What does a word mean?
Rumi ~
Suppose you know the definitions
of all substances and their products,
what good is this to you?
Know the true definition of yourself.
That is essential.
Then, when you know your own definition,
flee from it,
that you may be
with what cannot be defined.
You examine substance and accidents...
waste life making subject and verb agree.
You edit heresy.
You study artifacts and think you know the maker.
A thinker collects and links up proofs.
A mystic does the opposite,
sink into the answer.
Thinking gives of smoke to prove the existence of fire.
The mystic sits with the burning.
The moon has no desire to be described
No one needs this poetry.
The loose hair strands
of beautiful women don’t have to be combed.
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.
Brush away and look past the alphabet
to essence, as you do the hair
covering your lover’s eyes.
The rose laughs at my looking,
my constantly wondering what a rose means,
and who owns the rose, whatever it means.
Don’t theorize about essence.
All speculations are just more layers of coverings!
Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don’t claim them.
Feel the artistry moving through,
and be silent.
All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me,
the waterjar, the water carrier...
show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half-measures,
these small containers.
Do you know a word that doesn’t refer to something?
Have you ever picked and held a rose from R,O,S,E?
You say the name. Now try and find the reality it names.
Look at the moon in the sky, not the one in the lake.
If you want to be free of your obsession with words...
there’s no self, no characteristics,
but a bright centre where you have the knowledge
the prophets have, without books or interpreter.
~~~ Rumi
Where Everything Is Music’
Don’t worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn’t matter.
We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.
The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.
So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.
Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting!
They derive from a slow and powerful root
that we can’t see.
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.
~~~ Rumi
What was said to the rose that made it open
was said to me here in my chest.
What was told the cypress that made it strongand straight,
what was whispered the jasmine so it is what it is,
whatever made sugarcane sweet,
whateverwas said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil
in Turkestan that makes them so handsome,
whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush like a human face,
that is being said to me now.
I blush.
Whatever put eloquence in language, that’s happening here.
The great warehouse doors open;
I fill with gratitude,
chewing a piece of sugarcane,
Inn love with the one to whom every that belongs!
~~~ Rumi
The Diamond Takes Shape
Some parrots
Have become so skilled with
The human voice
They could give a brilliant discourse
About freedom and God
And an unsighted man nearby might
Even begin applauding with
The thought:
I just heard jewels fall from a
Great saint's mouth,
Though my Master used to say,
"The diamond takes shape slowly
With integrity's great force,
And from
The profound courage to never relinquish love."
Some parrots have become so skilled
With words,
The blind turn over their gold
And lives to caged
Feathers.
~~~ Hafiz, Sufi Master
What Is the Root of all these Words?
One thing: love.
But a love so deep and sweet
It needed to express itself
With scents, sounds, colors
That never before Existed.
~~ Hafiz
Hafiz, “To Build a Swing”
You carry
All the ingredients
To turn your life into a nightmare-
Don’t mix them!
You have all the genius
To build a swing in your backyard
For God.
That sounds
Like a hell of a lot more fun.
Let’s start laughing, drawing blueprints,
Gathering our talented friends.
I will help you
With my divine lyre and drum.
Hafiz
Will sing a thousand words
You can take into your hands,
Like golden saws,
Sliver hammers,
Polished teakwood,
Strong silk rope.
You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,
Mix them, mix
Them!
~~ Hafiz
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
My Favorite Hafiz
Silence is a potent carrier of presence, so when
you read this, be aware of the silence between
and underneath the words. Be aware of the gaps.
To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an
easy and direct way of becoming present.
- Eckhart Tolle
Connect with senses and be awake! Truth is here.
Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate'er you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where Truth abides in fullness, and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception, which is truth.
A baffling and perverting carnal mesh
Binds it, and makes all error; and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.
- Robert Browning
When we know what we are, it no longer matters who we have thought we were.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"We can learn to fly beyond the limits of our
dualistic condition, until we are ready to leave
it behind all together. We can begin by becoming
aware of our body, voice. and mind.
"Understanding our true nature means
understanding the relative condition and knowing
how to reintegrate with its essential nature, so
that we become once again like a mirror that can
reflect any object whatsoever, manifesting its clarity."
~Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
From the book, "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected
State," edited by Adriano Clemente, translated by
John Shane, published by Snow Lion.
~ Sherab ~ Daily Dharma
Rumi ~
Suppose you know the definitions
of all substances and their products,
what good is this to you?
Know the true definition of yourself.
That is essential.
Then, when you know your own definition,
flee from it,
that you may be
with what cannot be defined.
You examine substance and accidents...
waste life making subject and verb agree.
You edit heresy.
You study artifacts and think you know the maker.
A thinker collects and links up proofs.
A mystic does the opposite,
sink into the answer.
Thinking gives of smoke to prove the existence of fire.
The mystic sits with the burning.
The moon has no desire to be described
No one needs this poetry.
The loose hair strands
of beautiful women don’t have to be combed.
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.
Brush away and look past the alphabet
to essence, as you do the hair
covering your lover’s eyes.
The rose laughs at my looking,
my constantly wondering what a rose means,
and who owns the rose, whatever it means.
Don’t theorize about essence.
All speculations are just more layers of coverings!
Observe the wonders as they occur around you.
Don’t claim them.
Feel the artistry moving through,
and be silent.
All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me,
the waterjar, the water carrier...
show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half-measures,
these small containers.
Do you know a word that doesn’t refer to something?
Have you ever picked and held a rose from R,O,S,E?
You say the name. Now try and find the reality it names.
Look at the moon in the sky, not the one in the lake.
If you want to be free of your obsession with words...
there’s no self, no characteristics,
but a bright centre where you have the knowledge
the prophets have, without books or interpreter.
~~~ Rumi
Where Everything Is Music’
Don’t worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it doesn’t matter.
We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.
The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere,
and even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up, there will still be
hidden instruments playing.
So the candle flickers and goes out.
We have a piece of flint, and a spark.
This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.
Poems reach up like spindrift and the edge
of driftwood along the beach, wanting!
They derive from a slow and powerful root
that we can’t see.
Stop the words now.
Open the window in the centre of your chest,
and let the spirits fly in and out.
~~~ Rumi
What was said to the rose that made it open
was said to me here in my chest.
What was told the cypress that made it strongand straight,
what was whispered the jasmine so it is what it is,
whatever made sugarcane sweet,
whateverwas said to the inhabitants of the town of Chigil
in Turkestan that makes them so handsome,
whatever lets the pomegranate flower blush like a human face,
that is being said to me now.
I blush.
Whatever put eloquence in language, that’s happening here.
The great warehouse doors open;
I fill with gratitude,
chewing a piece of sugarcane,
Inn love with the one to whom every that belongs!
~~~ Rumi
The Diamond Takes Shape
Some parrots
Have become so skilled with
The human voice
They could give a brilliant discourse
About freedom and God
And an unsighted man nearby might
Even begin applauding with
The thought:
I just heard jewels fall from a
Great saint's mouth,
Though my Master used to say,
"The diamond takes shape slowly
With integrity's great force,
And from
The profound courage to never relinquish love."
Some parrots have become so skilled
With words,
The blind turn over their gold
And lives to caged
Feathers.
~~~ Hafiz, Sufi Master
What Is the Root of all these Words?
One thing: love.
But a love so deep and sweet
It needed to express itself
With scents, sounds, colors
That never before Existed.
~~ Hafiz
Hafiz, “To Build a Swing”
You carry
All the ingredients
To turn your life into a nightmare-
Don’t mix them!
You have all the genius
To build a swing in your backyard
For God.
That sounds
Like a hell of a lot more fun.
Let’s start laughing, drawing blueprints,
Gathering our talented friends.
I will help you
With my divine lyre and drum.
Hafiz
Will sing a thousand words
You can take into your hands,
Like golden saws,
Sliver hammers,
Polished teakwood,
Strong silk rope.
You carry all the ingredients
To turn your existence into joy,
Mix them, mix
Them!
~~ Hafiz
Translated by Daniel Ladinsky
My Favorite Hafiz
Silence is a potent carrier of presence, so when
you read this, be aware of the silence between
and underneath the words. Be aware of the gaps.
To listen to the silence, wherever you are, is an
easy and direct way of becoming present.
- Eckhart Tolle
Connect with senses and be awake! Truth is here.
Truth is within ourselves; it takes no rise
From outward things, whate'er you may believe.
There is an inmost centre in us all,
Where Truth abides in fullness, and around,
Wall upon wall, the gross flesh hems it in,
This perfect, clear perception, which is truth.
A baffling and perverting carnal mesh
Binds it, and makes all error; and to know
Rather consists in opening out a way
Whence the imprisoned splendour may escape
Than in effecting entry for a light
Supposed to be without.
- Robert Browning
When we know what we are, it no longer matters who we have thought we were.
- Rainer Maria Rilke
"We can learn to fly beyond the limits of our
dualistic condition, until we are ready to leave
it behind all together. We can begin by becoming
aware of our body, voice. and mind.
"Understanding our true nature means
understanding the relative condition and knowing
how to reintegrate with its essential nature, so
that we become once again like a mirror that can
reflect any object whatsoever, manifesting its clarity."
~Chogyal Namkhai Norbu
From the book, "Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected
State," edited by Adriano Clemente, translated by
John Shane, published by Snow Lion.
~ Sherab ~ Daily Dharma
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