The Magic Monastery [Paperback]

Idries Shah (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1992

This beautiful collection of stories is one of Shah's best-selling books, and a stirring example of the Sufi system of development at work in the world today. The Magic Monastery was the first book to include stories written by Shah, along with traditional tales illustrating the instructional methods employed by Middle Eastern sages during the last thousand years--mostly unpublished.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...a textbook for students...particularly and intriguingly informative..." -- Doris Lessing, Encounter, August 1972

"...accurately expressing Sufi thought and practice in vivid terms easily comprehensible to readers...Socratic search for truth at any cost..." -- L. F. Rushbrook Williams Asian Affairs, October 1972

"...an enormous amount of commonsense...the reader...will become amused, educated, immersed..." -- Worcester Evening News, June 5, 1972

"...offers much in the way of contemplation and hope, a respite from the ills of modern society." -- Huddersfield Daily Examiner, June 22, 1972

"...probing gently into deeper levels of the mind and echoing with what might be conscience." -- Evening News, April 5, 1972

"...remarkable for its precise response to the real and inner needs of the time." -- Observer Review - BOOK OF THE YEAR, December 17, 1972

"Enriching, illuminating and invaluable, these parables say more about human psychology and philosophy that could many a long thesis." -- Express & Echo, April 25, 1972

"You won't be quite the same person when you have read this book. Highly recommended." -- Kingston Borough News, January 19, 1973

About the Author

As the urgency of our global situation becomes apparent, more and more readers are turning to the books of Idries Shah (1924-1996) as a way to train new capacities and new ways of thinking. Shah has been described as "the most significant worker adapting classical spiritual thought to the modern world."

Shah was educated in both the East and West, by private tutors and through wide-ranging travel and personal encounters - the series of journeys which characterize Sufi education and development. In keeping with Sufi tradition, his life was essentially one of service. His knowledge and interests appeared limitless, and his activities and accomplishments took place in many different countries and in numerous fields of endeavor.

Shah was Director of Studies of the Institute for Cultural Research, an educational organization sponsoring interdisciplinary and crosscultural studies of human thought; a founding member of the Club of Rome; a Governor of the Royal Humane Society and the Royal Hospital and Home for Incurables; and the founder of publishing house Octagon Press.

Shah's landmark book, "The Sufis", invited readers to approach Sufi ideas and test them out. The evident and common sense made it clear that here was a sane, authoritative voice in the wilderness of the gobbledegookish mysticism of the sixties. The lively, contemporary books on traditional psychologies, literature, philosophy and Sufi thought that followed established a broad historical and cultural context for Sufi thought and action. These have so far sold over 15 million copies in 12 languages worldwide and have been awarded many prizes. They have been reviewed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Times, The Tribune, The Telegraph, and numerous other international journals and newspapers.

University and college courses throughout the world are employing Shah's books, or works based on them, in a wide variety of disciplines including sociology, psychology and literature.

In 1969, Idries Shah was awarded the Dictionary of International Biography's Certificate of Merit for Distinguished Service to Human Thought. Other honors included a Two Thousand Men of Achievement award (1971), Six First Prizes awarded by the UNESCO International Book Year (1972), and the International Who's Who in Poetry's Gold Medal for Poetry (1975).

According to his obituary in the London Daily Telegraph "it is impossible to assess his influence, and his legacy is incalculable".

He was, it is said, the Sufi Teacher of the Age.

"The most interesting books in the English language." Saturday Review

"A major psychological and cultural event of our time." Psychology Today

"One is immediately forced to use one's mind in a new way." New York Times

The instrumental function of Shah's work is now well established among people from all walks of life. Stockbrokers, scientists, lawyers, managers, writers, physicians, and diplomats have found Shah's literature for human development "extraordinary".

"It presents a blueprint of the human mental structure." Robert Ornstein, Ph.D.

"Extremely useful in teaching students about management and computers." Thomas Malone, MIT

"Idries Shah provides the unique perspective that allows us to assess real motivations and social biases in a more accurate light." E. Neilsen, Attorney at Law --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Octagon Press, Limited (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0863040586
• ISBN-13: 978-0863040580
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724,066 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What can't be written down, February 8, 2000

By 

Bill Frazier (Baltimore) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magic Monastery (Paperback)

In another book called The Commanding Self Idries Shah says that the desired effect of these Teaching stories depends upon someone not knowing the intended effect. And this in a Teaching narrative that next tells us that the person he said this to, an editor for one of his books, then asked for an introduction explaining the intended effect of the stories. If you don't think thats funny, you probably won't like this book. There are no explanations here, no descriptions of spirituality, or theories about personal development. What is here, is very finely crafted Teaching stories and narratives that Shah collected from both oral and written sources, adding some of his own when "Sufic comprehensiveness demanded it". The stories are beautiful, challenging, disturbing, and often banal. And then one reads them again and finds that they are none of these things; that those were simply some of your own personal reactions to them. This book is a remarkable acheivement; a mirror for what can't be written down.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Handbook for Inner Work, December 22, 1999

By 

Jay Einhorn, Ph.D. (Evanston, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magic Monastery (Paperback)

Here are 157 pieces of literature, most on a single page. Each one is like a room in a monastery; not the one in the title story, which is the product of the illusions of the greedy, but a genuine, inner one. Some rooms have windows through which to see the world around us more clearly. Some rooms have mirrors in which to see ourselves more clearly. Both windows and mirrors are specialized to help us see subtle things that we would otherwise miss. Then we realize that the windows have become mirrors, and the mirrors, windows. A handbook for inner work.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Marvelous Collection of Teaching Stories, July 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magic Monastery (Paperback)

This book not only entertains, it educates as well. The tales and vignettes in it are called Teaching Stories because teaching is precisely what they do. They teach the reader how to escape from the confines and limitations of usual, normal thinking processes. They do so by showing the reader to himself or herself, reflected in the actions and motivations of the characters in the tales. The reader can learn how to operate more free of bias. The effect is similar to suddenly coming across riches, the riches buried within ourselves. Repeated readings reveal more layers and depths, each guiding the reader to greater understanding and freedom. 'The Magic Monastery' is, for these reasons, quite a catch.