Category: The Jewelled Garden

For more about the Chinese hermit and poet Hanshan, or Cold Mountain, see this earlier post. Cold Mountain owns a housewith no partitions insidesix doors open left and rightfrom the Continue Reading →

Here are two poems by the Chinese recluse known as Hanshan, or Cold Mountain, because that is where he wandered and wrote his poems on the rocks, possibly in the Continue Reading →

Ibn Abbad al-Rundi (1333–1390 CE) was born in Ronda, in the Spanish province of Malaga, and at an early age emigrated to Morocco, where he spent most of his life. Continue Reading →

The following poem by the 13th century Sufi Fakhruddin Iraqi speaks of the inversion encountered on the mystical path, in which those who follow the hard road to God are Continue Reading →

The following short, insightful and challenging passage is from The Book of Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment by Abu Hamid al Ghazali (1058-1111 CE). For more about Al Ghazali, see Continue Reading →

Amir Khusrow was a highly revered poet, musician, courtier and devoted student of Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia. For more about him, see this post, and the anecdote recounted here. Despite huge Continue Reading →

The following brief excerpt is taken from The Book of Love by Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (1058-1111 CE). Although popular culture glorifies love in fantasies of pleasure and delight, Al-Ghazali makes Continue Reading →

Sultan Walad, or to give his full name, Baha al Din Muhammad-i Walad, was the eldest son of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, and like his father, a prolific poet. Regrettably, very Continue Reading →

Baha al Din Muhammad-i Walad, commonly known as Sultan Walad, was the eldest son of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi. His dates are uncertain, though he is reported to have died in Continue Reading →

This brief, mystical poem is by Yehuda Halevi (ca. 1075-1141 CE). Halievi is one of the most revered of the medieval Jewish poets, and his life encapsulates many of the Continue Reading →