Chara

Parvathy Baul

RENOWNED BAUL SINGER SHARES HER MUSIC WITH SUFI

Parvathy Baul is a singer, painter and storyteller from West Bengal. She is both trained in the Baul order and studied visual arts at the Kala Bhavan University at Shantiniketan.

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Friendship

by Alireza Nurbakhsh

The Sufis refer to God as the Friend (dūst). This is based on the Koranic verse yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbuhunah (God loves them and they love Him, 5:45), which is interpreted by the Sufis as meaning that it is God’s love for us that gives rise to our love for Him.

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Featured Poet: Roger Loff

ROGER LOFF studied Journalism and Politics at New York University and now lives in Oakdale California. He works as a mental health clinician in the Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall. His poetry appears in Issue 82 of SUFI.

Sufi Symbolism

AND THE MYSTIC QUEST

by Lahleh Bakhtiar

The centrality of symbolism in Sufi teaching remains a consuming topic for scholars as well as practitioners. Lahleh Bakhtiar’s discourse on the subject in her book Sufi: Expressions of The Mystic Quest invokes the tapestry of Sufi symbolism as an expanding visual language, rich with ritual and hidden archetypes—an inner path to understanding.

 

(Photo Prof. Richard T. Mortel – Riyadh)

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Guides of Light

TEACHERS OF SUFI AND BUDDHIST TRADITIONS

by Yousef Daoud

The east Asian traditions and Sufism have in common the tradition of working with a guide or master. As many of the great wisdom traditions have been migrating from the East to the West since the beginning of the 20th century, to cultures that are less traditional than those of Asia and the Middle East, the ancient role of the spiritual guide or teacher is being questioned and tested.

(Photo © Himberry/Photocase.com)

 

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Visions of Love

HADEWYCH OF ANTWERP – POET, MYSTIC, AND SPIRITUAL GUIDE

by Sajidah Abdus Sattar

In 13th century Europe, when the men of the Church preached about God as the almighty power who required pain and penance from sinful man, a remarkable movement known as Minnemystiek (love mysticism) emerged. Instigated by devout and courageous women of noble birth searching for a God who was tender and loving, these “beguines,” were particularly inspired by the writing and spiritual guidance of one exceptionally gifted woman, Hadewych (or Hadewijch) of Antwerp.

 

(Hadewijch article photo © Gate Gustafson 2011)

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Riding the Waves of Chaos

AN INTERVIEW WITH TIBETAN BUDDHIST, JEN FOX

by Michele Rousseau

What is the spiritual meaning of surrender? Can we understand surrender as a matter of immanence? Transcendence? What does it honestly mean to surrender to (overwhelming) events as they arise—and why should we? Michelle Rousseau seeks the answers to these questions in her interview with Jen Fox, a Tibetan Buddhist who made an extraordinary journey last year to meet with her spiritual teacher Khandro Thrinlay Chodon, the great granddaughter of Togden Shakya Shri (1853-1919).

 

 

(Riding the Waves of Chaos–Interview photo of Khandro Thrinlay Chodon courtesy of Jane Miknius)

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