Love and Compassion: Rumi's Seven Pieces of Advice, Buddhist Perspective

Love and Compassion: Rumi's Seven Pieces of Advice Buddhistdoor International Dr. Thomas Lau

Extract:

This summer, the Anatolia Cultural & Dialog Centre of Turkey and the Hong Kong University Centre of Buddhist Studies Alumni Association jointly arranged a tour to Turkey. It offered the chance of a brief encounter of the Turkish cultural and religious life. Turkey is a secular country by constitution. In actual fact, more than 99% of the population is of Islamic background. Muslim practices are deeply seeded in the daily life of common people, and most people do not have any knowledge of Buddhism. During the tour, we visited the Mevlâna Museum and the tomb of Rumi in Konya, a city in central Turkey. The full name of Rumi (1207-1273) is Mevlânâ Celâleddin Mehed Rumi. He is a Sufi scholar, writer and poet, and he is one of the most famous masters in the history of Islam. Not only that his poetries are wide acclaimed, but his teachings are also very much inspiring and far-reaching. He teaches unconditional acceptance, tolerance, patience, love, compassion, and benevolence. His famous ‘Seven Advices’ has passed down all the years and is still very much revered in the present time. The Seven Advices epitomizes the highest sentiment of humanity, transcends religious boundaries, and encompasses the common values of all religions:

 

1.       In generosity and helping others: be like the river

2.       In compassion and grace: be like the sun.

3.       In concealing others’ faults: be like the night.

4.       In anger and fury: be like the dead.

5.       In modesty and humility: be like the soil.

6.       In tolerance: be like the ocean.

7.       Either you appear as you are, or: be as you appear. continue reading

On the same shelf:

 Seven Advice of Mevlana [Jalal ad-Din Rumi] - YouTube

 The Odyssey: Seven Advice Of Rumi

 Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi | Healing Hearts

Brotherhood - A select list by Faiths: Hinduism, Jewish, Bahai, Christianity, Ancient and Modern

Current titles at Amazon:

• Brotherhood: Dharma, Destiny, and the American Dream by Deepak and Sanjiv Chopra, New Harvest (2013), ISBN: 9780544032101 -- For more details of the book, here
• Rivalry and Brotherhood: Politics in the Life of Farmers in Northern India
  Dipankar Gupta
• A Navajo In India Ancient Brotherhood
• The Brotherhood (The Brotherhood Trilogy) Tejas Desai
• Anandamath, or The Sacred Brotherhood Bankimcandra Chatterji
• Bhakti pathway to god the way of love union with god and universal brotherhood in Hinduism and Christianity edited by Kala Acharya. Lalita Namjoshi. Giuseppe Zanghi organized by K.L. Somaiya Bharatiya Sanskriti Peetham and the Centre for Interfaith Dialogue. Focolare Movement.
• 'Isms & 'Ologies: All the Movements, Ideologies and Doctrines That Have Shaped Our World
  Arthur Goldwag
• The Bahai movement for universal religion, brotherhood and peace : a sketch of its history and teaching Charles Mason Remey
• Itamar makes Friends; A Children's Story Of Jewish Brotherhood Josh Hasten
• Bridge to brotherhood : Judaism's dialogue with Christianity. Stuart E. Rosenberg
• Brotherhood of Darkness      Dr. Stanley Monteith

The concept of four sides in religio-cultural spaces

"Abraham's Tent was open to the four winds... and  how this reflects in other traditions... Read more @ Facebook: Abraham's Tent

PS. The hypotheses one may consider, and an analysis is left for another post includes, a long list of propositions, such as: a) open from all four sides is symbolic of acceptance, inclusiveness and openness?; b) is it the best way to see it working seamlessly with the spirit (sacred), humans, time, energy and space? c) What is a four sided shape called: Cube (e.g., Kaba), Quadrilaterals, tetragon, square, NEWS (e.g., North, East, West and South, e.g., Medicine Wheel in the Native Spirituality), four (Persian/Hindi char = four)? d) what is the relationship of four sided symbols in Mandala (Buddhist), caturbimba (four sided views as in Jainism), or Chowmukha temple in RANAKPUR, Rajasthan (meaning the four sided/faced temple), or Charminar (four minaret facing four directions)?
"Abraham's Tent was open to the four winds. It was a safe place of hospitality towards strangers. It was the first "Hostel" in the world.
And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said: "Quickly make ready three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes."....Teaches Us that having guests is not only a Mitzvah but a source of blessings! (Under any circumstances). " [source: Parashat Vayetze]

"Our greatest model for welcoming others into our community comes from our patriarch, Abraham. A well known Midrash (Genesis Rabbah 48:8) teaches us that Abraham kept his tent open to the four winds of the Earth – north, south, east and west – so that guests could enter his home from any direction. According to the Midrash, Abraham didn’t even ask passersby who they were or where they were going; he simply welcomed them into his tent, bathed their feet and offered them food and a place to rest." [source]

"SIKHS built four doors to the Golden Temple at Amritsar, in north India, to welcome believers from all four corners of their earth. But in the five centuries since, few religions have followed that tolerant example. Hindus and Muslims fight fiercely over religious ruins in ancient Ayodhya. Christians have long wrangled among themselves, and with other faiths, over Jerusalem’s holy places." [source: Shared worship spaces: God’s new digs, The best multifaith prayer rooms are those where architects bow out, Mar 23rd 2013 The Economist]

 "Unlike erecting the structure on the higher level(a tradition in Hindu Temple architecture), Guru Arjan Sahib got it built on the lower level and unlike Hindu Temples having only one gate for the entrance and exit, Guru Sahib got it open from four sides. Thus he created a symbol of new faith, Sikhism. Guru Sahib made it accessible to every person without any distinction of Caste, creed, sex and religion."[source: Sri Harmandir Sahib, also known as Sri Darbar Sahib or Golden Temple]

"The physical space of a ritual is, in IE (Indo-European) religion, generally square or rectangular – the Romano-Celtic temples and Celtic Viereckschanzen, Roman templa and Greek temenos, Zoroastrian pawis, Vedic sacrificial grounds. A square or rectangle is oriented towards the four spatial directions; it maps the macrocosm, which is oriented in this way. It is also oriented towards the four personal directions (front/back, left/right) -- it maps the microcosm. The mesocosm of space ordered in this way thus maps in both directions, forming a link between them. This linking is expressed in language, as in the etymological connection between "right" and "south" -- compare Latin dexter, "right," with Sanskrit dakshina, "south," both coming from Proto-IE *deks-, "right." Microcosm and macrocosm are here defined by the same terms." [source: The Place of Ritual, Ceisiwr Serith]

"Identifying the Aztec temples has been a tricky job at times. It's been easy to simply assume that large, monumental structures such as pyramids are all either palaces or temples, but that may not be the case. Still, we do have a good understanding of what happened in the religious areas and how the many of the buildings looked hundreds of years ago. Often a whole area of a city would be dedicated to religious activities. Some monuments would be made to specific gods. Some were built for specific celebrations. The buildings you probably associate with the Aztec religion are the great pyramids. These were four sided, stable structures that can withstand the earthquakes that are common in the area. These would have stairs up one side, and a flat top, often with a shrine on the top." [source: Aztec Temples]

"Mount Kalaish has a mandala-like, or mandalic,  character, with its perfect four sides oriented toward the four winds.  Mandala's are prominent in both Buddhism and Hinduism, where the preferred term is yantra. The psychologist Carl Jung recognized the special nature of the mandala, which he regarded as symbolic of the unconscious self.  With it's four symmetrical sides, it represents the four information-processing functions of the psyche: sensation,  intuition, thinking and feeling.  The center of the mandala represents the self, the true, integrated core of an individual's psyche.  What is perceived by the self/soul is filtered by the functions, which represent how an individual views and evaluates the world around her.  The self or, to use religious motifs, the soul at the center holds all things together." [source: The Four Sided Mountain]

"The four directions of the Medicine Wheel remind us of many things, such as the need for balance in the world, and the balance we must strive for everyday within ourselves. Here you will begin to get an idea of a few of those many teachings and connections that are in the circle. Everything comes in fours, so it’s easier to digest, easier to learn. The four direction teachings go clockwise, beginning in the east. But before we travel around the wheel, let’s look at the Centre." [source: Four Directions, Aboriginal, OJIBWE/ POWAWATOMI (ANISHINABE)]

"Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty built Charminar in 1591 AD, Year after repair, rain damages Charminar minaret shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to what is now known as Hyderabad. He built this famous structure to commemorate the elimination of a plague epidemic from this city. He is said to have prayed for the end of a plague that was ravaging his city and vowed to build a masjid (Islamic mosque) at the very place where he was praying. In 1591 while laying the foundation of Charminar, Quli Qutb shah prayed: "Oh Allah, bestow unto this city peace and prosperity. Let millions of men of all castes, creeds and religions make it their abode, like fish in the water." The Mosque became popularly known as Charminar because of its four (minars = towers)..."
"The Charminar is a square structure with each side 20 meters (approximately 66 feet) long, with four grand arches each facing a fundamental point that open into four streets. At each corner stands an exquisitely shaped minaret, 56 meters (approximately 184 feet) high with a double balcony. Each minaret is crowned by a bulbous dome with dainty petal like designs at the base. Unlike the Taj Mahal, Charminar's four fluted minarets are built into the main structure. There are 149 winding steps to reach the upper floor. The sturcture also known as profuseness of stucco decorations and arrangement of balustrades and balconies. Dawn." [source]

On the same shelf:

Geertz, Clifford, Religion as a cultural system

Journey to the Four Directions - Pointers in Sacred and Shamanic Work by Ashley Costanzo

The TENT OF ABRAHAM, SARAH, AND HAGAR SERVING THE ONE

Monastic Interreligious Dialogue | Abraham's Hospitality to strangers ...

Sons and Daughters of Abraham:An Interfaith Journey of Hospitality

About the Tent of Abraham

Abraham's Tent Offers Hospitality -- This year Turkish Cultural Center Connecticut and Peace Islands Institute participated in the Abraham's Tent organized by the Columbus House.

Abraham's Tent בסיעתא דשמיא بسم الله ‎ | A Virtual Home for Abraham's Children | ‎Abraham's Tent בסיעתא דשמיא بسم الله ‎:

Center for Interfaith Engagement -- Eastern Mennonite University

An introduction to Islam for Jews - Reading now

An Introduction to Islam for Jews by Reuven Firestone @ amazon.com Philadelphia : JPS/Jewish Publication Society, 2008. 298 p. ISBN: 9780827608641.


What do the reviewers say:

Herbert E. Shapiro - Library Journal
This well-written, scholarly book provides an overview of aspects of Islam that may be unfamiliar yet of interest to contemporary Jews.

AJL Newsletter - Rachel Simon
This authoritative and readable book is of value for students and general readers alike.

Midwest Book Review
An Introduction to Islam for Jews is perfect for any Jewish reader seeking an understanding of Islam... a scholarly yet accessible title.

Publishers Weekly
Firestone extends a real effort to be fair to both sides; in his discussion of Muhammad's massacre of between 600 and 900 Jewish men, for instance, he reminds readers that the Jews had committed treason and points to examples in the Hebrew Bible where Israelites engaged in similar tactics. Part two digs into the foundations of Islamic law and belief, discussing the Qur'an, the prophetic tradition, key doctrines and sharia law.

About the Author:
Reuven Firestone is professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College in Los Angeles and director of the Institute for the Study and Enhancement of Muslim-Jewish Interrelations (ISEMJI), a program of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California

On the same shelf:

Did the Jews pray as Muslims do ?

CHRISTIANS AND JEWS ALSO PERFORM THE PRAYER (SALAT), SCIENCE-ISLAM

Do the Jews ever pray like the Muslims?

Prostration

French Catholic church warns against burqa ban

 Daily Times

PARIS: The French Catholic church warned Paris on Monday against banning the burqa and said France must respect the rights of Muslims if it wanted Islamic countries to do the same for their Christian minorities. Bishop Michel Santier, the top French Catholic official for inter-religious dialogue, said very few women in France wear full veils and Muslim leaders agree it is not obligatory in Islam. If Paris passed a law, Santier said, “The result could be the opposite of what is desired and lead to a reaction that increases the number of women wearing the burqa. “The French, including the Catholics among them, should not let themselves be gripped by fear or a ‘clash of civilisations’ theory,” he said. 

continue reading French Catholic church warns against burqa ban

See also on the same shelf:

• France to refuse citizenship to men who make wives wear burqas
  
• Veil ban would harm Christians in Muslim countries, French church warns
  
• We must respect Muslim rights if we want Islamic countries to respect our rights Daily Mail
  
• France: Catholic Church Rejects Ban on Full-Face Veils
  New York Times - ‎Feb 1, 2010‎
  
• view: The French burqa ban —Ishtiaq Ahmed, Daily Times
  

  The (French Parliamentary) commission recommended that if the government was going to ban the burqa, it should compensate by declaring as public holidays the religious festivals of Muslims and Jews. It also recommended that steps be taken to integrate Muslim and other minorities into the French mainstream
  

• French Catholics Warn Against Muslim Veil Ban, IslamOnline.net & News Agencies

  ...French Jewish leaders have already expressed concern about a veil ban.
  ...Prominent Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan has said that the French debate on the wearing of burka reflects growing self-doubts inside the society.

• The French Catholic Church warned Paris today against banning Muslim full-face veils The Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne

Christmas a time for bridge building, Abdul Malik Mujahid

[Audio]
 Treating Christmas with Respect:

"Christmas is an annual Christian religious holiday commemorating the birth of Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him. For many Muslims who do not even celebrate the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, it becomes an issue of what stand they should take."

continue reading Christmas a time for bridge building
12/10/2009 - Interfaith Religious Social - Article Ref: IC0612-3182
Number of comments: 14
By: Abdul Malik Mujahid
IslamiCity* -

The Muslim Jesus: Mary in Islam

"If Humza and Maryam Javed Ismail had their way, they would ride by the big display of Christmas lights every day on Yeatmans Station Road that’s near their Landenberg, Pa., home.
The lights remind the children, who are 11 and 9, about the importance of Jesus and Mary in Islam."
“We believe in the goodness and purity of Mary,” says their mother, Dr. Sheerin Javed. “And sometimes we talk about this — that Jesus is a special prophet for Muslims so it makes us feel good to see him honored this time of year.” continue reading: The Muslim Jesus: Mary in Islam Posted on December 25, 2008 by Moin Ansari

Real desecration of Lord Ganesha!

"IDOL worship? or IDLE worship? or IDEAL worship?" quotes Inbarajan S, based on emails circulating from a yahoo.group discussion board.

"Doll or Idol or Ideal... Which Worship?" Asks another blogger.

"Would you like your GOD's bulldozed like garbage...
and treated like this...
Maimed? Desecrated? And you create a hue and cry when some statue in the city gets desecrated?
We just got to Think, Decide & Act......... But it would be great if you can do it to avoid real desecration.

Respect Religion, Spirtuality not by celeberating it in a desecrated manner."

About Lord Ganesh and the sacred sphere:

2008 Multifaith Walk Against Violence.

We’re coming in your direction
Multi-faith Walk Against
Violence
April 20 to November 30
Cross-Canada Walk

The Walk is scheduled to begin on April 20 in Halifax and to end at around the end of November in Victoria, B.C. It represents a move on the part of the Multifaith community to unite in raising awareness about the effects of violence on every individual and how all forms of violence touch us. We also aim to provide a forum for all those who work with the victims of violence to speak their minds. Our target is broad - including domestic violence, elder abuse, gang violence, bullying, international violence and other forms of violence that prevent individuals and societies from reaching their full potential. In conclusion, invite members of all faiths to walk and talk with us, and to give a voice to the victims of violence and all those concerned enough to speak out. We would like to extend a formal invitation to members of your community, to join us when Imam Syed Soharwardy and other members of the core group begin their walk in Halifax.

If you are able to participate, or would like more information about the walk, please do not hesitate to contact me at this address or by phone at 403-618-0023. Call 1-800 - WALK ALL. (1-800-925-5255) ... Multifaith Walk Against Violence 15205 Park Lane NWCalgary, ABT3P 1A6

• A long walk to stamp out violenceTheChronicleHerald.ca, Canada - 21 Apr 2008
• MULTI-FAITH WALK AGAINST VIOLENCE (English)
  "Multifaith Walk Against Violence" represents a move to unite Canadians against all forms of violence. These include: child abuse, domestic violence, ...
• Encounters in Ecumenism View as HTML Apr 20- Nov 30 Multifaith Walk Against Violence (Halifax to Victoria). Email: walkagainstviolence@shaw.ca

Interspirituality @ Fatihcommons.org

Search results from the Website: http://faithcommons.org/:

• More on Spiritual Unity
  ... But whether it is probable is the big question. Interspirituality Links Here are some links on Interspirituality. Interfaith Studies Interspirituality Portal ...
  blog entry - bill - 06/21/2005 - 19:47 - 14 comments
• Is Interspirituality in your future?
  ... this is so, and I believe it is, we might also say that interspirituality –the sharing of ultimate experiences across traditions—is the religion of the third millennium. Interspirituality is the foundation that can prepare the way for a planet-wide ...
  blog entry - bill - 06/01/2005 - 18:55 - 0 comments
• Faith in the Commons
  ... great religions getting together in peace. They call it Interspirituality . Of course, these participants may be far along the path ...
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• What Response to Slander Campaign
  ... Bede Griffiths. They are more closely associated with “Interspirituality.” Maybe because they both died before anything was called ...
  blog entry - bill - 04/17/2006 - 19:15 - 16 comments
• Who's Afraid of Interfaith Dialog?
  ... of some of the interest? Cheers - Steve Interspirituality reply, redux I'm sorry that I Steve, I'm ... of looking. The most up-to-date arguments that are against interspirituality found so far are from Ken Silva are at ... The best way to find these documents it to type “interspirituality” in the search dialog form. Redefine that search criteria ...
  blog entry - bill - 05/12/2006 - 10:08 - 6 comments
  

NB. More on this subject of Interspirituality is at http://interfaithunity.ca or correspond with Publisher: Rev. Leslie Mezei; Editor, Layout, Webmaster: Rev. Terry Weller.