The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) · 30 of 37 · tr. E.H. Whinfield
STORY XII
Joseph a‚Žd the Mirror. An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after some remarks upon the bad behaviour of his brethren, Joseph asked him what present he had brought to show his respect. The friend replied that he had long considered what gift would be most suitable to offer, and at last had fixed upon a mirror, which he accordingly produced from his pocket and presented to Joseph, at the same time begging him to admire his own beauteous face in it. Defect and Not-being the Mirror wherein Absolute Perfect Being is reflected 1. He drew forth a mirror from his side A mirror is what Beauty busies itself with. Since Not-being is tho mirror of Being, If you are wise, choose Not-being (self-abnegation). Being may be displayed in that Not-being, Wealthy men show their liberality on the poor. He who is an hungered is the clear mirror of bread, The tinder is the mirror of the flint and steel. Not-being and Defect, wherever they occur, Are the mirrors of the Beauty of all beings. Because Not-being is a clear filtered essence, Wherein all these beings are infused. When a garment is made by a good tailor, 'Tis an evidence of the tailor's art. Logs of wood would not be duly shaped Did not the carpenter plan outline and detail. The leech skilled in setting bones goes Where lies the patient with a broken leg. If there were no sick and infirm, How could the excellence of the leech's art be seen? If vile base copper were not mingled, How could the alchemist show his skill? Defects are the mirrors of the attributes of Beauty, The base is the mirror of the High and Glorious One, Because one contrary shows forth its contrary, 2 As honey's sweetness is shown by vinegar's sourness. Whoso recognizes and confesses his own defects Is hastening in the way that leads to perfection! But he advances not towards the Almighty Who fancies himself to be perfect. No sickness worse than fancying thyself perfect Can infect thy soul, O arrogant misguided one! Shed many tears of blood from eyes and heart, That this self-satisfaction may be driven out. The fault of Iblis lay in saying, "I am better than he," 3 And this same weakness lurks in the soul of all creatures. *NOTES: 1. Compare the parallel passage in Gulshan i Raz, 1. 135, and the notes thereon. 2. Cp. "Religio Medici," Sect. 35: "Herein is divinity conformant unto philosophy, and not only generation founded on contrarieties, but also creation. God, being all things, is contrary unto nothing; out of which were made all things, and so nothing became something, and Omneity informed nullity into existence." 3. Koran vii. II.
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The passage uses the explicit metaphor of an alchemist showing skill through vile base copper to illustrate spiritual transformation.
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
The call for self-abnegation and driving out self-satisfaction aligns with the practice of radical letting-go to open the soul to God.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Defects and Not-being are described as mirrors that allow the attributes of Beauty to be seen, aligning with the view that evil is a lack allowing good to manifest.
Sufi self-effacement in God — the via by which the lover is unmade as a separate ego and recovered as God's act; specifies the practice/event rather than mystical_union's resulting state.
[auto] The passage explicitly advocates choosing 'Not-being (self-abnegation)' as the mirror wherein Absolute Perfect Being is displayed, defining the Sufi practice of self-effacement.
Eckhart's radical reading of Matthew 5:3 — the saint as one who wants nothing, knows nothing, and has nothing, having emptied even the will and the self with which to receive God; distinct from renunciation_of_wealth (material poverty).
The instruction to choose 'Not-being' and the metaphor of the poor reflecting liberality emphasize spiritual poverty as a virtue.
The Buddhist doctrine that all phenomena lack independent self-nature; emptiness as the positive recognition that things arise only in dependence on conditions — distinct from kenoma's mere deficiency.
The concept of Not-being as a 'clear filtered essence' wherein beings are infused parallels the positive recognition of emptiness.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The text asserts that 'Being may be displayed in that Not-being' and that all beings are infused within this essence, reflecting the Wahdat al-Wujud doctrine.