Osho on Sufi Mystic Shibli

Abu Bakr al-Shibli was a Sufi mystic and poet of Persian descent born in Samarra. He was a high official of Baghdad before becoming a disciple of Junayd Baghdadi to embark on his spiritual journey. His journey with Sunni Islam is full of a myriad of stories and incidents, a lot of which ended with him being imprisoned or being sent to an insane asylum. Shibli also went into a self-imposed exile to search for the Divine and was said to be in a constant state of ‘jazb’.

Shibli’s spiritual path was full of self-awareness cornerstones, guiding him further and further to ‘Allah’ which he used to chant and call out for hours in his longing for God. After a long period of austerity and struggle, Junayd finally declared that Shibli had achieved the Ultimate Vision of Supreme Reality. However, Shibli died soon after that as his physical health gave away due to all his tactics and ideas. He is revered by his disciples and further Sufi generations.

Osho talks about a few lines written by Shibli, “’FINALLY, SUCH WAS HIS NECESSITY, HE CAST AWAY FEAR AND LEAPT INTO THE WATER; AT WHICH THE REFLECTION DISAPPEARED...'
because when you jump into the water, the mirrorlike river is no more mirrorlike. The reflection disappeared. The dog was no more there. And Shibli must have been watching, sitting by the bank, looking at this dog -- his fear, his continuous effort to go and then withdrawing again and again and again. He must have watched very keenly for what was going to happen. And then the dog jumped. The reflection disappeared.
`THE DOG FOUND THAT THE OBSTACLE...' was not outside, it was he himself. The dog was not there in the water. The dog in the water was not preventing him, as he was thinking before. It was he himself `... WHICH WAS HIMSELF, THE BARRIER BETWEEN HIM AND WHAT HE SOUGHT, MELTED AWAY.'
He was himself the barrier between his thirst and the water, his hunger and the satiety, his discontent and the contentment, his search and the goal, his seeking and the sought. There was nobody else, just his reflection in the water.
And that is the case, absolutely the case, with you all, with everybody. Nobody is hindering you. Something of the sort of your own reflection between you and your destiny, between you as the seed and you as the flower -- there is nobody else hindering, creating any obstacle. So don't go on throwing responsibility on others. That is a way of consoling oneself. Drop consoling yourself. Drop all self pity. Look deep in the mirror. And everybody is a mirror around you. Look deep -- you will find your own reflection everywhere.”

This story about the master Shibli is very beautiful. Shibli is one of the very famous masters. I would like to tell you something about Shibli. The first time Shibli's name became known was the time when Mansoor Al Hillaj was being murdered. Shibli was a companion, a friend to Al Hillaj. Many people have been murdered in the past by so called religious people. Jesus was murdered... but there has been never such a murder as happened with Al Hillaj. It is the most horrible. Jesus was simply crucified, but Al Hillaj was not simply crucified. He was crucified and first his legs were cut -- and he was alive -- then his hands were cut. He was really tortured. Then his tongue was cut, then his eyes were taken out -- and he was alive. And then his neck was cut. He was cut in pieces.

The first time we hear about Shibli is at that moment. One hundred thousand people had gathered to throw stones at Mansoor, to ridicule him. And what crime had Mansoor committed? What sin had he committed? He had not committed any sin; he had not committed any crime. The only crime was this, that he had said, `ANAL HAK.' It means `I am the Truth, I am God.' Had he been in India, people would have worshipped him for centuries. All the seers of the Upanishads declare this, `AHAM BRAHMASMI -- I am Brahma, the Supreme Self.' ANAL HAK is nothing but a translation of AHAM BRAHMASMI. But Mohammedans could not tolerate it. All the three religions which have been born in the West are very intolerant. Jews -- very intolerant; that's why they crucified Jesus. Mohammedans -- very intolerant, almost blind. Christians, always talking about tolerance, but it is just a talk -- not tolerant at all. Even in their tolerance there is deep intolerance. And all these three religions have been murderous, violent, aggressive. Their only argument is violence, as if you can convince somebody by killing him.

Mansoor is one of the greatest Sufis. No other man is comparable to him in the Sufi tradition. He was killed. People were throwing stones at him. Shibli was standing in the crowd. Mansoor was laughing and enjoying. When his feet were cut, he took the blood in his hands and he spread the blood on both his hands. Just like Mohammedans do with water when they go into the mosque for prayer: cleansing of the hands with water -- wazu. And somebody asked from the crowd, `What are you doing, Mansoor?'
Mansoor said, `How can you do wazu with water? How can you cleanse yourself with water? -- because crime you commit with your blood, sin you commit with your blood, so how can you purify yourself with water? Only blood can be the purification. I am purifying my hands. I am getting ready for prayer.'
Somebody laughed and said, `You are a fool! You are getting ready for a prayer? or you are getting ready to be murdered?'
Mansoor laughed and said, `That is what prayer is -- to die. You are helping me for my final prayer, the last. And nothing better can be done by this body; this body cannot be used in a better way -- on the altar of the Divine you are sacrificing me. That will be my last prayer in the world.'
When they started cutting his hands he said, `Wait a minute let me pray, because when hands are no more there, it will be difficult.' So he looked at the sky, prayed to the God and said, `Forgive these people, because they don't know what they are doing.' And he said to God, `You cannot deceive me, you great deceiver! I can see you in everybody present here. You are trying to deceive me? you have come as the murderer? as the enemy? But you cannot deceive me, I tell you. In whatsoever form you come, I will recognize you -- because I have recognized you within myself. Now there is no possibility of deception.'

People are throwing stones and mud in ridicule, and Shibli is standing there. Mansoor is laughing and smiling. Suddenly he started crying and weeping, because Shibli had thrown a rose at Mansoor. Stones -- he was laughing. A rose -- and he started weeping and crying. Somebody asked, `What is the matter? With stones you laugh -- have you gone mad? And Shibli has thrown only a rose-flower. Why are you crying and weeping?'
Mansoor said, `People who are throwing stones don't know what they are doing, but this Shibli has to know. For him it will be difficult to get forgiveness from the God.'
Shibli was a great scholar. He knew all the scriptures. He was a man of knowledge. Mansoor said, `Others will be forgiven because they are acting in ignorance; they cannot help it. Whatsoever they are doing, it's okay. In their blindness that's all they can do. More is not expected; more cannot be expected. But with Shibli -- a man who knows! a man of knowledge -- it will be difficult for him to get forgiveness. That's why I weep and cry for him. He is the only person who is committing a sin here. He knows! That's why.'

This is something to be understood. You cannot commit a sin when you are ignorant. How can you commit a sin when you are ignorant? The responsibility is not on you. But when you know, the responsibility is there. Knowledge is the greatest responsibility. Knowledge makes you responsible. And this statement of Mansoor's changed Shibli completely. He became a totally different man. He threw the Koran, the scriptures, and he said, `they could not make me understand even this: that all knowledge is useless. Now I will seek the right knowledge.' And later on when he was asked to comment about the statement of Mansoor: `What was the matter? Why did you throw the flower?' Shibli said, `I was standing in the crowd and I was afraid of the crowd -- if I don't throw anything, people may think that I belong to Mansoor's group. The crowd may feel that I am also his companion and friend. They may get violent towards me. I could not throw stones, because I knew Mansoor was innocent. But I could not gather the courage also not to throw anything. That's why I threw the flower -- just a compromise. And Mansoor was right that he wept: he wept at my fear, my cowardice. He wept because my whole knowledge, all that I had gathered in my whole life, was futile -- I was compromising with the crowd.'

All scholars compromise with the crowd. All pundits compromise with the crowd. That's why you have never heard of any pundit being crucified by the crowd. They are the followers of the crowd; they always compromise. And their compromise is this: when they go to the Buddha, or to Mansoor, they bow down to them, and they bow down to the crowd also. They are cunning people, very cunning. But Shibli changed completely. He understood. The feeling of Mansoor for him, the crying of Mansoor for him, became a transformation. And then later on Shibli became a master in his own right. It took at least twelve years for him, of wandering like a vagabond, a beggar. And people would ask him, `Why are you wandering? What are you repenting for?' -- because he would continuously beat his chest and cry and weep. In the mosque when he entered, he would cry and weep such that the whole village would gather. It was so heart-rending, such deep anguish, that people would ask, `What are you doing? What sin have you committed?'

And he would say, `I have murdered Mansoor. Nobody else was responsible there, but I could have understood. And I threw a flower at that man. I compromised with the crowd. I was a coward. I could have saved him, but I missed the moment. That's why I am repenting.' His whole life he repented. Repentance can become a very, very deep phenomenon in you if you understand the responsibility. Then even a small thing, if it becomes a repentance -- not just verbal, not just on the surface; if it goes deep to your roots, if you repent from the roots; if your whole being shakes and trembles and cries, and tears come out; not only out of your eyes, but out of every cell of your body, then repentance can become a transfiguration. That is the meaning of Jesus when he again and again says, `Repent!' Jesus' master, John the Baptist, has nothing much to say. His whole message was just this: `Repent! -- because the Kingdom of God is near at hand. It is just coming -- you repent before it comes!' Repentance -- not just mental, but total -- cleanses, purifies. Nothing else can purify you that way. It is a fire. It burns all rubbish in you.

Mansoor's weeping haunted Shibli continuously his whole life. Waking or asleep, the tears of Mansoor haunted him continuously. And that became a transformation. This is what a master, only a great master, can do -- Mansoor did it. Even while dying, he transformed a man like Shibli. Even while dying, he used his death also to transform this man. A master goes on, while alive or dying, or even when already dead, he goes on using every opportunity to transform people.

Now this small story.

SHIBLI WAS ASKED: `WHO GUIDED YOU IN THE PATH?'
SHIBLI SAID: `A DOG. ONE DAY I SAW HIM, ALMOST DEAD WITH THIRST, STANDING BY THE WATER'S EDGE. EVERY TIME HE LOOKED AT HIS REFLECTION IN THE WATER HE WAS FRIGHTENED AND WITHDREW, BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WAS ANOTHER DOG.
`FINALLY, SUCH WAS HIS NECESSITY, HE CAST AWAY FEAR AND LEAPT INTO THE WATER; AT WHICH THE SELF-REFLECTION DISAPPEARED.
`THE DOG FOUND THAT THE OBSTACLE, WHICH WAS HIMSELF, THE BARRIER BETWEEN HIM AND WHAT HE SOUGHT, MELTED AWAY.
`IN THIS SAME WAY MY OWN OBSTACLE VANISHED WHEN I KNEW THAT IT WAS WHAT I TOOK TO BE MY OWN SELF. AND MY WAY WAS FIRST SHOWN TO ME BY THE BEHAVIOUR OF -- A DOG.'

A man who is ready to learn can learn from anywhere. A man who is not ready to learn cannot learn even from a Buddha. It depends on you. A dog can become a god if you are ready to learn. Even a god will not look like a god if you are not ready to learn. It depends. Finally it depends on you. To be ready to learn means to be open to all possibilities. With no prejudice, watching with no preconcepts otherwise, who will watch a dog you would not have been even aware; you would have passed by, and you would have missed the opportunity which made Shibli a changed man, which became the guide. You have been missing opportunities every day. Every moment the guidance is there. The Divine goes on calling you, from different quarters, but you don't listen. In fact, you think you already know. That is the trouble. If an ill man thinks that he is already healthy, why should he listen to any doctor? And then there is no possibility of his illness being treated. The very possibility of treatment is closed. If you know that you already know, you will not be able to know. First recognize that you don't know, then suddenly, from everywhere, things start happening.

`Who guided you on the Path?' somebody asked Shibli.
He could never have imagined that he would say: `A DOG. ONE DAY I SAW HIM, ALMOST DEAD WITH THIRST, STANDING BY THE WATER'S EDGE.'

That is where you all are standing: at the water's edge, almost dead with thirst. But something withholds you. You are not jumping. Something keeps you. What is that? Some sort of fear. Because the bank is known, familiar and to jump into the river is to move into the unknown.

The known is always dead like a bank, and the unknown is always fluid, flowing like a river. The fear: cling to the familiar. The fear always says, `Cling to the familiar, to the known.' Then fear makes you move in a circle, because only a circular path can be familiar. You move in the same rut again and again. Everything is known. People come to me in deep misery, but they are not ready to even leave their misery -- because even misery looks familiar. At least, they think, their own. They are not ready to surrender even their misery. Why can't you surrender your misery? Familiar, habitual; you have lived with it so long that now you will feel lonely without it. This I always feel. And if you cling to misery, how is bliss possible? Both cannot live together. The bliss cannot enter you. It can enter only if misery leaves from this door; then the bliss enters from another door -- immediately it enters and fills you.

Nature abhors a vacuum, God also. But you are already filled, and you cling to your misery as if it is a treasure. What have you got? Can't you renounce your misery? Have you not lived enough with it? Has it not already crippled you too much? For what are you waiting?

You are in the same situation, says Shibli, `ONE DAY I SAW HIM ALMOST DEAD WITH THIRST...' Dead with thirst! And the water just in front! `... STANDING BY THE WATER'S EDGE, BUT EVERY TIME HE LOOKED AT HIS REFLECTION IN THE WATER HE WAS FRIGHTENED AND WITHDREW...' The fear of the unknown and the fear of the reflection. He saw himself reflected in the water and he thought there was another dog. He was seeing himself. There was nobody else. This is a very, very pregnant sentence. Let me say to you that you are alone in your world. There is nobody else. And all else that you are seeing is your own reflections. You have never moved out of yourself. And, in fact, there is nobody else but you -- in your world. All is reflections. And because of those reflections, you are closed in, caved in.

When you meet a person, do you really meet the person he is, or do you simply meet the reflection of your own self in him? Have you ever met anybody? -- or just your own reflections, your own interpretations? When you meet a person, you immediately start interpreting the person. You start creating an image about him. That image is yours. The person is not important -- just your image. The person goes far away. More and more the image becomes clear; the person is forgotten. And then you live with this image. When you talk to the person, you talk to your image of the person, not to the person really. You meet a man or a woman, you fall in love -- do you think you are falling in love with the other? Impossible. You are falling in love with an image that you have created around the other. And the other is also falling in love with an image that he or she has created around you. Whenever two persons fall in love, at least four persons are there; more are possible, less not. And then there is trouble, because you never fall in love with the person -- you fall with your own image. And he is not there to fulfill your image. Sooner or later, the reality comes in. A conflict arises between your dream and the real, between your image and the real person who is there, absolutely unknown. And then there is a clash…

The dog was almost dead with thirst, but even that was not enough. The fear. I see into your eyes, I see into your heart -- dead with thirst. But that thirst still doesn't seem to be enough -- so that you can take the jump, so that you can drop the fear, so that you can choose the unknown. The thirst is there, but doesn't seem to be enough. Fear seems to be more important, more significant, more heavy on you. Many of you reach to the point in the meditations when the river is flowing and you can jump. But then fear arises. It looks like death. Meditation is like death. Fear arises. The thirst is there, but it seems not to be enough. If you are really thirsty, then you will take the jump whatsoever the cost. And a master is needed to make you more and more thirsty, more and more aware of your thirst -- because that is the only way. The more thirsty you become, a fire arises in your heart, and you are burning with thirst. Only then can you drop the fear and take the jump -- when the thirst is more than the fear.

Somebody asked Buddha, `You say Truth cannot be taught. Then why do you teach? And you say that nobody can force anybody towards enlightenment, but then why do you work so hard with people?'

Buddha is reported to have said, `Truth cannot be taught, but thirst can be taught. Or, at least, you can be made aware of your thirst -- which is already there, but you are suppressing it.' Because of the fear you go on suppressing the thirst. You go on suppressing that which is continuously there. A deep discontent with all that is around you. A divine discontent. A thirst.

`... STANDING BY THE WATER'S EDGE. EVERY TIME HE LOOKED AT HIS REFLECTION IN THE WATER HE WAS FRIGHTENED AND WITHDREW, BECAUSE HE THOUGHT IT WAS ANOTHER DOG.
`FINALLY, SUCH WAS HIS NECESSITY...'
Remember these words. I cannot do anything unless the moment comes for you when you can feel such is your necessity that you have to take the jump, that you have to explode into the unknown, that you have to step into it.
`FINALLY, SUCH WAS HIS NECESSITY, HE CAST AWAY FEAR AND LEAPT INTO THE WATER; AT WHICH THE REFLECTION DISAPPEARED...'
Because when you jump into the water, the mirrorlike river is no more mirrorlike. The reflection disappeared. The dog was no more there. And Shibli must have been watching, sitting by the bank, looking at this dog -- his fear, his continuous effort to go and then withdrawing again and again and again. He must have watched very keenly for what was going to happen. And then the dog jumped. The reflection disappeared.
`THE DOG FOUND THAT THE OBSTACLE...' was not outside, it was he himself. The dog was not there in the water. The dog in the water was not preventing him, as he was thinking before. It was he himself `... WHICH WAS HIMSELF, THE BARRIER BETWEEN HIM AND WHAT HE SOUGHT, MELTED AWAY.'

He was himself the barrier between his thirst and the water, his hunger and the satiety, his discontent and the contentment, his search and the goal, his seeking and the sought. There was nobody else, just his reflection in the water. And that is the case, absolutely the case, with you all, with everybody. Nobody is hindering you. Something of the sort of your own reflection between you and your destiny, between you as the seed and you as the flower -- there is nobody else hindering, creating any obstacle. So don't go on throwing responsibility on others. That is a way of consoling oneself. Drop consoling yourself. Drop all self pity. Look deep in the mirror. And everybody is a mirror around you. Look deep -- you will find your own reflection everywhere.

`IN THIS SAME WAY, MY OWN OBSTACLE VANISHED WHEN I KNEW THAT IT WAS WHAT I TOOK TO BE MY OWN SELF. AND MY WAY WAS FIRST SHOWN TO ME BY THE BEHAVIOUR OF -- A DOG.'

The Way is shown to you from millions of directions. People have become enlightened through watching a dog, through watching a cat. People have become enlightened through watching a dead leaf falling from the tree. People have become enlightened through every sort of situation. But one thing is absolutely necessary, and that is watching. Dog, cat, the tree, the river -- irrelevant. People become enlightened through watching. So whatsoever the situation, you watch. And watch without any prejudice. And watch without the past. Watch without any thinking on your part. Don't interpret. Watch! If your eyes are clear, if your perception is clear, and you watch silently, every situation leads towards the Divine. And this is how it should be! Every situation, every moment of life, leads toward the Divine.

Somebody asked Rinzai, a Zen Master, `What is the way to know the Ultimate?'
Rinzai had gone for a morning walk with his staff in his hand. He raised his staff in front of the eyes of the questioner, and said, `WATCH this staff! If you can watch this, there is no need to go anywhere else.'
The man must have found it a little puzzling. He looked here and there and he said, `But how can one attain to enlightenment just by watching a stick?'
Rinzai said, `It is not a question of what you watch. The question is that you watch. Right now it happened that the staff was in my hand, that's all.'
Anything, if you watch, will give you the clue. Watching is the only method. Call it awareness, call it observation, call it witnessing -- but watch. Live life with a watchful eye. And every thing, the smallest, leads to the greatest. Everything leads to God. You have heard the saying that `Every road leads to Rome.' It may not be true -- but every path leads to God. Wherever you are, become watchful, and your face is immediately turned toward the Divine. Through watching, the quality of your inner consciousness changes. Be watchful!

Jesus goes on saying to his disciples, `Be watchful!' But as it happens, disciples are almost deaf. When it was the last night, and Jesus was going to be crucified the next day, that night he said, `Now I will do my last prayer, and you all watch. Be alert! Don't fall asleep!'
After an hour, Jesus came back from the tree where he was praying -- all the disciples were fast asleep, snoring. He woke them and said, `What are you doing? I had told you: be watchful, alert! -- and you have fallen asleep.'
They said, `We were tired. And we tried, but the sleep took over.'
Jesus said, `Now be more watchful -- because this is the last night! I will no more be with you again.' And again after half an hour he came back, and they were fast asleep.

What was he saying? He was giving them the key word: `Be watchful.' And what else can a master give when he is departing? In this word, `Be watchful,' all the scriptures exist in their essence. Thrice Jesus came again. There are only two things infinite I say: the compassion of a master and the stupidity of the disciple. Infinite, two things. Thrice he came and he said, `Again you are asleep?' And that night would have become enlightenment for all those disciples, because Jesus was at his pinnacle -- the very peak. And he was praying: in that moment of Jesus' prayer the whole atmosphere in that Garden of Gethsemane was CHARGED. If those disciples had been watchful, immediate sudden enlightenment would have been possible. But they were fast asleep. To you also, I say, be watchful! -- because I will not be here for long. A little while more. You can miss and you can find excuses. Be watchful! Be alert!

Jesus always used to tell a story, that a master went for a journey. And he told his servants, `Be watchful twenty four hours a day, because any moment I can come back. And if I find you asleep, I will throw you out. So keep alert! Somebody must be alert and aware. You can divide the time by shifts, but I must find a few servants alert and aware whenever I come.'
But the servants thought, `The journey is very long, and it will take almost years, so no need to worry about it right now. After a year we will be watchful. For this whole year we can enjoy and indulge and sleep well. And we are free -- the master is gone.'
And when the master came.... He came after three years, but when for one year completely you sleep and indulge and become lazy, then it is not easy. Then they started postponing: `He has not come yet, and no message has come. Who knows whether he is alive or dead? And we have not heard anything at all.' They forgot completely. When the master came, they had not only forgotten that the master existed, they had not only forgotten that they had to be alert, they had completely forgotten that they were servants. They had become the masters by that time.
This is what has happened to every mind, to every consciousness.

And remember: God can knock at your door any moment. If you are not watchful, you will miss. He can knock from a dog. He can knock from a flower. A bird takes wing -- and He can knock there. He can use any opportunity to knock at your door. Remain alert so that when the Guest comes He does not find you asleep; when He knocks at your door, you are ready and you have prepared the house for the Guest -- and your heart is ready to receive. Be watchful. Through being watchful, by and by, the ego will die, because ego is created by a non-watchful mind, an unalert mind. Through watching, witnessing, the ego dies. And nothing is possible until you die.

Source:
Listen to complete discourse at mentioned below link.
Discourse Series: Until You Die, Chapter #9
Chapter title: Almost Dead With Thirst
19 April 1975 am in Buddha Hall

References:
Osho has spoken on Sufi Masters and Mystics Al-Hillaj-Mansoor, Farid, Junnaid, Rabiya Al Adabiya, Lai-Khur, Hakim Sanai, Jalaladdin Rumi, Sarmad, Hassan and many more in His discourses. Some of these can be referred to in the following books/discourses:

1. The Perfect Master, Vol 1, 2
2. Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol 1, 2
3. The Secret
4. Until You Die
5. Just Like That
6. The Wisdom of the Sands, Vol 1, 2
7. The Razor’s Edge
8. The Revolution
9. Socrates Poisoned Again After 25 Centuries
10. The Hidden Splendour
11. Beyond Enlightenment
12. The New Dawn
13. Be Still and Know
14. The Sword and the Lotus
15. And the Flowers Showered