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Main Index
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the moon, yet the finger can point the way.
The Sufi stories are not philosophical. They are just gentle hints, whisperings. Sufism does not shout, it only whispers. Naturally, only those who are ready to listen with sympathy -- not only with sympathy. but empathy -- only those who are ready to open their hearts in trust and in surrender can understand what Sufism is. Only those who are capable of love can understand what Sufism is. What is its message? It is not a logical analysis; neither is it as illogical as Zen. Sufism says to be logical is one extreme, to be illogical is another. Sufism is just somewhere in the middle, neither logic nor illogic. It does not lean to the left or to the right. It is not absurd. It is not logical like Socrates and it is not absurd like Bodhidharma. It says Bodhidharma and Socrates only look different, but their approaches are the same. In fact Bodhidharma is more logical than Socrates; that's why he stumbles into illogic. If you go on following the line of logic sooner or later you come to a point where you see logic is finished, but the journey continues. Bodhidharma is a Socrates who has gone the whole way and has come to that borderland where logic stops but life continues. Bodhidharma looks different but the approach is Socratic; it is intellectual. Zen is very much against intellect, but to be against intellect is still to be intellectual. Zen is anti-philosophy, but to be anti-philosophical is to be philosophical: that is YOUR philosophy. Sufism avoids the extremes. It follows the middle, the exact middle, the Golden Mean.
In Zen the key word is 'mindfulness'. In Sufism the key word is 'heartfulness'. Remember this -- it will make it clear where they differ. Zen is against mind, but goes beyond mind through the mind. Sufism is not against the mind, Sufism is completely indifferent to the mind. Sufism is focused on the heart; it simply does not bother about the mind. It believes in heartfulness. Yes, a certain kind of awakening comes to the Sufi too. If we call the Zen-awakening SATORI mind-wakefulness, then we will have to coin a word for the Sufi awakening: 'heart-wakefulness'. The path of the Sufi is the
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