

 

Wisdom of the Zen Masters

There are many misconceptions about the nature of the spiritual path, the role and function of spiritual masters and the need or otherwise for a connection with a spiritual tradition. In fact in our times the water is muddied even more by the proliferation of charlatans, half-baked teachers and the lack of a clarity of intention on the part of seekers. In such a situation it is always helpful to have recourse to the words of ancient masters as a kind of touchstone or compass by which we may re-orient ourselves. It is with this in mind that I present some sayings of the Zen masters who by not being “sufis” may be said to be doubly objective. Just read Sufi in place of Zen.

Uncritical Acceptance

You take the words of these ordinary Zen teachers for the real Way, supposing that Zen teachers are incomprehensible and as an ordinary person you dare not assess these old timers. You are blind if you take this view all your life, contrary to the evidence of your own two eyes.

Tourist Traps

At Zen centres they say there is a Way to be practiced and a religious truth to be realized. Tell me, what religious truth is realized , what way is practiced? In your present functioning, what do you lack? What would you fix? Young newcomers, not understanding this, immediately believe these mesmerists and let them talk about things that tie people up.

Adding Mud to Dirt

There are Zen students who are in chains when they go to a teacher, and the teacher adds another chain. the students are delighted, unable to discern one thing from another. This is called a guest looking at a guest.

Zen Master Lingi.

 

Sufi Views of Adam’s Fall

Found this excellent talk by Prof. William Chittick on the sufi understanding of Adam’s fall. I first came across this in an article called Ahmad Samani on the Myth of Adam’s Fall by Dr Chittick published a number of years ago in Sufi. It’s an illuminating talk which introduces the brilliant work of Shaykh Ahmad Samani (ra) on the Divine Names. One can only hope that Dr Chittick finds time from his other projects to translate more of Shaykh  Samani’s work. You can listen to it by going here. Thanks to Islam from Inside for making it available.