Mahmud Shabistari

“Penetrate the heart of just one drop of water, and you will be flooded by a hundred oceans.”

“The philosopher with his two eyes sees double, so is unable to see the unity of the Truth.ز وحدت ديدن حق شد معطل**دو چشم فلسفي چون بود احول”

“Know the world from end to end is a mirror;in each atom a hundred suns are concealed.If you pierce the heart of a single drop of water,from it will flow a hundred clear oceans;if you look intently at each speck of dust,in it you will see a thousand beings.A gnat in its limbs is like an elephant;in name a drop of water resembles the Nile.In the heart of a barleycorn is stored a hundred harvests.Within a millet-seed a world exists.In an insects wing is an ocean of life.A heaven is concealed in the pupil of an eye.The core at the center of the heart is small,yet the Lord of both worlds will enter there.”

“Behold how this drop of seawaterhas taken so many forms and names;it has existed as mist, cloud, rain, dew, and mud,then plant, animal, and Perfect man;and yet it was a drop of waterfrom which these things appeared.Even so this universe of reason, soul, heavens, and bodies,was but a drop of water in its beginning and ending....When a wave strikes it, the world vanishes;and when the appointed time comes to heaven and stars,their being is lost in not being.”

“The tavern haunter wanders lonely in a desertAnd sees the whole world as a mirage.The desert is limitless and endless --No one has seen its beginning or its end,And even if you wandered in it a hundred yearsYou would not find yourself, or anyone else.Those who live there have no feet or heads,Are neither "believers" nor "unbelievers."Drunk on the wine of selflessness,They have given up good and evil alike.Drunk, without lips or mouth, on TruthThey have thrown away all thoughts of name and fame,All talk of wonders, visions, spiritual states,Dreams, secret rooms, lights, miracles.”