Topic: Idries Shah

[nichi]

(I've been receiving in the email passages from the collections of Idries Shah, from the yahoo allspirit list, and thought I'd share a few evocative ones here.)


The Sufi master Ajnabi said: "Write to Mulla Firoz and tell him that I have no time to engage him in correspondence, and therefore have nothing to say to his letter."

The disciple Amini said: "Is it your intention to annoy him with this letter?"

Ajnabi said: "He has been annoyed by some of my writings. This annoyance has caused him to write to me. My purpose in writing the passage which angers him was to anger such as he."

Amini said: "And this letter will anger him further?"

Ajnabi said: "Yes. When he was enraged at what I wrote, he did not observe his own anger, which was my intention. He thought that he was observing me, whereas he was only feeling angry. Now I write again, to arouse anger, so that he will see that he is angry. The objective is for the man to realize that my work is a mirror in which he sees himself."

Amini siad: "The people of the ordinary world always regard those who cause anger as ill-intentioned. "

Ajanbi said: "The child may regard the adult who tries to remove a thorn from his hand an ill-intentioned. Is that a justification for trying to prevent the child from growing up?"

Amini said: "And if the child harbours a grudge against the adult who removes the thorn?"

Ajanbi said: "The child does not really harbour that grudge, because something in him knows the truth."

Amini asked him: "But what happens if he never comes to know himself, and yet continues to imagine that others are motivated by personal feelings?"

Ajnabi said: "If he never gets to know himself, it makes no difference as to what he thinks of other people, because he can never have any appeciation of what other people are really like."

Amini asked: "Is it not possible, instead of arousing anger a second time, to explain that the original writing was composed for this purpose, and to invite the Mulla to review his previous feelings?"

Ajanbi said: "It is possible to do this, but it will have no right effect. Rather will it have an adverse effect. If you tell the man your reason he will imagine that you are excusing yourself, and this will arouse in him sentiments which are harmful only to him. Thus, by explaining you are actually acting to his detriment."

as collected by Idries Shah

[xero]

Can always rely on you to collect and collate those special pieces, passages, prose and poetry.

Watching your 'p's and 'q's postings.
Thank you

[nichi]

((((X)))) marks da spot.
Glad you like.

[nichi]

How did Odi Odam come to sit at the feet of the wise one, Dervish Rahim?
He roused himself one day and thought, as the sun shone in his eyes, "It is more than time that I achieved something." So he looked around for ideas, and his eyes lighted upon a book in the corner of the room. It had been lying there for years, since his late father's time, but he had not paid much attention to it before.

"This should do for a start," he told himself, "for has it not been laid down by the scholars that 'to do something is better than to do nothing at all?'"
He picked up the book and carried it to the near-by town. In the market-place a man came up to him and said, "What special virtue has that book, and what price do you place upon it?"

"Why," said Odi Odam, "it was my father's and that surely means that it is of the greatest worth. Do you not respect the judgment of your own father?"

"Of course," said the other man. And he gave Odi all that he had for the book.

Odi next saw a man sitting beside a pile of feathers in the street. He had just plucked a fowl and sold it, and the feathers were left over. "What special virtue have your feathers, and what price do you place upon them?" asked Odi.

The man was rather less than honest, and he said, "You can have them for all the money you have. As to their virtue, I may not tell you." There was a local law against making false claims about merchandise.

Odi gave the man everything he had, and took the feathers, thinking, "If they have a secret value, there will be a way to discover it. The most important thing is possession, not information. " He was remembering the advice of the tradition which says: "Information may not lead to possession, but possession may lead to information. "

But then he met a fool with an engaging manner, who said to him: "I wish I had feathers like them, then I might be able to become a bird. But I am poor."

"Do you know the secret virtue of feathers?" asid Odi.

"No," said the fool, and he did not.

"In that case," said Odi, "you will not have the advantage of me if I part with them. What can you trade, friend?"

"What about this book, which a man just threw at me because I annoyed him?" said the fool. Odi saw it was his father's book. He took it in exchange for the feathers, but he could not read, so he took it to the Dervish Rahim.

Dervish Rahim said: "This book is called 'Never wander about exchanging one thing for another. If you do, you will be one in a million if you get a second chance to make a real start.'"

as collected by Idries Shah

[nichi]

There was once a powerful conqueror who had become emperor of a vast territory peopled by representatives of several beliefs. His counsellors said, "Great king, a deputation of thinkers and priests from each persuasion is awaiting audience. Each hopes to convert you to the way of thinking of his school. We are in a quandry, because we cannot advise you to accept the ideology of one party, since it would alienate the goodwill of all the rest.

The king, for his part, said, "Neither is it fitting that a king should adopt beliefs for political reasons, and without thought for his own higher dignity and well-being."

The discussions continued for several hours, until a wise dervish, who had attached himself to the king's retinue many months before and had been silent ever since, stepped forward.

"Majesty," he said, "I am prepared to advise a course in which the interests of al parties will be safeguarded. The applicants will be abashed, the courtiers will be relieved of their anxiety to find a solution, the king will be able to retain his reputation for wisdom, and nobody will be able to say that he holds sway over the king's thoughts."

The dervish whispered his formula into the royal ear, and the king called the deputation to enter the throne-room.

Receiving the clerics and thinkers with all courtesy, the king said to them: "I shall hear first al all the arguments of those among you who do not say 'Believe or you are in peril'; or Believe because it will give you happiness', or 'Adopt my beliefs because you are a great king.'"

The applicants dispersed in confusion.

as collected by Idries Shah

[nichi]

In ancient times a king of Tartary was out walking with some of his
noblemen. At the roadside was an Abdal (wandering Sufi, a "changed one"), who cried out: "Whoever will give me a hundred dinars, I will give him some good advice."

The king stopped, and said: "Abdal, what is this good advice for a hundred dinars?"

"Sir," answered the Abdal, "order the sum to be given to me, and I will tell you immediately. " The king did so, expecting to hear something extraordinary.

The dervish said to him: "My advice is this: Never begin anything until you have reflected what will be the end of it."

At this the nobles and everyone else present laughed, saying that the Abdal had been wise to ask for his money in advance. But the king said: "You have no reason to laugh at the good advice this Abdal has given me. Nobody is unaware of the fact that we should think well before doing anything. But we are daily guilty of not remembering, and the consequences are evil. I very much value this dervish's advice."

He decided to bear the advice always in his mind, and commanded it to be written in gold on the walls and even engraved on his silver plates.

Not long afterward a plotter desired to kill the king. He bribed the royal surgeon with a promise of the prime ministership to thrust a poisoned lancet into the king's arm. When the time came to let some of the king's blood, a silver basin was placed to catch the blood. Suddenly the surgeon became aware of the words engraved upon it: "Never begin anything until you have reflected what will be the end of it." It was only then that he realized that if the plotter became king he could have him killed instantly, and would not need to fulfil his bargain.

The king, seeing that the surgeon was now trembling, asked him what was wrong with him. And so he confessed the truth, at that very moment.

The plotter was seized; and the king sent for all the people who were present when the Abdal gave his advice, and said to them: "Do you still laugh at the dervish?"


as collected by Idries Shah

[nichi]

Light-Taker

A certain dervish was called Nourgir--"light- taker"--because he had a clay pot which took light from the day, even from a candle, and gave it out when he wanted it to.

He was asked by a scholar: "We do not deny the remarkable characteristics of your light-trapping pot. But we do question your
rumoured capacity to see into the hearts of men.

"If you can indeed perceive people's characters and potentialities, how is it that someone has just sold you a melon which proved to be tasteless?"

Nourgir siad: "Would you care to come with me and undertake an experiment?"

The scholar refused, and spread word that Nourgir was a charlatan. But, after many months of this defamation, they both found themselves at the court of the king of the time, and the king showed interest in the dispute.

The king said: It has been conveyed to my ears that this scholar has challenged this dervish, but that he will not allow the dervish to demonstrate his capacities. Such an attitude is a menace to good order and a threat to the general tranquillity of men. The scholar will stand condemned as a jackal, so pronounced by me, unless he agrees to stop talking about facts, and allows himself to be exposed to realities. I cannot think that he will reveal himself to be the word-drudge that people must conclude him to be if he were to rely upon uninformed opinion for his proofs, to resort to spleen and personal calumny, or to do any of the other thins which mark the pretended, as distinct from the real, scholar."

The dervish and scholar said: "We hear and obey."

The dervish took the scholar to the top of a mountain and made him stay with him for three days, listening to dervish lore. Then he brought him down to a defile in the mountains where a crowd of witnesses were waiting, headed by the king.

People were toiling up the track, on horses and mules, with donkeys and on foot, and as they approached, the dervish said: "Look, King and Scholar, I shall place my hand on the shoulder of this scholar, lending him some of my perceptiveness. As each person nears yonder bend he will become aware of their inner thoughts. His awareness will answer his question as to why a dervish does not use his powers all the time."

Sure enough, as person after person passed the appointed spot, the scholar's face became more and more haggard, as he called out, "That man is loathsome, Ugh!" or, "Do not do what you intend to do, O man, for it will lead to your destruction! " And, again, such things as, "That man who looks evil is to be the means of rescuing large numbers of mankind!"

His words were so confused that people thought that he must have gone mad. HIs face became lined as if with great age, and his beard was white, when it had been black before.

After an hour or so, the scholar wrenched himself free from the dervish's hand, and threw himself at the feet of the king. He said, "Your Majesty, I cannot endure this knowledge one second longer. I have seen people who looked like saints, and have perceived that they were poseurs. Worse, I have seen people who thought that they were good, and their evil consisted in their thinking that they were on some good path. I have seen and felt things which no man should be expected to experience."

The king said, "What wisdom have you gained from this event?"

The scholar replied: "I now understand that if anyone were to remain perceptive to the real conditon of men all the time, he would go mad."

The dervish told him: "Now you know that the dervish lore includes knowledge of when to be awake and when to remain asleep."


as collected by Idries Shah

[nichi]

Nasrudin went into a bank with a check to cash.

"Can you indentify yourself? asked the clerk.

Nasrudin took out a mirror and peered into it.

"Yes, that's me all right," he said.



as collected by Idries Shah

[daphne]

Light-Taker

The scholar replied: "I now understand that if anyone were to remain perceptive to the real conditon of men all the time, he would go mad."

The dervish told him: "Now you know that the dervish lore includes knowledge of when to be awake and when to remain asleep."

I'd been reading the story sort of easily (love your dervish stories) and when got to that part.... goosebumps... 

[daphne]

Nasrudin went into a bank with a check to cash.

"Can you indentify yourself? asked the clerk.

Nasrudin took out a mirror and peered into it.

"Yes, that's me all right," he said.



as collected by Idries Shah

Love this one! Everytime I read it anywhere, brings a laugh to me!!

[nichi]

I'd been reading the story sort of easily (love your dervish stories) and when got to that part.... goosebumps... 

When to be awake ... when to be asleep, yes. Great image. It becomes a matter of good manners, eh?

[nichi]

A great teacher who knew the way to wisdom was visited by a group of Seekers. They found him in his courtyard, surrounded by disciples in the midst of revels.

Some of the observers said: "How obnoxious--this is no way to behave, whatever the pretext."

Others said: "This seems to us excellent--we like this kind of teaching, and wish to partake in it."

Yet others said: "We are partly perplexed and wish to know more about this puzzle."

The rest said to one another: "There may be wisdom in this, but whether we should ask about it or not we do not know."

The teacher sent them all away.

And these people all spread, in conversation and in writing, their opinions of the occasion. Even those who did not allude to their experience directly were affected by it, and their speech and even actions reflected their feelings about it.

Some time later certain members of this party again passed that way. They called upon the teacher. They stood at his door, observing that within the courtyard he and his students now sat, decorously, deep in contemplation.

"This is better," said some of the visitors, "for he has learned from our protests."

"This is excellent," said others, "the last time he was undoubtedly only testing us."

"This is too sombre," said others, "surely we can find long faces anywhere."

And there were other opinions, spoken and otherwise. The great sage, when the time of reflection was over, sent all these visitors away.

Much later, a small number returned and sought his interpretation of what they had experienced. They presented themselves at the gate and looked into the courtyard. The teacher sat there, alone, neither revelling nor in meditation. His former disciples were nowhere to be seen.

"You may now hear the whole story," he said, "for I have been able to dismiss my disciples; the task is done.

"When you first came here, that class of mine had been too serious--I was in the process of applying the corrective. The second time you came, they had been too gay--I was applying the corrective.

"When a man is working he does not always explain himself to casual visitors, however interested the visitors may think themselves to be. When an action is in progress, what counts is the correct operation of that action. Under these circumstances, external evaluation becomes a secondary concern. What people may imagine about something is more descriptive of themselves than of the situation."

as collected by Idries Shah

[nichi]

Once upon a time there was a man who strayed from his own country into the world known as the Land of Fools.

He soon saw a number of people flying in terror from a field where they had been trying to reap wheat. "There is a monster in that field," they told him. He looked, and saw it was a water-melon.

He offered to kill the "monster" for them. When he had cut the melon from its stalk, he took a slice and began to eat it. The people became even more terrified of him than they had been of the melon. They drove him away with pitchforks, crying, "He will kill us, next, unless we get rid of him."

It so happened that at another time another man also wandered into the Land of Fools, and the same thing started to happen to him. But, instead of offering to help them with the "monster," he agreed with them that it must be dangerous, and by tiptoeing away from it with them he gained their confidence. He spent a long time with them, in their houses, until he could teach them, little by little, the basic facts which would enable them not only to lose their fears of melons, but even to cultivate the fruit themselves.

as collected by Idries Shah

[Jahn]

Do not kill melons, tip toe away from them instead - am I getting it right?

[nichi]

Do not kill melons, tip toe away from them instead - am I getting it right?

 

If you're wise, be foolish.
If you can see, squint.

Though you can hear, sit
dumb as an old rock.

Whatever anyone says,
listen and agree.

This is a friendly practice,
and it leads to some truth.

Lalla