Category: The Jewelled Garden

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 →

Bibi Hayati Kermani was born in the early 19th c. in a Sufi family in the Kerman province of south-eastern Iran. She was raised by her brother, who guided her Continue Reading →

Muhyiddin ibn Arabi (1265 – 1340 CE) was born in Murcia, Spain, but his family traced its origins to Arabia, as recorded in his name. He was a prolific writer Continue Reading →

At some time in the late 5th to early 6th c. a Christian mystic, philosopher and theologian wrote works which would subsequently help to kindle the light of many devoted Continue Reading →

Religions call for various forms of purification, whether through a visit to the Ganges, the ablutions required for Muslim prayer, or the ritual of baptism. Here is an ecstatic comment Continue Reading →

Mahsati Ganjavi was a 12th c. Persian poet who is said to have been an associate of Omar Khayyam, and the Seljuk sultan Sanjar. Virtually nothing is known about her Continue Reading →

Devara Dasimayya was a tenth century Indian mystic who was devoted to Shiva. Tradition says that he was in the jungle, undergoing intense ascetic practices when Shiva appeared to him Continue Reading →