Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
It is related in Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rafai as-Shadhuli’s eloquent book, Music of the Soul, that at the time he was a disciple of Sidi ‘Abd ar-Rahman, may God be well pleased with them both, there was a troublesome old man in Damascus who everyday would throw stones at the zawiyya, the Sufi lodge. Each time the incident of stone throwing happened, his guide would say, “Send him mercy. If he wants food, give him food. If he wants clothes, give him clothes. If he wants money, give him money. Give him what he wants.”
When he, according to the advice of his guide, provided for the old man, he would gather his sons and would throw more stones at the zawiyya.
He asked himself, “What is the wisdom in this?” Then he would again go to this old man and gave him some food and some money and some clothes from his guide, but at the same time he felt something very strong about this person. His guide said to him, “There are many messages when this old man throws stones at the zawiyya.”
Then one day the old man became sick and the eminent guide sent his disciple to him. When he arrived at his house, the old man woke up and asked, “Who is there?” He mentioned his name and the old man began to weep and he started to say Astaghfirullah! (seeking forgiveness from Allah). And after some days, he came to live in the zawiyya. And he became a holy student under the guide.
When Sidi as-Shadhuli later wrote down this story, this man was already one hundred and five years old. Later when he met him in Amman, Jordan, the old man said, “Sidi, excuse me for throwing stones at the zawiyya. But if I had not hit the zawiyya, I would not have reached God. How could I have known the guide and the Way, if I had not thrown stones?” The guide saw the wisdom of his actions and knew that this old man was one of his students.
This story has a picture illustrating it. The picture is of the date tree. “Be like this tree,” advises Sidi. “When any person throws something to hit the date tree, it gives him back sweets. This is the right way.”
“If anyone makes something bad for you, or speaks in an unkind way, understand Who speaks and Who hits. Be sweet and give to everyone who wants sweets, because after the fire is the garden and after the darkness is light. It is necessary to see within everything, to see where it is coming from and to return it to God. Be polite! Everything is the Face of God.”
- Edited from a longer post on Sadiq’s Mystic Saint blog. (Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifai as-Shadhuli is now the Head of the Higher Sufi Council in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. He is also a teacher at the Holy mosques at al-Aqsa in Jerusalem).
Ya Haqq!
Posted by darvish 
Way
December 7, 2011Shun Yuan, the author of the lovely poem above, is a student of the Tao (also called the Way), an Adept of Taiji martial arts, and the primary subject of Robert Shaeffer’s truly remarkable forthcoming book, 10 Methods of the Heavenly Dragon. I asked him to enhance the experience of the poem with his commentary, which is below:
My Journey
As a novice I was convinced that I was living in darkness. I was “looking” everywhere for “enlightenment”. I knew intellectually that I was “in the forest of the Tao” and might even have had a vague sensation of the forest all around me, but this was drowned out by the insistent urge to “keep looking”, caused by the notion that “I haven’t found it yet”. Even while making progress forwards I berated myself for the fact that it was “stumbling” and blamed my own “blindness” for the state of darkness I was living in. If only I could “see” the truth!
It was through an entirely unexpected avenue that the first hint of awareness came. As far from my preconceived notions as my foot is from my eyes. So strange and unexpected it was that it felt as if it had happened by “pure luck”. I did not then have the understanding that my every step and my stumbling gait were intimately part of my foot meeting that root. Even less did I understand the significance of a seed falling in a certain place ages ago and the effect on the growth of the tree that the passage of the seasons ever since had had. Nor did I have the experience of long years of reliance on the Tao to recognize that these moments of magnificent good fortune are all around and demonstrate the abundance of the Tao.
Stopped in my tracks, stillness came to me then at that perfect moment. I still name it a magnificent gift!
Penetrating deep into me in that quiet state, yet another blossoming of awareness, yet again through an entirely unexpected but intoxicating way. Then suddenly the life of the forest is revealed all around me and in that same instant I gaze upon the shining star which had always been there for the eye to see, had my head not been lowered to the dirt looking for “something precious”.
The Methods
In the physical methods of my Order, one talks of three “levels” or perhaps more correctly “modes” of work. The tree represents the first mode called the “fixed way”. Novices spend a lot of time working on their physical structure. The exercises are strictly defined and “feeling wooden” is a very common statement to hear from them.
After some time, the body learns to relax into the new form which it is taking on. The movements become much looser and more fluid. This “living way” is represented by the leaping stag.
Ultimately, one sheds any notion of a predetermined form and allows the energy to flow freely. This “changing way” is represented by the light of the star.
With much love,
Shun Yuan
Ya Haqq!