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آینهی هستی چه باشد نیستی ** نیستی بر گر تو ابله نیستی
- What is the mirror of Being? Not-being. Bring not-being (as your gift), if you are not a fool.
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هستی اندر نیستی بتوان نمود ** مال داران بر فقیر آرند جود
- Being can be seen (only) in not-being: the rich bestow (exhibit) generosity on the poor.
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آینهی صافی نان خود گرسنه ست ** سوخته هم آینهی آتش زنه ست
- The clear mirror of bread is truly the hungry man; tinder, likewise, is the mirror of that (the stick or flint) from which fire is struck.
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نیستی و نقص هر جایی که خاست ** آینهی خوبی جملهی پیشههاست
- Not-being and defect, wherever they arise (appear), are the mirror which displays the excellence of all crafts.
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چون که جامه چست و دوزیده بود ** مظهر فرهنگ درزی چون شود 3205
- When a garment is neat and well-stitched, how should it enable the tailor to exhibit his skill?
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ناتراشیده همیباید جذوع ** تا دروگر اصل سازد یا فروع
- Trunks of trees must be unhewn in order that the woodcutter may fashion the stem or the branches (and thus exercise his craft).
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خواجهی اشکسته بند آن جا رود ** که در آن جا پای اشکسته بود
- The doctor who sets broken bones goes to the place where the person with the fractured leg is.
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کی شود چون نیست رنجور نزار ** آن جمال صنعت طب آشکار
- How shall the excellence of the art of medicine be made manifest when there is no emaciated invalid?
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خواری و دونی مسها بر ملا ** گر نباشد کی نماید کیمیا
- How shall the (power of the) Elixir be shown if the vileness and baseness of coppers is not notorious?
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نقصها آیینهی وصف کمال ** و آن حقارت آینهی عز و جلال 3210
- Defects are the mirror of the quality of perfection, and that vileness is the mirror of power and glory,
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ز آن که ضد را ضد کند پیدا یقین ** ز آن که با سرکه پدید است انگبین
- Because (every) contrary is certainly made evident by its contrary; because honey is perceived (to be sweet by contrast) with vinegar.
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هر که نقص خویش را دید و شناخت ** اندر استکمال خود ده اسبه تاخت
- Whoever has seen and recognised his own deficiency has galloped with ten horses (made rapid progress) in perfecting himself.
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ز آن نمیپرد به سوی ذو الجلال ** کاو گمانی میبرد خود را کمال
- The reason why he (any one) is not flying towards the Lord of glory is that he supposes himself to be perfect.
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علتی بدتر ز پندار کمال ** نیست اندر جان تو ای ذو دلال
- There is no worse malady in your soul, O haughty one, than the conceit of perfection.
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از دل و از دیدهات بس خون رود ** تا ز تو این معجبی بیرون رود 3215
- Much blood must flow from your heart and eye, that self-complacency may go out of you.
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علت ابلیس انا خیری بده ست ** وین مرض در نفس هر مخلوق هست
- The fault of Iblís lay in thinking “I am better (than Adam),” and this disease is in the soul of every (human) creature.
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گر چه خود را بس شکسته بیند او ** آب صافی دان و سرگین زیر جو
- Though he regard himself as very broken (in spirit), know that it is (a case of) clear water (on the surface) and dung under the stream.
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چون بشوراند ترا در امتحان ** آب سرگین رنگ گردد در زمان
- When he (the Devil) stirs you in trial, immediately the water becomes dung-coloured.
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در تگ جو هست سرگین ای فتی ** گر چه جو صافی نماید مر ترا
- There is dung in the bed of the stream, my man, though to you the stream appears pure.
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هست پیر راه دان پر فطن ** باغهای نفس کل را جوی کن 3220
- ’Tis the Pír full of wisdom, well-acquainted with the Way, that digs a channel for the gardens of the Universal Soul.
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جوی خود را کی تواند پاک کرد ** نافع از علم خدا شد علم مرد
- Who is able to cleanse the channel of his (sensual) self? Man's knowledge is made beneficial (only) by God's knowledge.
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کی تراشد تیغ دستهی خویش را ** رو به جراحی سپار این ریش را
- How shall the sword fashion its own hilt? Go, entrust (the cure of) this wound to a surgeon.
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بر سر هر ریش جمع آمد مگس ** تا نبیند قبح ریش خویش کس
- Flies gather on every wound, so that no one sees the foulness of his wound.
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آن مگس اندیشهها و آن مال تو ** ریش تو آن ظلمت احوال تو
- Those flies are your (evil) thoughts and your (love of) possessions: your wound is the darkness of your (spiritual) states;
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ور نهد مرهم بر آن ریش تو پیر ** آن زمان ساکن شود درد و نفیر 3225
- And if the Pír lays a plaster on your wound, at once the pain and lamentation are stilled,