A story about Rumi
 

I found this in the book called "Essential Sufism". This cracked me up. I hope that it will crack you up too. Enjoy! :p


One December in Konya, Rumi had gone into his meditation cell to perform his nighttime prayers. When the time for the morning prayer arrived, he did not appear. His followers became worried because, in twenty years, Rumi had never failed to join them in morning prayer. As time passed and the disciples' alarm grew, someone finally decided to force the door open. Inside they were startled to find Rumi with his beard frozen to the ground, struggling to set himself free. In his prayers, he had begun weeping so copiously that a pool of tears had formed, and his prostration in the cold was so prolonged that the tears froze, trapping him by his beard!

--Moinuddin--

More quotes:

If someone remarks, "What an excellent man you are!" and this pleases you more than his saying, "What a bad man you are!" know that you are still a bad man.

--Sufyan al-Thawri--

I am still a very bad man. ;) haha. Enjoy!

Thank you for sharing those stories, I enjoyed them. When I had my beard I looked like Jim Morrison in his later years, thinking about letting it grow back, people seem put off more by my handle bar stash then they did when I had a full jesus beard. I have noticed myself crying more the past week(or being on the brink but holding back because others are around). When I feel the need to cry now it is from hearing a song or having a thought that I can relate to my spiritual journey, all of a sudden my body feels electric and a sense of something negative being released from my soul and the tears just come, it is beautiful though, not painful, it is a blissful crying and after, I feel such a weight lifted from my heart. All my life I have been programmed to believe men don't cry. Real men cry. This is what came to mind when I read that, as I often cry(not blubber but just tears of joy streaming down my face) during intense meditation. I actually enjoy this, it feels very good to cry out of happiness.

Wow. The same thing is happening with me. I was contemplating Mother Teresa & Gandhi the other day & I started crying out of happiness. I was also programmed the same way & for many years I refused to cry. I thought crying was a sign of weakness (I was raised in a Chinese culture..so...) but heh ;) I am glad Rumi cried like this too.

I love Rumi! Thank you for sharing this story.