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This fortnight at Shambhala
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Shambhala books almost never get it wrong. Shambhala authors go deep into places that are intriguing and challenging for readers without getting technical. Shambhala is reader-friendly in several ways. The Shambhala series of Rumi translations are each excellent, as are the collections on Buddhism and Japanese poetry.
Today's Printpick features four Shambhala titles which you can order through a bookstore in town or through a virtual bookstore. Some of these are also available second hand on Amazon. You can access a complete list of Shambhala publications online as well.
The Sound of Water
Translated by Sam Hamill, illustrated by Kaji Aso
Shambhala Centaur Editions, $10.95 (old price)
This little book has a terrific collection of haikus by several masters, including Basho, Buson and Issa. Some of the translations, for example Basho's famous "Old Pond", are a little different and so, intriguing. The usual translation of this Basho haiku has the frog jumping into the pond and then the sound of water, however, Hamill turns the sequence around.
At the ancient pond
A frog plunges into
The sound of water.
Similarly some others. Like the butterfly and falling flowers one... A lot of thought has gone into this collection because it not only has some of the best haiku but also several that you don't find so often in other collections. A wonderful little book.
Sappho
Translated by Mary Barnard
Shambhala Pocket Classics, $6.00 (old price)
This one has all of Sapho's surviving work, which is mostly only fragments. Barnard's translation has been hailed for the purity of diction and for retaining a certain typically Greek "awkwardness" in the style, which comes of the language being "stripped and hard". The book also has a useful note on Sappho in her times and the translations are pleasant to read and give you a sense of what Sappho may have been like.
Standing by my bed
In gold sandals
Dawn that very
Moment awoke me.
Voices of Light
Edited by Aliki Barnstone
Shambhala, $26.95
A wonderful, wonderful collection of spiritual and visionary poems by women including Meera Bai, Mahadevi Akka, Hildegard of Bingen, Lady Ise, Queen Hatsheput, several 5th and 6th Century B.C. poets from Sumeria, China, India, Nepal etc.
It's an interesting collection with a large enough variety to suit different temperaments. Several of the women who we should more publicly acknowledge as mystics of the 20th Century are also here, including Emily Dickinson, Marianne Moore, Anna Akhmatova, Rachida Madani and Yona Wallach.
If women had survival kits, I would say this one should be made indispensable. At least for those to whom words are not just good lines.
I Am Wind, You Are Fire, The Life and Work of Rumi
Annemarie Schimmel
Shambala, $14.00
This is definitely one of the most easily read biographies of Rumi, it is kind of exhaustive in a general way, and has chapters on Rumi's life, his mysticism, his songs and on the many famed relationships in his life, including of course the one with Shams of Tabriz, the wandering mystic who Rumi identified himself so completely with, consumed by the fire of love.
Annemarie Schimmel has spent most of her life on Islamic Studies, and more specifically on Rumi and it shows in her writing, which has a quality of devotion and insight shining through in every turn of thought and every translated word.
An excellent book for Rumi fans.
KALA KRISHNAN RAMESH
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