The Story of Bayazid Bastami

I heard that once, at dawn on a feast day, Bayazid came out of the bathhouse. Without warning, someone dumped a basin of ashes on his head from a house above. With his turban and hair a mess, he ran his hand across his face in thanks and said: 'You, my soul, deserve the fire itself; should I frown at a little ash?' The great ones never gazed at themselves in pride; do not expect to see God while you are busy admiring yourself. Greatness is not in reputation and fine talk; loftiness is not in boasting and empty notions. Humility lifts your head to high places; arrogance throws you down into the dust. The stubborn, hot tempered man falls flat on his face; if you want to rise, stop chasing status. Do not seek the path of faith from one drunk on the world; do not expect to see God from someone lost in self. If you want honor, do not act like the mean spirited and look down on others with contempt. How could a clever person ever imagine that true worth lies in a haughty head? Seek no title more honorable than this: that people call you a person of pleasant character. If someone like you turns proud before you, don't you see him as small in your own mind? So if you act just as arrogantly, you will look the same to those you look down on. When you are standing on a high place, if you are wise, do not mock the one who has fallen. Many a person once standing tall has been brought down, and the fallen have taken his place. Suppose you really are free of every fault; still, do not sneer at me and my flaws. One man holds the ring of the Kaaba in his hand; another lies drunk in a ruined tavern. If God calls that one near, who can hold him back? And if He drives this one off, who can bring him back? Neither can that one lean on his own good deeds, nor is the door of repentance closed to this one.