Ancient Wisdom

 'Ssu-Ma Niu ' asked for a definition of the princely man to Confucius.  The Master said: "The princely man is one who knows neither grief nor fear."- Absence of grief and fear! Is it the mark of a princely man? The Master said: "If on a searching his heart he finds no guilt, why should he grieve? of what should he be afraid?"

To celebrate his birthday, ' Tamerlane ' presented each of his courtiers with a large box. As the advisers and nobility opened their presents, they found robes stitched with golden thread and set with precious gems. But when ' Nasrudin' , who had recently fallen from royal favor, unwrapped his gift he found an old donkey blanket inside. ‘Merciful Allah,’ he cried, ‘witness the generosity of Tamerlane', who has honored his servant with the coat off his own back.’

  According to 'Abu-Talib Makki' , Moses related tales of how he learnt to widen his understanding from narrow assumptions to correct perspective. Moses was ill, and he was offered various remedies to treat the sickness. But he refused, saying that God would help him instead. But God, it is related, commanded Moses to use medicines, saying: 'By refusing to accept the mission of the medicine, you have called into question the wisdom of him who endowed the remedies with their virtue!’ It is for this reason that there is a saying, 'Trust in God and tie your camel.’ If you were expected to do nothing, why is there such a thing as a camel-hobble? 'Hadrat Bahaudin Naqshband' of Bokhara has said, in this connection: 'If a withering leaf says by its appearance that it needs water and because you have the power to provide it you also have the duty to do so, these "words” of the leaf are the manifestation of the command of the creator of the leaf, and are addre

'Nasrudin' was out walking when a bee stung him on the nose. The wound began to swell alarmingly and he hurried off to see the doctor. As he crossed the bazaar, a wag pointed and laughed: "Where did you get that nose-from a donkey?" 'Yes' replied the ' Mulla' . 'When God divided the ass, he gave you the brain and me the nose."   [Source: The World Of Nasrudin by Idrees Shah]

If you over esteem great men, people become powerless. If you over value possessions, people begin to steal. The Master leads by emptying people's minds and filling their cores, by weakening their ambition and toughening their resolve. He helps people lose everything they know, everything they desire, and creates confusion in those who think that they know. Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place.

  'Yen Yuan' inquired as to the meaning of true goodness. The Master said: " The subdued of self, and reversion to the natural laws governing conduct-this is true goodness. If a man can for the space of one day subdue his selfishness and revert to natural laws, the whole world will call him good. True goodness springs from a man's own heart. How can it depend on other men?" 'Yen Yuan ' said: "Kindly tell me the practical rule to be deduced from this." -The Master replied: "Do not use your eyes, your ears, your power of speech on your faculty of movement without obeying the inner law of self control."-' Yen Yuan ' said: "Though I am not quick in thought or act , I will make it my business to carry out this precept." [Source: The Wisdom Of the Chinese, Brian Brown, New York, Brentano's Publishers.]

  It is recorded that a man went to 'Ahmad Yasavi ', th e Sufi Master of Turkestan, and said: "Teach me without books, and let me learn to understand without the intervention of a master between me and Truth, for humans are frail, and reading books does not enlighten me." 'Yasavi ' said: "Do you seek to each without a mouth, or to digest without a stomach? Perhaps you would like to walk without feet and buy without paying... I could do as you ask only if you could first dispense with physical organs, as you wish to avoid those things which have been devised for the spiritual organs. 'Just think for a moment whether you could use food without an apparatus, approach the Sufis without having heard of them in the words you so dislike, desire wisdom without a source appropriate to your state.' 'It may be an amusing pastime to think of learning without books as a basis, and experiencing without a teacher. So is it an amusing pastime to think of mag

 When people see some things as beautiful, other things become ugly. When people see some things as good, other things become bad. Being and non-being creates each other. Difficult and easy support each other. Long and short define each other. Before and after follow each other. Therefore the Master acts without doing anything. Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go. She has but doesn't possess, acts but doesn't expect. When her work is done, she forgets it. That is why it lasts forever. [Source: Tao Te Ching, A New English Version, Forward and Notes by Stephen Mitchell, published by Modern Classics, New York.]

  'Chi K'ang Tzu ' questioned Confucius on a point of government, saying: "Ought not I to cut off the lawless in order to establish law and order? What do you think?" Confucius replied:" Sir, what need is there of the death penalty in your system of government? If you showed a sincere desire to be good, your people would likewise be good. The virtue of the prince is like unto wind; that of the people, like unto grass. For it is the nature of grass to bend when the wind blows upon it." [Source: Analects, Confucius 551 B.C, The Wisdom Of the Chinese, p.21]

 Until you can see yourself clearly and constantly for what you are really like, you have to rely upon the assessment of a teacher: the ‘gardener’ of Rumi’s comparison: ‘A gardener going into an orchard looks at the trees. He knows that this one is a date, that one a fig, the other a pomegranate, a pear or an apple. To do this, he does not have to see the fruit, only the trees.’*

It is recounted among the wise that there was once a great drought at 'Qasr al-Arifin' , and the people went to the ' Master Bahaudin Naqshband' , asking h im to pray, to ask God for rain. He led them through the streets until he came to a place where a woman sat, nursing a small baby in her arms. 'I beg of you to feed that infant,’ said the Master. 'I know when to feed the child,’ said the woman, 'as I am his mother. Why do you concern yourself with things which are disposed of in a manner whereof you know nothing?’ 'Bahaudin'  had the woman’s words written down and read out to the crowd.

  I have just had an extraordinary dream,’ Nasrudin told his wife one morning. ‘I dreamt that I met a merchant with four separate loads.’ ‘What did he have in his saddle-bags?’ ‘In the first he had persecution and in the second, fear. In the third, intolerance, and in the fourth, blindness.’ ‘And who were his clients?’ asked his wife, intrigued. ‘Oppressors, tyrants, Imams, and magistrates.’ [Source: The World Of Mulla Nasrudin, Idrees Shah]