Simurgh

I was reading Forough Farrokhzad, an amazing Iranian poet who writes about sexuality, among other things, in a strict fundamentalist country. You can draw a direct line from Forough Farrokhzad to Ahoo Daryaei.

Forough Farrokhzad mentions Simurgh, which is a mythical Persian bird. I get excited about discoveries like these. I'm always sending Shams lots of links to Dharma talks or books I think will help with psychology or culture. But he's going to know more about Simurgh than me, me sending him the link to the Wikipedia article was acknowledgement that his country has a deep and interesting mythology.

"Most characters in Persian mythology are either good, or they are evil. The resultant discord mirrors the nationalistic ideals of the early Islamic era as well as the moral and ethical perceptions of the Zoroastrian period, in which the world was perceived to be locked in a battle between the destructive Ahriman and his hordes of demonic Divs and their Aneran supporters, versus the Creator Ahura Mazda, who although not participating in the day-to-day affairs of mankind, was represented in the world by the izads and the righteous ahlav Iranians. The only written texts relating to religious come from prophet Zoroaster, initiated the reforms which would become Zoroastrianism." (Persian Mythology)

The Simurgh is depicted in Iranian art as a winged creature in the shape of a bird, gigantic enough to carry off an elephant or a whale. It appears as a peacock with the head of a dog and the claws of a lion – sometimes, however, also with a human face. The Simurgh is inherently benevolent. Being part mammal, they suckle their young. The Simurgh has an enmity towards snakes, and its natural habitat is a place with plenty of water. Its feathers are said to be the colour of copper in some versions, and though it was originally described as being a dog-bird, later it was shown with either the head of a man or a dog.

The simurgh was considered to purify the land and waters and hence bestow fertility. The creature represented the union between the Earth and the sky, serving as mediator and messenger between the two.

I believe very strongly in not trying to separate the material and the spiritual, and that the duality is a mistake that creates difficulties in the spiritual life, it creates an unnaturalness. Buddhism is weird, trying hard is complicated, because sometimes it doesn't pay off, relaxing into mindfulness is one of the things you learn.

Where Simurgh could come into play is with the Trikaya. There's the mundane world, the Nirmāṇakāya, then the pure Dharma world, the Dharmakāya, and then between those two is the Saṃbhogakāya. Simurgh can be a bird communicating between the two realms in the Saṃbhogakāya.

I want to give Shams all my knowledge. Some of it's jazz. There's a great BBC radio segment on Bud Powell. This is only available for 29 days from Nov 11th 2024, unfortunately. 

Here's a Lion's Roar article about Buddhism's influence on jazz.

Shams had a job interview today and we didn't connect.