EVOLUTION ADVENT CALENDAR: Saadi Shirazi

Human beings are members of a whole,
In creation of one essence and soul.

If one member is afflicted with pain,
Other members uneasy will remain.

If you have no sympathy for human pain,
The name of human you cannot retain.

Saadi of Shiraz - Persian poet (1184-1291)

The same poem is used to grace the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York with the call for solidarity and breaking of all barriers.

گِلی خوشبوی در حمام روزی رسید از دست محبوبی به دستم

بدو گفتم که مشکی یا عبیری که از بوی دلاویز تو مستم

بگفتا من گِلی ناچیز بودم و لیکن مدتی با گُل نشستم

کمال همنشین در من اثر کرد وگر نه من همان خاکم که هستم

سعدى

A sweet-smelling piece of clay, one day in the bath,

Came from the hand of a beloved one to my hand.

I asked: ‘Art thou musk or ambergris?

Because thy delicious odour intoxicates me.’

It replied: ‘I was a despicable lump of clay;

But for a while in the society of a rose.

The perfection of my companion took effect on me

And, if not, I am the same earth which I am.’

- Saadi of Shiraz

عبادت به جز خدمت خلق نیست

"Devotion is but to serve people"

- Saadi Shirazi

"It's no virtue to gain the whole world. Just gain the heart of one person."

"The best loved by God are those that are rich, yet have the humility of the poor, and those that are poor and have the magnanimity of the rich."

"Every leaf of the tree becomes a page of the book, once the heart is opened and it has learnt to read."

"A handsome woman is a jewel; a good woman is a treasure."

"If a gem falls into mud it is still valuable. If dust ascends to heaven, it remains valueless."

"Worship is only to serve the people; it is not in the rosary and the prayer-carpet."

"Virtue is in the mind, not in the appearance."

"The rose and the thorn, and sorrow and gladness are linked together."

"Virtue pardons the wicked, as the sandal-tree perfumes the axe which strikes it."

"A traveler without knowledge is a bird without wings."

"Have patience. Everything is difficult before it is easy."

"Whenever you argue with another wiser than yourself in order that others may admire your wisdom, they will discover your ignorance."

"Forgiveness is commendable, but apply not ointment to the wound of an oppressor."

"Take care how you listen to the voice of the flatterer, who, in return for his little stock, expects to derive from you considerable advantage. If one day you do not comply with his wishes, be imputes to you two hundred defects instead of perfections."

"Use a sweet tongue, courtesy, and gentleness, and thou mayest manage to guide an elephant by a hair."

"No person learned the art of archery from me,

who did not in the end make me his target."

"Obedience is not truly performed by the body of him whose heart is dissatisfied. The shell without a kernel is not fit for store."

"Whatever is produced in haste goes hastily to waste."

"O wise man, wash your hands of that friend who associates with your enemies."

"However much you study, you cannot know without action. A donkey laden with books is neither an intellectual nor a wise man. Empty of essence, what learning has he whether upon him is firewood or book?"

"If a piece of worthless stone can bruise a cup of gold, its worth is not increased, nor that of the gold diminished."

"Be thou good thyself, and let people speak evil of thee; it is better than to be wicked, and that they should consider thee as good."

"Holiness comes by holy deeds. Not starving flesh of daily needs."

"Were the diver to think on the jaws of the shark, he would never lay hands on the precious pearl."

"The bad fortune of the good turns their faces up to heaven; the good fortune of the bad bows their heads down to the earth."

"Two orders of mankind are the enemies of church and state; the king without clemency, and the holy man without learning."

"Liberty is of more value than any gifts; and to receive gifts is to lose it. Be assured that men most commonly seek to oblige thee only that they may engage thee to serve them."

"If thou art wise, incline to truth; for truth, not the semblance, remains in its place."

"Be generous, and pleasant-tempered, and forgiving; even as God scatter favors over thee, do thou scatter over the people."

"He who, when he hath the power, doeth not good, when he loses the means will suffer distress. There is not a more unfortunate wretch than the oppressor; for in the day of adversity nobody is his friend."

"Astride a horse I am not, nor camel-like carry a load,

Subjects I have none, nor follow any sultan's code;

I worry not for what exists, nor fret for what is lost,

I breathe with extreme ease, and live at very little cost."

"Great God, have pity on the wicked, for thou didst everything for the good, when thou madest them good!"

"Where the hand of tyranny is long we do not see the lips of men open with laughter."

"I fear God and next to God I mostly fear them that fear him not."

"Of journeying the benefits are many: the freshness it bringeth to the heart, the seeing and hearing of marvelous things, the delight of beholding new cities, the meeting of unknown friends, and the learning of high manners."

"Now that another is suffering pain at thy hand, trust not that thy heart shall be exempt from affliction."

"To pardon the oppressor is to deal harshly with the oppressed."

"No one ever sowed the grain of generosity who gathered not up the harvest of the desire of his heart."

"To tell a falsehood is like the cut of a saber: for though the wound may heal, the scar of it will remain."

"He will deal harshly by a stranger who has not been himself often a traveller or stranger."

"Alone is my heart, there dwelleth affection for my beloved, thus, it contains no room for malice."

- Saadi Shirazi

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تن آدمی شریف است به جان آدمیت
نه همین لباس زیباست نشان آدمیت

اگر آدمی به چشم است و دهان و گوش و بینی
چه میان نقش دیوار و میان آدمیت

خور و خواب و خشم و شهوت شغب است و جهل و ظلمت
حیوان خبر ندارد ز جهان آدمیت

به حقیقت آدمی باش وگرنه مرغ باشد
که همین سخن بگوید به زبان آدمیت

مگر آدمی نبودی که اسیر دیو ماندی
که فرشته ره ندارد به مکان آدمیت

اگر این درنده‌خویی ز طبیعتت بمیرد
همه عمر زنده باشی به روان آدمیت

رسد آدمی به جایی که به جز خدا نبیند
بنگر که تا چه حد است مکان آدمیت

طیران مرغ دیدی تو ز پای‌بند شهوت
به در آی تا ببینی طیران آدمیت

نه بیان فضل کردم که نصیحت تو گفتم
هم از آدمی شنیدیم بیان آدمیت

سعدی

The human body is noble with a human soul
This Beautiful cloth is not the sign of Humanity

If humanity is in a person's eyes and mouth and ears and nose
What is the difference between the painting of the wall and humanity?

Eating, sleeping, anger and lust are the ignorance and darkness
The animals do not know the world of humanity

Be a real human being in practice or otherwise it will be a bird
Who speak the language of humanity

You were not a human if you’re captured by the devil
Angels would be surprised to see the goodness of the humanity

If the wildness dies inside you
You’ll live a long life in the souls of humanity

A man can reach where he sees nothing but the goodness of the God
See how high is the position of humanity

You’ve seen the flying of the birds all-aimed at lust
Rise until you see the flying of humanity

I haven’t told you the grace nor gave you the advice
We’ve heard the people express the humanity

- Saadi

Translated by Sayid Mujtaba Zahir

Story 4

One day, in the pride of youth, I had travelled hard and arrived perfectly exhausted in the evening at the foot of an acclivity. A weak old man, who had likewise been following the caravan, came and asked me why I was sleeping, this not being the place for it. I replied: ‘How am I to travel, having lost the use of my feet?’ He said: ‘Hast thou not heard that it is better to walk gently and to halt now and then than to run and to become exhausted?’

O thou who desirest to reach the station

Take my advice and learn patience.

An Arab horse gallops twice in a race.

A camel ambles gently night and day.

- Saadi of Shiraz

The Gulistan

ROSEGARDEN

Sheikh Muslih-uddin Sa’di Shirazi