Peace and Blessings,A story from Hezrat Molana (AS), in two versions. The first is literal so that you can benefit from an exact meaning.
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The dry but exactly literal translation
The story of the contention between the Greeks and the Chinese in the art of painting and picturing.
The Chinese said, "We are the better artists"; the Greeks said, "The (superiority in) power and excellence belongs to us."
"I will put you to the test in this matter," said the Sultan, "(and see) which of you are approved in your claim."
The Chinese and the Greeks began to debate: the Greeks retired from the debate.
(Then) the Chinese said, "Hand over to us a particular room, and (let there be) one for you (as well)."
There were two rooms with door facing door: the Chinese took one, the Greeks the other.
The Chinese requested the King to give them a hundred colours: the King opened his treasury that they might receive that (which they sought).
Every morning, by (his) bounty, the colours were dispensed from the treasury to the Chinese.
The Greeks said, " No tints and colours are proper for our work, (nothing is needed) except to remove the rust."
They shut the door and went on burnishing: they became clear and pure like the sky.
There is a way from many-colouredness to colourlessness colour is like the clouds, and colourlessness is a moon.
Whatsoever light and splendour you see in the clouds, know that it comes from the stars and the moon and the sun.
When the Chinese had finished their work, they were beating drums for joy.
The King entered and saw the pictures there: that (sight), as he encountered it, was robbing him of his wits.
After that, he came towards the Greeks: they removed the intervening curtain.
The reflexion of those (Chinese) pictures and works (of art) struck upon these walls which had been made pure (from stain).
All that he had seen there (in the Chinese room) seemed more beautiful here: 'twas snatching the eye from the socket.
The Greeks, O father, are the Sufis: (they are) without (independent of) study and books and erudition,
But they have burnished their breasts (and made them) pure from greed and cupidity and avarice and hatreds.
That purity of the mirror is, beyond doubt, the heart which receives images innumerable.
That Moses (the perfect saint) holds in his bosom the formless infinite form of the Unseen (reflected) from the mirror of his heart.
Although that form is not contained in Heaven, nor in the
empyrean nor in the sphere of the stars, nor (in the earth which rests) on the Fish,
Because (all) those are bounded and numbered-(yet is it contained in the heart): know that the mirror of the heart hath no bound.
Here the understanding becomes silent or (else) it leads into error, because the heart is with Him (God), or indeed the heart is He.
The reflexion of every image shines unto everlasting from the heart alone, both with plurality and without.
Unto everlasting every new image that falls on it (the heart) is appearing therein without any imperfection.
They that burnish (their hearts) have escaped from (mere) scent and colour: they behold Beauty at every moment without tarrying.
They have relinquished the form and husk of knowledge, they have raised the banner of the eye of certainty.
Thought is gone, and they have gained light: they have gained the throat (core and essence) and the sea (ultimate source) of gnosis.
Death, of which all these (others) are sore afraid, this people (the perfect Sufis) are holding in derision.
None gains the victory over their hearts: the hurt falls on the oyster-shell, not on the pearl.
Though they have let go grammar (nahw) and jurisprudence (fiqh), yet they have taken up (instead) mystical self-effacement (mahw) and spiritual poverty (faqr)
Ever since the forms of the Eight Paradises have shone forth, they have found the tablets of their (the Sufis') hearts receptive.
(They receive) a hundred impressions from the empyrean and the starry sphere and the void: what impressions? Nay, 'tis the very sight of God.
--Masnavi, Book I: 3466-99, translated by Nicholson, 1926
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The poetic version by Coleman Barks with the very beginning of the poem as well.
The Prophet said, “There are some who see Me
by the same Light in which I am seeing them.
Our natures are ONE.
Without reference to any strands
of lineage, without reference to texts or traditions,
we drink the Life-Water together.”
Here's a story
about that hidden mystery:
The Chinese and the Greeks
were arguing as to who were the better artists.
The King said,
“We'll settle this matter with a debate.”
The Chinese began talking,
but the Greeks wouldn't say anything.
They left.
The Chinese suggested then
that they each be given a room to work on
with their artistry, two rooms facing each other
and divided by a curtain.
The Chinese asked the King
for a hundred colors, all the variations,
and each morning they came to where
the dyes were kept and took them all.
The Greeks took no colors.
“They're not part of our work,”
They went to their room
and began cleaning and polishing the walls. All day
every day they made those walls as pure and clear
as an open sky.
There is a way that leads from all-colors
to colorlessness. Know that the magnificent variety
of the clouds and the weather comes from
the total simplicity of the sun and the moon.
The Chinese finished, and they were so happy.
They beat the drums in the joy of completion.
The King entered their room,
astonished by the gorgeous color and detail.
The Greeks then pulled the curtain dividing the rooms.
The Chinese figures and images shimmeringly reflected
on the clear Greek walls. They lived there,
even more beautifully, and always
changing in the light.
The Greek art is the Sufi way.
They don't study books of philosophical thought.
They make their loving clearer and clearer.
No wantings, no anger. In that purity
they receive and reflect the images of every moment,
from here, from the stars, from the void.
They take them in
as though they were seeing
with the Lighted Clarity
that sees them.
Mathnawi, I, 3462-3485, 3499
Coleman Barks
Delicious Laughter
Maypop, June 1990
(Based on Nicholson's translation of the Mathnawi, IV, 2683-2696.)