Child Meets the Master

A Child Meets the Master; Anecdote in Ruhi, Book V

John Taylor; 28 July 2005

Friends, our community is studying Ruhi Book Five, which goes through
the plans and preparation for teaching a second year level of
children's classes to children of about 8 years old. In one of the
lessons we went through this week, Lesson 5 I think it was, the
children's class teacher is asked to retell an anecdote of Leroy Ioas
meeting the Master as a young child in Chicago. Although I already
sent most of the following out on the Badi' list about a year ago, I
am sending it out again now because it documents the original source
of this story, which is not attributed in the Ruhi book.

The authoritative version of this anecdote I have pointed out here by
adding "xxxx" before and after it, and I have included in the text
Piff's footnote documenting it. The Ruhi version of this story is
commendably accurate, unlike many others, though it does leave out
some details, notably the blood the Master spilt on the flower. If it
were up to me, I might pick out a different story of the Master to
tell to children, but the fact that it has been changed and twisted
around so much may indicate that it does have a certain appeal; it is
certainly one of only a few that I can think of that tell of a meeting
with the Master from a child's point of view.

Anecdotes about `Abdu'l-Baha

"... Abdu'l-Baha's visits to the West in 1911-13 greatly consolidated
and encouraged the nascent Bahai communities in Europe and North
America and his talks, and anecdotes about him provided an important
body of information the community could use to shape its beliefs,
attitudes and conduct. Official Baha'i doctrine identifies Abdul-Baha
as the perfect exemplar of Baha'u'llah's teachings; indeed, when
contemplating a course of action, Baha'is often ask themselves what
Abdul-Baha would have done. Thus knowing what Abdu'l-Baha did do in
various situations is important. Despite discouragement from Baha'i
leaders to attach importance to stories told about Abdul-Baha,
exemplary stories in which he is the central character are circulated
widely and frequently in the Baha'i community.

"Anecdotes about Abdu'l-Baha are too numerous to treat comprehensively
in the scope of the present study. Popular lore recounts episodes in
which Abdul-Baha defeated a hypnotist sent by enemies of Baha'i to
disrupt one of his talks; walked out of an unchaste movie or stage
performance; joked with Emily Pankhurst, a leading English
suffragette; met with industrialist Andrew Carnegie and afterwards
declared that in the next world Mr Carnegie would be a stone; rejected
a gift given by a devotee on behalf of her husband; and replied to
questions posed by Baha'i followers by answering them in their dreams.

"Often the stories convey a moral teaching as well as indicating the
mysterious, spiritual powers of Abdul-Baha. The following story
illustrates a number of important elements present in Baha'i community
discourse about Abdul-Baha and will perhaps serve as an example of an
entire class of anecdotes. It is useful for our purposes because it
exists in at least two variants, one American and one Iranian, and
also for the fact that its origin can be traced to an autobiographical
account, enabling some analysis of the shaping process the story has
undergone. The following is an American version:

"At one of Abdul-Baha's speaking engagements in the United States a
young boy sat in the audience, drinking in the Master's words. At the
end of the meeting the Master began to distribute flowers to the
guests. The boy thought to himself, If I am a good Baha'i, Abdul-Baha
will give me one of His red roses. But all the flowers were
distributed before Abdul-Baha reached the boy. The boy sadly left the
room and sat down on the stairs outside. Abdul-Baha appeared beside
the lad. He plucked a white rose from His robe, took out a pin and
gashed His finger so that the blood flowed freely. The Master
proceeded to paint the rose red with His own blood, then handed the
crimson flower to the boy, saying, `You are a good Baha'i.' The boy
later became a Hand of the Cause of God.

"Official Bahai history acknowledges that some of the incidents
associated with Abdul-Baha during his Western visits were marvellous
or strange. Popular lore attributes to him a miraculous insight into
the wishes and desires of his devotees; he was deemed capable of, in
effect, reading their minds (or at least of knowing the condition of
their hearts). For this reason, some Baha'is certainly consider the
above story plausible.

"The episode illustrates Abdul-Baha's supernatural gift as well as his
exemplary kindness. One of the Baha'is, a young boy, has made a secret
wish: If I am a good Baha'i, Abdul-Baha will give me one of his red
roses. Abdul-Baha's response is wonderful beyond expectation: he
removes a white rose from his own robe, cuts his finger with a pin,
paints the rose red with his blood, and hands it to the boy saying the
very words, `You are a good Baha'i.' The fact that the boy later grows
up to become a Hand of the Cause of God adds an additional prophetic
appropriateness to Abdul-Baha's act.

"The episode above is said to have occurred during Abdul-Baha's
sojourn among the Baha'is of North America in 1912. The original
source for the story appears to be an incident in the boyhood life of
the late Hand of the Cause Leroy Ioas; the following is Mr. Ioas'
account of the episode:

xxxx

"I recall another . . . visit to the Master in the Plaza Hotel [in
Chicago]. We were going there, and I decided. . . to buy Him some
flowers. . . I didn't have much money, but I bought Him a beautiful
bouquet of white carnations... After we approached the hotel and got
into the main floor, I said to my father, I am just not going to bring
the Master these flowers. He said, Why not? ... the Master loves
flowers. I said, I know He does, but... I come to the Master offering
Him my heart and I don't want Him to think that I am currying any
favours. He knows the condition of a person's heart, and that is all I
have to offer. My father took the flowers and went upstairs, and he
handed them to the Master, and the Master sat talking, feeling those
flowers, smelling them, putting His face into them.

"With this, He gave this beautiful talk after He finished, He stood up
shaking hands with everyone, and to everyone He gave one of these
white carnations. He shook hands with them and gave them a white
carnation, shook hands with the next one and gave him a white
carnation; shook hands with the next one and gave him a white
carnation. These white carnations were getting to be very few, and I
was standing behind Abdul-Baha, and He had three or four left, and I
thought, Gee, I wish He would turn around and shake hands with me
before those are all gone. Just as I thought that, He turned around
and looked at me, and He had a beautiful red rose. He pulled this red
rose off His coat and handed it to me. As He did so, some of the blood
of His finger was cut on the pin, so that I have that red rose with
the Masters blood on it.

[fn: This incident is recorded in an unpublished historical document
prepared by the Ioas family, "Part of the Baha'i History of the Family
of Charles and Maria Ioas", August, 1978, pp. 14-15. See also Chapman,
Leroy Ioas, p. 23]

xxxx

"Mr Ioas's written version of the narrative contains many of the same
points as the oral version. In both versions, Abdul-Baha is the
central character; in both he is able to read the condition of a
persons heart; in both there is a marvellous synchronicity: Mr Ioas
thought, Gee I wish He would turn around and Abdul-Baha did.

As in the oral version, Abdu'l-Baha presents the boy with a flower
from his own clothing; and in both versions the flower the boy
receives is different in colour from those received by the others. But
the most dramatic and wonderful element of the episode the deliberate
painting of the flower with blood has been inflated from Abdul-Bahas
having cut his finger on a pin as he removed the flower from his coat.
The character of the act has changed from an accident to an
intentional performance on the part of Abdul-Baha. The original
version does not mention the boy's silent wish, his dejection at not
receiving a flower or Abdul-Baha's reassuring pronouncement you are a
good Baha'i. Self- doubt and a need for reassurance are, of course,
universal human feelings. Baha'is, like others who strive to live up
to certain ideals of behaviour, are often acutely aware of their
personal shortcomings and the distance separating their individual
lives and attitudes from the Bahai standard.

"The Iranian variant, attributed by my informant to an Iranian Hand of
the Cause, differs in some details from the American version and has a
slightly different conclusion (and theme):

"The episode occurred in the West at a Baha'i meeting. Abdul-Baha had
spoken and was passing out roses. All of the roses were red but one,
which was white. The Baha'i who received the white rose felt singled
out -- was something wrong with him? Why had his rose been white and
all the others red? Abdu'l-Baha turned, took the rose, cut his flesh
so that blood flowed down his arm, reddened the petals in the blood
and handed it back saying,

"I love all of you, all of you the same."

The central act of the story is the same in this version: the white
rose is intentionally painted by Abdu'l-Baha with his own blood. The
Baha'i, however, is no longer identified as a young person nor as a
future Baha'i dignitary. The flower, again different in hue from the
others, has not come from Abdul-Baha's robe and the point Abdul-Baha
is making is not that the person receiving the rose is a good Baha'i
but that he is loved the same as all other members of the community.

"Again, however, Abdu'l-Baha seems to have read the mind (Or guessed
the secret doubt or question) of the Baha'i and, unasked, given a
wonderful answer. This version would seem to address a need on the
part of the Iranian Baha'is for reassurance that all of them were
loved, important members of the community. Perhaps issues of division
based on Bahai status, family connection or wealth troubled the
community and were addressed by the story.

"All versions of the anecdote, including the original, reinforce for
Baha'is their belief in the special powers and capacity for love
exhibited by `Abdul-Baha. However, in the oral versions, details have
been shaped to emphasize with more force the message that Abdul-Baha
was a unique figure with superhuman insight and the capability for
gestures of poetic kindness. The story illustrates Abdul-Baha's
sacrificial spirit; he is willing to shed his blood for the happiness
of the Baha'is. The story also illustrates the infusion of the
marvellous into Bahai community life.

-From David Piff, Baha'i Lore, George Ronald, Oxford, 2000, pp. 93-5

--
John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com