Category: The Jewelled Garden

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 →

For more about the 15th c. CE mystic and poet Kabir, see this earlier post. Seekers, this body is like the stringOf a musical instrument Twist the peg,Tune the stringThe Continue Reading →

For more about the 15th c. CE mystic and poet Kabir, see this earlier post. Your Raam is in your heartWhy wander all over? Such rare gems hidden in the Continue Reading →

For more about the mystic and poet Khwaja Shamsuddin Muhammed Hafiz of Shiraz, see this post. Where have you taken your sweet song?Come back and play me a tune. I never Continue Reading →

Lalleshwari or Lal Ded was a 14th c. Kashmiri yogini in the Shaivite tradition. She is deeply loved in Kashmir, both by Hindus and Muslims, and it is said that Continue Reading →