when did Rumi become a Buddhist?

[cooran]

Hello Annapurna, all,

Hafiz also wrote:

"I am
A hole in a flute
That the Christ's breath moves through -
Listen to this
Music.

~~~~~~~~
AND
~~~~~~~~

Who can hear The Buddha sing?

Hafiz,
Tonight as you sit with your
Young students


Who
Have eyes
Burning like coals for the truth,


Raise your glass in honor
Of The Old Great One from Asia,


Speak in the beautiful style
And precision wit of a
Japanese verse.


Say a profound truth about this path
With the edge of your sailor's tongue that
Has been honed on the finest sake.

Okay,dear ones, are you ready?
Are you braced?


Well then:


Who can hear the Buddha sing
If that dog between your legs is barking?


Who can hear the Buddha sing
If that canine between your
Thighs


Still
Wants to do circus


Tricks?

with metta
Chris

[Nibbida]

The Dhamma consists of universal principles. The world doesn't neatly divide into Buddhist and non-Buddhist. Any example or person that expresses an idea, be it Sariputta or Hal Finkelstein, Certified Public Accountant, is equally useful. I'm more concerned with the quality of the idea than from whose mouth (or hand) it came.

Addendum:

Along these lines: "There was once a prisoner who yearned for freedom. One day, the prophet Mohammed appeared to him, and gave him a set of keys to his cell, saying "Your piety has been rewarded. Allah has set you free." So the prisoner took the set of keys, mounted them on the wall, and prayed to them five times a day."

(Quoted in Jay Michaelson’s book, Everything is God: The Radical Path of Nondual Judaism)

[Ben]

Ben,

Here is a compilation of Poet seers, taking you directly to Sufi poets.

Rumi is in there, Hafiz (most beloved) and Lalla or Ib'n al Arabi.

Thanks Anna!

Ben

[DNS]

I think any Dhamma book is going to have at least some missionary aspect to it, as well as instruction (otherwise why even write it?), so some use of quotes from other teachers is understandable. I don't care for it too much when there are more quotes from other teachers than there are from Buddha, but some quotes are good for skillful means and to show the tolerance of Buddhism. When it gets to be too many, then it starts looking like some of the New Agey 'all is one' stuff.

I took a look through the book I wrote and I have a few too, but then also several thousands from the Buddha. Quotes from other figures / teachers / traditions:

"Science without religion is lame;
Religion without science is blind."
Albert Einstein

"Know thyself."
Aristotle

"The unexamined life is not worth living."
Socrates

"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more
common than the unsuccessful man with talent. Genius will not; un-rewarded genius is almost
a proverb. Education will not -- the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and
determination are omnipotent."
(in regard to Right Effort)
Calvin Coolidge (30th president of the U.S.)

"One second of meditation is better than 50,000 years of prayer."
Muhammed (prophet and founder of Islam)

"When you pray, do not go to the street corners and to public places, go
away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you."
Jesus (from Matthew, chapter 6, New Testament, Bible)

"The whole world lives within a safeguarding, fish inside waves, birds help in the sky, the
elephant, the wolf, the lion as he hunts, the dragon, the ant, the waiting snake, even the ground,
the air, the water, every spark floating up from the fire, all subsist, exist, are held together in the
divine. Nothing is ever alone for a single moment."
Rumi

Just that one from Rumi! The selections I have put in my book are not as poetic as many authors do, but just meant to make a certain point and for skillful means, etc.

[Annapurna]

Hello Annapurna, all,

Hafiz also wrote:

"I am
A hole in a flute
That the Christ's breath moves through -
Listen to this
Music.

~~~~~~~~
AND
~~~~~~~~

Who can hear The Buddha sing?

Hafiz,
Tonight as you sit with your
Young students


Who
Have eyes
Burning like coals for the truth,


Raise your glass in honor
Of The Old Great One from Asia,


Speak in the beautiful style
And precision wit of a
Japanese verse.


Say a profound truth about this path
With the edge of your sailor's tongue that
Has been honed on the finest sake.

Okay,dear ones, are you ready?
Are you braced?


Well then:


Who can hear the Buddha sing
If that dog between your legs is barking?


Who can hear the Buddha sing
If that canine between your
Thighs


Still
Wants to do circus


Tricks?

with metta
Chris

Thanks for sharing! I didn't know those!

[retrofuturist]

"Know thy not-self."
Aristotle mk.II



Metta,
Retro.

[Nibbida]

"Dropping Keys" by Hafiz:

The small person
Builds cages for everyone
She
Sees.
Instead, the sage,
Who needs to duck her head,
When the moon is low,
Can be found dropping keys, all night long
For the beautiful,
Rowdy,
Prisoners.




(Maybe I'm a closet Sufi)

[Annapurna]

Hafiz rocks...

[Annapurna]

Speaking about the moon...


WITH THAT MOON LANGUAGE

• Admit something:
  
  
  
  Everyone you see, you say to them, "Love me."
  
  
  
  Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise
  someone would call the cops.
  
  
  
  Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
  
  
  
  Why not become the one who lives with a
  full moon in each eye that is
  always saying,
  
  with that sweet moon language,
  what every other eye in
  this world is
  dying to
  hear?

[oceanmen]

no aversions, and no craving, and no illusions of ego(arrogance), in koran:

لِّكَيْلَا تَأْسَوْا عَلَىٰ مَا فَاتَكُمْ وَلَا تَفْرَحُوا بِمَا آتَاكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ مُخْتَالٍ فَخُورٍ

In order that ye may not despair over matters that pass you by,
nor exult over favours bestowed upon you. For Allah loveth not any vainglorious boaster,-
(Al-Hadid, Chapter #57, Verse #23)

[m0rl0ck]

why is it that modern teachers feel the need to have quotes by non-buddhists and mystics from other religions in their books as some sort of "proof" that what the Buddha said is right?

seems silly, why would i care?

After listening to a talk where the presenter apparently put freud, jung, and buddhism in a blender. Id say at about the same time Stephen Batchelor did. I cant tell whether he is a psychologist disguised as a buddhist or the other way round.

Id much rather have my buddhism polluted with rumi than freud tho.

[Annapurna]

..... can people be Buddhists and psychologists at the same time....?

Peter?

Metta,

Anna

[m0rl0ck]

..... can people be Buddhists and psychologists at the same time....?

Peter?

Metta,

Anna

Maybe so, but if you are presenting a dharma talk you need to decide where you are speaking from before you start. In addition freuds simple vision is not in great repute with the rest of the so-called science these days and imo has no place in a dharma talk. I have only heard the one talk by SB and maybe he was having an off day or something, but rather than worry about Rumi being quoted, its alot more serious imo when someone like batchelor presents himself as a teacher and then confuses the dharma with questionable psychological theories.

[bodom]

..... can people be Buddhists and psychologists at the same time....?

Peter?

Metta,

Anna

Mark Epstein.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Epstein" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Pannapetar]

..... can people be Buddhists and psychologists at the same time....?

What exactly speaks against it? As far as I understand it, certain professions don't go well with Buddhism, such as executioner, arms dealer, drug dealer, pimp, slaughterer, and such, but I don't think that psychologists fall into that category.

why is it that modern teachers feel the need to have quotes by non-buddhists and mystics from other religions in their books as some sort of "proof" that what the Buddha said is right? seems silly, why would i care?

- because they might want to engage a secular audience.
- because they might feel that third-party corroboration is useful.
- because they might want to bring across a point in a specific context.
- because they might feel a particular phrasing was lucid and clear.
- because they have personal associations with the quoted teachings.

There are plenty of good reasons. It also helps to remember that Buddhism has no patent on truth. Truth has been expressed in the context of many different teachings. Some of these teachings are in agreement with Buddhism in important aspects. But perhaps the most important reason is that people who are intimately familiar with Buddhism form a minority on this planet and that one cannot assume this familiarity when speaking to a global audience.

Cheers, Thomas