Excerpt
from
"Wisdom of Idiots"
by
Idries Shah,
The Octagon Press,
London,
1969, 1970,
pages 37 - 38
+++
"Dispute With Academics"
It is recorded
that
Bahaudin Naqshband
was asked:
"Why do you
not dispute
with Scholastics?
Such-and-such
a Sage
regularly does so.
This causes the Scholars'
total confusion,
and
his own disciples'
invariable admiration."
He said:
"Go and ask those
who remember the time
when
I myself used to contend
with Academics.
I regularly refuted
their surmises
and
their imagined proofs
with relative ease.
Those
who were
then present
on numerous occasions
will tell you that.
But, one day,
a wiser man than I
said:
"You so frequently
and predictably
shame
the men of the tongue
that
there is
a monotony in it.
This is
especially so
because
it is
to no final purpose,
since
the Academicians
are
without understanding,
and
continue to wrangle
long after
their positions
have been
demolished."
He added:
"Your students
are in a constant state
of wonderment
at your victories.
They have learned
to admire you.
Instead,
they
should have perceived
the
comparative
worthlessness
and
lack of significance
of your opponents.
You have thus,
in victory,
failed,
by,
let us say,
a quarter.
Their wonderment,
too,
takes up
much of their time,
when
they could be
appreciating
something
worthwhile.
So you have
failed
by
perhaps
another quarter.
Two quarters
are equal
to
one-half.
You have
one-half
of
an opportunity left."
"That
was
twenty years ago.
That is why
I do not
trouble myself
or others
with Scholars,
whether
for
victory or defeat.
Now and again
one may strike
the
self-appointed Scholars
a blow,
to demonstrate
their hollowness
to Students:
as one
hits
an empty pot.
To do
any more
is both wasteful
and
tantamount
to
giving Intellectuals
an importance,
through
granting them
gratuitous attention,
that they
certainly
could not attain
by
themselves."
+++
Excerpts
from
"Tales of the Dervishes:
Teaching-stories
of the Sufi Masters
Over the Past Thousand Years",
by Idries Shah,
Dutton Books,
1967
"When
the Waters
Were Changed"
Once upon
a time
Khidr,
the Teacher
of Moses,
called upon
mankind
with
a warning.
At
a certain date,
he said,
all the water
in the world
which had not
been
specially hoarded,
would
disappear.
It
would then
be renewed,
with
different water,
which
would
drive men mad.
Only
one man
listened
to
the meaning
of
this advice.
He
collected water
and went
to a secure place
where
he stored it,
and waited
for the water
to change
its character.
On the
appointed date
the streams
stopped running,
the wells
went dry,
and
the man
who
had listened,
seeing this
happening,
went
to his retreat
and drank
his
preserved water.
When
he saw,
from
his security,
the waterfalls
again
beginning
to flow,
this man
descended
among
the other
sons of men.
He found
that they were
thinking
and
talking
in
an entirely
different way
from before;
yet
they had
no memory
of
what
had happened,
nor
of
having been
warned.
When
he tried
to talk
to them,
he realized
that
they thought
that
he was mad,
and
they showed
hostility
or
compassion,
not
understanding.
At first
he drank
none
of the new water,
but
went back
to
his concealment,
to draw
on his supplies,
every day.
Finally,
however,
he took
the decision
to drink
the new water
because
he
could not bear
the loneliness
of
living,
behaving
and thinking
in
a different way
from
everyone else.
He drank
the new water,
and
became
like the rest.
Then he forgot
all about
his own store
of special water,
and
his fellows
began
to
look upon him
as a madman
who
had miraculously
been
restored to sanity.
+
[From page 21]
+++
"The Blind Ones
and
the Matter
of the Elephant"
Beyond Ghor
there was a city.
All
its inhabitants
were blind.
A king
with
his entourage
arrived
near by;
he brought
his army
and
camped
in the desert.
He had
a mighty elephant,
which he used
in attack
and
to increase
the people's awe.
The populace
became anxious
to see
the elephant,
and
some sightless
from among
this blind
community
ran like fools
to find it.
As they
did not
even know
the form
or shape
of the elephant
they groped
sightlessly,
gathering
information
by touching
some part of it.
Each thought
that
he knew
something,
because
he could feel
a part.
When they
returned
to
their fellow-citizens
eager groups
clustered
around them.
Each of these
was anxious,
misguidedly,
to learn the truth
from
those who
were themselves
astray.
They asked
about the form,
the shape
of the elephant:
and
listened to all
that
they were told.
The man
whose hand
had reached
an ear
was asked
about
the
elephant's nature.
He said:
"It is a large,
rough thing,
wide and broad,
like a rug."
And the one
who had felt
the trunk said:
"I have
the real facts
about it.
It is like
a straight
and
hollow pipe,
awful
and destructive."
The one
who had felt
its feet and legs
said:
"It is mighty
and firm,
like a pillar."
Each
had felt
one part
out
of many.
Each
had
perceived it
wrongly.
No mind
knew all:
knowledge
is not
the companion
of the blind.
All imagined
something,
something
incorrect.
The created
is not informed
about divinity.
There is
no Way
in
this science
by means of
the
ordinary intellect.
+
[From page 25]
+++
"How to
Catch Monkeys"
Once upon a time
there was a monkey
who was
very fond of cherries.
One day
he saw
a delicious-looking
cherry,
and
came down
from his tree
to get it.
But
the fruit
turned out
to be in
a clear glass bottle.
After
some
experimentation,
the monkey found
that he could
get hold
of the cherry
by
putting his hand
into the bottle
by way
of the neck.
As soon as
he had done so,
he closed his hand
over the cherry;
but
then he found
that
he could not
withdraw
his fist
holding the cherry,
because
it was larger
than the
internal dimension
of the neck.
Now
all this
was deliberate,
because
the cherry
in the bottle
was a trap
laid
by
a monkey-hunter
who
knew
how monkeys think.
The hunter,
hearing
the monkey's
whimperings,
came along
and
the monkey
tried
to run away.
But,
because
his hand was,
as he thought,
stuck
in the bottle,
he could not
move
fast enough
to escape.
But,
as
he thought,
he still
had hold
of the cherry.
The hunter
picked him up.
A moment later
he tapped
the monkey
sharply
on the elbow,
making him
suddenly
relax his hold
on the fruit.
The monkey
was free,
but
he was captured.
The hunter
had
used
the cherry
and
the bottle,
but
he still had them.
+
[From page 29]
+++
"Why the Clay Birds
Flew Away"
One day Jesus,
the son of Mary,
while a child,
was fashioning
small birds
out of clay.
Some
other youngsters
who
could not do so
ran
to the elders
and told them,
with
many complaints.
The elders
said:
"This work
cannot
be allowed
on
the Sabbath,"
for
it was
a Saturday.
Accordingly
they went
to the pool
where
the Son of Mary
was sitting
and
asked him
where
his birds were.
For answer
he pointed to
the birds
which
had been
fashioned:
and
they flew away.
"Making birds
which fly
is impossible,
therefore
it cannot be
a breaking
of the Sabbath,"
said one elder.
"I should learn
this art,"
said another.
"This is
no art,
it is
but deception,"
said a third.
So
the Sabbath
was
not broken,
the art
could not
be taught.
As for deception,
the elders
as well a
the children
had
deceived themselves,
because
they
did not know
what
the object
of the fashioning
of the birds was.
The reason
for doing
no work
on Saturday
had been
forgotten.
The knowledge
of
what is
a deception
and
what is
not
was
imperfect
to those elders.
The beginning
of art
and
the
end of action
was
unknown
to them:
thus it was
also
with
the lengthening
of
the plank of wood.
It was
further related
that one day
Jesus,
the son of Mary,
was
in the workshop
of
Joseph
the Carpenter.
When
a plank of wood
was found
to be too short,
Jesus pulled it,
and
it was found
to
have become
in some way
lengthened.
When this story
was told
to the people,
some said:
"This is a miracle,
therefore
this child
will be
a saint."
Others said:
"We
do not believe it,
do it again
for us."
A third party said:
"This cannot
be true,
therefore
exclude it
from the books."
The three parties,
with
their
different feelings,
yet
got
the same answer
because
none knew
the purpose
and
the real significance
lying within
the statement:
"He stretched
a plank."
+
[Commentary:]
Sufi authors
make
frequent reference
to Jesus
as
a Master of the Way.
There is,
in addition,
an enormous body
of oral tradition
about him
current
in the Middle East,
which
awaits a collector.
This tale
is found,
in slightly different
forms,
in
more than one
dervish collection.
Sufis say
that
"Son
of a Carpenter"
and
other vocational
names
given
to Gospel characters
are
initiatory terms,
not necessarily
describing
the individual's work.
[From pages 56 and 57]
+++
Excerpts
from
"Caravan of Dreams",
by
Idries Shah,
Penguin Books,
1968
"You
want to
become Wise
in one lesson:
first
become
a
real
human being!"
[p. 206]
+++
"The self-styled
intellectual
sneers
at the humble man's
respect
for some things.
But if you want to see
stupidity
clearly
and
have a firework show
into the bargain,
speak
against the thinker's
sacred cows.
You are then
more likely
to have a demonstration
of what
'raving like a maniac'
means."
[p. 206]
+++
Do you expect
milk
from a bee,
honey
from a chicken,
or
eggs
from a cow?
These ideas
are absurd.
Yet how many people
stop,
before they ask
for
information and guidance
from people
who do not know,
that
they are asking
the impossible?
The reason why
they do not
stop to think
is essentially
that they are
not seeking
information,
knowledge,
guidance.
They are asking
to be entertained,
to pass the time,
to be given attention.
This is the reason why,
as we have all experienced,
people will ask for advice
often enough,
but do not take it,
however good it may be.
The purpose
of the transaction
is not to seek advice.
And this is a reason
why Sufis
are often
not popular.
Since
it is not
necessarily
any part of their duty
to carry on
disguised therapies,
they may not cooperate
in the fiction:
and people
do not like that
at all."
[p. 207]
+++
"Do you want
to examine
a socially-conditioned
individual
who attributes
what has been done to him
as
the work
of
a higher power?
All you need do
is look at
nine out of ten
'dedicated'
people."
[p. 204]
+++
A MOTTO
OF
THE HUMAN RACE
"Tell me
what to do;
but it must be
what I want you
to tell me."
[p. 202]
+++
"Three things
cannot be retrieved:
the arrow
once sped from the bow,
the word
spoken in haste,
the missed opportunity."
[p. 192]
+++
"Haste
is from
the Devil."
[p. 188]
+++
"Be in the world,
but not
of the world."
[p. 176]
+++
"Why the Dervish
Hides Himself"
Rumi
was asked
by his son:
"Why is
the dervish
hidden?
Is this
a self-concealment:
done
by means of clothing?
Is there something
within him
which he disguises?
The Master said:
'It might be
in any way.
Some write
love-poems,
and people think
that they mean
ordinary love.
The calling
sometimes conceals
the real position
in the Way:
there are traders,
like Baby Farid;
some write literature.
Others pursue other
external activities.
This may be done
for defense
against worldly people.
Some
deliberately act
in a way which
society might disapprove,
to gain peace.
The Prophet
has therefore said:
"God has hidden
the
Men
of Greatest Knowledge."
Any stratagem may be adopted
by the Followers of the Way
to gain peace
when they might otherwise
be hindered.
The Master then recited:
Ever-knowing,
as they hide they seek.
To the ordinary man,
they appear other
than they are.
In inward light
they roam:
making miracles
come to pass.
-- Yet none knows
who they are."
(Aflaki: Munaqib el-Arifin)
[p. 175]
+++
"Each flies
with its own kind:
pigeon
with pigeon,
hawk
with hawk."
[p. 169]
+++
"Patience is bitter,
but bears
a sweet fruit."
[p. 166]
+++
Hazrat Bahaudin
Naqshband
One said:
"What shall I do
to be answered?"
El Shah answered:
"You shall avoid those
who imagine themselves
to be
the People of Salvation.
They think
that they
are saved,
or
that they have
the means
to save.
In reality, they are
all but lost.
These are the people,
like today's
Magians,
Jews,
and
Christians,
who recite
dramatic tales,
threaten and cajole
many times
in succession
with
the same admonitions,
they cry out
that you must become
committed
to their creed.
The result of this
is an imitation,
a sentimentalist.
Anyone can be 'given'
this spurious type of belief,
and can be made
to feel that it is real faith.
But this is not the original
Way of Zoroaster,
of Moses,
of Jesus.
It is the method
discovered by desperate men
for
the inclusion in their ranks
of large numbers.
Far from being saved
or made complete,
such enthusiasts
are set aside
in a trained band
for eventual dissolution:
like a cloud
which for a time
seems to have substance,
but
which a puff of wind
will banish to nothingness.
But do not
enter into controversy
with them.
They have been
deceived
to take
the false
for
the true,
because
they preferred
the easier
to
the harder test.
They would see
even an angel
as the devil himself.
It is always thus
with the weak inheritors
of the Real Ones.
Just as lazy sons
live off an orchard
which
their father tended,
thinking themselves
clever,
righteous
and
rightful owners,
until --
un-pruned --
it starts to fail.
You will be answered
if you seek
the man who will refuse
the easy method
of preaching
and
practice as I have outlined it:
a method
suitable only
for
the breaking of horses
and
causing attachment
to one's person,
or
the production of ignorant
and helpless slaves."
[p. 162]
+++
Pleasant and Unpleasant
"People say
that they want
help,
when
they want
attention.
They say
that they want
to listen,
when they want
to be heard.
We know this
by what you say,
by
how you look,
by
what we can feel.
Everyone else
would feel it, too,
if they were not
similarly self-absorbed
and
uninterested in you.
You must
first of all
find out
from yourself
if you
want to learn
and
why
you want to learn.
If you go somewhere
to buy something,
you must
first earn the money,
and
have some idea
of what you need.
If you just have
idle wants
and
do not know your needs,
you have
a long way to go.
If you
become diverted
from us
by our behavior,
you would
never have been able
to keep pace with us
anyway.
If this sounds
unpleasant,
it does not signify
that
it is meant to be
unpleasant.
If you think
that we are unpleasant,
you are holding up
a mirror to yourself,
and saying:
'Look at them!' "
(Salahudin Afranji)
[p. 158]
+++
The Curse
A pretended Sufi
took some wheat
to a mill
to be ground
into flour.
"Grind it now,
and
make haste about it,"
he said,
for these charlatans
are always trying
to make people do things
for them.
"I have no time,"
said the miller.
"If you do not,"
said the rogue,
"I shall curse your mill."
"I would like to see you
do that,"
said the miller,
himself
a real Sufi,
"because
if you could get things done
by such methods
you would not be here
trying to make me
grind your wheat!"
[p. 157]
+++
Self-Deception
As long as you ask
the question you think
that should be
answered for you,
without taking heed
of my assurance
that
you are in greater need
of
certain other instruction --
so long
will I be
unable to help you
and
so long
will you believe
that I am no use
to you.
But you,
in ignorance
of the instruction
which you need,
will inevitably conclude
that there is
some other reason
for
our not being
in concert
and harmony.
You invent
the reason --
and
your self-esteem
makes it "true"
for you.
(Sheikh Mir Khan)
[p. 155]
+++
"The power
of Allah:
no sound,
no shape,
no form.
But when
it manifests,
none
can resist it."
[p. 150]
+++
"Learn to behave
from those
who cannot."
[p. 111]
+++
Encounter at a Hermitage
This story is said to have been told
one day
by Emir Hamza (died 1710)
in answer to the question:
"In what manner
could you relate to us
an equivalence of your power
to live in a world
other than ours?"
It is related that he
could "slip into invisibility
just by taking
a sideways step,
when his feet
were at right angles
to one another."
About this,
as about other wonders,
he said:
"I forbid you
to relate any wonder of mine
without adding
that the performance of wonders
is for a purpose
of self-improvement
or
passing power,
not amazement
or faith,
to others."
Another remark
made by Hamza is:
"We go to another land,
in form and fancy,
sometimes really remaining here;
but sometimes literally.
From this world
we bring back
what you need;
food
that has never been tasted,
drink
that has never been swallowed."
Shah Firox died in 1660,
and in popular repute
is still alive,
in a new form,
as one of
the Hidden Guides
of the Sufis.
"I had walked to a hermitage
in the Hindu Kush to
visit its Sheikh,
and also to see
if I could find some way
of stilling my doubts
about some way of proving
the real existence
of the Hidden Path.
It was only after many adventures
that I at last came across
the friendly sight
of smoke
rising through the chimney-hole
of that simple building.
A man,
plainly dressed,
an honest expression on his face,
was sitting quietly at the door
of the hermitage.
He said,
"Welcome, brother."
Far from feeling glad,
I was disturbed
to find so little respect for me
in this man,
who was surely the watchman.
"Are you
the watchman?"
I asked.
"I am called that,"
he said.
"I am looking for
the Ancient,
the Guide"
I told him.
"I am called that,"
he answered.
And then I was glad
that the great teacher
had called me brother.
As we went into the house
a small dog ran to the Sheikh's side,
delighted that he had come back.
"Welcome, brother,"
said the Sheikh to the animal,
and
I was again downcast
to think that
by this greeting I have been put
on a level with the dog,
that I had not been honored
at all.
But out
of politeness
I said nothing,
for
I was the guest.
Soon we were seated
before a bowl of yoghurt;
when the Guide spoke,
it was to recite a poem.
"A puff of smoke
against a mountain --
the heart grows glad.
A kind word
to a little dog --
the heart grows sad."
I was amazed
that he could understand
my secret thoughts
in this way,
and uneasy,
and rather ashamed.
"Teach me,"
I said.
He answered,
"What do I sing,
and what does
my lute sing?
You and I
are not in harmony,
although
I understand your thoughts.
What have you
already taught yourself?
What have others
taught you?
You are uneasy
because you have come so far
and
at the end of your journey
have found someone
who can read your thoughts.
And you feel
that perhaps
you could learn this power,
and then
use it
to your heart's content.
I seem acceptable to you,
as people sometimes think
of doctrines
as being acceptable to them.
But are you
acceptable to me?
People never bother
to think
that
the doctrine
may not accept them."
And
the Guide continued,
"You must go away.
You are still too raw
for a teacher to develop;
a fruit must be touched
by the right things,
by those elements
which ripen it.
Go away,
strive,
work
in every possible way.
When you
are nearer maturity
you will be able
properly to understand
the experience
of our master,
Ben-Adhem,
who gave away
the throne of Balkh
to be with us.
For
he was walking
along the road one day
when he saw
a stone on the ground.
It had written on it,
TURN ME OVER
AND READ.'
So he picked it up
and looked
at the other side.
And there
was written,
'WHY DO YOU
SEEK MORE
KNOWLEDGE
WHEN
YOU PAY NO HEED
TO
WHAT YOU
KNOW ALREADY?'"
Turning from the Sage
I thought to myself,
"I wish that everyone
could have an encounter
like this,
so that
at least it would be
common knowledge
that teaching of this kind
exists
in the world."
He went on,
"Often
the penalty of knowledge
is
to be laughed at.
Tell people
of our discussion here
and
they will think you mad.
In this way,
real knowledge
protects itself."
I made no attempt
to shape words,
but in my heart,
as earnestly as I could,
I framed the thought,
"How can I serve?"
And, also without words,
Shah Firoz
spoke directly
to my heart,
"Increase
the desire
to serve
and
a chance of service
may be given you."
Only when
through frequent effort
I had reached this stage
did I realize
the true value
of my encounter with him
who is called
"Shah Firoz".
(Firman-Bardar of Badakhshan)
[p. 111]
+++
