Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998)

One of the greatest spiritual thinkers of the 20th century, Frithjof Schuon, born in Switzerland, was an advocate of the perennial philosophy as well as being an artist and poet. This theme of the universal in Schuon's writings was foreshadowed by his early encounter with a marabout who had accompanied some members of his Senegalese village to Switzerland in order to demonstrate their culture. When the young Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle with radii on the ground and explained: “God is in the center, all paths lead to Him.”

Below is a video summarising his philosophy in two minutes, and following it translations of some of his poems from the original French.

SILENCE

How can we find our rest in restless things,

In play and dreams to which desire clings?

If happiness you want, then close your eyes;

Silence is gold; and Peace is Paradise.

No heaviness is felt, no noise is heard;

Yet in this naught: God's Presence and His Word.

Say "yes" to God, God will say "yes" to thee;

To Heaven's gate this is the golden key.

About my earthly road I do not care;

It may be long; short is God's road to me.

THE WAY

Within our deepest center dwells the Self;

And so they say: you ought to realize

Your own divinity. But they forget:

Without God's help we never can be wise.

Ignoring this, too many go astray.

With Heaven's Grace alone we find the Way.

IMMANENCE

The Sovereign Good is real, the world is dream;

The dream-world has its roots in the Supreme,

Who casts His image in the endless sea

Of things that may be or may not be.

The fabric of the Universe is made

Of rays and circles, or of light and shade;

It veils from us the Power's burning Face

And unveils Beauty and Its saving Grace.

from Frithjof Schuon, "Road to the Heart" (1995)

Shared originally on Buddhist Travellers in 2010.

Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1900-1991)

Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1900-1991) was a Malian scholar, anthropologist, philosopher, historian, poet and storyteller. He is renowned especially for his writings in French safeguarding and disseminating the culture and wisdom traditions of the Fulɓe people (in English: Fula, French: Peule, Hausa: Fulani) (sing. Pullo) to which he belonged and in whose rites he was himself initiated. 

Among his initiatory tales, each an oral epic recounting the shepherd’s sacred journey into the pastoral path, are: Koumen, textes initiatiques de pasteurs peuls (1961) [Koumen, Initiatory Texts of the Fulɓe Pastors], Kaïdara (1964) [Kaydara], Laaytere L’Éclat de la grande étoile [The Brightness of the Great Star], Njeddi Dewal, mère de la calamité (1985) [Njeddo Dewal, Mother of Calamity]. 

He saw this transmission of oral tradition as part of a broader and ongoing sacred duty: to recall, celebrate and renew the history of African culture for a modern audience. Representing Mali at UNESCO in 1960, he famously said: “In Africa when an old man dies, a library burns.” Himself a student of revered Sufi mystic Tierno Bokar, he spent his later years in Abidjan teaching an open-minded Islam in dialogue with the world, Christianity and African religions.

We hope to share on this blog some translations of excerpts of his work for English speakers.

To read the originals see webPulaaku.
Image Source: from Amadou Hampâté Bâ’s Mémoires.