The Garment of Humility

Mathnawi V:1054-1061

Love Makes All the Difference: An Introduction to Rumi, by Jason Espada

It’s with good reason that great works are always in season. I was reminded again today of just how troubled this world is, how dis-empowered. Rumi’s works seem to be, once again, just exactly the right antidote: a true scale of values, food, and light for our times.
I’ve seen how it’s out of overflowing fullness and satisfaction and gratitude that the wish to give to others comes about. And so, here at last, are my favorite works by Rumi. Share the joy.

–Jason Espada [My Favorite Rumi, presented by Jason Espada, A Buddhist Library website – pdf].

My Favorite Rumi [Link is under Resources]

To say that many of us don’t see this world as it is, would be a huge understatement, I know, but we have to start somewhere. For a lot of people, human beings are little more than animals, and life is mostly about struggle – it’s something to be gotten through, with only brief moments of light or happiness. Or else, there’s a quality of ‘nothing special’ about it, with no feeling one way or another.
The tragedy of course is that our experience here doesn’t have to be this way. There are a few other people who tell us that, far from being a burden, this life is something to be celebrated. There are people who say this world is Divine – that it can be an unending source of wonder and joy. What do you think?
Most people usually don’t see it this way, and so they take advantage of each other, they prey on each other, or else they waste time, or feel bored, or dissatisfied. This is all so common.
In the greatest contrast to the way most people experience this world, there are those who have found a deep source of nourishment in this life, such that everything they say, and everything they do comes out of that joy. Such people throughout time have been called ‘mystics’.
The 13th century Persian teacher and poet, Jelaluddin Rumi was one such person who was able to offer the world an inspiring vision, and also the guidance and encouragement to live from this realization. He tells us:

“Every object and being in the universe is
a jar overflowing with wisdom and beauty,
a drop of the Tigris that cannot be contained by any skin.
Every jarful spills and makes the earth more shining,
as though covered in satin…”

And he says:

“Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it.
It will turn to gold. Resurrection
will be now. Every moment,
a new beauty.”

And:

“Human beings are mines.
World-power means nothing. Only the unsayable,
jeweled inner life matters…”

And:

“A man sleeps heavily,
though something blazes in him like the sun,
like a magnificent fringe sewn up under the hem…”

–Jason Espada [My Favorite Rumi, presented by Jason Espada, A Buddhist Library website – pdf].

The Life of Rumi

Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi was born 1207, in what is now Afghanistan. As a child, Rumi’s family traveled and settled in Turkey. Rumi succeeded his father as a Muslim teacher. Then, when he was 37 years old, Rumi met a mystic named Shams-I-Tabriz, and the two formed a deep spiritual relationship. Rumi’s students, it’s told, were jealous, and Shams disappeared, apparently killed out of jealousy.
Rumi grieved for his loss, having seen the Divine in Shams, or we can say having seen Shams as God, and as a doorway, to further understanding the mysteries of this life. In his grief, Rumi created the Turning Dance (called ’Whirling’) that is still a part of the Sufi Tradition today. The turning represents the search for Truth, the Beloved, the Divine, or God.
The Sufis are the mystics of Islam. The Sufi Path is sometimes called ‘The Path of Love’, or ‘The Way of Passion’, as love is such a strong element in their search for Truth, in their way of life, and their teaching.
Although they have some elements in common with more Orthodox Muslim traditions, the Sufis are also unique in some ways. They are not only looking for an intellectual understanding of the Divine – they aim for personal experience, and for union with this deep Truth, or with God. Another feature that stands out is that the Sufi’s love, for God, for the Divine, or for this life is often expressed in earthy, sensual language, like a lover speaking or writing to his beloved. And so their writing moves from the experiences of longing, to the joy at being touched, to those of fulfillment.

Rumi says:

“I want this music and this dawn
and the warmth of your cheek against mine”

And:

“Who is the luckiest in this whole orchestra? The reed.
Its mouth touches your lips to learn music.
All reeds, sugarcane especially, think only
of this chance. They sway in the canebreaks,
free in the many ways they dance.
Without you the instruments would die.
One sits close beside you. Another takes a long kiss.
The tambourine begs, Touch my skin so I can be myself.
Let me feel you enter each limb bone by bone,
so that what died last night can be whole today.
Why live some soberer way and feel you ebbing out?
I won’t do it.
Either give me enough wine or leave me alone,
now that I know how it is
to be with you in constant conversation.”

And:

“In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.”

In the translations that have reached the West, there are included many teaching stories that are meant to guide people to living more deeply. In addition to being beautifully expressed, there is a whole way of life described in these writings. Rumi describes how we can grow and develop as individuals, how we can learn to see, and to live more authentic lives; how we can find fulfillment. He describes many of the processes and obstacles that are a part of life – often in a humorous way, but always with compassion and respect for his listeners.

–Jason Espada [My Favorite Rumi, presented by Jason Espada, A Buddhist Library website – pdf].

A few additional quotes from Rumi:

“Don’t ask what love can make, or can do.
Look at the colors of the world!
Today, like every other day, we wake up empty, and scared.
Don’t open the door to the study and begin reading.
Take down a musical instrument and start to play.
Let the beauty you love be what you do.
There are a hundred ways to kneel and kiss the ground.”

And

“Be patient.
Respond to every call that excites your spirit
Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull
of what you really love
When you do things from your soul, a river moves through you,
Freshness and a deep joy are the signs…”

–Jason Espada [My Favorite Rumi, presented by Jason Espada, A Buddhist Library website – pdf].