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1
3436-3485

  • All their fights are (fought) with wooden swords, all their purposes are (centred) in futility;
  • جمله با شمشیر چوبین جنگشان ** جمله در لاینفعی آهنگشان‌‌

  • They all are riding on a reed-cane (hobby-horse), saying, “This is our Buráq or mule that goes like Duldul.”
  • جمله‌‌شان گشته سواره بر نیی ** کاین براق ماست یا دلدل پیی‌‌

  • They are (really) carrying (their hobby-horses), but in their folly they have raised themselves on high: they have fancied themselves to be riders and carried along the road.
  • حامل‌‌اند و خود ز جهل افراشته ** راکب و محمول ره پنداشته‌‌

  • Wait till the day when those who are borne aloft by God shall pass, galloping, beyond the nine tiers (of Heaven)!
  • باش تا روزی که محمولان حق ** اسب تازان بگذرند از نه طبق‌‌

  • “The spirit and the angels shall ascend to Him”: at the ascension of the spirit Heaven shall tremble. 3440
  • تعرج الروح إلیه و الملک ** من عروج الروح یهتز الفلک‌‌

  • Like children, ye all are riding on your skirts: ye have taken hold of the corner of your skirt (to serve) as a horse.
  • همچو طفلان جمله‌‌تان دامن سوار ** گوشه‌‌ی دامن‌‌گرفته اسب‌‌وار

  • From God came (the text), “Verily, opinion doth not enable (you) to dispense (with the Truth)”: when did the steed of opinion run (mount) to the Heavens?
  • از حق إن الظن لا يغنی رسید ** مرکب ظن بر فلک‌‌ها کی دوید

  • While preferring (in case of doubt) the stronger of the two (alternative) opinions, do not doubt whether you see the sun when it is shining!
  • اغلب الظنین فی ترجیح ذا ** لا تماری الشمس فی توضیحها

  • At that time (when the spirit returns to God) behold your steeds! Ye have made a steed of your own foot.
  • آن گهی بینید مرکبهای خویش ** مرکبی سازیده‌‌اید از پای خویش‌‌

  • Come, recognise that your imagination and reflection and sense-perception and apprehension are like the reed-cane on which children ride. 3445
  • وهم و فکر و حس و ادراک شما ** همچو نی دان مرکب کودک هلا

  • The sciences of the mystics bear them (aloft); the sciences of sensual men are burdens to them.
  • علمهای اهل دل حمالشان ** علمهای اهل تن احمالشان‌‌

  • When knowledge strikes on the heart (is acquired through mystical experience), it becomes a helper (yárí); when knowledge strikes on the body (is acquired through the senses), it becomes a burden (bárí).
  • علم چون بر دل زند یاری شود ** علم چون بر تن زند باری شود

  • God hath said, “(Like an ass) laden with his books”: burdensome is the knowledge that is not from Himself.
  • گفت ایزد یحمل اسفاره ** بار باشد علم کان نبود ز هو

  • The knowledge that is not immediately from Himself does not endure, (it is) like the tire woman's paint.
  • علم کان نبود ز هو بی‌‌واسطه ** آن نپاید همچو رنگ ماشطه‌‌

  • But when you carry this burden well, the burden will be removed and you will be given (spiritual) joy. 3450
  • لیک چون این بار را نیکو کشی ** بار بر گیرند و بخشندت خوشی‌‌

  • Beware! Do not carry that burden of knowledge for the sake of selfish desire (but mortify yourself), so that you may behold the barn (store-house) of knowledge within (you),
  • هین مکش بهر هوا آن بار علم ** تا ببینی در درون انبار علم‌‌

  • So that you may mount the smooth-paced steed of knowledge, (and that) afterwards the burden may fall from your shoulder.
  • تا که بر رهوار علم آیی سوار ** بعد از آن افتد ترا از دوش بار

  • 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?
  • از هواها کی رهی بی‌‌جام هو ** ای ز هو قانع شده با نام هو

  • From attribute and name what comes to birth? Phantasy; and that phantasy shows the way to union with Him.
  • از صفت و ز نام چه زاید خیال ** و آن خیالش هست دلال وصال‌‌

  • 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
  • دیده‌‌ای دلال بی‌‌مدلول هیچ ** تا نباشد جاده نبود غول هیچ‌‌

  • 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?
  • هیچ نامی بی‌‌حقیقت دیده‌‌ای ** یا ز گاف و لام گل گل چیده‌‌ای‌‌

  • Thou hast pronounced the name: go, seek the thing named. Know that the moon is on high, not in the water of the stream.
  • اسم خواندی رو مسمی را بجو ** مه به بالا دان نه اندر آب جو

  • If thou wouldst pass beyond name and letter, oh, make thyself wholly purged of self.
  • گر ز نام و حرف خواهی بگذری ** پاک کن خود را ز خود هین یک سری‌‌

  • Like (polished) iron, lose the ferruginous colour; become in thy ascetic discipline (like) a mirror without rust.
  • همچو آهن ز آهنی بی‌‌رنگ شو ** در ریاضت آینه‌‌ی بی‌‌زنگ شو

  • Make thyself pure from the attributes of self, that thou mayst behold thine own pure untarnished essence, 3460
  • خویش را صافی کن از اوصاف خود ** تا ببینی ذات پاک صاف خود

  • And behold within thy heart (all) the sciences of the prophets, without book and without preceptor and master.
  • بینی اندر دل علوم انبیا ** بی‌‌کتاب و بی‌‌معید و اوستا

  • The Prophet said, “Amongst my people are some who are one with me in nature and aspiration:
  • گفت پیغمبر که هست از امتم ** کاو بود هم گوهر و هم همتم‌‌

  • Their spirits behold me by the same light by which I am beholding them.”
  • مر مرا ز آن نور بیند جانشان ** که من ایشان را همی‌‌بینم بدان‌‌

  • Without the two Sahíhs and Traditions and Traditionists; nay, (they behold him) in the place where they drink the Water of Life.
  • بی‌‌صحیحین و احادیث و رواه ** بلکه اندر مشرب آب حیات‌‌

  • Know the secret of “In the evening I was a Kurd”; read the mystery of “In the morning I was an Arab.” 3465
  • سر امسینا لکردیا بدان ** راز اصبحنا عرابیا بخوان‌‌

  • And if you desire a parable of the hidden knowledge, relate the story of the Greeks and the Chinese.
  • ور مثالی خواهی از علم نهان ** قصه گو از رومیان و چینیان‌‌

  • The story of the contention between the Greeks and the Chinese in the art of painting and picturing.
  • قصه‌‌ی مری کردن رومیان و چینیان در علم نقاشی و صورتگری‌‌

  • The Chinese said, “We are the better artists”; the Greeks said, “The (superiority in) power and excellence belongs to us.”
  • چینیان گفتند ما نقاش‌‌تر ** رومیان گفتند ما را کر و فر

  • “I will put you to the test in this matter,” said the Sultan, “(and see) which of you are approved in your claim.”
  • گفت سلطان امتحان خواهم در این ** کز شماها کیست در دعوی گزین‌‌

  • When the Chinese and the Greeks presented themselves, the Greeks were more skilled in the knowledge (of the art of painting).
  • اهل چین و روم چون حاضر شدند ** رومیان از بحث در مکث آمدند

  • (Then) the Chinese said, “Hand over to us a particular room, and (let there be) one for you (as well).” 3470
  • چینیان گفتند یک خانه به ما ** خاص بسپارید و یک آن شما

  • There were two rooms with door facing door: the Chinese took one, the Greeks the other.
  • بود دو خانه مقابل دربدر ** ز آن یکی چینی ستد رومی دگر

  • The Chinese requested the King to give them a hundred colours: then that excellent (king) opened the treasury.
  • چینیان صد رنگ از شه خواستند ** پس خزینه باز کرد آن ارجمند

  • Every morning, by (his) bounty, the colours were dispensed from the treasury to the Chinese.
  • هر صباحی از خزینه رنگها ** چینیان را راتبه بود از عطا

  • The Greeks said, “No tints and pictures are proper for our work, (nothing is needed) except to remove the rust.”
  • رومیان گفتند نی نقش و نه رنگ ** در خور آید کار را جز دفع زنگ‌‌

  • They shut the door and went on burnishing: they became clear and pure like the sky. 3475
  • در فرو بستند و صیقل می‌‌زدند ** همچو گردون ساده و صافی شدند

  • There is a way from many-colouredness to colourlessness: colour is like the clouds, and colourlessness is a moon.
  • از دو صد رنگی به بی‌‌رنگی رهی است ** رنگ چون ابر است و بی‌‌رنگی مهی است‌‌

  • Whatsoever light and splendour you see in the clouds, know that it comes from the stars and the moon and the sun.
  • هر چه اندر ابر ضو بینی و تاب ** آن ز اختر دان و ماه و آفتاب‌‌

  • When the Chinese had finished their work, they were beating drums for joy.
  • چینیان چون از عمل فارغ شدند ** از پی شادی دهلها می‌‌زدند

  • The King entered and saw the pictures there: that (sight) was robbing him of his wits and understanding.
  • شه در آمد دید آن جا نقشها ** می‌‌ربود آن عقل را و فهم را

  • After that, he came towards the Greeks: they drew up the intervening curtain. 3480
  • بعد از آن آمد به سوی رومیان ** پرده را بالا کشیدند از میان‌‌

  • The reflexion of those (Chinese) pictures and works (of art) struck upon these walls which had been made pure (from stain).
  • عکس آن تصویر و آن کردارها ** زد بر این صافی شده دیوارها

  • All that he had seen there (in the Chinese room) seemed more beautiful here: ’twas snatching the eye from the socket.
  • هر چه آن جا دید اینجا به نمود ** دیده را از دیده خانه می‌‌ربود

  • The Greeks, O father, are the Súfís: (they are) without (independent of) study and books and erudition,
  • رومیان آن صوفیانند ای پدر ** بی‌‌ز تکرار و کتاب و بی‌‌هنر

  • But they have burnished their breasts (and made them) pure from greed and cupidity and avarice and hatreds.
  • لیک صیقل کرده‌‌اند آن سینه‌‌ها ** پاک از آز و حرص و بخل و کینه‌‌ها

  • That purity of the mirror is the attribute of the heart (which) receives the infinite form. 3485
  • آن صفای آینه وصف دل است ** کاو نقوش بی‌‌عدد را قابل است‌‌