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Thread: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

  1. #1

    Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Just a very simple quote from my favorite Sufi teacher. A great poem that could have been written for the last oxherding pictures.



    When your chest is free of your limiting ego,
    Then you will see the ageless Beloved.
    You can not see yourself without a mirror;
    Look at the Beloved, He is the brightest mirror.



    Djalal Al-dîn Rumi


    Please don't sit with it, sit it and let it sit you...

    bows

    Taigu

  2. #2

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Beautiful Taigu...thank you.

    _/_

    Kelly- Jinmei

  3. #3

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Thank you very much Taigu!
    The simple yet very delicate words of Rumi are very refreshing!

    Love isn't gold,
    one cannot hide it,
    the effects of love are always apparent.

    same author

    Well, I hope my translation is OK... :?

    Gassho,
    Luis/Jinyu

  4. #4

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Thank you Taigu and Luis! First I've read of the author so double thanks

    Gassho
    Shohei

  5. #5

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Ah, read some Rumi. Coleman Barks is a wonderful interpreter in English

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleman_Barks

    (not a translator as such, as he does not read Persian ... which leaves him open to some criticism, although often for 'improving' Rumi) ...

    http://sologak1.blogspot.com/2009/06/sc ... barks.html

    I recommend 'The Essential Rumi' ...

    http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Rumi-Ja ... 0062509594

    In any case ... whether Rumi's words, or Barks, or a bit of both ... that book certainly resonates with many folks. I would not call it particularly a 'Zen Buddhist' book, although I would not say not. Whether love songs of a small man to his Creator, of a sufi mystic to Allah, to Buddha, simply to the mystery of life ... we must all sing our own songs like that.

    Gassho, J

  6. #6

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Out beyond ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing,
    There is a field. I'll meet you there.
    When the soul lies down in that grass,
    the world is too full to talk about.
    Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
    doesn't make any sense.


    in Coleman's translation.

    Rumi has been a guiding voice in the darkness. I played Persian music on my flutes so many times in various performances of his poetry given in England. His songs inspired by the faceless beloved don't belong to our tradition but are beyond any tradition. He is in my eyes the most eloquent mystic and poet that is known to us.
    The quote above is a perfect expression of the ultimate non-dual .

    If I had a few books to save, Rumi would find his place close to Ryokan, early Dogen, Keizan, old and modern haiku, Shakespeare, Borges and Montaigne.

    gassho

    Taigu

  7. #7

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    Thanks! I will look closer!

    Gassho
    Shohei

  8. #8
    Stephanie
    Guest

    Re: Rumi's version of Shikantaza

    I love Rumi. His poetry is great for those on the spiritual path who are more passionate in nature

    My favorite Rumi poem:

    LOVE DOGS

    One night a man was crying Allah! Allah!
    His lips grew sweet with praising,
    until a cynic said, “So!
    I’ve heard you calling out, but have you ever
    gotten any response?”

    The man had no answer to that.
    He quit praying and fell into a confused sleep.
    He dreamed he saw Khidr, the guide of souls,
    in a thick, green foliage.

    “Why did you stop praising?” “Because
    I’ve never heard anything back.”

    “This longing you express
    is the return message.”

    The grief you cry out from
    draws you toward union.

    Your pure sadness
    that wants help
    is the secret cup.

    Listen to the moan of a dog for its master.
    That whining is the connection.

    There are love dogs
    no one knows the names of.

    Give your life
    to be one of them.

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