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Daniel Ladinsky

December 20, 2023

Daniel Ladinsky (born 1948) is an American poet and interpreter of mystical poetry, born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Over a twenty-year period, beginning in 1978, he spent extensive time in a spiritual community at Meherabad, in western India, where he worked in a rural clinic free to the poor, and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Meher Baba.[1][2]

He has written four works which he claims are based on poetry of 14th-century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz: I Heard God Laughing (1996), The Subject Tonight Is Love (1996) The Gift (1999), and A Year With Hafiz: Daily Contemplations, (2011) as well as an anthology, Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (2002), and The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi (2012). In introductions to his books, Ladinsky notes that he offers interpretations and renderings of the poets, rather than literal or scholarly translations. His work is based on conveying and being "faithful to the living spirit" of Hafiz, Rumi, and other mystic poets.[3] But Hafez scholars have argued that his writings have no connection to the great Persian poets.[4]

In 2017 Ladinsky published Darling, I Love You: Poems from the Hearts of Our Glorious Mutts, featuring his original haiku, illustrated by Patrick McDonnell, creator of the internationally syndicated MUTTS comic strip.

Early life and background edit

Ladinsky was born and brought up in suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, where his father was a wealthy developer. He grew up with two brothers, and had a Jewish upbring as his father was Jewish, though he was also baptized as a Catholic, as his mother was Christian. After studying in small colleges, at age 20, he enrolled at the University of Arizona. During this period he came across the book God Speaks, by Meher Baba, and poetry by Rumi, both of which had a deep impact on him. At the back of the Meher Baba book, he found the address of the five centers dedicated to the spiritual master. Some time later, as Ladinsky recounted in an interview, intending to drive towards the Andes mountain, he took a detour of a thousand miles, and stopped at the Meher Baba Center at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. There, he met the disciple Kitty Davy, then in her seventies, who had spent twenty years in India with Meher Baba. He stayed at the Center for a few months, when Davy advised him to go back to his family, and to find a job that would let him work with his hands. Back home, his father helped him join a carpentry school.[5]

He worked for a few years at a carpentry job, and thereafter joined his father's investment company. Unable to find fulfillment, he visited the Meher Baba Center in South Carolina again. Then, in 1978, Davy advised him to visit the Meher Baba ashram, at Meherabad, near Ahmednagar, India. There he met Meher Baba's sister Mani Irani, and his close disciple, Eruch Jessawala. Though Ladinsky's first visit lasted only two weeks, it started a process which continued with regular visits for the next two decades.He even lived in a nearby spiritual community at Meherazad for six years, working at the local free clinic[5][6]

Career edit

In early 1990s, under the guidance of Jessawala, Ladinsky started working on English renderings of poems of Hafiz, a 14th-century Persian mystic poet.[5] Since he did not know the Persian language, he based his "renderings" on an 1891 English translation of The Divan of Hafez by Henry Wilberforce-Clarke.[3] Eventually, he published I Heard God Laughing in 1996. Thereafter he published more works on Hafiz, The Subject Tonight Is Love (1996) and The Gift (1999). Since the release of his first publication I Heard God Laughing,[7] Ladinsky's books have been translated into German, Hebrew, Turkish, Indonesian, and Slovene languages and maintain international best-selling status in the religious and inspirational poetry genre. The BBC invited Ladinsky to write on Hafiz.[8] His work is widely quoted on social media, including by Rupi Kaur,[9] Oprah,[10] Paulo Coehlo, and many; it is reprinted in the books of internationally known authors, including Ram Dass, Eckhart Tolle, Greg Mortenson, Matthew Fox, Elif Shafak, Stephen R. Covey, Jack Kornfield, Tom Shadyac and Elizabeth Gilbert. Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sufi leaders and organizations, as well as non-affiliated spiritual and service groups, license Ladinsky's work for use and reprint.[11]

In 2002, he published an anthology of mystical poetry from Eastern and Western mysticism, titled, Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West.[12]

Ladinsky's work has garnered positive commentary from Pakistani diplomat and academic Akbar S. Ahmed,[13] has been favorably endorsed by The Christian Science Monitor writer Alexandra Marks,[14] and has been quoted in contemporary non-fiction by American Muslim writers such as Asma Gull Hasan.[15] The Islamic Foundation of North America used Ladinsky's The Gift in its Islamic literature curriculum.[16] Some hail Ladinsky's contemporary work for creating an immediate access to the spirit and intention of Hafiz' verse.[17][18] Ladinsky authored a short essay entitled My Portrait of Hafiz, that offers a description of the process and background of his work.[19] Turkish novelist Elif Shafak licensed Ladinsky's Rumi work for reprint in her titles.

Controversies edit

Translation misrepresentation edit

Scholars and critics point out that Ladinsky's poems are originals, and not translations or interpretations of Hafez.[20][21][22][23] Christopher Shackle describes The Gift as "not so much a paraphrase as a parody of the wondrously wrought style of the greatest master of Persian art-poetry" and Aria Fani describes his contribution thusly "Ladinsky does not know Persian while his poems bear little or no resemblance to what Hafez has composed" [24][23]

Reviewer Murat Nemet-Nejat contacted Ladinsky and asked him for one or two translated gazels of Hafiz. Ladinsky was unable to produce such originals.[25][26]

In April 2009, the Premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, recited from Ladinsky's book at a Nowruz celebration in Toronto, but was later informed there was no corresponding Persian original for the poems.[27]

In June 2020, Professor Omid Safi commented, "Part of what is going on here is what we also see, to a lesser extent, with Rumi: the voice and genius of the Persian speaking, Muslim, mystical, sensual sage of Shiraz are usurped and erased, and taken over by a white American with no connection to Hafez's Islam or Persian tradition. This is erasure and spiritual colonialism [...] not simply a matter of a translation dispute, nor of alternate models of translations."[28]

Personal life edit

Ladinsky continues to live on a rural wilderness farm in the Ozarks of Missouri,[29] on a ranch outside of Taos, New Mexico, and, at other times, next to the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.[5]

Publications edit

  • I Heard God Laughing: Renderings of Hafiz (1996 & 2003) ISBN 0-14-303781-1
  • The Subject Tonight Is Love: Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz (1996 & 2006) ISBN 978-0-14-019623-8
  • The Gift: Poems by Hafiz (1999) ISBN 0-14-019581-5
  • Love Poems from God : Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West (2002) ISBN 0-14-219612-6
  • A Year With Hafiz: Daily Contemplations (2011) ISBN 978-0-14-311754-4
  • The Purity of Desire: 100 Poems of Rumi (2012) ISBN 978-0-14-312161-9
  • Darling, I Love You: Poems from the Hearts of Our Glorious Mutts illustrated by Patrick McDonnell (2017, Penguin Books) ISBN 978-0-14-312826-7
Audio
  • Daniel Ladinsky; Stevin McNamara (music) (2002). . Sounds True. ISBN 1-56455-958-0. Archived from the original on 2014-02-23. Retrieved 2014-01-19.

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ Author Profile: Daniel Ladinsky 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine Sounds True
  2. ^ Ladinsky, Daniel (12 September 2009). "Daniel Ladinsky: Maybe the Best Lay in Town Is a Poem". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  3. ^ a b Ladinsky, Daniel (1996 & 2006) p.xi., "I Heard God Laughing, Penguin.
  4. ^ "Fake Hafez: How a supreme Persian poet of love was erased".
  5. ^ a b c d Lawler, Andrew (October 2013). . The Sun Magazine. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 2014-01-18.
  6. ^ Ladinsky, Daniel (1996 & 2006) p. ix., I Heard God Laughing, Penguin.
  7. ^ Sufism Reoriented Sufism Reoriented
  8. ^ "The mystical poet who can help you lead a better life".
  9. ^ @rupikaur_ (23 January 2017). "hafiz. life poems. medicine" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. ^ @SuperSoulSunday (5 November 2017). ""Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I'd rather see you in better living conditions." #SuperSoulSunday" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  11. ^ Thomas Grady Agency & NOBA Literary-permissions
  12. ^ "Book Review: Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky". Spirituality & Practice. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  13. ^ Commentary: A Meditation on Love 2011-07-19 at the Wayback Machine Ahmed, Akbar S. (Feb. 12, 2003) . Religion News Service.
  14. ^ Marks, Alexandra (Sept. 2009) Editorial Reviews.
  15. ^ Hasan, Asma Gull (2009) Red, White, and Muslim: My Story of Belief. New York: Harper One.
  16. ^
  17. ^ . Archived from the original on 2019-03-25. Retrieved 2011-10-10.
  18. ^ Surprise in Mystic Poetry: Daniel Ladinsky and Hafiz[permanent dead link] Alam, Sadiq (May 23, 2009).
  19. ^ Ladinsky, Daniel (April 2005) My Portrait of Hafiz
  20. ^ . Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  21. ^ A.Z. Foreman's review of The Gift: Poems from Hafiz the great Sufi Master
  22. ^ Stealing Hafiz, Rick M. Chapman, White Horse Publishing Company, 2011
  23. ^ a b 'Rewriting Hafez: Re-theorizing Untranslatability in Persian Poetry' article by Aria Fani
  24. ^ Christopher Shackle, Translation and Religion: Holy Untranslatable? Edited by Lynne Long, 2005, p. 26)
  25. ^ . Archived from the original on 2017-12-08. Retrieved 2009-02-26.
  26. ^ See also Review of: The Gift: Poems from Hafiz the great Sufi Master
  27. ^ Supposed Hafiz poem recited by McGuinty turns out to be fake
  28. ^ Fake Hafez: How a supreme Persian poet of love was erased
  29. ^ "Daniel Ladinsky, Profile and Works". Poet Seers.

External links edit

  • "Daniel Ladinsky, Profile and Works". Poet Seers.
  • "Poems of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky". Poetry Chaikhana.

December 20, 2023
daniel, ladinsky, born, 1948, american, poet, interpreter, mystical, poetry, born, raised, louis, missouri, over, twenty, year, period, beginning, 1978, spent, extensive, time, spiritual, community, meherabad, western, india, where, worked, rural, clinic, free. Daniel Ladinsky born 1948 is an American poet and interpreter of mystical poetry born and raised in St Louis Missouri Over a twenty year period beginning in 1978 he spent extensive time in a spiritual community at Meherabad in western India where he worked in a rural clinic free to the poor and lived with the intimate disciples and family of Meher Baba 1 2 He has written four works which he claims are based on poetry of 14th century Persian Sufi poet Hafiz I Heard God Laughing 1996 The Subject Tonight Is Love 1996 The Gift 1999 and A Year With Hafiz Daily Contemplations 2011 as well as an anthology Love Poems from God Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West 2002 and The Purity of Desire 100 Poems of Rumi 2012 In introductions to his books Ladinsky notes that he offers interpretations and renderings of the poets rather than literal or scholarly translations His work is based on conveying and being faithful to the living spirit of Hafiz Rumi and other mystic poets 3 But Hafez scholars have argued that his writings have no connection to the great Persian poets 4 In 2017 Ladinsky published Darling I Love You Poems from the Hearts of Our Glorious Mutts featuring his original haiku illustrated by Patrick McDonnell creator of the internationally syndicated MUTTS comic strip Contents 1 Early life and background 2 Career 3 Controversies 3 1 Translation misrepresentation 4 Personal life 5 Publications 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksEarly life and background editLadinsky was born and brought up in suburbs of St Louis Missouri where his father was a wealthy developer He grew up with two brothers and had a Jewish upbring as his father was Jewish though he was also baptized as a Catholic as his mother was Christian After studying in small colleges at age 20 he enrolled at the University of Arizona During this period he came across the book God Speaks by Meher Baba and poetry by Rumi both of which had a deep impact on him At the back of the Meher Baba book he found the address of the five centers dedicated to the spiritual master Some time later as Ladinsky recounted in an interview intending to drive towards the Andes mountain he took a detour of a thousand miles and stopped at the Meher Baba Center at Myrtle Beach South Carolina There he met the disciple Kitty Davy then in her seventies who had spent twenty years in India with Meher Baba He stayed at the Center for a few months when Davy advised him to go back to his family and to find a job that would let him work with his hands Back home his father helped him join a carpentry school 5 He worked for a few years at a carpentry job and thereafter joined his father s investment company Unable to find fulfillment he visited the Meher Baba Center in South Carolina again Then in 1978 Davy advised him to visit the Meher Baba ashram at Meherabad near Ahmednagar India There he met Meher Baba s sister Mani Irani and his close disciple Eruch Jessawala Though Ladinsky s first visit lasted only two weeks it started a process which continued with regular visits for the next two decades He even lived in a nearby spiritual community at Meherazad for six years working at the local free clinic 5 6 Career editIn early 1990s under the guidance of Jessawala Ladinsky started working on English renderings of poems of Hafiz a 14th century Persian mystic poet 5 Since he did not know the Persian language he based his renderings on an 1891 English translation of The Divan of Hafez by Henry Wilberforce Clarke 3 Eventually he published I Heard God Laughing in 1996 Thereafter he published more works on Hafiz The Subject Tonight Is Love 1996 and The Gift 1999 Since the release of his first publication I Heard God Laughing 7 Ladinsky s books have been translated into German Hebrew Turkish Indonesian and Slovene languages and maintain international best selling status in the religious and inspirational poetry genre The BBC invited Ladinsky to write on Hafiz 8 His work is widely quoted on social media including by Rupi Kaur 9 Oprah 10 Paulo Coehlo and many it is reprinted in the books of internationally known authors including Ram Dass Eckhart Tolle Greg Mortenson Matthew Fox Elif Shafak Stephen R Covey Jack Kornfield Tom Shadyac and Elizabeth Gilbert Christian Buddhist Hindu Jewish Muslim and Sufi leaders and organizations as well as non affiliated spiritual and service groups license Ladinsky s work for use and reprint 11 In 2002 he published an anthology of mystical poetry from Eastern and Western mysticism titled Love Poems from God Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West 12 Ladinsky s work has garnered positive commentary from Pakistani diplomat and academic Akbar S Ahmed 13 has been favorably endorsed by The Christian Science Monitor writer Alexandra Marks 14 and has been quoted in contemporary non fiction by American Muslim writers such as Asma Gull Hasan 15 The Islamic Foundation of North America used Ladinsky s The Gift in its Islamic literature curriculum 16 Some hail Ladinsky s contemporary work for creating an immediate access to the spirit and intention of Hafiz verse 17 18 Ladinsky authored a short essay entitled My Portrait of Hafiz that offers a description of the process and background of his work 19 Turkish novelist Elif Shafak licensed Ladinsky s Rumi work for reprint in her titles Controversies editTranslation misrepresentation edit Scholars and critics point out that Ladinsky s poems are originals and not translations or interpretations of Hafez 20 21 22 23 Christopher Shackle describes The Gift as not so much a paraphrase as a parody of the wondrously wrought style of the greatest master of Persian art poetry and Aria Fani describes his contribution thusly Ladinsky does not know Persian while his poems bear little or no resemblance to what Hafez has composed 24 23 Reviewer Murat Nemet Nejat contacted Ladinsky and asked him for one or two translated gazels of Hafiz Ladinsky was unable to produce such originals 25 26 In April 2009 the Premier of Ontario Dalton McGuinty recited from Ladinsky s book at a Nowruz celebration in Toronto but was later informed there was no corresponding Persian original for the poems 27 In June 2020 Professor Omid Safi commented Part of what is going on here is what we also see to a lesser extent with Rumi the voice and genius of the Persian speaking Muslim mystical sensual sage of Shiraz are usurped and erased and taken over by a white American with no connection to Hafez s Islam or Persian tradition This is erasure and spiritual colonialism not simply a matter of a translation dispute nor of alternate models of translations 28 Personal life editLadinsky continues to live on a rural wilderness farm in the Ozarks of Missouri 29 on a ranch outside of Taos New Mexico and at other times next to the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach South Carolina 5 Publications editI Heard God Laughing Renderings of Hafiz 1996 amp 2003 ISBN 0 14 303781 1 The Subject Tonight Is Love Sixty Wild and Sweet Poems of Hafiz 1996 amp 2006 ISBN 978 0 14 019623 8 The Gift Poems by Hafiz 1999 ISBN 0 14 019581 5 Love Poems from God Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West 2002 ISBN 0 14 219612 6 A Year With Hafiz Daily Contemplations 2011 ISBN 978 0 14 311754 4 The Purity of Desire 100 Poems of Rumi 2012 ISBN 978 0 14 312161 9 Darling I Love You Poems from the Hearts of Our Glorious Mutts illustrated by Patrick McDonnell 2017 Penguin Books ISBN 978 0 14 312826 7AudioDaniel Ladinsky Stevin McNamara music 2002 Hafiz The Scent of Light Sounds True ISBN 1 56455 958 0 Archived from the original on 2014 02 23 Retrieved 2014 01 19 See also edit nbsp Poetry portalSufism Reoriented Meher Baba Meher Spiritual Center Islam Mysticism SufismReferences edit Author Profile Daniel Ladinsky Archived 2014 02 21 at the Wayback Machine Sounds True Ladinsky Daniel 12 September 2009 Daniel Ladinsky Maybe the Best Lay in Town Is a Poem Huffington Post Retrieved 2014 01 18 a b Ladinsky Daniel 1996 amp 2006 p xi I Heard God Laughing Penguin Fake Hafez How a supreme Persian poet of love was erased a b c d Lawler Andrew October 2013 Something Missing In My Heart The Sun Magazine Archived from the original on 2014 02 02 Retrieved 2014 01 18 Ladinsky Daniel 1996 amp 2006 p ix I Heard God Laughing Penguin Sufism Reoriented Sufism Reoriented The mystical poet who can help you lead a better life rupikaur 23 January 2017 hafiz life poems medicine Tweet via Twitter SuperSoulSunday 5 November 2017 Fear is the cheapest room in the house I d rather see you in better living conditions SuperSoulSunday Tweet via Twitter Thomas Grady Agency amp NOBA Literary permissions Book Review Love Poems from God by Daniel Ladinsky Spirituality amp Practice Retrieved 2014 01 19 Commentary A Meditation on Love Archived 2011 07 19 at the Wayback Machine Ahmed Akbar S Feb 12 2003 Religion News Service Marks Alexandra Sept 2009 Editorial Reviews Hasan Asma Gull 2009 Red White and Muslim My Story of Belief New York Harper One The Islamic Foundation of North America Shadyac Tom Favorite Books I Am the documentary Archived from the original on 2019 03 25 Retrieved 2011 10 10 Surprise in Mystic Poetry Daniel Ladinsky and Hafiz permanent dead link Alam Sadiq May 23 2009 Ladinsky Daniel April 2005 My Portrait of Hafiz Murat Nemet Nejat The Poetry Project Newsletter 1999 Archived from the original on 2017 12 08 Retrieved 2009 02 26 A Z Foreman s review of The Gift Poems from Hafiz the great Sufi Master Stealing Hafiz Rick M Chapman White Horse Publishing Company 2011 a b Rewriting Hafez Re theorizing Untranslatability in Persian Poetry article by Aria Fani Christopher Shackle Translation and Religion Holy Untranslatable Edited by Lynne Long 2005 p 26 Daniel Ladinsky s The Gift Poems by Hafiz is an original poem masquerading as a translation Archived from the original on 2017 12 08 Retrieved 2009 02 26 See also Review of The Gift Poems from Hafiz the great Sufi Master Supposed Hafiz poem recited by McGuinty turns out to be fake Fake Hafez How a supreme Persian poet of love was erased Daniel Ladinsky Profile and Works Poet Seers External links edit Daniel Ladinsky Profile and Works Poet Seers Poems of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky Poetry Chaikhana Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Daniel Ladinsky amp oldid 1190187468, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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