Rumi's version of Shikantaza

[Taigu]

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

[KellyRok]

Beautiful Taigu...thank you.

_/_

Kelly- Jinmei

[Jinyu]

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

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

[Shohei]

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

Gassho
Shohei

[Jundo]

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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coleman_Barks (http://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 (http://http://sologak1.blogspot.com/2009/06/scholarly-criticism-of-coleman-barks.html)

I recommend 'The Essential Rumi' ...

http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Rumi-Ja ... 0062509594 (http://http://www.amazon.com/Essential-Rumi-Jalal-al-Din/dp/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

[Taigu]

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

[Shohei]

Thanks! I will look closer!

Gassho
Shohei

[Stephanie]

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.