Category: The Jewelled Garden

For a note about the 13th c. CE mystic and poet Fakhruddin Iraqi, please see this post. His loveliness owns     a hundred thousand faces;gaze upon a different fair one     in every atom;for Continue Reading →

Isaac of Stella (ca. 1100 – ca. 1170 CE) was born in England, and after studying in Paris, joined the Cistercian Order. In 1147 he became the abbot of the Continue Reading →

Kul Himmet was a 16th century Turkish Sufi and poet, one of the great Alevi lyricists, but almost nothing is known about his life. He is said to have been Continue Reading →

These verses from ‘The Wine Ode’ by Ibn al-Farid describe something of the indescribable bliss of divine union. In memory of the beloved     we drank a wine;          we were drunk with it     before Continue Reading →

In India the awakening of Spring is observed by ‘Basant Panchami,’ and one of the Basant activities in the Punjab is the flying of kites – the core image of Continue Reading →

Ramprasad Sen (c. 1718 – c 1775) was a Bengali poet and mystic of the Shakta tradition, devoted to the goddess Kali. There are many stories told about his life Continue Reading →

Yongjia Xuanjue (665 – 713 CE) was a Chinese Buddhist monk of the Chan school, who is now best remembered as the author of the Song of Enlightenment, often identified Continue Reading →

Sivavakkiyar was a 9th century CE Tamil mystic, one of the Siddha poet-saints of the Shaivite tradition of South India. Nothing is known of his life, but the surviving collection Continue Reading →

Rupa Bhawani (ca. 1621 – 1721 CE) was a deeply mystical poet of Kashmir. Her father was a very devout Hindu Pandit, and it is said that after many years Continue Reading →

Nam Dev (traditionally 1270 – 1350 CE) was a Hindu poet and saint from Maharashtra in India. Very little is certain about his life, except that he was born into Continue Reading →