From a collection of Gnostic teaching stories and Sayings of Jesus,

translated from Aramaic - the language of Jesus - by the Sufi Gnostic and scholar el-Ghazali - or Algazel as he was known in medieval Europe - (died 1111).

The following stories and sayings are selected ,compiled and translated according to the rules of gnostic exegesis (qaenuwn el-taewiyl)from Classical Arabic into English by Metacognitron Editor.

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PART ONE: PARABLES OF JESUS

PART TWO: SAYINGS OF JESUS

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2-THE STATE OF NO THOUGHT
Once Jesus remained wrapped in deep contemplation for sixty days without eating. Then he broke his contemplation by thinking about bread,which suddenly appeared before him whereupon he lamented because he had just lost a sublime State Of Awareness.
Few moments after, an Ancient Sage came upon him.
Jesus said to him:
'May YOU, the blessed one ,help me.
I was in a lofty State Of Mind but when thought of bread entered my mind that State vanished.'
The Ancient Sage said:
'All I can say to you is that since I knew the way of Truth thoughts of food never came to my mind.I eat whatever food I find with neither desire nor thought.'"

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"Jesus was asked by one of his disciples:
'Which act through which I could enter the Way � He replied: "stop talking.'
The disciple said:
�I cannot do that.'
Jesus replied:
'then talk only when it is really usefull to do so.'"

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It was midday of a hot summer day when Jesus sought an external shade of a garden wall, in some desert oasis, for some rest .
The owner saw him and told him to leave.
Jesus stood up and said:
'I am leaving all right but that is not because I am afraid of you but because I just remembered that I am engaged in the Task of giving up conforts and self-indulgence.'"

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"Jesus ,once during his wanderings, passed by three people with pale, thin faces whom he asked :
'What has made you like this?'
They answered:
'Fear of Hell .'
Jesus said:
�May You be saved from hell.'
Then he left them and walked untill he came across another three people whose faces had become even more thinner and paler.
he said to them:
'What has made you like this?'
They answered:
'desire of Paradise!'
He said: may you one day enter Paradise .'
Then as he continued wandering he came across another three
people whose faces, this time, radiating pure light
so he asked them: 'What has made you like this?'
They answered: 'Love of Truth.'
Jesus said to them: 'verily You are the Near Ones , verily you are the Enlightened Ones !'"
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Jesus came upon a blind, dumb and paralysed leper who was thinking to himself:
' I should be so grateful that my trials are not as harsh or as great as those of other humans.'
Jesus read man's thoughts and inquired:
'Which trials are really harsh or great, then ,if yours are not ?'
The man replied: 'O Living Word of Truth ,because I have some knowledge of truth in my heart,my trials do not seem to me to be that harsh nor to be that great a price to pay for the knowledge of Truth .'
Jesus said: 'You speak wisely, give me your right hand.'
The man gave him his hand and he miraclously recovered from his disease and handicaps all at once�
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7-FERTILE HEART
Jesus asked his audience:
'Where does a tree grow?'
They replied: 'In a fertile ground.'
He said: 'By Truth, similarly I tell you,
Tree of Wisdom does not grow except in a fertile heart .'

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8-YOU CAN NOT GIVE WHAT YOU DO NOT HAVE
Jesus passed a group of people who shouted bad things at him.But he reacted to that by wishing them well .One of his disciples asked him:
'They said bad things to you yet you replied with good by you wishing them well!'
Jesus replied: 'I could only give them what I have in my pocket��

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Jesus asked a man what does he do for a living.The man replied:

"Nothing .I just Serve in the temple all the time."

�� who supports you then?�� Jesus enquired .

��my brother��said the man.

�� verily your brother is the True Servant while you are a false one.��

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10-ACTION WISDOM

Jesus heard the Voice saying to him:

��Jesus son of mary I advise to advise yourself of applying the wisdom that you were offered and only when you have done that you are allowed to pass it on to others��

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Jesus was resting on a flat smooth stone when an evil one passing by said to him:

��Jesus ,resting confortably on that stone is the behaviour of the people of the world��.

Jesus took the stone and threw at him saying:

��here I am giving you the stone and with it the whole world.��

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The disciples asked once Jesus:

��Master ,is there anyone like you at this time on the face of the Earth ?��

�� yes ,there is indeed .anyone who is in a state of constant silent Remembrance is surely like me.��

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Jesus once passed a pig and said:��peace upon you��

The disciples were astonished and said:��you said that to the most polluted of all creatures��

��yes ,because I hate to pollute my tongue with bad speech��.

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the disciple once asked Jesus:

��Master, teach us the first lesson of the science of the seeking of Truth��

Jesus replied:�� the first lesson is to learn to detach from the world .once you learn that you no longer seek but Truth seeks you��.

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15-DYEING HOW TO DYE
"Mary sent her son, Jesus, to learn the art of dyeing from a dyer.
The teacher-dyer was about to go away on abusiness trip so he said to his new apprenctice Jesus:
'I have a lot of cloth to be dyed,
I have taught you the trade of dyeing, so dye them while I am away.'
So Jesus boiled the liquid in a vat
and put all the cloth in it and said:
'Be by the permission of Truth as I wish from you.'
When His teacher came back and saw that all the cloths were still in the same vat he said:
'You have spoiled them!'
Whereupon Jesus brought from the vat cloths of red, yellow, green and so forth according to the instructions written upon each cloth.
The teacher was amazed and so realized that this was surely the work of a mystically gifted youth .'"

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"Jesus,was with his disciples when they passed by a dog in the state of decomposition.
The disciples said: 'What is worse than the corpse of a dog!'
Jesus replied: 'the whiteness of its teeth."
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Jesus once advised his disciples thus:

"Be loved by men of Truth
by avoiding men of falsehood and vanity.
Be close to men of Truth by being far from men of falsehood and vanity.
They asked: 'O spirit of Truth,
who shall we sit with then?"
He replied:
�'Sit with the seekers of Truth
For they help you get closer to men of truth who will help you get closer to Truth."

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PART TWO: SAYINGS OF JESUS

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�'Do not seek the knowledge of that which you do not know
until you first practice that which you already know.'"

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"Four inner qualities can only be reached with right effort:
non-verbal intuition which is the fruit of right contemplation,
humility which is condition to right contemplation
and patience which sustains right contemplation ."
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" Service has ten parts.
Nine are hidden
and the tenth is detaching from the world."
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4-VANITY AND KNOWLEDGE

"Never in the heart of true seeker
has the love of this life
and the love of True Knowledge been gathered,
just as water and fire are not gathered in one jug."
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5-RIGHTOUSNESS

"O you who seek the world
in order to do righteous in it --
leaving the world is more righteous for you."
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6-OCCUPATION

"O disciples, occupy yourself with the minimum of acts of vanity and the maximum of acts of Service, as the the worldly ones occupy themselves with the minimum of Service and the maximum of vanity."
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7-LIFE-BRIDGE

"Life is a bridge, cross it
and do not reside on it."

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"The example of whosoever is constantly gready for the things of the world is like that who drinks sea water.
The more he drinks the more his thirst increases
until it kills him."

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"When any of you fasts,
let him make up his face and dress his hair
and blacken his eyes (in order to hide the signs of Service from people)."
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10-THE GREAT ONES

"Whosoever attains Knowledge, practices it and then teaches it to others will be counted among the great ones of the Way .'' "
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11-RECIPIENTS OF WISDOM

"in the same way that you do not hang jewellery around the necks of pigs, wisdom is not offered to those who are unworthy of it."

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"Whosoever refuses a genuine beggar at his door-step,
Grace of the Way will not enter his house for Seven Days."
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