A Stranger Friend Crossing My Path

Open-source experts are a rare breed in the country and we found one in the unlikeliest place — a farm.

OPEN-SOURCE evangelists seem to be everywhere these days. But you’d still never expect to find one on a farm in Kuang, on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.

Redhuan Oon certainly looks the part of an evangelist, working intently on his notebook amidst fruit trees swaying to a cacophony of goats, cows and chickens.

But don’t let the rustic simplicity fool you. Oon is a giant in the open-source community and proof that the Internet enables people to work from anywhere.

He leads some of the most savvy and cutting-edge open-source ­practitioners in the world as they push the envelope of distributed collaboration and the concept of software designed and supported by volunteers.

“Not just an evangelist. He’s better, he’s also an open-source expert,” said Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, chief executive officer of the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), singing Oon’s praises.

“He has helped put Malaysia on the world technology map thanks to his community developed and supported enterprise resource ­planning (ERP) open-source effort,” he said.

“This proves to the world that Malaysians can not only embrace technology but also lead in ­improving, even building new ­technology.”

MDeC oversees the MSC Malaysia initiative that was conceptualised in 1996, to give Malaysians a boost into the Information Age.

MSC Malaysia now hosts about 2,500 foreign-owned and ­homegrown companies focusing on areas that include multimedia and communications products, as well as research and development.

Despite those gains, open-source experts are a rare commodity in the country. “There is only one open-source expert for every 50 ­proprietary software experts,” Badlisham said.

Out of the ashes

Oon’s story starts with the dotcom bust in 2001 when he became a “burned-out chief ­technology ­officer in the city.” Married and a father of two, he had just lost his high-flying, five-figure-salary job.

In despair, he searched his ­feelings and realised that “I actually hated my job. It was meeting after meeting, day in and day out, and I felt straitjacketed in a coat and tie,” said the 47-year-old.

His worsening financial situation brought on by the loss of his job eventually drove him to move his family to the two-acre farm in Kuang. He rented the place to hide and recover financially, and to regain his heart and soul.

He found it a pleasant change from his previous time in the city and his family soon embraced the idyllic lifestyle of living in the ­countryside.

“I learned how to catch fish from the pond, plant taugeh (bean sprouts) and did my own plumbing and wiring for the house,” Oon said.

He and his wife Fatimah, and their his two young kids Naguib and Mira (who are now 14 and 18 years respectively), lived on a shoestring budget.

“Money was so tight my kids had to sell nasi lemak in school to help us get by,” said Oon.

Oon couldn’t get another job after the dotcom bust. “There was no demand for technology workers at that time,” he said.

He started his 20-year career as a programmer, writing in Cobol, or Common Business-Oriented Language. “But I ended up giving tuition in Maths and English to secondary school students to eke out a living,” he said.

“And then I also began breeding tilapia fish.”

But Oon was just as unlucky with fish breeding. A mud slide wiped out his pond and any dreams he had of becoming a successful commercial fish breeder about a year into the endeavour.

Hope rekindled

Fortunately, a friend showed up shortly later and turned him on to an open-source ERP solution, called Compiere. This rekindled Oon’s interest in programming and the more he found out about open source and Compiere, the more interested he became.

Compiere was produced in 1999 by American Jorg Janke and was used for tracking goods, warehousing, inventory ­management, sales tracking, and other business ­functions.

“I find it strange that I discovered open source when I was on farm and not when I was a programmer in the big city,” Oon said.

“What struck me about open-source software is that tweaks and other changes can be made at ­lightning speed compared to doing the same with proprietary software because open source offers full access to any of the programs’ source code.

“The open-source community is the key to success. The power of many minds is brought to bear on any problems to be tackled and solutions are always quickly found. Many hands do make light work,” he said.

Oon also sees open source as a marketing opportunity. “What better way to market something than to give it away for free?” he said.

Discovering open source was the turning point in Oon’s life. “I also knew that ERP was going to be big deal, where a single contract can be as much as RM400mil,” he said.

He took to studying the inner workings of Compiere, spending hours on end tweaking it.

“It is a powerful ERP tool but it wasn’t very user-friendly in the beginning and I wanted to change this,” Oon said.

“It became a challenge and I would get so involved that on most days I would be up and at it from 5am and wouldn’t quit till midnight or later,” he said.

Oon eventually hooked up with some like-minded people and in 2003 became one of the founders and leader of ADempiere — an open-source community project to develop Compiere further and push it into the mainstream market.

He also decided to create a website — red1.org — that offers technical and basic tutorials on Compiere.

These days, he spends at least eight hours a day programming and configuring Compiere to meet specific customer needs.

He does his coding over a 512Kbps (kilobits per second) copper-line ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) connection.

“I built my little empire on a copper line and I work from my farm. I have no intention of ­changing this,” he said.

It is still hard work, though. “There are times when I do not get much sleep for 36 hours at a stretch,” he said. “This is because I need to sometimes communicate live with other members of the team who are in different time zones.”

Passion aflame

The toil has paid off for Oon and the ADempiere core community which comprises 30 members worldwide. Compiere has been one of the top three downloads on the sourceforge.net portal the past two years. (SourceForge.net is an online ­repository of open-source ­applications.)

Oon claims Compiere is catching on; it is being used by three major international shippers and a ­supplier to a huge supermarket chain in the United States.

Also, an Australian manufacturing company, GBC Scientific Equipment (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, uses Compiere at its Penang branch. It will be ­implementing the application at its headquarters in Melbourne next year.

“There are also hundreds of manufacturing, as well as small- and medium-scale enterprises, using the open-source application in Malaysia,” Oon added.

He is confident that Compiere will be able to give ERP software giant SAP a run for its money in the next two years.

“Our consultancy charges will be half that of SAP’s by that time, too. What ADempiere only lacks is a commercial face and front. We also need to build up our pool of ­expertise and we have started on this,” said Oon.

Fanning the fire

Oon has bigger plans. He is creating the first Masters programme for Compiere in the world this year at the Asia eUniversity in Kuala Lumpur — the only Malaysian university that offers certified open-source courses.

“The first year-long executive Masters programme is already underway with a dozen students. I am finalising the Masters programme which should begin in February next year.

“Degrees in open source are rare. There are some Linux courses but there are none in the world for ERP,” Oon said.

He believes that a certifiable knowledge base is important to make sure that Compiere remains a success. “Open source without a supporting talent pool is ­unthinkable,” he said.

Due to his indepth knowledge of Compiere, Oon is very much in demand and his career is beginning to take off again. “In the open-source community, information is free but expertise is not and is in demand,” he said.

Being an open-source guru is a far cry from the days when he was hoping to just survive the bad times. “I’ve even had the luxury of being able to turn down jobs because they would take me away for too long from my family and farm,” he said.

“I’ve grown accustomed to having the sounds of nature around me while I ponder lines of code.”

The simple life must suit him. Oon has been prolific in his work and has even found time to write a technical book called Open Source ERP, which will be out in stores in August.

What’s next after that?

“Well, I want to build a wooden sailing ship, like the one in Pirates of the Caribbean, and sail around the world,” Oon answered.

“Of course, it’ll have to be equipped with special antennas so that I’ll have Internet access ­wherever I go,” he added with a hearty laugh.

A Seeker Old Notes

Notes of 19.11.2007 after reading The Triumphal Sun:

Many seekers are being called travelers of the Path
but no one can claim to be a full sufi yet.
A traveler may arrives or get lost on the Way.
The Forest of Dunya is never kind to travelers
who enter it without a tested Guide.
Without a Weapon of Tawhid.
Without a Light of Discrimination-Furqan.

Buying sufic books and reading many old jawi
or Arabic kitab/texts of commentaries cannot help one
to see in the night of modernists anti-sufi.
On daytime the goats from the University Farms will attack
and chew up the green books because they are very hungry
and not trained well by their Masters and Dukturs
who prefer to feed them with spiritual empty grasses
and syllabus from the Orientalist wastelands.

(Dont ask me who is Hsue Tou and Neo-Hsue Tou, too late to learn mandarin and open the Blue Cliff Record of Thomas Cleary)

My student Zuigan Commentary ( free style spining poem)

Maulana Rumi Mountain collect clouds
Darqawi Deserts pour the rains
Half falls north of Master Izi River
Half falls into Attendant Zuigan Hut
Others may be stuck at Old Temples

Those who fear the Reality will be given knowledge
Do not say I have not warned you
A sufi a zen a monk still a name
Forest, desert and mountains
They cheat people most time
Or make them fight in politics
Sichuan Lu Xun Pur Erh

The Tea of China never Smells
Three sufi will make loud Noise
One solitary wali sat facing a city Wall
Music and drums they sell Tariqats

Kitaro and Wu Ming is my Friend
Leave all books journal and papers
Took the Sun burning Path
Where Universities cannot teach
_________________
Tubba alal-ghuraba
Fasalamun ala man tabaal-huda
Rabbi habli hukman wa ahiqni bis-salihin

Catatan Dari Jakarta

POJOK ZAWIYYAH RIBAT JAKARTA

Bismillah! yang dapat duduk dalam lingkaran ini
adalah yang berhati bening..walaupun kesalahan menutupinya,
dengan ijin Allah! masya Allah la quwatta ila billah
- hasbuna Allah wanimal wakil...

Pengetahuan terbesar adalah pengetahuan
yang di iringi rasa takut (kepada Allah). (ibn Ata'illah)

Hanya orang bodoh dan tertipu yang merasa dirinya tinggi
dan rendah karena apa yang ada ditangannya (al-faqir)

Pecinta sejati tiada bertepi, rindu tanpa batas
dan cinta tanpa kahir, tidak dimiliki dan memiliki (al-faqir)

Aku akan berjalan ribuan kilometer bersama kepalsuan,
sampai aku bisa menemukan satu langkah yang benar dan sejati (al-Junayd)

For those who travel to Allah and do not listen to its conversation or follow its opinion, it is like a strong wind released for sailors. In one hour, it makes them arrive whereas others arrive there after a month or a year. Allah knows best. When someone halts with conversation and opinion, by Allah, he remains becalmed, at a standstill, as occurs to sailors. Such is its nature. We think that the one who leaves what does not concern him will find that the least of means is enough for him. If he does not leave it, nonthing will be enough for him, no matter what he does. (Shaykh ad-Darqawi)

A Hundred Resolutions

Sharing one of the poems that speaks to me...

Lovers are Made Aware

You make a hundred resolutions
to journey somewhere,
He draws you somewhere else,
He turns the horse's bridle in every direction
So that the untrained horse may know there is a rider
The clever horse is well paced
because it knows a rider is mounted upon it.
He fixed your heart on a hundred passionate desires,
disappointed you, and then broke your heart.
Since He broke the wings of your first intention,
how do you doubt the existence of the Wing-Breaker?

Since His ordainment snapped the cord
of your contrivance,
how can you remain blind to His Command?
Your resolutions and aims now and then are fulfilled
so that through hope your heart
might form another intention
which He might once again destroy.
For if He were to keep you completely from success,
you would despair:
how would the seed of expectation be sown?

If your heart did not sow that seed,
and then encounter barrenness,
how would it recognize its submission to Divine will?
by their failures lovers are made aware of their Lord.
Lack of success is the guide to Paradise:
Pay attention to the tradition,
" Paradise is encompassed with pain"


Maulana Rumi, MATHWANI III, 4456-67
-Gift from traveler friend @mariefleur

Wun Tung

1. Hamba ditakdirkan dilahirkan didaerah pergunungan banjaran titiwangsa. Kampungku pernah digunakan kawasan laluan dan operasi perang gerila zaman jepun dan darurat komunis.Lebih awal lagi mungkin jadi markas atau tempat persembunyian dato' bahaman/mat kilau melawan penjajah mat salih. Jadi semasa membesar dalam pengembaraan mencari ilmu dunia dan akhirat terpaksa keluar dari bandar wuntung (bahasa dialek ibundaku).

2. Datuk dan ayahku (tungshan mari)telah melakukan satu revolusi atau cuba merealisasikan satu wawasan suci jauh kehadapan untuk seorang anak china hakka dilahirkan ibuku pada tahun 1956. Sempat bersuara dan menjerit untuk kemerdekaan malaya ketika itu. Malaysia hanya terbentuk pada tahun 1963 tatkala hamba berusia 7 tahun dan dihantar memperjuangkan masadepan sekolah aliran melayu kebangsaan !
Cuba fikir logik tak, kakakku dua orang dihantar belajar sekolah inggeris dan sekolah china tapi anak lelaki sulung dihantar sekolah melayu ? Hamba protes dalam senyap menggengam bara api...yang akhirnya bertukar percikan nur iman.

3. Bandar Bentong memiliki banyak keunikan dan memecahkan REKOD SEJARAH MALAYSIA seperti berikut :

a. Bandar ini diteroka kerana bijih timah, emas dan getah oleh pendatang china yang majoritinya puak hakka, kwongsai dan kantonis. Jika waktu malam hampir 99% pekan ini dikuasai orang china, penuh dengan basikal pada zaman 1960an dan 1970an serta burung-layang layang beribu-ribu ekor bermalam atas talian letrik panas dijalan loke yew, ah peng and chuiyin.

b. Ahli Parlimen bandar kecil diapit dua banjaran gunung dengan sebatang anak sungai pahang mengalir deras ditengahnya yang diwakili oleh MCA tak pernah TEWAS dalam pilihanraya sejak merdeka. Melahirkan tokoh politik china dan bekas menteri terkenal Tan Sri Chan Siang Sun, Lim Ah Lek, Chan Kong Choy, Liow Tiong Lai dan termasuk Menteri Besar Pahang mutakhir Adnan Yaakub (dari kg.benus).

c. Ramai terlupa sejarah bahawa Dato' Hussein , ayahanda Tun Razak (TR) pernah menjadi DO daerah ini dan kuburnya diziarahi setiap tahun oleh sanak saudaranya di perkuburan Batu Satu, Jalan Tras menghala ke Raub.Salah seorang sepupu TR yang sohor adalah Pak Busu yang membuka kedai runcit dan jual nasi lemak/kuih di persimpangan ke Air Terjun Chamang/Kg.Repas, kira-kira 1 km dari pekan. Kini kedai beliau sudah ditutup dan tanah kebun getah dibelakang rumahnya telah dijual kepada pemaju china pada 1975 lalu dibangunkan Taman Shahbandar Hussein sekarang !

d. Semasa TR menjadi TPM dizaman Tunku, daerah ini dipilih menjadi Tanah Rancangan Felda(getah) Pertama di Malaysia iaitu FELDA LEMBAH BILUT kira-kira 15 km dari bandar.


e. Seterusnya rekod Malaysia lain ialah pembinaan KOTA KASINO GENTING HIGHLAND diatas banjaran titiwangsa terletak dalam pentadbiran DO Bentong ! Ada sebuah Masjid di Genting bernama Tan Sri Noah iaitu bapa kepada Toh Puan Rahah isteri arwah TR. Dan anak sulungnya kini hampir beberapa hari lagi menjadi PM Malaysia !

f. Rekod satu lagi: pembinaan Lebuh Raya KL-Karak dan Terowong paling tinggi di Malaysia dekat Genting Sempah, 1500 kaki.

Hari Wanita Antarabangsa

1. Pada Isnin lepas 9 Mac 2009 diraikan media massa sebagai hari wanita atau international woman day. Maka tergerak hati saya mencatatkan sejarah tarikh unik dalam kamus hidup keluarga berdarah naga utara dan sang rimau nusantara ini.

2. Hampir 3 hari mengurus hidup berdikari tanpa wanita pada 7-9 Mac 2009 kerana isteri dikasih terbang balik ke Kota bahru menziarahi ahli keluarganya yang uzur.

3. Hamba ada 3 puteri mujahidah telah besar, dewasa dan boleh hidup berjauhan kerana kerja (anak sulung lulusan UIA mengajar di kolej Muar), anak kedua berkursus BTN dan Induksi di Perak dan Langkawi selama 2 minggu (baru habis mengaji di Melbourne) dan anak ketiga mengasah ijazah doktor di UK.

4. Jadi, yang tinggal serumah dengan sang bapa tunggal sementara adalah anak lelaki sulung (bersiap ke Ireland/Russia/ukraine begitulah bunyinya jika tamat Baccalaurate nanti)dan anak lelaki bongsu berjiwa samurai,dragonball,kitaro ...darjah 4 bisa menyanyi lagu inggeris dan jepun, mengaji Quran habis 10 juz..

5. Sebab tak pandai masak, maka kami sempena Hari Wanita buat keputusan makan musafir di Medan Selera Alamanda. Banyak mata memandang...eh mana emak atau ibu, kakak mereka ? Kasihan , bapa berumur lebih separuh abad makan masakan western, cina dan melayu dengan 2 anak lelaki ?

6. Begitulah secebis kisah hidup keluarga moden Malaysia. Adik isteri saya pernah belajar 5 tahun di universiti hiroshima dan kini sedang mengajar di UITM dan buat Ph.D di UKM. Jumpa suami di jepun. Adik lelaki seorang lagi mengaji di University of California hampir bekerja dengan NASA. Balik malaysia kerja dengan Petronas, berhenti. Kerja dengan JKR , berhenti. Masalah hasad dengki musuh sesama melayu dan muslim. Baik kerja dengan syarikat minyak US dapat gaji lebih Rm20,000 sebulan. Berkat biasiswa MARA taja dia belajar overseas.

7. sekian, akan sambung cerita Hari Bapa bila ada ilham.

Melawan Kufr dengan Kasut, Apa yang hilang ?

Tanpa Kasut Tanpa Mengenal Musuh Diri, Akal,Bangsa, Negara atau Kufr

By Abdas Samad Clarke

A shoe was thrown. It was thrown because of the destruction of Iraq, its infrastructure, and the million deaths of men, women and children, and the exile of substantially more people as refugees, because of the theft of Iraq’s resources and their being handed over to crony capitalism by what they like to call the ‘US government’, a rubric for what has been a kind of gangsterdom long before Mr Bush the clueless assumed the helm and which will certainly continue to be so with the next incumbent.

Now the man who threw the shoe is regarded as bad mannered, and possibly an extremist. So to throw a shoe is extremism but to kill a million people is not. And in other eyes, he is a new hero, a Saladdin. One man will buy the shoe for $10 million and another has offered his willing daughter in marriage.

However, if we now campaign for the one man who threw the shoe, to stop him being beaten in an Iraqi jail, where were we when the million people were being murdered, the millions exiled to suffering and poverty? Surely our efforts should have been many million-fold stronger on their behalf. This is a classic case of how information levels, it makes each crime seem the same: the throwing of a shoe-thrower in jail equates to the murder of a million people. The outrage felt is equivalent in both cases.

In reacting to the shoe, we are simply reacting to the signal fed us by the apparatus ironically called the ‘media’, ironically, since media are what transmit signals to the public, but this apparatus largely blocks real and true signals from getting to us. But how can that be?

The media came to the forefront in history during the French Revolution, for after all, the word journalism comes from the French word jour ‘a day’. They are a part and parcel of the theory of democracy, for how can you have a citizenry voting on the affairs of state and those who are to represent them in making decisions if the citizenry are not well informed? Theoretically the media are crucial in this process. But something has gone wrong, horribly wrong.

That wrongness comes from something so simple and so obvious that few people can see it, and if they are shown it they refuse to see it. Just as in this theory there is a need for media to inform the citizenry, there is clearly a need for journalists, staff, editors, printers, distributors, and a whole host of others to produce, sell and distribute the ‘news’, and equally there is a need for a great deal of technology, not least printing machines, but today PCs, faxes, and a host of other devices, and this costs a great deal, capital expense.

Our age in its lemming-like rush to extinction sees no alternative to taking loans that grow exponentially and destroy their host just as parasites do. That necessarily means that the whole apparatus of the news must think first and foremost about sales, rather than about informing people. Actions are by intentions. The news has become a matter of sales and is not about informing.

That is a great part of why, although there has never been a people so over-informed as we are today, it results in us being absolutely ineffective and impotent, until finally one of our number, one of the swarm of the impotent, after being thoroughly searched for any possible dangerous object, simply lost it and threw his shoes and he did not even hit the target. And we, right across the globe, have felt a rush of sympathy and support for this pathetic brave man who simply responded humanly to the awful liar, mass murderer and war criminal he saw before him. And he threw his shoes.

Ingin Menjadi Burung Hud-Hud ?

Karya kedua ini dihidangkan untuk pembaca budiman. Takut nanti hilang terus entah kemana. Insya'Allah, akan disambung dengan balasan surat pembaca misteri dari pahang. Dia komen, hanya orang sufi yang tahu bahasa rohani dan alam haiwan. Jangan guna intelek sangat. Setuju juga tapi dia tak beri alamat.

------------------------

The original article - dated July 1998 (Muslimah Magazine, Malaysia)

Terbang Bersama Hud-hud –

Apakah relevannya kisah Burung Hud hud dengan kehidupan manusia yang semakin kalut dengan krisis ekonomi, budaya sekular dan konflik politik agama serta gersangnya pengisian rohaniah sejati? Jika kita rajin dan serius, kita boleh menggali seribu makna dari kisah-kisah Hud-hud dalam al-Quran surah Al-Namli ayat 20. Tuhan Maha Bijaksana menggunakan perlambangan dan bicara seekor burung untuk mengajar manusia beberapa hikmah penting.

Hud-hud adalah simbol pencari kebenaran tak lekang di zaman. Dia pengikut setia, pembawa berita menakjubkan dan ketua masyarakat haiwan dari jenisnya. Hud-hud utusan kepercayaan Nabi Sulaiman alaihi salam. Dia mengikut perintah tet
api tidak buta. Dia tidak hadir perhimpunan ada alasan tersendiri. Hud-hud dipuji di dalam al-Quran. Dia pengikut beriman yang memiliki fikiran terbuka, cerdik dan innovatif. Dari kisah istimewa melencungnya penerbangan Hud-hud, kita dipaparkan dengan kedudukan dan kuasa Nabi Sulaiman dan Ratu Balqis. Dua pemimpin bangsa dan negara yang bertembung kekuatan dan identitinya sendiri. Apakah mereka akan berperang atau berdamai?

Para sufi dan ariffin membuat tafsiran bahawa setiap insan dalam perjalanan menuju Tuhannya telah dibekali dengan syarat/cermin Hud-hud. Semua manusia memiliki Hud-hud yang berkicau dengan berita berita penting dunia, yang terkadang menggembirakan dan kadang menyedihkan. Berita-berita kemajuan teknologi, kemewahan, kenikmatan sensori dan keuntungan material, kebebasan beragama dan demokrasi idaman. Berita-berita zalim, dominasi, putarbelit kuasa elit, krisis wang dan perang sana sini, manusia hanyut tanpa iman dan melawan perintah Tuhan.

Dengan kata lain, setiap hidup insan ibarat perjalanan berbahaya dan juga sangat berharga. Setiap kita pasti ada Sulaiman dan Balqisnya, ada penasihat-penasihat di keliling istana kuasa. Siapa patut tunduk pada siapa? Sulaiman adalah akal memimpin dan Balqis adalah nafsu dunia yang mengagungkan matahari material. Sementara itu, Hud-hud adalah jambatan, peneroka dan bekal Ilahi berupa ilham, intuisi, fitrah, kabar, informasi dan petunjuk dari Allah.

Setiap makhluk alam ada perlembagaannya untuk mengisyaratkan sesuatu yang tinggi. Insan dengan akalnya, pohon nyiur dengan lambaiannya, sungai dengan arus airnya, laut dengan gelombangnya, karang dengan ketegarannya, bumi dengan kitarannya, bintang dengan kerlipan cahayanya, burung dengan kicau dan penerbangan bebasnya. Betapa sayap sayap rohani mereka dapat menghantarkan mereka kepada Maharaja Simurgh. Jika Ibnu Sina telah menulis darihal perubatan penyakit zahir dan spiritual, manakala Imam Ghazali darihal peritnya ujian kembara seorang salik dalam Munqiz Minad Dhalal, maka Fariruddin Attar menuliskan Mantiqul At-Thairu bagi mengisahkan keinginan insan kembali ke asal usul syurgawinya melalui penerbangan burung burung metaforis ke arah Simurgh dengan citarasa mistik dan makrifah. Attar bercerita laksana seorang furu hakim seperti Luqman mengajak anaknya menuju Tuhan dengan mengasah dan menggunakan al-Hikmah.
'Wa'man yu'tal hikmata, faqad utiya khairan kathiran.'


Istilah bahsa burung (Mantiqul Thairi) yang dijadikannya judul kitab oleh Attar ada banyak rahsianya. Ianya satu warisan para Nabi yang dapat menguraikan bahasa batin burung-burung dalam percaturan, konflik dan perdebatan mereka uyntuk terbang menuju Tempat Misteri. Simurgh bererti tiga puluh dalam bahasa Parsi yakni 30 sifat/jenis manusia yang ada potensi melakukan perjalanan khas, mencapai pemberian agung Tuhan.Kesemuanya tewas, gagag atau enggan mara terus kecuali 30 ekor burung yang sampai ke Simurgh.

Adakah kita tergolong jenis pencari yang dimaksudkan? Cari dan bacalah buku Attar itu jika anda ingin terbang bersama Hud hud. Jangan dengar lagu M Nasir sahaja. Seronok tapi hanya sebentar. Akhir sekali saya mengaku mendapat ilham daninspirasi menuiskan artikel Burung Hud hud ini dari catatan Iftitah Sayyid Musa al-Kazim dalam Jurnal bernama Al-Hikmah terbitan MIZAN, Indonesia Bil 15.1995. Perlukah kita terbang ke Jakarta untuk mencari hikmah yang tiada terdapat di Malaysia? Pembaca boleh menjawabnyua sendiri. Kesimpulannya, setiap peluang, peristiwa, buku atau renungan yang boleh membawa insan kepada Jalan Pulang menuju Penciptanya adalah ibarat burung Hud hud.

Dia ibarat mursyid petunjuk jalan dan impian yang mesti diteruskan seperti mana penulis fizik moden Gary Zukav mengajak pembaca menari bersama The Dancing Wu Li Masters bagi menemukan hikmah rohani timur. Jika Dr Sachiko Murata berupaya mendalami bahasa Arab dan fahaman sufi lantas menghasilkan karya masyhurnya The Tao of Islam yang membuat perbandingan dengan prinsip Yin Yang dalam falsafah klasik China, maka selaku Muslim, kita lebih berhak menguasai ilmu ilmu , bahsa dan hikmah yang berkaitan.

Oleh itu setiap Muslim atau pencari beraniu yang mahu terbang bersama burung Hud hud sayugianya memahami bahasa wahyu, bahsa akal dan bahasa makrifah yang terbentang di bumi luas nan indah. Sebagai satu amaran, jangan kita biarkan angka angka matawang , indeks bursa saham dan ekonomi, formula teori sains dan teknology menewaskan huruf huruf bahasa ajaib kurnia Illahi untuk dijadikan peta rujukan semua insan bagi merealisasikan maknawi diri masing masing.

Gold Dinar A Threat To Kuffar System

Ramai tidak tahu kejatuhan daulah Islam terakhir, khalifah Uthmaniyya Turki pada 1920s disebabkan racun kuasa riba, wang kertas dan perbankan kuffar telah menjajahi dunia islam. Sistim riba ini telah meruntuhkan tiang rukun zakat ! 'Perbankan islam' kini hanya label,slogan dan kuda tunggangan sistim kufar. Awas.

IS THE ISLAMIC GOLD DINAR A REAL THREAT?
July 1, 2004. By Craig R. Smith, CEO SATC( website: swiss america rediscover gold)


What's an Islamic gold dinar? ...
Is it a threat to the U.S. dollar? ...
Can radical Islamic convince Muslims to use the gold dinar instead of the dollar?
How will a falling dollar impact the priced-for-perfection U.S. stock market?

Disini ingin kami paparkan kegentaran kufar dan kebangkitan blog/webiste yang membuka matahati kita kepada realiti sebenar.


1. Universiti sains malaysia : Gold Dinar Research Group at http://usm.my/dinar/

2. Dinar Mas kelantan at http://www.dinarkel.com

3. Dinar Nusantara di http://www.wakalanusantara.com

4. Swiss America di http://www.321gold.com/info/gold_dinar

5. www.islamhariini.com

6. www.shaykhabdalqadir.com

7. www.rapidtrends.com

8. http://wealthbygold.com

Krisis Riba Melanda Singapore

Kini giliran Singapura kerugian kira-kira USD58.0 bilion (x3.4= RM197.2 bilion):Source Business Asia 17.2.09. Malaysia baru nak lancar pakej ransangan RM7.0 bilion ? Sebenarnya dalam 'off balance sheets' banyak bank malaysia telah rugi akibat pinjaman derivatif asing. Ini perang jihad terbesar zaman mutakhir tetapi pak arab telahpun hangus lebih US1.0 trilion/1,000 bilion kerana eksport minyak disimpan dalam USD/bank USA ! Beli saham/bon USA yang jatuh teruk bcos toxic debts derivates. Bila pemimpin islam bangkit dari mimpi kuasa politik demokrasi ?

SINGAPORE - Government of Singapore Investment Corp, which has helped bail out troubled global financial institutions, suffered an investment loss of about 50 billion Singapore dollars (33 billion US) last year, sources told Dow Jones Newswires on Tuesday.

In late 2007 and early last year GIC injected billions of dollars into Swiss bank UBS as well as US banking giant Citigroup, both of which suffered massive losses from US subprime, or higher-risk, mortgage investments.

Subprime troubles later evolved into the worldwide financial slowdown.

"The loss on the investment portfolio last year is estimated at around 45 billion to 50 billion," one of two people familiar with the GIC situation told Dow Jones.

"But, GIC has no thoughts to sell down any of its major investments. They'll wait until they recover."

UBS this month posted an annual loss of 17 billion US dollars, the largest in Swiss corporate history, and announced 2,000 new job cuts.

A second person said GIC's investment loss last year was "recently estimated to be similar to Temasek's."

The portfolio of Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, which helped bail out Wall Street icon Merrill Lynch, fell about 31 percent over eight months last year, Senior Minister of State for Finance Lim Hwee Hua told parliament last week.

She said Temasek's portfolio of investments fell to 127 billion dollars at the end of November, down 58 billion from 185 billion dollars on March 31 last year.

Matawang Amerika Topeng Boneka

While the world economy collapses the American dollar continues to strengthen its position in the world, to little wonder – it’s getting back to its basics as the backup currency on every continent except Antarctica.

Yet since the U.S. has debts two times exceeding the world’s GDP one cannot help but ask oneself – what’s next?

The web is flooded with lots of theories and rumours about what would happen to the American currency whether, when and where it would fall – or what else. Some of them look like senseless fantasies, others resemble futurologist’s predictions, but the conspiracy theories of all kinds and colours are firmly on top of all.

“Dollar will crash soon”, “U.S. will change currency”, “Dollars will be sold by weight” – as some smart Russian blogger put it – who creates such buzz and is there a rational reason for the slightest of anxieties?

Well, there is a fact that poses a question, with a big Q. Dollar monetary stock worldwide has grown two-fold over the last half-year and this printing press does not seem to be slowing down.

Would this financial pyramid eventually collapse (since these lots of green paper are not based neither on gold or something equally solid nor collateralized to be collateral)? No one from the U.S. Federal Reserve System so far has intelligibly explained what they are planning to do with the paper, and this mystery probably holds the key answer to the question posed above.

The unimaginable trillions of dollars of national debt make the currently realised $US 700 billion bailout plan look pale in comparison – as well as the $US 850 billion next one currently being discussed.

The truth is that all this money just does not exist. You can print banknotes but you cannot necessarily call them “money”. Imagine this money distributed equally among every living person and fancy what would happen if they all decided to buy goods simultaneously – there’d not be enough goods on this planet. What’s next? Guess for yourself.

So, the devaluation of the dollar is probably not far away but what could happen before this event? Here are just some of the most fabulous yet entirely possible worst-case scenarios.

Option 1. Have you heard about Amero? Not yet?! Well, that’s how most probably will be called the currency of the united economic zone of the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Unimaginable? You’d better imagine what to do with the green paper stockpiled throughout the world if the exchange rate is 1:10 or even 1:100.

Option 2. This world is infested with forgers and false dollars (most of them not in the U.S.) When the hour comes and the new (let’s say red) dollar is produced, all the rest of the world would face the problem of how to use the green ones. Beware! The print is toxic and you’d die anyway when trying to burn them in your fireplace once you survive the heart attack of hearing the news itself.

Option 3. Everyone knows that the U.S. is a cheap country. Americans do not hellishly spend popular $US 100 banknotes as often as the rest of us. No use – no need. Why don’t they call them off altogether? They are nearly all false, anyway.

Option 4. The U.S. declares itself technically bankrupt. Impossible? There are RULES, you’d say? Everything’s possible for the country that has changed the rules of the game countless times to become the biggest consumer sponging on the rest of the world.

Option 5. Uncontrollable printing of the dollar banknotes alone would collapse the dollar system that would make the debt returning for the U.S. Federal Reserve System a task somehow much easier than it is nowadays.

There are economists that do hope that a number of regional unified currencies would emerge within the near future in Asia, Latin America, and Arab world, and even among post-Soviet countries. The euro is a spectacular example, but you do not need to be an economist to understand that such processes expand for decades (consider again the euro example) while the crisis has already stepped in and mushroomed as straight and tall as an atomic cloud.

That is why the more probable seems an Option 6, which is a good old receipt when some countries are busy exterminating each other’s population while the other countries are just accepting arms contracts from both warring parties. Just keep in mind we live in a nuclear age. Again unthinkable? Than take a closer look at the Islamist-torn Pakistan and India and their relations after the Mumbai massacre. Nuclear weapons? They have them both.

If they wage war against each other, they’d be no such thing as Asian, Arab or even European financial markets at all and nobody would care what the hell happened to the dollar.

Komentar:

Nampak pemimpin utama dunia Islam masih tidur nyenyak, leka dengan habuan dan kekayaan minyak/gas, percaya 100% pada sistem kewangan kafir, kapitalis, IMF, Bank Dunia, WTO etc. Saat kehancuran sistim RIBAWI wang kertas, bon, kredit, saham, derivatifs amat hampir. Hanya wang dinar mas, perak merupakan jalan keluar...titik permulaan yang sukar difahami, diyakini oleh akal insan....kerana meninggalkan amar wahyu. Hamba suka berjuang dibalik tabir dan gunung Miyazaki dengan air sungai sejuk dan angin hutan segar. Kalau turun ke kota pasti ada sasaran perang gerila matrix.

Call It Qi And Paint It Zhen

Catatan Usang ini merupakan komentar keatas syarahan Master Izi ketika hamba mengaji di institut Dailin nur. Tersembunyi jauh di pergunungan wilayah Prefecture Miyazaki, Jepang.

" Menuding kearah seekor Rusa, rupakan ianya jelmaan seekor Kuda Perang ". Siapa pula berani menunggangnya ? Teknik klasik guru Zen untuk mengajar muridnya berfikir diluar kotak akal. Apakah bahasa bisa melukis landskap rohani nan indah lagi suci quddusi ? Apakah metafizika akademik berupaya mengajar kita sufisma atas buku dan ijazah ? Apakah para Awliya mesti mengajar kitab ? Apakah tasawuf bisa dihidupkan melalui pena Tao and senaman Qi Gong ? Mari kita meniti semula cerpen separa fiksi dibawah.



Journal Notes of 19 September 2006

This morning of Ramadhan around 4.00 am my wife woke me up for sahur. She prepared the hot coffee, soup, fish with tomato sauce and at the kitchen she put on the Radio IKIM-islamic channel. We don’t know how and what criteria they label this song/music /singers as Islamic or not-islamic. So I asked my wife Sophia Zhou teasingly,
“ Tell me what are just two happiness the singers got when their songs are being praised and put on air ? She replied, ‘ Are you quizzing me or make fun of my little knowledge ? No, this questions just to awaken and polish your memories !

‘ Polish your heart with Remembrance of Divine’. Meanwhile, the our kitchen radio churned out this song, that song, new songs by Yusuf Islam, another by M.Nasir, another piece of Kitaro…and one overplayed until very familiar with my ears is the Beautiful Names song ! Do this music really clean our hearts ? Do it put subtle awareness and love of truth into our beings ? Or it was just another sensational voice like Mawi, Yassin, Raihan, Siti Nurhaliza, Sharifah Aini, eccentric rock/pop like Ramli Sarip, Aqil Hayy, Imad, Yasin, deep Eastern qasidas from Rabbani, some pieces of Burdah, Barzanji and Thalaal ?

My wife put a brave forced answer-‘ they are happy bcos they make money from singing! ’.
Another answer, we need just two reasons. What about singers who sing to pour out his heart contents as a lowly slave in face of this vast existence and moving Reality, deep in the night and he dont want anyone to listen or pay him anything ? My wife retorted, ‘ this singer is mad , no money and no audience ?.

So we reverse or put matrix layers of opposite questions and way of posing or answering, then we will get insight into extraordinary revelations ! Yes, there are many mad singers outside…!

But they are as Maulana Rumi, Yunus Emre of Anatolia or Hafiz 700 years ago pointed out , they are not singers of this sensory-lower-media hyped world, but the strangers, seekers , dervishes who sang the in secretive circles and to draw out the bird of meanings or spirit from the caged prison of bodies to soar to another level of being, realm of existence or spiritual station.

They had sold their riches and wealth and freedom just to taste a drop from the Ocean. A gleam of ruh from the Unseen. A light from the arrogant corner of the nafs al-ammara self. A moment of coolness in the Fire of the Friend.

An triple isolation of the self-people, ship-ocean and
night raging storms–tranquil darkness/safety in the Fish Belly.
Subhanaka la ilaha illa Anta, inni kuntu minaz-zalimin.
An escape from Magic of Firaun court of power, death and slavery.

Throw away your Staff, Oh Musa.(your self/intellect reliance)
Put off your two Sandals (realms of inward/outward), Oh Musa.
Draw out your shining Hand from your shirt.
Climb and put your foot in the Burning Bush.
Step into the Sacred Valley of Non-Time/Place..

The Time, Place, Body and Language of humanity has been folded up in a jalali moment. Look the Mountain had melted away, gone, annihilated and became dusts, nothingness. That is your adamic reality. What are we to claim and acquire this dreamlike unseen realm ? How can any sufi or sages or pretenders make claims they can fly, enter, ascend or withdraw inwardly to this Presence of Nearness ? Witnessing the inner reality that make them a slave to bodily form and limitations.

They had not tasted it like the Tea of Ecstasy.
Drink the Nectar of Arrival. From the Cup of TAO.
Except by the mercy, gift and overflowing of the Real.
Not at the time/place they choose/boasted
but only after total stripping away (tajrid/tafrid)
and being BROKEN HEARTED. STAND at the DOOR.

Hot but not fire, wet but not water,
dry but not air and hard but not stone/wood,
this Jewel belongs to the Seeker who had SEEN,
SPOKEN, EMBRACED, KISSED, LEAD the prayer
and followed BEHIND, send OUT, put FORWARD,
taken ABACK, spoken AGAINST, CRUSHED,

TRAVELLED much and covered SHORT distance,
being COOKED, flung to the EAST,
unknown and trampled in the WEST,
he brew TEA but fools say it was COFFEE.
People call it TAO, hide the CHI,
spell it QING and painted it ZHEN.
Recite it KE’LAN CHING.

ENTER the empire of MING.
Journey to DESERT and ARRIVE at DRAGON INN.
BLOWN away the next DAY. RAMADHAN soon over.
NIGHT of POWER is with MY MASTER.

You are still RAW. Learn ADAB from
the YOUNGEST FAQIR and SERVE the OLDEST.
HONOR your WIFE and treat the WOMEN
with LOVE and CARE. They help PURIFY
your NAFS and smell the PERFUME of sincerity.

KICK OUT the bad guys and put them in KITCHEN.
Enter the CAVE of sidi FUDUL.
READ from the Library of al-QARAWYN.
Compare your STATUS with BLIND man of Bahlil.
STAY at the tiny hamlet of AGHLAB until you DIE.

Dance with MOZART. SOAR with Ninth Symphony.
Get ANNIHILATED by just A GLANCE.
This PRICELESS ….ONE DOT beneath the letter of Ba.

NO more voice. No sound, no seeing,
no meeting, no teaching, no books,
no inks and paper to WRITE ON.
No computer to PLUG ON.
Just a TINY VISION SOME WHERE.
CAN YOU KEEP IT. LOST IT ?

Between The Eyebrows And Sultaniyya

Pointing to a Deer, it become a Horse.
Grubbing the Soil, it becomes Gold
On the tongue, Wind and Thunder are Raised.

Between the Eyebrows, a bloody Blade is Stored.
While sitting, Success or Failure is Perceived
While standing, life and death are Examined.

Tell me: what kind of wisdom teaching is this ?

We are happy to add recent book review of Sh.Abdal qadir as-sufi touching the most pertinent questions of this age: statism, power, islamic governance, riba and true restoration of sharia..etc as follow:

The SULTANIYYA (www.madinahmedia.com)

This new book by Shaykh Abdalqadir is unequivocal in its placing the Deen of Islam and the Muslims who hold to it as being over and above the collapsed and failed ethos of kufr. From its first sentence the author reverts the whole affair back to Allah.

Chapter One gives us an understanding of deen from its root of 'dal-alif-nun, daana, which means to be indebted and also to judge.' This debt begins with a loan from Allah and we spend from it out of the life He gave us, and then He, subhannahu wa ta 'ala, repays us for it. On the Day of the Deen all debts fall due. This is also called the Last Day. The Shaykh next explains the Command of Allah, 'kun fa yakun' (BE AND IT IS) and then unfolds the most beautiful and intellectually sublime description of Rububiya, 'the inter-linked and inter-connected pattern which runs through all creation.' The Great Question that was asked: Alastu bi rabbikum (Am I not your Lord?), and then was answered, originated from before time yet is confirmed or denied in the lived-out in-time reality of each and every human soul that all said "Yes." Those that confirm their answer and those who cover over (make kufr of) what they answered now stand on two opposing 'sides of an abyss.' On one side are the muminun, on the other the kafirun.

The Second Chapter is Dawla, a unique and very special term for the Islamic polity, which does not mean State, as understood within the dominant world view of kufr and has been accepted by the unfortunate Islamic Modernists. The word dawla, the Shaykh informs us, derives from the root dal-alif-lam, and means to change periodically, to take turns, to alternate and to rotate. This is a 'movement' that creates a recognisable pattern that is the deen of Islam. This patterning is expressed through the movement of wealth that occurs through trade (from which usury is prohibited), through the distribution of Zakat (that has been taken by authority before it is released to those to whom it is due), and lastly by means of booty, ghanam, that is the permitted wealth of those who go out and strive in the 'way of Allah.' Again relating to the internal flow of wealth is the jiziya, taken from the Dhimmis in exchange for their being protected, choosing to live within a Muslim society.

Before going to the next chapter it is useful to draw attention to the previous book written by the Shaykh, Technique of the Coup De Banque, which so clearly demonstrates the 'machine' quality of the modern State and how it is inimical to the nature of Dawla. The fiscal State runs on the fuel supply of riba and has a power nexus or engine, which is Bankism, that operates outside of democratically elected Government. The function of Government, therefore, remains only as an inter-face between the non-elected elite, what can be identified as a financial oligarchy, and the general public. The model of Dawla given us in Sultaniya is exemplified by movement, change and distribution, and is the diametrical alternative to the kafir State system, whose underlining characteristic would be 'hoarding' through the concentration of wealth and assumed power amongst a non-elected elite.

The next chapter, which is on Waqf, is written by Professor Mehmet Maksudoglu, the author of Osmanli History 1289-1922, and a leading authority in the field of Ottoman studies. The role of the waqaf (a charitable trust set up in perpetuity for providing a specific service or benefit) within the Islamic model is essentially one of an energy source (derived from seeking the Pleasure of Allah) for the growth, prosperity and the taking care of the basic welfare of society.

The fourth chapter is provided by Umar Ibrahim Vadillo, the leading alim (scholar) in the world today on Islamic Trade. Mr.Vadillo is a scholar of the fiqh (the science of the application of Shar'ia) and Sunna (confirmed practice) of the Rasool, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, pertaining to tijara (trade), and, furthermore, is a demention of Islam that has been allowed to atrophy for over a century.

Significantly, this important alim fully understand the complex machinations of usury Capitalism (modern economics) as it operates in our present time, and not only deconstructs the myth of false [fiat] money but outlines the means of re-establishing halal trade with the Islamic Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham, Islamic Contracts, Open Markets and the Caravans of the twenty-first century. Halal must be taken to mean lawful (by Divine Law) and healthy in regards to a commercial intercourse that produces equity and shared benefit. The author of this essential chapter clearly distinguishes between a pseudo-scholarship that has attempted to Islamisise a kafir economic system and authentic Madinan Islam based on the amal of the community of the Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

In Chapter Five, As Sultan, Shaykh Abdalqadir begins with the sobering statement that 'there is no extant Islam on the face of the planet,' and while there are probably as many as two billion Muslims there is 'no Islamic command.' The author provides an historical breakdown of events starting with the rule of Mahmud II in the first years of the nineteenth century and ends in the first years of the twentieth with the Kamalist secular (read kafir) State.
The chronology is the record of the dismantling of the Deen, as piece by piece it is surrendered in order to accept in its place another deen. The last heroic effort to divert the entropy of collapse was made by Sultan Abdalhamid II, until the Islamic command stopped. This chapter is by far the most challenging to the hollow religion of Humanism, as it deals with Personal Rule, Genetic Inheritance and Qur'anic Revelation.

The sixth and final chapter, Tasawwuf, provides both a précis to the two main formulations that make up the previous chapters as well as adding an essential third one. The first formulation would be the validity of 'the practiced science of heredity,' based on the Shari'at, relating to inheritance and includes 'personal rule, kingship and for us [most] crucially Kalifate.' The second formulation is that of 'a sound currency, that is the Zakat-collectable Islamic Gold Dinar and Silver Dirham.'

The third formulation is neither a political program nor a personal one. It is nothing less than the returning of the whole of the Deen of Islam to that of being a Divine matter. The 'final conclusion is that where there is a terrain governed by Amirs who have Sultaniyya in the matters of the Faara'id,' the 'Great Moment' can arrive where men choose the 'noblest and bravest amongst them' to lead the Muslims.
An insight into who these leaders were who ruled in this manner can be glimpsed by recognising that they all had spiritual Shaykhs who guided them in their inward as they lead the Umma in strengthening and expanding the Deen. There the text ends, with the passing on of authority from Allah, first to the Rasool, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, and then to those who followed in command, with Allah's words from Al A'raf: "Say, Mankind! I am Messenger of Allah to you all."

Abdullah Luongo


Contacts for information and books by Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi:
Orhan Gazi, Amir in Cape Town of the Murabitun
Abdurrahman Shabalala: 083 673 7871 (PRESS SECRETARY)

Commentary on Master Calligrapher Haji Noor Deen

Part 2 :


f. He shows the mark of sincerity and being put forward to lead others.

g. I don't instruct the trouble somes.

h. Dispelling of ignorance and use of punishment.

i. To remove the shackles of intellect who claim
and the sun rise. To know too much and make complaints.

j. Admitting the virtues of women-seekers.

They can melt the men hearts to affirm the One. To witness the light of the Last Sage. To kneel and bow to the Lord of the Worlds in five daily prayers in the Ancient Rite.

k. He will suffer the small injury of being spoken against,
but in the end, there will be good fortune.

Hikam of Shaykh Ibn Athaillah
( which closely related oracle of I Ching)

Idfin wujduka fil-ardhi khumuli
Fa ma nabata mimma la yudfan
La yatimmu natajahu

(Bury your existence in the earth
of moister obscurity what coming out without being
planted properly will not give fruit/blossoms)

Sweep the rubbish heap
Of your spirits with the broom of `La – Negation'
As Maulana Rumi indicated in his Mathnawi
You are coming from non-existence. Hear Irji – Return !

How do you claim to have power and life
By NoT surrendering in Bowing and Sajda
No carpet and wool but dust under your prayer mat.

Lieh Tzu will take leave
one month from Master Kung court
due to coming winter Season. Cai jian.
Meet again where the Border of Reality
merge into Island of Fiction
Stand on your Firm Ground
The Unwobbling Cord..
CHUNG XIN of your Heart.


Jolted haphazardly at Pondok
Dailin Nur, 1st January 2001.

Teka Teki Koan Miyazaki

Ihsan itu lautan tak bertepi dan cahaya matahati tak pernah tenggelam dibarat atau ditimur. Memburu dan diburu menjadi satu. Salat Asar diwaktu zuhur kata Imam Junayd dan basahi bumimu dengan air lautan wudu.

Tayamumlah dengan batu dan debu jika belum terjumpa dengan kolam air ihsan. Tiga panah dilepaskan, satu melintas depan mu sekarang dan dua lagi menunggu mu membuka bicara dan siapa pemanahnya ?
Tersesat masuk ke gua Marifa ?

(Dari Bamboo Notes of Miyazaki
Almost Worn Out and Tattered)

Sheng Ren and Yin-Yang Mana Satu

We found this excellent malay poems somewhere which expressed the admiration of teachings from ancient chinese/philosophy. Hopefully someone can translate it into english or mandarin as below.


SHENG REN CHUN TZI

Kebangkitan asia pembina jenerasi
kitab klasik I Ching masyur kembali
Sheng ren chun tzi bawa mesej sejati
tiori samuel huntington kita hindari

JalanTao menyinari kancah dunia.
Memaut insan harmoni alam semesta.
Imbangkan diri mengikut Jalan Li mulia
Pupuk akal budi-Te tiada henti
kelak engkau mencapai rahsia Tian-ti

Semua tafsiran ini payah dimengerti
Ajaran klasik china hilang seri
jenerasi baru jahil tiada mengaji
takdir langit tao tinggal fragmentasi
syurga firdausi bukan ilusi
rabbi habli hukman wa hiqni
bis-shalihin. Zhenzhu xie-xie ni.

YIN YANG MANA SATU

Hurrah penterjemah seberang selat melaka.
Karyawan tetangga dahului dewan bahasa.
buku dr.sachiko murata popular dijakarta.
The Tao of Islam.apa komen ulama kita
jika tiada berminat dengan falsafah china.
harta mukmin yang hilang ilmu berharga
tuntutlah dia hingga hujung benua

Pemikir jerman herman hesse –
pertama kali nama menjelma.
pujangga mana belajar jampi mantera ?
Novelnya-Perjalanan keTimur tidak lapuk
buat mereka yang berakal katup.

Insan barat mencari pendita hukama,
jenerasi muda kota desa asyik berfoya.
Tanda Islam kita sudah sengsara.
Ibu bapa moden tiada kurangnya.
Tak sempat mengaji di sekolah sekular
Bukan mencari salah dan cerca.
Ayuh kita atasi masalah kritis segera
Jemput guru arif india jepun china,
menyuburi hikmah nurani bangsa.

MAWAR DURI

Semua insan percaya Tuhan.
Kacau dunia kerana menafi agama.
Binasa punah puak tak percaya.
Ideoloji liberal pujaan mereka
Jika tiada awas diri dalam bahaya

Dialog arnold tonbyee dan ikeda suzuki.
Saring istilah sempit ambil yang murni,
baru mudah realiti melintasi dominasi.
Fukuyama berkata sejarah menuju sepi
Kapitalis barat menakluki musuh tradisi

Ibn khaldun menulis Muqaddimah terperi
Hafiz dan Rumi memecah benua sunyi
Penuh cinta asrar rabbani merawat diri.
pembaca bebas mengutip mawar atau duri.
Sangat sedih pujangga tanah pertiwi
bila puisi maknawi dicemari mediokriti

TIUPAN NAFIRI

Jernal Elit Pemikir bila nak beli
Bicara pelik berstatus tinggi
Harga mahal membuat kita gigit jari
kekosongan rohani sukar diisi

usah menunggu tiupan nafiri
sajak puisi memukau inderawi
huruf makna membina bahasa
bahasa membina tamadun
kaligrafi senjata sifu sufi
seruling kitaro pengganti.

(Ihsan karya @ Dailin Nur
bertarikh 18.10.2006 )

Listen To Yunus Emre

Salam Prof Wan ,

As time glide pass
your voice sweeter
and sharper

may your path
shorter and richer
sow the seeds for
future strangers !

-from dailin nur teahut

Yunus Emre – Riches To Dust


A single word can brighten the face
of one who knows the value of words.
Ripened in silence, a single word
acquires a great energy for work.

War is cut short by a word,
and a word heals the wounds,
and there's a word that changes
poison into butter and honey.

Let a word mature inside yourself.
Withhold the unripened thought.
Come and understand the kind of word
that reduces money and riches to dust.

Know when to speak a word
and when not to speak at all.
A single word turns the universe of hell
into eight paradises.

Follow the Way. Don't be fooled
by what you already know. Be watchful.
Reflect before you speak.
A foolish mouth can brand your soul.

Yunus, say one last thing
about the power of words --
Only the word "I"
divides me from God.

(nota: semoga coretan sufi musafir yunus emre memberi kita nafas baru 2009 !)

PERTEMUAN KEDUA MASTER IZI DAN DR.ANQARAVI

Jam 7.15 pagi di Institut Semazen, bangunan kayu 2 tingkat berbalam hijau biru diselaputi kabus pagi dan penduduk Miyazaki masih tidur nyenyak. Cahaya suria baru saja menyinar lembut dicelah ufuk timur Gunung Fujiyama. Maklumlah musim salji sekarang di Jepun sudah tak menentu. Suhu diluar 18 Celsius dan kalau di Malaysia…28 Celsius dikira normal. Kena pakai baju/kot berlapis.

Kami dipanggil oleh Master Izi Kurashowa melalui anak buahnya, Atikato: ‘ Zhao san…Dr.Anqaravi ! Our master invite your honorable self to participate on the lesson of Ta Hsue at 8.00 am this morning. We will wait you at Kenji Tatami Tea Room just 100 meter left to your suite. Please also bring along your text and commentary of Maulana Rumi. We think he may ask you something on ‘the language of Sufis and China sages’.

‘My master, the philosopher Chang says’:

‘The Great Learning is a book transmitted by the Confucian school,

and form the Gate by which first level students enter into virtue.

That now we can perceive the Order in which the Ancients scholars

pursued their knowledge is solely owing to the preservation of this work,

the Analect and Book of Mencius coming after it.

Seekers must commence their Path

with this and then it may be hoped,

they be will kept from Error (by Heaven).



James Legge footnotes: ‘ I have pointed out, in the prolomegna, the great differences which are found among Chinese commentators on the criticism and interpretation of it. We encounter them on the very threshold (of early Islamic texts equivalent). Kung Ying-ta says,’ It is the highest principles-Li. Chu Shi definition is contrary- the Tao of Great Learning is –

To cultivate illustrious virtue (te’);

to renovate the people; and
to rest (firm) in the highest excellence
(of complete human nature/spiritual capacity).

He explained it further, ‘ Te’-virtue is the metaphysical part of men nature, all comprehended under the terms- mind, soul, heart and spirit’.

Master Izi quoted then the Oracle of I Ching;

‘In observing the signs, the superior man (chun zi)
stand in awe of the Ordinances of Heaven (Tian)
he follow and carried out the

Teaching of the Sages (Sheng ren) and
he obey/submit to the Great men-king/rulers
(of wisdom who combined the inward/outward/Ta ren)’.


Siapakah para Guru/Filasuf yang dipanggil ‘Shengren’ dalam ajaran china klasik tersebut ? Teks itu bersambung dimuka surat 108 para 5:

‘Such a rulers/sages (ta ren/sheng-ren)
illustrating his ‘virtue’, constitute an example
(model/pattern) to the world for ages.

His Acts are for ages a Law to the kingdom.
His Words are for ages a Lesson to the kingdom/people.
Those who are far from him look longingly for him;
those who are near him are never wearied with him….

He may compared to heaven and earth, and
below he was conformed to the water and land. (p.109)

It is only he, possessed of all SAGELY qualities
that can exist under heaven, who show himself
quick in Apprehension, clear in Discerning,
of far reaching Intellect and all embracing
Knowledge, fitted to exercise RULE; (p.112)


Magnamious, benign, mild, fitted to Forbearance,
Impulsive, maintain a Firm Hold, Self Adjusted,
Grave, never swerving from the Pivot and
Correct-Truthful, fitted to COMMAND Reverence,
Accomplished, distinctive, concentrative,
Searching and fitted to exercise Discrimination.(p.113)

..sambung..

Kurnia Ijazah Doktor Kehormat USM 2001

SHAYKH DR.ABDAL QADIR AS-SUFI :

THE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH AT THE CONVOCATION TO RECEIVE HON. D. LITT. HONOUR

Conferred by UNIVERSITI SAINS MALAYSIA on 9th August 2001



Invocation of Allah and Prayer on the Prophet, may Allah be pleased with him.

Saya amat berbangga dapat bersama dalam perhimpunan akademik yang mulia ini.

Naib canselor dan para hadirin yang dihormati, kita pohon Rahmat Allah untuk Tuanku Canselor dan kita pohon kejayaan untuk universiti.

I was profoundly moved to receive the message from your distinguished Vice Chancellor informing me that this renowned seat of learning had decided to bestow upon me the honorary degree of Doctor of Literature. It is all the greater privilege for me because it represents not only the crown of my lifetime's activity as a writer in the service of Islam, but for the tremendous significance that in choosing me you have recognised the intellectual imperative of placing Islamic knowledge over all other knowledges, indeed, one which defines the parameters of the sciences and the arts. Islam is a Divine instrument whose task is to create just and excellent civilisation in this world and at the same time to guarantee the entry into the blessed Garden of the next world, and that is to say a Garden which holds the meanings of sensory beauty and another which holds the realities of Divine knowledge and witnessing.

There is a further reason that I would like to share with you because of the personal joy it brings to me and for the good news it carries for the university life of this great Islamic state of united Sultanates. Your Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohammad, having served your country over these two decades and having steered the nation to a significantly higher level of development, thanks to his enormous experience and his innate wisdom was able to understand and interpret the massive betrayal which the kafir society visited on the Muslim lands of Nusantara, which resulted in the virtual halving of the country's monetary wealth.

The first Muslim leader to recognise that the solution to escape from the kafir world enslavement was the return to what Allah, glory be to Him, had ordained, the use of the golden Islamic Dinar and silver Dirham as instruments of trade and the only permissible money of Zakat - was the then Prime Minster of Turkey, Dr. Erbakan, who publicly declared, "This is the currency of the Muslims."

The next Islamic leader to recognise this was the late King Hasan II of Morocco, may Allah be merciful to him and reward him for having saved his kingdom from the disasters of republicanism suffered by his neighbour Algeria. In the last year of his life during his Ramadan gathering in his palace at Rabat, he received from my fuqara a gift of the Islamic Dinar and Dirhams. He accepted the gift and was profoundly moved. Two days later he announced his intention of setting up a group of 'ulema to restore the means of a correct and halal Zakat using the Islamic Dinar of 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him.

However, the third and most important step has been taken by your distinguished Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohammad in his now famous public address in which he indicated that only a real money currency, that is the Islamic Dinar, could free the state from the manipulations of its enemy. It was significant at this point that those who opposed the Prime Minister and were removed from office, while pretending to reform, had as their allies the World Bank and the IMF which are themselves the militant instruments of the kafir bid for world government.

Thus Malaysia is at the threshold of a new age both for the world in general and the Muslim nation in particular. In one decision your leader had taken a step into the future in advance of every Muslim leader today.

In the light of this new situation I would like to propose to you that new times demand new ways of thinking, and old configurations of both political structure and method have to be speedily and courageously abandoned in order to achieve the restoration of Islamic greatness and a new vigour for the future of this whole area which is the Muslim heartland in our time.

Firstly, we have already abandoned the twentieth century model of political power. Government no longer has substantive power. It is reduced to the feeble task of taxation and domestic spending on medicine, policing, and basic infrastructure. In an age when individual corporations, including worthless ones like Coca Cola, command annual capital sums vastly in excess of any middle-sized political state, it is now inescapable that power has passed from the political zone to the zone over all others, of finance.

Secondly, we should look now at a new model of power interaction held in tension between a triad of forces-the zone of commodities power, the zone of media power and the zone of financial power. These three groupings of wealth, power and command both interrelate with each other and at the same time are in conflict with each other due to the different primacy of their goals. We could demonstrate this briefly by pointing out that the Balkan War was a media-controlled event under an American presidency, Clinton's, which was media-supported. The abdication of the Indonesian President Suharto, for the first time in history, was made not by the commanding hand of a dictator as France surrendered to Hitler, but to the head of the IMF in the Presidential Palace. The new apparently irrational missile shield of the new American administration, in itself useless, is the vital method necessary to restore power to the commodities sector through the vast programme of missile defence.

Thirdly, I would like to take this opportunity while in the presence of this distinguished gathering, and because of the enormous influence the country's intellectuals rightly wield, to also bring attention to the Islamic dimension of your current situation. There can be no such thing as an Islamic party because in logic that would imply that the sovereignty of the people was above the sovereignty of Allah, glory be to Him, and that if they chose to reject the Islamic party they would be responsible for legalising the right to devolve from Islamic obligation. By the same token a reform party setting itself against the government of the state is a kind of treason, or a Shi'a trying to undermine the authority of the government. If the reformers are allied to the power institutions of kufr, the World Bank, IMF and so on, it is clear that their agenda is the destruction of and not the revitalising of the Islamic body politic.

If I were asked to indicate any grave error that I perceived in the state I could only do it as your guest on the issue of any serious aspect of the Deen that seemed to be neglected. It is here that the 'ulema must bear the full brunt of any such weaknesses and the reason for this is not any defect of their characters, but simply that since 1945 the only version of Islam promulgated inside Malaysia and Indonesia has been one that at its inception has been vetted and approved by the forces of kufr and which stems from the modernist movement, itself the servant of the oil producing states. If we restore to Malaysia a correct 'aqida, that is an understanding of Allah's power and majesty and of the Deen itself, Malaysia and its neighbouring countries will be transformed.

You have all but liberated yourselves from political colonial rule but you allowed your Deen to be colonised and all that was returned to you was the zone of 'ibada, that is you are allowed to fast and to pray. It is the duty of the new generation to recover from kafir colonial power the whole world of trade, financial instruments and practice as well as the separation of Islam from false religions, a recovery of our self-respect which will put an end to the masonic doctrine of Tolerance.

An inexorable and powerful growth of Islam in Nusantara will restore again the proper laws of Jizya paid by the non-Muslims for our protection of them. As your great nation develops along these powerful lines of obedience, defined by strong 'aqida, it will be assured that the next Khalif of the whole Muslim Ummah will emerge from among your people.

Jejak dan Debu Fuqara Darqawiyya Di Nusantara

1968. Shaykh abdalqadir as-sufi diarahkan oleh guru pertamanya shaykh Muhammad ibn al-habib (fez dan meknes, moroko)untuk kembali ke England menjalankan dakwah dikalangan bangsa eropah. Beliau diberi izin dan tugas sebagai muqaddim sufi, mengamalkan Miftah al-Wird dan bacaan Diwan gurunya yang berisi berbagai qasidah,doa,zikir, salawat dan ilmu tasawwuf. 1971-shaykh Muhammad ibnul habib meninggalkan dunia.

1972-1974. Beliau menulis buku The Book of Stranger dan The Way of Muhammad yang menarik ramai pembaca barat kepada Islam. Jemaah semakin berkembang disekitar London dan menarik perhatian pelajar Malaysia.

1976. Shaykh abdalqadir bertemu shaykh Muhammad al-Fayturi di Benghazi, Libya dan setelah menjalani suluk/khalwa dan pembukaan nur asrar oleh Allah Tabaraka wa Taala , beliau mendapat izin sebagai guru mursyid. Kata gurunya : ‘Tariqa ini adalah satu. Bukan silsila, wazifa, wirid atau sanad tetapi matlamatnya adalah marifa Allah. Sekarang tiada tangan atas tanganmu ! Journal of Darqawi Institute diterbit-kan mengandungi anika rencana menarik mengenai aktiviti dakwah, terjemahan karya sufi dan ulasan isu semasa.

1976-1977. Sidi Umar dilantik sebagai muqaddim pertama dari Malaysia. Sidi Shams dilantik sebagai muqaddim kedua. Sekumpulan fuqara melayu telah diarahkan menziarahi Maghribi untuk mengambil baraka dan pengajaran dari para salihun dan arifun dari kalangan murid dan muqadim shaykh Muhammad ibnul-Habib. Mereka adalah SZ, MS, MD, WZN , NJK dan ZH. Dua murid kanan dari golongan salihun dan arifun iaitu Wali Bahlil dan sidi Muhammad Kursi telah membacakan doa khusus untuk kumpulan fuqara dari Malaysia yang julung kali sampai keceruk padang pasir Sahara di selatan Moroko.

1978-79. Kebanyakan fuqara telah habis mengaji dan pulang ke tanah air dan memulakan amalan taiqa bersama dengan jemaah kecil sediada. Jemaah semakin aktif dengan adanya majlis zikir/ilmu setiap minggu dan program bulanan. Kami diberi arahan supaya melawat semua guru dan ulama melayu serta menyampaikan mesej shaykh abdalqadir untuk menghidupkan tariqa sufi dialam melayu.

1980. Buku Jihad A Groundplan dicetak di Malaysia yang menggariskan program kebangkitan islam melalui model ribat serta isu gerakan modenis. Faqir Ahmad Thomson penulis buku Jesus A Prophet of Islam dan Dajjal melawat Malaysia serta menziarahi pondok di Kelantan. Dua fuqara china muslim iaitu sidi hilmi dan sidi hashim mengembara ke Pakistan untuk mengaji bersama shaykh zamzami.

1981. Ribat atau zawiya pertama beroperasi di pinggir kota KL, kemudian berpindah ke Bangi dan jemaah makin berkembang.Buku The Hundred Steps dihasilkan oleh shaykh abdalqadir yang mengupas istilah, maqam dan tangga-tangga perjalanan sufi untuk fuqara mengikut tradisi tariqa darqawi-shadhili yang muktabar.

1982. Buku Root Islamic Education dihasilkan dan beliau menggunakan nama al-Murabit sempena perkataan ‘ribat’ yang terdapat dalam al-Quran dan Hadis Nabawi merujuk kepada orang yang berjihad fisabiliLlah serta mempertahankan Islam dari serangan kuffar. Beliau mengarahkan fuqaranya mempelajari al-Muwatta Imam Malik, as-Shifa Qadi Iyad, Tafsir Jalalayn, Risalah Ibn Zaid, Ibnu Rusyd, Amal Madinah dan mendalami bahasa Arab. Sidi umar dilantik sebagai amir Malaysia yang pertama.

1983-88. shaykh abdalqadir menghasilkan buku-buku penting seperti QuranicTawhid, For The Coming Man, The Sign of Sword, Letter To African Muslim, Resurgent Islam, Self Knowledge dan disamping itu melalui Diwan Press/Madina Press, karya-karya klasik terjemahan diterbitkan seperti Fusus al-Hikam Ibnu Arabi, The Meaning of Man-sidi Ali Jamal, Darqawi Letters, Knowledge of God –sh.Alawi dan Handbook of Islam-sh.Uthman Danfodio.

Dalam tempoh ini, ramai murid beliau telah melawat, bermusafir dan berdakwah di Malaysia seperti dr.muhammad kassim, umar vadillo, asadullah yates, dr.dalmau, haji abdul hasib, dr.abdal hamid evans, sidi abdullah powell dan haji amin mayet. Sidi Idris bertemu sidi shaykh di Granada, sepanyol dan dikurniakan izin khalifa untuk alam melayu nusantara.

1989. Buku The Hundred Steps, Root Islamic Education dan Diwan Shaykh Muhammad ibn al-habib diterjemahkan kebahasa Malaysia.

1990. Sebuah ribat telah disewa di Ulu Klang sebagai pusat aktiviti. Shaykh abdalqadir melawat Malaysia selama dua bulan dan mengadakan pertemuan dengan alim ulama, para pemimpin dan fuqaranya, memberi syarahan di Universiti Malaya. Buku Usury the Injustice of Our Times dan al-Muwatta diterbitkan di Malaysia.


Lawatan dibuat ke pondok Patani dan Ustaz Baba Abdul Aziz di Yarang menerima izin wirid sufiyya . Hubungan dibuat dengan jemaah pondok di Tar Tujuh, kelantan.

1991-2000. Jemaah memulakan pengajian tafsir kitab jawi Baidhawi. Sidi shams memulakan pengajian syarah kitab Hikam Abu Madyan karangan Shaykh Daud Patani. Usaha membuat dan menyibarkan penggunaan dinar emas dilakukan dengan pelancaran oleh Rais Umar Vadillo di Kelantan. Buku The Return of The Islamic Gold Dinar (Umar vadillo) dan The Return of The Khalifate ( shaykh abdal qadir) diterbitkan.

Majalah SINAR setebal 72 muka surat dalam bahasa malaysia dan inggeris dilancarkan di Malaysia mengandungi anika artikel menarik dan kupasan isu umat islam semasa termasuk dinar islam, tiang zakat, krisis ekonomi riba, terjemahan kanzun minan hikam abu madyan dan ulasan ringkas buku-buku shaykh abdalqadir.

Melalui usaha dan kunjungan ukhuwah ke Kuala Lumpur, tiga pemuda Indonesia telah membuat perjalanan ke Tangier, Maghribi untuk menghadiri Moussem Shaykh abdalqadir. Alhamdulillah wa syukrillah, dalam pertemuan julung kali tersebut sidi ahmad iwan telah dilantik sebagai amir Indonesia dan juga sebagai muqaddim. Perkara ini jarang terjadi tetapi mencerminkan keikhlasan dan kekuatan azam mereka yang mengenali kelebihan seorang guru sufi yang tidak mundur berjihad dan berdakwah disemua bidang.

Persidangan Ekonomi Politik Islam USM Ke3 diadakan di Dewan Muzium Islam, Kuala Lumpur pada 20 November 2000 dengan thema kerjasama Islam Asia-Eropah yang melibatkan ramai tokoh, intelektual dan fuqara pelbagai bangsa dari seluruh dunia. Diantara kertas kerja utama dibentangkan adalah seperti berikut :

a.Keynote address by Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi
b.Pemikiran Ibnu Rushd – Dr.Asadullah Yates, Weimar institute, jerman.
c.Amal Madinah dan Imam Malik – Dr.Yassin Dutton, Oxford.
d.The Political Philosophy of sh.Abdal qadir as-sufi- oleh Riyad Asvat,Australia.

e.The Works and Da’wa of Shaykh abdal qadir as-sufi and recovery of Islamic teachings- Haji Abdal Haqq Bewley.
f. The Politics of Medicine – Dr.Muhammad Dalmau, Highland clinic, Scotland.
g. Heiddeger and Technological Society- Haji Abu Bakar Rieger, Germany.


2001. Tahun ini merupakan detik terpenting dalam sejarah murabitun Malaysia dimana usaha lebih tiga tahun telah menyakinkan Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) menganugerahkan Ijazah Doktor Kehormat kepada shaykh abdal qadir as-sufi pada majlis konvokesyen pada bulan Ogos 2001 di Pulau Pinang oleh Canselor USM Sultan Perlis. Beliau juga memberikan syarahan bertajuk – ‘The Return of Fiscal Islam ‘ kepada para jemputan khas dalam siri ceramahan wacana antara-bangsa USM.

bersambung...

Mengenal Mi Guang Jiang @ Haji Noor Deen

Catatan:
Personaliti unik, mengabungkan tao, zen dan khat sufi. Menyelami dan membebaskan jiwa musafir, terbang keluar dari sangkar diri. Bertasbih memuji Ilahi.


Haji Noor Deen Mi Guang Jiang is a renowned master of Arabic calligraphy. Born in 1963 in Shangdong province, China, he brings an immense learning in traditional thought and Islamic art to a modern audience, juxtaposing them in a new calligraphic style all his own, both Eastern and Western. Please click through to read about Haji Noor's achievements or explore his artwork gallery.

The Chinese and Arabic calligraphic traditions have often been compared as the two of the world's finest manifestations of the written word, but never likened; indeed, they are at once opposites and complements. When combined the result is an artistic piece that is a work of incredibly unique beauty, and a testimony to man's synthesizing genius.

Noor Deen's extraordinary mastery and genius along with his unique ability to spectacularly deliver his craft to an audience has brought him lecture and workshop invitations from some of the most renowned and prestigious institutions around the world, including: Harvard University, Cambridge University, University of California-Berkley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Bukhari Institute and many others. He currently lectures Arabic calligraphy at the Islamic College in Zhen Zhou, China and the Zaytuna Institute in California.

Puisi Musim Salju

Silence is your richness
it permeates your whole being
no one can steal it within
your best companion that speak
with love, intimacy and light

when everyone else was gone
your silence sustain me
your echoes filled me
your presence encompass all
I surrender, I float free
a vast silence of universe
that one day will take me away...

I am the companion
of one who remember me
in his innermost silence
he hide my secret
I hide his where about
he wish to die the old self
I give him a new life
he shed tears of yearning
I watered him to thirst more
so his river become my ocean !



( Monday September 8, 2008 )

Notakaki:

Ramai bertanya, adakah hamba boleh menulis puisi atau sajak ?
Nah, ini yang terbaru ilham dari pondok dailin nur dimusim salju.
Guruku master Izi juga rajin hasilkan haiku and tekateki koan zen.

The Living Sword: Self Poisoning

On his website (in the subscribers-only section) Dr. Heiner Fruehauf translates a story regarding a 20th Century Chinese physician by the name of Wang Fengyi. Dr. Wang was a young and gifted physician who seemed to take particular exception to the wrongdoings and bad practices of others (I’m greatly paraphrasing this as I’m having to recall it from memory), to the point where his righteous indignation began to eat at him, literally.

His bitterness over Other People’s Failings was so potent and so pervasive that while yet very young he developed a particularly vicious form of testicular cancer, so much so that he had festering accumulations on his testicles. The cancer proved to be completely unresponsive to treatment and he found himself in the position of expecting to die young, his medical prowess useless to help himself and his bright future wasted.

Dr. Wang, in his desperation, sought out a peasant healer in a small village who worked according to a Five Phase-oriented form of storytelling. He would tell the patient stories of all kinds-frequently re-tellings of well known classic tales-that could last anywhere from an hour to a couple of days. Wang approached the storyteller physician who agreed to treat him.

As the storyteller spoke, Wang began to realize that the true source of the thing killing him was himself. All the bitterness, anger, self-assuredness, and superiority he felt over those who just didn’t “get it” was the virulence responsible for his terminal illness. Over the next several days as he kept ritual watch over his father’s grave, he came to terms with his worldview and experienced a purging of sorts (something which I understand typically involves a lot of vomiting, crying, sweating, and diarrhea) releasing his poisonous mentality. Within a short time, the cancer was completely gone, never to return. Wang lived a long and full life as a doctor in the storytelling tradition.

My point: it doesn’t matter that you are right. Being right is primarily for your benefit and hopefully the benefit of others, like acquired wealth being shared with the less fortunate. Truth exists independently of us and does not require our acknowledgement or confirmation to continue existing.

Acknowledgement and acceptance of Truth requires conforming oneself to it, not using it as a means of self-aggrandizement and “showing up those idiots over there.” Doing so is wrong, destructive, self-destructive, and contrary to the objective nature of the situation. You found the answer, you didn’t invent it.

So consider this an injunction to all people who are deeply invested in doing things the right way (including myself) to divulge yourselves of all attitudes and practices that involve looking scornfully at others for their (perceived) stupidity, weakness, ignorance, evil, etc. because such attitudes create a much bigger problem. It helps nothing and noone when in an attempt to be rid of the pest of misinformation you create in yourself the devil of Bigotry.

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(courtesy @ G.Michael Reynolds)