Parliament of the Birds

Parliament of the Birds by Farid Ud-Din Attar, translated by Edward FitzGerald, with images from a painting by Habiballah of Sava

In the poem, the birds of the world gather to decide who is to be their king, as they had none.
The hoopoe, the wisest of the birds, suggests that they should find the legendary Simurgh - a benevolent, mythical bird in Persian mythology.
The hoopoe leads the birds, each of whom represents a human defect which prevents mankind from realising enlightenment. When the group of birds finally reach the dwelling place of the Simorgh, they find a lake in which they see their own reflection.

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Parliament of the Birds

Enlightenment Manifesto

The Enlightenment Manifesto
- re-created from a post i created on GooglePlus
 many years ago
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Text Extracts from Kalama Sutta and Images of Buddhist sculptures adorn this book. 
The sculptures are characterised by Buddhist subject matter, oftentimes adapting Greek and Roman elements. Stylistically, Greco-Buddhist art has the idealistic realism and richness of Hellenistic art, and it is believed to have produced the first representations of Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni, the Buddha.

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The Enlightenment Manifesto