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3452-3476

  • So that you may mount the smooth-paced steed of knowledge, (and that) afterwards the burden may fall from your shoulder.

  • How wilt thou be freed from selfish desires without the cup of Hú (Him), O thou who hast become content with no more of Hú than the name of Hú?

  • From attribute and name what comes to birth? Phantasy; and that phantasy shows the way to union with Him.

  • Hast thou ever seen a subject that shows without (the existence of) an object that is shown: unless there is the road, there can never be the ghoul (which entices travelers to stray from the road). 3455

  • Hast thou ever seen a name without the reality (denoted by the name)? Or hast thou plucked a rose (gul) from the (letters) gáf and lám of (the word) gul?

  • Thou hast pronounced the name: go, seek the thing named. Know that the moon is on high, not in the water of the stream.

  • If thou wouldst pass beyond name and letter, oh, make thyself wholly purged of self.

  • Like (polished) iron, lose the ferruginous colour; become in thy ascetic discipline (like) a mirror without rust.

  • Make thyself pure from the attributes of self, that thou mayst behold thine own pure untarnished essence, 3460

  • And behold within thy heart (all) the sciences of the prophets, without book and without preceptor and master.

  • The Prophet said, “Amongst my people are some who are one with me in nature and aspiration:

  • Their spirits behold me by the same light by which I am beholding them.”

  • Without the two Sahíhs and Traditions and Traditionists; nay, (they behold him) in the place where they drink the Water of Life.

  • Know the secret of “In the evening I was a Kurd”; read the mystery of “In the morning I was an Arab.” 3465

  • And if you desire a parable of the hidden knowledge, relate the story of the Greeks and the Chinese.

  • The story of the contention between the Greeks and the Chinese in the art of painting and picturing.

  • The Chinese said, “We are the better artists”; the Greeks said, “The (superiority in) power and excellence belongs to us.”

  • “I will put you to the test in this matter,” said the Sultan, “(and see) which of you are approved in your claim.”

  • When the Chinese and the Greeks presented themselves, the Greeks were more skilled in the knowledge (of the art of painting).

  • (Then) the Chinese said, “Hand over to us a particular room, and (let there be) one for you (as well).” 3470

  • There were two rooms with door facing door: the Chinese took one, the Greeks the other.

  • The Chinese requested the King to give them a hundred colours: then that excellent (king) opened the treasury.

  • Every morning, by (his) bounty, the colours were dispensed from the treasury to the Chinese.

  • The Greeks said, “No tints and pictures are proper for our work, (nothing is needed) except to remove the rust.”

  • They shut the door and went on burnishing: they became clear and pure like the sky. 3475

  • There is a way from many-colouredness to colourlessness: colour is like the clouds, and colourlessness is a moon.