Eastern Wisdom

Men who for wisdom have acquired a name,

By one false step oft lose their former fame.

-       Sa’di[1]

Though you may yourself abound in treasure, teach your son some handicraft; for a heavy purse of gold and silver may run to wastes, but the purse of the artisan’s industry can never get empty.

-       Sa’di

Wickedness, by whomsoever committed, is odious: but most of all in men of learning; for learning is the weapon with which Satan is combated, and when a man is made captive with arms in his hand, his shame is the more excessive.

-       Sa’di

Wisdom whispered yesterday in the ear of my mind, “Go, and in thy frailty retain still thy endurance—still make patience thy chief purpose; in stillness, grief, or want, always be patient.”

-       Hafiz[2]

Affairs succeed by patience, and he that is hasty falleth headlong.

-       Sa’di

According to the words and deeds in this life will be the remembrance of us in this world.

-       Firdawsi[3]

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[1] Sheikh Saadi (سعدی) was born in 1184 in Shiraz, Persia (present day Iran). His full name in English is Muslih-ud-Din Mushrif ibn Abdullah. His father died when he was very young; his uncle helped him complete his early education in Shiraz. Sheikh Saadi left his native town at age 11 and went to Baghdad to study Arabic literature and Islamic sciences at Al-Nizamiyya. He was there until 1226. When he finished his studies it was difficult to return home; the Mongols had successfully invaded Persia in 1220, and the region was unstable. Sheikh Saadi became a traveller. He wandered abroad through Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, India and Central Asia. In his travels, he avoided the courts and palaces and mingled with the ordinary people. He sat in remote teahouses late into the night and exchanged views with merchants, farmers, preachers, wayfarers, thieves, and Sufi mendicants. For twenty years or more, he continued the same schedule of preaching, advising, learning, honing his sermons, and polishing them into gems illuminating the wisdom and foibles of his people.

When Sheikh Saadi finally reappeared in his native Shiraz he was an elderly man. The city was enjoying an era of relative tranquility  under Prince Atabak Abubakr Sa’d ibn Zangy. Saadi was not only welcomed to the city but was respected highly by the ruler and enumerated among the greats of the province. In response, Saadi composed some of his most delightful panegyrics as an initial gesture of gratitude in praise of the ruling house. He placed these verses at the beginning of his 1257 Bustan (The Orchard), one of his best-known works. He seems to have spent the rest of his life in Shiraz. He died sometime between 1283 and 1291. (Source: Iran Chamber Society - iranchamber.com)

[2] Hafiz is the pen name of Khajeh Shamseddin Mohammad Hafiz-s Shirazi. He was born in 1320 in Shiraz, Persia, son of Baha-ud-Din. As a young man, he memorized the Koran by hearing his father recite it; his pen-name reflects this accomplishment. Hafiz also memorized many of the works of his hero, Saadi (see footnote 181), the famous author and teacher from Shiraz, who had died thirty years before he was born. Hafiz’ father was a coal merchant; he sickened and died while the boy was in his late teens. This left Hafiz and his mother in serious debt. They went to live with his uncle Saadi, who had been named for the boy’s hero. Hafiz dropped out of school to work in a drapery shop, and later, in a bakery.

In his early thirties Hafiz became a poet of the court of Abu Ishak. He gained much fame and influence in Shiraz, and he became a teacher of Koranic studies at the college. But when he was 33, Mubariz Muzaffar captured Shiraz and ousted Hafiz from his position. Hafiz wrote protest poems. Five years later, the new tyrant was overthrown by his own son Shah Shuja. Hafiz regained his spot at the college. As the years went by, Hafiz began falling out of favor with Shah Shuja, and eventually fled Shiraz for his safety. He went into self-imposed exile in Isfahan, in central Persia. After a decade or so, Shah Shuja, invited him to return to Shiraz. He was re-instated to his post at the College. Hafiz composed over 5,000 poems in his lifetime, but few were written down. The Gift, which has been translated into English by Daniel Ladinsky, is one of his better-known works.

When he was 21, still working at the bakery, Hafiz delivered bread to a wealthy quarter of town and saw Shakh-e Nabat, a young woman of incredible beauty. Many of his poems are addressed to her. He longed to marry her, but it was not to be. Not only was he poor, physically unattractive and small, but she was promised to one of the city’s princes. In pursuit of reaching his beloved, Hafiz kept a forty day and night vigil at the tomb of Baba Kuhi. At the end of this vigil, he was visited by the Angel Gabriel, who told him that to achieve perfection, he should become a disciple of Attar of Shiraz, which he did. While still in his twenties, Hafiz married and became a father, though he continued to extol the virtues of Shakh-e Nabat.

At age 60, longing to be united with his Creator, Hafiz began a forty day and night vigil by sitting in a circle that he had drawn himself. He had a vision in which he finally achieved Cosmic Consciousness. He continued to write and teach, and died at the age of 69.  (Source: poetseers.org)

[3] Firdawsi is the pen-name of Persian poet Abu Ol-Qasem Mansur (ca 935-1020), about whom little factual information is known. He is credited with writing Shah-nameh (Book of Kings), an epic of 60,000 couplets that tells the story of the kings of Persia until the seventh century.  (Source: hjconfer.home.att.net)