Category: The Jewelled Garden

For some information on the Buddhist monk and teacher Han Shan Te Ching (1546–1623 CE) see this post. Our mind and body are by nature pure; but we sully them Continue Reading →

Loy Ching-Yuen was born in China’s Hubei province in 1873. He studied with a Taoist master, learning tai chi chuan, chi gung, and naturopathic medicine. Most of his life was Continue Reading →

For some background on the Sufi and poet Shah Abdul Latif, see this post. Full of ego, the world wanders lost, not realising that this magic show is created by Continue Reading →

Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380 CE) was a mystic and a brilliant writer, who was canonised by the Catholic Church and is considered a Doctor of the Church. In Continue Reading →

Muso Soseki was a 14th c. Japanese Zen master, poet and designer of meditative gardens. ‘The Sixth Patriarch’, mentioned in this poem, is the Chinese Chan master Hui Neng, who Continue Reading →

For some background on the 12th c. Persian Sufi poet Fariduddin Attar, see this post. You need patience for this quest.Not everyone is a patient seeker.Not until the quest appears Continue Reading →

Shah Abdul Latif (1689 – 1752 CE) was a highly respected Sufi poet who lived in Sindh, in present day Pakistan. These verses are taken from his revered classic, the Continue Reading →

For some background on the 10th c. CE Persian mystic Abul Hassan Kharqani, see this post. I did not stop my penancestill I held my hand out and a shimmering Continue Reading →

Hsuan Chueh (665 – 713 CE) was a highly influential; Zen monk and teacher in south-east China. Among his works was a collection of Zen teaching poems, such as this Continue Reading →

For some information on the 17th c. CE Gujarati poet and mystic Akho, see this post. Where there is no sense of the world,What can one preach of true and Continue Reading →