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    The Secret Rose Garden
    The Secret Rose Garden
    The Secret Rose Garden
    Ebook82 pages1 hour

    The Secret Rose Garden

    By Mahmud Shabistari

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    About this ebook

    Shabistari's Secret Rose Garden (1317 A.D.) must be reckoned among the greatest mystical poetry of any time or land. Treating such themes as the Self and the One, The Spiritual Journey, Time and this Dream-World, and the ecstasy of Divine Inebriation, Shabistari's work is a perennial witness to the capabilities and destiny of humanity. Stressing the One Light that exists at the heart of all religious traditions, Shabistari's work is one of the clearest and most concise guides to the inner meaning of Sufism, and offers a stunningly direct exposition of Sufi mystical thought in poetic form:"I" and "you" are but the lattices, in the niches of a lamp, through which the One Light shines."I" and "you" are the veil between heaven and earth; lift this veil and you will see no longer the bonds of sects and creeds.When "I" and "you" do not exist, what is mosque, what is synagogue? what is the Temple of Fire?

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRed Wheel Weiser
    Release dateJan 1, 2002
    ISBN9781609254988
    The Secret Rose Garden
    Author

    Mahmud Shabistari

    Shabistari (c. 1250 c. 1320) was a Persian Sufi poet from Tabriz.

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      Beautiful and inspiring for the soul and all of the heart

    Book preview

    The Secret Rose Garden - Mahmud Shabistari

    The Secret

    Rose Garden

    Mahmud Shabistari

    RENDERED FROM THE PERSIAN BY

    Florence Lederer

    EDITED AND INTRODUCED BY

    David Fideler

    Phanes Press

    PHANES PRESS, INC.

    PO Box 6114

    Grand Rapids, MI 49516

    www.phanes.com

    © 2002 by Phanes Press, Inc.

    All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, with the exception of short excerpts used in reviews, without permission in writing from the publisher.

    9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    Printed in the United States of America

    This edition is printed on acid-free paper

    that meets the American National Standards Institute Z39.48

    Standard.

    Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

    Shabistari, Mahmud ibn ‘Abd al-Karim, d. ca. 1320.

    [Gulshan-i ruz. English]

    The secret rose garden / Mahmud Shabistari; rendered from the

    Persian by Florence Lederer; edited and introduced by David

    Fideler.

    p. cm.

    Includes bibliographical references.

    ISBN 1-890482-94-3 (alk. paper)

    1. Sufism—Poetry. I. Lederer, Florence.

    II. Fideler, David R., 1961– III. Title

    PK6549.S44 G813 2002

    891'.55'11—dc21

    2002073253

    Contents

    Foreword by Florence Lederer

    Introduction by David Fideler

    PART I: The Perfect Face of the Beloved

    PART II: Beauty

    PART III: The Sea and Its Pearls

    PART IV: The Journey

    PART V: Time and this Dream World

    PART VI: Reflections

    PART VII: Divine Inebriation

    PART VIII: Reason and Free Will

    PART IX: Man: His Capabilities and Destiny

    PART X: The One

    PART XI: The Self

    PART XII: Idols, Girdles, and Christianity

    PART XIII: Thoughts

    PART XIV: The Light Manifest

    Epilogue

    Foreword

    The Art and Message of Shabistarî

    READERS of Sufi poetry for the first time are liable to be amazed, perhaps even repelled, by the extravagant language, by the mystic's familiarity with God, by the apparent disregard of all human and divine laws. But on further examination the wonder of the Sufis' love for their Beloved shines out with a clear intensity, a beautiful and luminous brightness.

    They are in love with the One, and their love takes the form of exquisite songs of praise and wonder:

    I heard entranced; my spirit rushed to meet

    love's welcome order, for the voice was sweet.

    Love is the Sufis' theme—divine, eternal Love—and into this sea of Love they cast themselves headlong.

    Rumi sings:

    Moths, burnt by the torch of the Beloved's face,

    are the lovers who linger in the sanctuary.

    If we are called madmen or drunkards,

    it's because of the Cupbearer and the Cup.

    Because my mouth has eaten of His sweetmeats

    in a clear vision I can see Him face to face.

    Sufi Symbolism

    In reading the enraptured poetry of the Sufis, it should be borne in mind that, though the symbols of earthly love and beauty are freely used, the real meaning is left concealed. No doubt this was originally done to keep secret their mystic love, lest the profane should scoff. But as time went on certain words began to have a recognized meaning amongst themselves. For instance:

    The BELOVED is God, or sometimes a human mirror of God.

    EMBRACES and KISSES are raptures of love.

    SLEEP is contemplation, PERFUME the wish for divine favor.

    IDOLATERS mean men of the pure faith, not infidels.

    WINE, which was forbidden by Muhammad to his followers, was used as a symbol by the Sufis to denote spiritual knowledge, and the WINE-SELLER means the spiritual guide.

    A TAVERN is a place where the wine of divine love inebriates the pilgrim.

    INTOXICATION mean religious ecstasy, MIRTH the joy in the love of God.

    BEAUTY means the glory of the Beloved.

    CURLS and TRESSES mean plurality veiling the face of Unity from its lovers.

    The CHEEK means the divine essence of Names and qualities.

    The DOWN is the world of pure spirits, which is nearest to divinity.

    The MOLE on the cheek is the point of indivisible Unity.

    The TORCH is the light kindled in the heart by the Beloved.

    We thus see that to the Sufi the love between

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