Rumi: The Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship

If you've ever read Mao's LITTLE RED BOOK, this is totally unlike it! Praise God! or Allah Akbar! It is as different as Ying is to Yang!Anything Coleman Barks has written is well worth reading! Some critics suggest that because his renditions of Rumi were not translated by him, they are inferior. This is far from the truth!In music, someone who plays someone else's song, is called an interpreter. The new version is always a little different and sometimes better, with heartfelt improvisation. Perhaps, in poetry, this holds true, too. Who better to interpret poetry than a poet?Coleman Barks is a true poet; unrestrained by language, rhyme, and meter. He suggests that he is only a minor poet. What makes one a major poet? How old or dead do you have to be? How many people have to read or respect your work?RUMI - THE BIG RED BOOK is great and should be savored like a fine wine. It is arranged in something like chapters, according to some of the ninety-nine names of God and some representatives of True Human Beings. Occasionally, you may read some familar lines from an earlier work but with a new twist. The words and poems are alive! This book is one I will treasure and re-read, hoping to experience more.It seems Coleman Barks is always revising, compiling, and exploring deeper into meanings. He seems to be an American disciple of Rumi. He reminds me of Chuang Tzu explaining Lao Tzu and the Tao Te Ching. (Pardon my Anglicanization - I barely understand English, let alone other languages)I could go on, but if you like Rumi and the Way, you'll love this.

I bought this because I especially like Coleman Barks Rumi translation. Coleman barks makes Rumi approachable by translating it into the American English Idiom. Of course Rumi was the best poet, But reading it translated and organized by Coleman Barks is just so much better. I appreciate the wisdom passed on here. I love how Mr. Barks does not shy away from including the graphically sexual parts. It's wonderfully shocking and really takes the point home for me. It's taking me forever to wade through this work because it is all so delicious. I have to read stop and reflect. I find myself sharing these poems which almost always seem spot on with my dear friends. It's my new thing to do. I should have bought this sooner.

Rumi, as always, is a stunning enlightened being with holy words that pour out of his mouth. Coleman Barks has assembled a masterful collection of Rumi's best. As I read the poems, I can see the dance, smell the smells and be in the moment. The pieces range from the romantic to the silly, but all celebrate mystical love and friendship. If you like Rumi, or if you are new to one of the greatest poets of all time, buy this book and enjoy it: read it to your lover, read it to your self, meditate on the dance of words. Drink the wine of the Beloved!

Regardless of what is going on in your world, the beautiful poems of Rumi lift you out of whatever concerns are pressing you and offer a breath of fresh perspective, of the joy of seeing God present in all things, to re-oxygenate your daily life with the knowing that doing your best with an open heart heals not only you but also blesses the world. I am most grateful to the saints of the east and of the west and to those who translate their beautiful wisdom that we may share in it.

Very well writen but it is obvious a Western translation of a master visionary. This is a work that cannot nor should ever be read in a short span of time..Each poem needs to be contemplated in the connections to the reader's own life.

what isn’t there to love about Rumi’s teachings? Great to pick up and read if you have only 10 min or two hours

Amazing book! I love Rumi and this book is just everything and it looks so beautiful ❤️✨

Read something from this book at least once a day!

To read every now and then...

Das Buch ist wundervoll (5 Sterne) umso unverständlicher die Handhabung: ohne weiteren Schutz in den Pappkarton gestopft und dadurch, oder vorher schon, das Cover und beide Kanten des Buchrückens zerkratzt. Das Buch sieht aus wie dreimal gelesen, echt unmöglich

I hardly need to tell you that Rumi was one of the finest poets who ever lived. And Coleman Barks is an excellent translator.These are free translations that I suspect remain true to the spirit of the original, but present it in a way that's accessible to Western readers.And literally every page is full of wondrous pleasures.Buy it - read it - give it as a gift. Your life will be enriched!

I love it

Beautiful! I made some music as a backup track, and made a spoken recording of three of the poems.An excerpt chosen at randomfrom FRESH ROOTS, p. 317:"A chunk of dirt thrown in the air breaks to pieces.If you do not try to fly, and so break yourself apart,you will be broken open by death,when it is too late for all you could become.":)Unfortunately I can't compare this to other versionsas it is the only one I have read,but I enjoy it every time I pick it up.