Difficulties

Friends, please tell me what I can
do about this mud world
I keep spinning out of myself!

I gave up expensive clothes,
and bought a robe,
But I noticed one day that the cloth
was well-woven.

So I bought some burlap, but I still
Throw it elegantly over my left shoulder.

I stopped being a sexual elephant,
And now I discover that I'm
angry a lot.

I finally gave up anger,
and now I notice
I am greedy all day.

I worked hard at dissolving greed,
and now I am proud of myself.

When the mind wants to break it's link
with the world
It still holds on to one thing.

Kabir says: Listen, my friend,
There are very few that find the path!

------Kabir

Quoted form a Book, edited by Robert Bly: "The Soul is here for it's own joy. Sacred poems from many cultures." The Ecco Press, Hopewell, N.J. 1995. ISBN 0-88001-355-9

Who makes these changes?

Who makes these changes?
I shoot an arrow right
It lands left.
I ride after a deer and find myself
chased by a hog.
I plot to get what I want
and end up in prison.
I dig pits to trap others
and fall in.

I should be suspicious of what I want.

-------Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks

Quoted from a book Edited by Robert Bly: "The soul is here for it's own joy. Sacred poems from many cultures." The Ecco Press, Hopewell, N.J. 08525. 1995. ISBN 0-88001-355-9.

"I" and "you"

"I" and "you" focus light
like decorative holes cut
in a landscape.
But there is only One Light.


"I" and "you" throw a
thin veil between
heaven and earth.
Lift the veil and all
creeds and theologies disappear.


When "I" and "you" vanish,
how can I tell whether I am
in a mosue, a synagogue
a church, or an observatory?

------Shabistary

Quoted from a book by Neil Dougls-Klotz: "The Sufi Book of Life. 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish". Published by Penguin Group, New York. 2005. ISBN 014-21-9635-5.

"It's the first breath of spring

But do I smell a garden

Or the aroma of two friends meeting?"



----by Saadi , a Sufi



Quoted from a book by Neil Dougls-Klotz: "The Sufi Book of Life. 99 Pathways of the Heart for the Modern Dervish". Published by Penguin Group, New York. 2005. ISBN 014-21-9635-5.