Category: The Jewelled Garden

Juan de la Cruz (1542 – 1591 CE) was a Spanish Catholic priest and mystic, who is regarded as one of the foremost of Spanish poets. He was born in Continue Reading →

Clare of Assisi (1194 – 1253 CE) was one of the first followers of St. Francis, and under his direction founded the Order of Poor Ladies, a monastic order for Continue Reading →

Pattinattar was a 10th c. Tamil Shaivite, and one of the greatest poets of that tradition. Like others in the Siddha tradition, he was strongly against ritualism and the caste Continue Reading →

For some information about the 13th c. Persian Sufi Awhad al-Din Kirmani, see this post. At first, the way of your loveseemed easy. I thought I’d reachyour unionwith speed. After Continue Reading →

The acidic, iconoclastic zen monk, poet and calligrapher, Ikkyu Sojun had no patience with false piety and formalistic religion. For a little more about him, see this post. only one Continue Reading →

Paramahansa Yogananda (1893 – 1952) was a Hindu yogi and guru who was born in India but who spent the greater part of his life in the United States. He was Continue Reading →

Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006 – 1088 CE) was from Herat in western Afghanistan. For more about him, see this post. From the un-manifest I came,And pitched my tent in the Continue Reading →

Nagarjuna ( c. 150 – c. 250 CE) was an Indian Buddhist monk in the Mahayana school, and is considered one of the most important of Buddhist philosophers. Virtually nothing is certain about his Continue Reading →

Ibn Abbad of Ronda was a fourteenth century Shaikh of the Shadhili Order who wrote a number of instructive letters. This brief quote, referring to two renowned ascetics, is a Continue Reading →

For more about the 13th c. CE Persian mystic Mahmuyd Shabistari, see this post. A blind man won’t believe what you say about coloureven if you spend a hundred years Continue Reading →