Category: The Jewelled Garden

For more about the Persian mystic and poet Mohammad Shirin Maghribi (1349-1406? CE), see this earlier post.   We’ve left behind The madrasah,* the temple and monastery. And sat down with Continue Reading →

Hanshan (9th c. CE?) was a monk who apparently lived in the mountains of China, but very little is known about him–or, indeed, if he even existed.  Judging from his Continue Reading →

Sultan Bahu (ca. 1630–1691 CE) was a Sufi mystic and poet of the Punjab. His first teacher was his mother, who urged him to study with a Sufi master, Hazrat Shah Continue Reading →

Mian Muhammad Bakhsh (ca. 1830-1907 CE) was a Kashmiri Sufi saint of the Qadri lineage, and his poems are today sung at shrines throughout Kashmir.  The following  excerpt refers to Continue Reading →

The following is taken from The Hundred Letters of Sharafuddin Maneri.  For more about him and this collection of instructions, see this earlier post.  This passage refers to a woman Continue Reading →

Abu Hamid al Ghazali concludes his book Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment with a compilation of sayings about love from various Sufi sources.  Below are just a few of these. Continue Reading →

Ramprasad Sen was a saint and poet who was very influential in the popular bhakti (or devotional) movement of Bengal.  He was born in a village on the banks of Continue Reading →

Sant Tukaram was a 17th c. CE poet-saint of the Bhakti or devotional movement in Maharashtra.  His dates are uncertain; he may have been born in 1598 or in 1608, Continue Reading →

The following brief passage is from The Alchemy of Happiness by the Persian philosopher and mystic Muhammad al Ghazali (c.1058 – 1111 CE). Al Ghazali was a very brilliant philosopher, Continue Reading →

Shabkar Tsokdruk Rangdrol (1781-1851 CE) was a Tibetan lama and prolific writer.  He spent much of his life wandering, visiting sacred sites and mountain retreats.  The excerpt below on the nature Continue Reading →