Practices of Sufism
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Sufism is an anc Sufism ancien ientt tra tradi ditio tion n of spi spirit ritual ual dev develo elopme pment. nt. It is widespread at present. Sufism originated inside Islam. Some Sufi teachers-sheikhs say, howeve ho wever, r, that Suf Sufism ism can cannot not be li limit mited ed to a par partic ticula ularr rel religi igion on,, historical period, society, or language. They call Sufism “the pure essence of all religions” and believe that Sufism eisted always! it is on only ly it its s ou oute terr ap appe pear aran ance ce th that at ch chan ange ges s ac acco cord rdin ing g to th the e contemporary cultural-historical environment. The Sufis, who often call themselves “people of true beingness”, from age to age bring to the world together with their teachings teachi ngs their art, which reflec reflects ts their perception perception of the beautiful. beautiful. The Sufi symbolism, images, and themes are found in a significant part of the oriental folklore, literature, especially poetry. Such is almo al most st al alll "e "ersi rsian an-I -Iran rania ian n cl class assic ic po poet etry ry,, wh whic ich h is re reco cogn gni# i#ed ed throughout the world. $idely known are the names of Sufi poets! Sanai, %umi, &afi#, 'ami, (e#ami. )ne can say the same, though to a sma small ller er de degr gree, ee, ab abou outt th the e *rab an and d Turk rkic ic li lite tera ratu ture re,, po poet etry ry,, folklore. $hat is Sufism+ The root Sufi means means “pure”. It corresponds to the essence of the Sufi teachings and spiritual appearance of its best representatives. The true masters of Sufism, the true Sufis are indeed pure from the dogmatism and fanaticism, are free from confessional and national pre reudices es.. * strong aspirat atiion to the ethical purity and impeccability, peculiar to the Sufis, contributed to their receiving another name in the *rab world /nights of "urity 0Sahiba-i-Safa1 234. Thanks to large pliancy and openness to outer influence, Sufism at present is not a uniform system. Its different trends, directions, schools, groups differ from one another by methodological aspects they emphasi#e, by practical methods they prefer. *mong Sufis, there the re are wel well-k l-kno nown wn ord orders ers wit with h anc ancien ientt tra tradit dition ions s and als also o 53 main 0“parental”1 brotherhoods. In addition, there are many other
structures in Sufism! smaller brotherhoods, communities, centers, circles. 6et us talk about the fundamentals of the Sufi teachings! Sufism holds a belief that the universe consists of 7 “planes of eistence” 234. This concerns multidimensionality of space. The subtlest dimension, which the Sufis call 8at, is the *bode of 9od in the aspect of the :reator. The :reator and the whole diversity of &is :reation 0Sifat, in Sufi terms1 compose the *bsolute. The :reator pervades the entire :reation with &is 6ove. The multidimensional human organism, which is similar in its structure to the multidimensional structure of the *bsolute, can reveal in itself more subtle forms of beingness. )ne reali#es this by cogni#ing and perfecting oneself. Thus only by knowing his true essence man can achieve the direct perception of 9od and union with &im. This is epressed very laconically in the hadith of Sunna which reads! “&e who cogni#es himself cogni#es 9od”. )n the final stages of such cognition, the individual human consciousness merges with the ;ivine :onsciousness. This final goal is described in the Sufi tradition as the highest state of consciousness
ternity in 9od1. &indu and
This happens! 51 through the development of the emotional, cordial love for all the beautiful and harmonious in the worldB 31 through active, sacrificial love-service to peopleB C1 and then through etending this love to all manifestations of the world without discriminating between themB the Sufis say! “If you make a distinction between things originating from 9od you are not man of spiritual "ath. If you think that a diamond can ennoble you and a stone lowers you, then 9od is not with you” 2 D4B E1 such developed love for all elements of the :reation is redirected then to the :reator and man begins to see that, according to %umi, “the
capability
of comprehending
the
teachings
is
determined by the sheikh. Gor this purpose sheikhs often use provocative methods. They put aspirants into various situations, involve them into innocent talks with the purpose of determining their level of development. If aspirants look promising, then sheikh watching them for some time, determine their individual features and to what etent they can comprehend the teachings. *nd then, according to this, every murid is given certain tasks for the whole period of learning and corresponding parts of the teachings. *fter determining specific features of the student@s development, the sheik can send him or her to other orders, brotherhoods, educational centers. The neophyte moves from sheikh to sheikh and gradually comprehends and masters the program. *fter a long and all-round learning, the murid returns to his or her first sheikh. *nd then the sheik gives the murid “final polishing” and so-called ia#a 0permission1 to continue the sheik@s tradition and preach the teachings. The sphere of the Sufi teachings includes both esoteric and eoteric sides. That is, murids develop not only ethically, intellectually, psycho-energetically! they also master the methods, the secrets of their sheikh@s craft or art. 6ater this helps them in life.
The process of Sufi teaching can be subdivided into several stages. The initial stage of the spiritual practice sharia 0law1 concerns strict obedience to all religious precepts. Initial learning of sharia is an obligatory condition for entering on the path of spiritual development. The esoteric learning begins on the net stage tari=a 0path, way1. ?astering the tari=a is related to mastering a series of stepsma=ams. In the ethical aspect, ma=ams imply fundamental reassess of one@s values. They imply finding one@s own vices and repentance 0tauba1, abstaining from the forbidden 0#uhd1, strict distinction between the allowed and non-allowed 0wara1, refusal of nonspiritual attachments and desires 0fa=r1. ?urids learn patience 0sabr1, “swallowing something bitter without showing distaste”. :onstant remembrance about death, about its inevitability leads murids to reassessing many things. In particular, murids develop a careful attitude to the time which they have on the >arth. %eflections on death are an efficient means of fighting unwanted
attachments and habits. *l-9ha#ali said! “If you like something of the world and an attachment is born in you recall about death” 2H4. )n the stage of tari=a, one performs intense intellectual work. Sheiks constantly suggest to their students new themes for reflection, talk with them about the fundamentals of the teachings. ?urids become ac=uainted with various literary sources, which present many parables, educational stories, etc. *s the murid goes through all steps of this stage, he or she develops a strong desire to attain the unity with the :reator and enters the state of rida. The Sufis define rida as “unruffled attitude toward one@s predestination”, that is the state of serenity, calm in respect to what is happening. They who successfully passed ma=ams of tari=a receive the possibility to go further the path of marefat meditative cognition of 9od. )n this stage, further ethical “polishing” of the student takes placeB student@s love 0in its different aspects1, wisdom, and power are perfected. The Sufi who traversed this stage really cogni#es the multidimensionality of space, “illusiveness” of the values of material life, receives living eperience of communion with 9od. *s arif 0he who has cogni#ed1 such a person receives initiation into sheikhs. Some arifs managed to reach the forth stage ha=i=at 0ha== means truth1, on which one finally masters the true beingness. It brings the arif to the full mergence of the individual consciousness with the 9oal of his or her aspirations with the :reator. Spiritual work on these stages corresponds to the one performed on the stages of buddhi yoga.
*n integral part of the spiritual work on all stages of murid@s spiritual ascent is psycho-energetic practice, which significantly accelerates the processes of ethical and intellectual selfdevelopment. 6et us talk in more detail about psycho-energetic methods of tari=a. The psycho-energetic teaching in Sufism is performed so that all students receive special tasks from the sheikh, according to their individual peculiarities and capability of comprehending. *t the same time, the sheik gives psycho-energetic training for groups of students. )n the initial stages of psycho-energetic practice, the sheik
suggests to murids many different eercises for development of the ability of concentration, for stopping the flow of thoughts and achieving the “mental pause”B they also work with images. *fter that, various psycho-physical eercises are used! rhythmic movements to music, Sufi whirling, etc. The use of the whole spectrum of these means creates a remarkable purifying effect, develops the energy structures of the organism 0anahata, in particular1. Some of these eercises cause “subtle attunement” of the body, mind, and consciousness, and bring the participants to the ecstatic state which the Sufis call hal. There are different kinds of hal. ?ost often the student gains the following kinds of this state! kurb feeling of the nearness of 9od, mahabba felling of the fervent love for 9od, khauf deep remorse, shau= passionate longing for 9od, etc. 6et us consider some of such practices. ;ances of dervishes, for eample, re=uire absolute relaation of the body and achievement of the full mental pause. *gainst such background of relaation and meditative attunement of the consciousness to the :reator, harmonious spontaneous movements of the body occur. They are not plannedB they do not originate from the mind, but as if occur spontaneously, sually, the dances of dervishes are performed with use of meditative music or meditative singing. This ensures proper attunement of all dancers and brings all ready participants to the state of hal. *nother interesting techni=ue is Sufi whirling. It allows one, in particular, to move the consciousness out from the head chakras, what facilitates entering the state of hal. There are various modifications of this techni=ue. $hirling can be performed to music or without it, with use of mantras, with concentration in certain energy structures of the organism. In the latter case, whirling contributes to the development of the chakras. The general rules of performing this eercise are the following! 51 one can start whirling not sooner than three hours after mealB 31 whirling is performed to any convenient side, against the background of full relaation of the bodyB C1 the eyes are opened and fied on one of the raised hands or not fied on anything at allB E1 whirling is performed in individual rhythm, with as smooth beginning and end of the eercise as possibleB D1 in case of falling during whirling, one has to turn on the
stomach and relaB H1 after performing the eercise, it is necessary to relaB 71 also one needs to be fully confident in the techni=ue, fully “open” when performing the eercise. The duration of the eercise is individual and can vary from several minutes to several hours. )n the “mature” stages of tari=a, one performs intensive work on developing, perfecting the energy structures of the organism. In &indu terms, this concerns, in particular, the chakras and nadi 0meridians1. In this work, a special emphasis is put on developing the anahata the chakra responsible for producing the emotions of cordial love. )ne of the techni=ues of this kind is the meditation of laugh. Its participants lay on the back and completely rela. *fter meditative attunement, they place one hand on the region of anahata, and another hand on the region of muladhara, to activate these chakras. Then they begin to move through the organism waves of soft light-laugh 0from muladhara to the head chakras1. The meditation of laugh creates a purifying effect and contributes to the development of the chakras, the middle meridian, if it is performed on the due level of subtlety . *nother techni=ue used in Sufism is #ikr. There are many variations, modifications of #ikr according to the traditions of the brotherhood or order, the sheik@s mastery. 8ikr is performed in the following way! *ll participants stand or sit in a circle. The sheik gives meditative attunement and then, by his instruction, the participants begin to perform a series of consecutive eercises. These eercises are rhythmic movements performed in ever-increasing tempo 0for eample, bows, turns, sways of the body1. $ith movements, the participants chant praying formulas. In some orders, they attach a great importance to music, to singing in meditation classes. They believe that music the food of the soul 0ghi#a-i-ruh1 is one of the very powerful means contributing to spiritual progress. They widely use music that makes the body move spontaneously 0tarab1, facilitates entering deep meditative states 0saut1, etc. In some orders and brotherhoods, they have everyday listening to music, collective classes with singing of mystic verses 0sama1, ecstatic dances to music, etc. The effectiveness of these techni=ues consists, in particular, in
the fact that meditations are performed not only in motionless positions of the body but also against the background of movements. Thanks to the comple use of different methods, one activates several “centers” of the organism! emotional, moving, intellectual ones. :oordinated, harmonious work of these centers makes possible a =uick change in the student@s psychoenergetic state. *part from ordinary methods, in Sufism there are “accelerated” techni=ues of spiritual development.
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