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The Big Red Book
“Really, what other book would anyone ever need?” —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of Honeybee “Elegant and exquisite.” —Deepak Chopra, author of Muhammad , Jesus , and Buddha The Big Red Book is a poetic masterpiece from Jalaluddin Rumi, the medieval Sufi mystic whom Time magazine calls “the most popular poet in America.” Readers continue to be awed and inspired by Rumi’s masterfully lyrical, deeply expressive poems, collected in volumes such as The Illustrated Rumi , The Soul of Rumi , and the bestselling The Essential Rumi . With The Big Red Book , acclaimed poet and Rumi interpreter Coleman Barks offers a never-before-published translation of a crucial anthology of poems widely considered to be one of Persian literature’s greatest treasures.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published October 12, 2010
616 people are currently reading
2733 people want to read
About the author
Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi
1,170 books15.7k followersSufism inspired writings of Persian poet and mystic Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi; these writings express the longing of the soul for union with the divine.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, Mevlânâ/Mawlānā (مولانا, "our master"), Mevlevî/Mawlawī (مولوی, "my master") and more popularly simply as Rumi - was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian and Sufi mystic who lived in Konya, a city of Ottoman Empire (Today's Turkey). His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages, and he has been described as the most popular poet and the best-selling poet in the United States.
His poetry has influenced Persian literature, but also Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Azerbaijani, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu, as well as the literature of some other Turkic, Iranian, and Indo-Aryan languages including Chagatai, Pashto, and Bengali.
Due to quarrels between different dynasties in Khorāṣān, opposition to the Khwarizmid Shahs who were considered devious by his father, Bahā ud-Dīn Wālad or fear of the impending Mongol cataclysm, his father decided to migrate westwards, eventually settling in the Anatolian city Konya, where he lived most of his life, composed one of the crowning glories of Persian literature, and profoundly affected the culture of the area.
When his father died, Rumi, aged 25, inherited his position as the head of an Islamic school. One of Baha' ud-Din's students, Sayyed Burhan ud-Din Muhaqqiq Termazi, continued to train Rumi in the Shariah as well as the Tariqa, especially that of Rumi's father. For nine years, Rumi practised Sufism as a disciple of Burhan ud-Din until the latter died in 1240 or 1241. Rumi's public life then began: he became an Islamic Jurist, issuing fatwas and giving sermons in the mosques of Konya. He also served as a Molvi (Islamic teacher) and taught his adherents in the madrassa. During this period, Rumi also travelled to Damascus and is said to have spent four years there.
It was his meeting with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi on 15 November 1244 that completely changed his life. From an accomplished teacher and jurist, Rumi was transformed into an ascetic.
On the night of 5 December 1248, as Rumi and Shams were talking, Shams was called to the back door. He went out, never to be seen again. Rumi's love for, and his bereavement at the death of, Shams found their expression in an outpouring of lyric poems, Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. He himself went out searching for Shams and journeyed again to Damascus.
Rumi found another companion in Salaḥ ud-Din-e Zarkub, a goldsmith. After Salah ud-Din's death, Rumi's scribe and favourite student, Hussam-e Chalabi, assumed the role of Rumi's companion. Hussam implored Rumi to write more. Rumi spent the next 12 years of his life in Anatolia dictating the six volumes of this masterwork, the Masnavi, to Hussam.
In December 1273, Rumi fell ill and died on the 17th of December in Konya.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews
January 10, 2024
This book is breathtakingly beautiful. One that I will reread again and again. It's best enjoyed when you have no distractions, when you can find a space of silence and solitude and just lose yourself in it.
February 26, 2012
I'M IN LOVE ... and to quote Rumi:
"lovers find secret places inside this violent world
where they make transactions with beauty"
This book will remain on my "currently reading" list for the rest of my life! ... Coleman Banks (translator) sums it up in the introduction with: "Rumi's message can be stated in many ways. It is the core of the core of every religion. It is the longing in a human being to live in unlimited freedom and joy, to move inside beauty, that most profound need of the human soul to flow with the namelessness that animates, luxuriates, burns, and transpires through form, enlivening what is as steam, mist, torrent, saliva, blood, ocean, cloud, coffee, wine, butterfly, hummingbird, energy and delight."
I also like the connection Banks makes to between the poetry of Rumi with that of Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and Galway Kinnell.
"lovers find secret places inside this violent world
where they make transactions with beauty"
This book will remain on my "currently reading" list for the rest of my life! ... Coleman Banks (translator) sums it up in the introduction with: "Rumi's message can be stated in many ways. It is the core of the core of every religion. It is the longing in a human being to live in unlimited freedom and joy, to move inside beauty, that most profound need of the human soul to flow with the namelessness that animates, luxuriates, burns, and transpires through form, enlivening what is as steam, mist, torrent, saliva, blood, ocean, cloud, coffee, wine, butterfly, hummingbird, energy and delight."
I also like the connection Banks makes to between the poetry of Rumi with that of Walt Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and Galway Kinnell.
February 28, 2017
Breathtakingly Beautiful !!! No amount of words can describe how beautiful this book is.
The most beautiful thing I read in the book was "The Heart Acts As Translator"
"I went inside my heart to see how it was.
Something there makes me hear the whole world weeping.
Then I went to every city and small town,
searching for someone who could speak wisdom,
but everyone was complaining about love.
That moaning gave me an idea.
Go back inside and find the answer.
But I found nothing.
The heart acts as a translator
between mystical experience and intelligence.
It has its own inhabitants
who do not talk with just wandering through
And remember. Muhammad (PBUH) said of the place
in human beings that we call the heart,
This is what I value. "
And another one that I was just literally left me COMPLETELY SPEECHLESS:
"The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you,
not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They are in each other all along."
The book is filled with breathtakingly beautiful poetry that in some places left me completely speechless and that was the reason why it took me this long to read the book, because the poems would make me wonder and I couldn't stop thinking about it.
The most beautiful thing I read in the book was "The Heart Acts As Translator"
"I went inside my heart to see how it was.
Something there makes me hear the whole world weeping.
Then I went to every city and small town,
searching for someone who could speak wisdom,
but everyone was complaining about love.
That moaning gave me an idea.
Go back inside and find the answer.
But I found nothing.
The heart acts as a translator
between mystical experience and intelligence.
It has its own inhabitants
who do not talk with just wandering through
And remember. Muhammad (PBUH) said of the place
in human beings that we call the heart,
This is what I value. "
And another one that I was just literally left me COMPLETELY SPEECHLESS:
"The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you,
not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don't finally meet somewhere.
They are in each other all along."
The book is filled with breathtakingly beautiful poetry that in some places left me completely speechless and that was the reason why it took me this long to read the book, because the poems would make me wonder and I couldn't stop thinking about it.
April 13, 2013
One of the inscriptions on Rumi's tomb is:
Do not look for him here, but rather in the hearts of those who love him.
Raw, Well-Cooked, and Burnt
You ask, Why do you cry with such sweetness all around?
I weep as I make the honey, wearing the shirt of a bee,
and I refuse to share this suffering.
I am still raw, and at the same time well-cooked,
and burnt to a crisp.
No one can tell if I am laughing or weeping
I wonder myself.
How can I be separated and yet in union?
Do not look for him here, but rather in the hearts of those who love him.
Raw, Well-Cooked, and Burnt
You ask, Why do you cry with such sweetness all around?
I weep as I make the honey, wearing the shirt of a bee,
and I refuse to share this suffering.
I am still raw, and at the same time well-cooked,
and burnt to a crisp.
No one can tell if I am laughing or weeping
I wonder myself.
How can I be separated and yet in union?
August 27, 2011
Once in a while a true masterpiece comes along and it's a joy to experience it. Coleman Barks is a genius. Yes, I know that some people disapprove of the way he interprets Rumi's work but I think of it as a collaboration between a teacher (Rumi) and student (Barks) rather than a traditional translation.
This is a beautiful book with so many lessons on life and love that it's always on my desk so I can pick it up and read a snippet whenever the mood strikes me.
This is a beautiful book with so many lessons on life and love that it's always on my desk so I can pick it up and read a snippet whenever the mood strikes me.
March 7, 2013
I've had this book with me at work every day for at least a full year and read it just a bit every day. I don't know how many times I've been through it. Every time I open it up it's like the first time I've picked it up. I never get tired of it. It almost seems a bit magical in that way.
I've read the arguments for and against Bark's interpretations of Rumi's poetry. I like to hope they're close to the original and the comparisons I've seen in the different arrangements and translations, they follow Rumi's actual writing format more than the rhyming versions but whether they're exactly consistent with the original Persian or not, they're beautiful and very, very much worth reading even if just for their own sake.
I've read the arguments for and against Bark's interpretations of Rumi's poetry. I like to hope they're close to the original and the comparisons I've seen in the different arrangements and translations, they follow Rumi's actual writing format more than the rhyming versions but whether they're exactly consistent with the original Persian or not, they're beautiful and very, very much worth reading even if just for their own sake.
July 7, 2015
The fact that I thought I would finish this in under a week is a testament to how little I know about reading poetry. These were quite beautiful; I could only read a few at a time....I kept wanting to think about them.
January 2, 2012
If you only read one book of Rumi poetry, this is a great choice - Coleman Barks is so part of Rumis soul - great translations
July 29, 2023
Absolutely transformational experience to read the entirety of this collection. Inspires joy and delight through beautiful, mystical words.
May 11, 2019
I remember I used to love this book like it was my child and my mentor at the same time. But when I learned that Coleman Barks doesn't know Farsi nor Arabic and rather than translating Rumi, he merely tweaked Rumi's poetry to the New American New Spirituality style, I was oddly hurt and even felt deceived. And then I read AJ Arberry's actual translation and boy, that's when I felt I was reading the real stuff. Nevertheless, when I think about the Big Red Book, it wasn't Bark's fault, I should have been more discerning myself. Additionally, I do believe it was because I read this more conventional version of Rumi that I was able to understand the more complex, denser version of him in Arberry's collection. So, I hold no regrets.
I would however take away one star due to that minuscule grudge that I still hold, hmph.
I would however take away one star due to that minuscule grudge that I still hold, hmph.
October 7, 2022
I am truly speechless!
Words cannot describe this brilliant book in one word!
the only thing I can say is : A MASTERPIECE
As a Persian myself I found this art of poetry quite well written and translated at the same time.
but I'm sure non Persian speaker might not understand the definition of some words in this book easily , that's because it happens to all the languages and not only Persian(Farsi), For instance if you read the holy Quran in English you might lose the true meanings of the verses unfortunately.
Nov 2021 IRAN/Tehran
Words cannot describe this brilliant book in one word!
the only thing I can say is : A MASTERPIECE
As a Persian myself I found this art of poetry quite well written and translated at the same time.
but I'm sure non Persian speaker might not understand the definition of some words in this book easily , that's because it happens to all the languages and not only Persian(Farsi), For instance if you read the holy Quran in English you might lose the true meanings of the verses unfortunately.
Nov 2021 IRAN/Tehran
August 27, 2011
Coleman Barks taught at UGA while I was there, but his life's work has been translating Rumi. I am reading the quatrains right now, basically hoping to find one I read somewhere, and they are amazing. Spiritual and sensual. Thought-provoking.
April 3, 2016
I can't stop thinking about these poems.....
March 1, 2025
DNF - had to get it back to the library.
Some beautiful poetry, but I get the feeling much is lost in the translation. This particular translation. I've read other translations of Rumi's works that felt more vivid. This felt more like an intellectual exercise than I expected.
Rating it only because I did finish more than 25% of the book. Also rating it against how much I enjoyed it compared to other translations I've read.
Some beautiful poetry, but I get the feeling much is lost in the translation. This particular translation. I've read other translations of Rumi's works that felt more vivid. This felt more like an intellectual exercise than I expected.
Rating it only because I did finish more than 25% of the book. Also rating it against how much I enjoyed it compared to other translations I've read.
January 22, 2021
did this book change me to the point of disbelief? you may never know.
February 16, 2021
Rumi is such a great poet and I love his poetry. The first half was nearly perfect, and even though I appreciate the second part, it was too intense and too abstract. However, you need to read Rumi to get a glimpse in your inner-world.
August 28, 2017
I love reading Rumi---inspiring and restorative on a chilly, wet day.
Read
February 8, 2017This treasure of wisdom and ancient truth is never far from my reach.
A necessary addition to any home library.
A necessary addition to any home library.
Read
January 29, 2022There are those who believe that poetry can't be translated, who believe that a poem must be read in its original language to be fully appreciated. I don't know whether or not I agree, but I can think of a number of examples that support this argument - the most egregious example being the Coleman Barks "translations" of Rumi.
Above is a version of a Rumi poem "translated" by Coleman Barks ("translated" in quotes because Barks can neither read nor speak Persian). Below is a literal translation of the same poem.
The poems of Rumi are sacred, and the "translations" of Coleman Barks are profane - as any act of cultural erasure intended to secularize content for an undiserning audience would be considered profane. I urge everyone to seek out better translations, and to read more about these faux-translations here: Persian Poetics
Out beyond ideas
of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
Above is a version of a Rumi poem "translated" by Coleman Barks ("translated" in quotes because Barks can neither read nor speak Persian). Below is a literal translation of the same poem.
Beyond kufr and Islam there is a desert plain,
in that middle space our passions reign.
When the gnostic arrives there he'll prostrate himself,
not kufr, not Islam, nor is thereany space in that domain.
The poems of Rumi are sacred, and the "translations" of Coleman Barks are profane - as any act of cultural erasure intended to secularize content for an undiserning audience would be considered profane. I urge everyone to seek out better translations, and to read more about these faux-translations here: Persian Poetics
December 20, 2023
Honestly, I didn't relate to all poems (there's a lot), but one felt like the fresh air you breathe in after hiking up a mountain for 3+ hours, and several that felt like sunlight in a winter afternoon.
Some of my favorite phrases:
1. You laugh like the sun coming up laughs / at a star that disappears into it / Love opens my chest, / and thought returns to its confines.
2. There are so many deceptive people / pretending to be faithful. / Do not sit among them, / eyes shut like a bud, mouth open like a rose.
3. This is now. Now is. / Do not postpone til then.
4. The lion that killed you now wonders / whether to drag you off or tear you to pieces here. / There is a shredding that is really a healing, / that makes you more alive.
5. I want to say words that flame as I say them, / but I keep quiet and do not try / to make both worlds fit in one mouthful.
6. What is the light in the center of the darkness inside your soul? / A royal radiance or a fantasy
7. Sit near someone who has had the experience. / Sit under a tree with new blossoms.
Favorite poem: Every Tree
Some of my favorite phrases:
1. You laugh like the sun coming up laughs / at a star that disappears into it / Love opens my chest, / and thought returns to its confines.
2. There are so many deceptive people / pretending to be faithful. / Do not sit among them, / eyes shut like a bud, mouth open like a rose.
3. This is now. Now is. / Do not postpone til then.
4. The lion that killed you now wonders / whether to drag you off or tear you to pieces here. / There is a shredding that is really a healing, / that makes you more alive.
5. I want to say words that flame as I say them, / but I keep quiet and do not try / to make both worlds fit in one mouthful.
6. What is the light in the center of the darkness inside your soul? / A royal radiance or a fantasy
7. Sit near someone who has had the experience. / Sit under a tree with new blossoms.
Favorite poem: Every Tree
Read
November 17, 2024A divine book! What a treasure to have so much Rumi in one place. The organization and introductions to each chapter add to the delight. A must-have for all Rumi lovers.
A few favorite quotes, among many:
Be relentless in your search, for you are what you seek.
-
Days are sieves to filter spirit,
reveal impurities, and show the light of those
who throw their own shining into the universe
-
Soul of this world
no life, no world remain,
no beautiful men and women longing.
Only this ancient love
circling the holy black stone of nothing,
where the lover is the love,
the horizon and everything within it
-
If anyone asks you to say who you are,
say without hesitation, Soul within soul within soul.
-
We lovers laugh to hear, "This should be more that,
and that more this," coming from people
sitting in a wagon titled in a ditch.
-
We alchemists look for talent that can heat up and change.
Lukewarm won't do. Half-hearted holding back,
well-enough getting by? Not here.
A few favorite quotes, among many:
Be relentless in your search, for you are what you seek.
-
Days are sieves to filter spirit,
reveal impurities, and show the light of those
who throw their own shining into the universe
-
Soul of this world
no life, no world remain,
no beautiful men and women longing.
Only this ancient love
circling the holy black stone of nothing,
where the lover is the love,
the horizon and everything within it
-
If anyone asks you to say who you are,
say without hesitation, Soul within soul within soul.
-
We lovers laugh to hear, "This should be more that,
and that more this," coming from people
sitting in a wagon titled in a ditch.
-
We alchemists look for talent that can heat up and change.
Lukewarm won't do. Half-hearted holding back,
well-enough getting by? Not here.
May 6, 2024
If you start reading this collection, keep in mind that it is an interpretation of other Persian-to-English translations, which resulted in a new interpretation of Mawlānā Rumi's work. So, it is not an accurate translation (my advice would be: if you are looking for accuracy, seek another collection). I discovered this right after finishing the book and couldn't help but feel disappointed that I didn't do proper research beforehand. Nevertheless, I enjoyed different lines from it. I just wish it stayed more true to Rumi's Muslim identity. A lot of parts sounded more "secular" in comparison with the original work, which clearly highlights "sacredness" & Rumi's Muslim identity. I disliked this aspect about this collection.
June 16, 2019
Rumi is different from Gibran. While Gibran is more of serenity and calm, Rumi sings and dances with ferocious love. That's how I felt when reading this collection. But then they both value silence and the inner dimensions. The truth, the one-ness.
Sometimes I found myself wondering about the friendship in the poems, is it spiritual, sexual, or both, or doesn't matter, or a fusion? Rumi definitely knows how to surprise, how to shock.
The uninhibited exuberance of the dervish, the love lived in and out by the Sufi.
Sometimes I found myself wondering about the friendship in the poems, is it spiritual, sexual, or both, or doesn't matter, or a fusion? Rumi definitely knows how to surprise, how to shock.
The uninhibited exuberance of the dervish, the love lived in and out by the Sufi.
January 22, 2023
I have read this book end to end, five times or more. It is by far the very best single compilation of Rumi’s work that I know of. Barks does a thorough job to, it is heavily annotated with references and explanatory notes. What I enjoy the most was how Barks skillfully weaves some of his own autobiographical details into his exposition of Rumi. Like the poet he opens his own unvarnished heart, so that at times you are pulled into this (mystical?) triologue of you-Rumi-Barks. This is the one book in my library that if I would choose to keep if I only could choose one.
May 25, 2019
Great work, the poems simply take you to the other dimension of life and looses you completely.
Extract:
"Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought.
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence."
Simply marvelous! Rumi, you have made it again.
Extract:
"Be empty of worrying.
Think of who created thought.
Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence."
Simply marvelous! Rumi, you have made it again.
January 5, 2019
Beyond beautiful. I submerged myself in this book. I took so much precious time to get lost in the mystical, the benevolence, the deep deep love of it all. This book is an experience. I felt it to my core. Loved every second of it.
January 23, 2019
Sometimes difficult ! At times I didn't know if it was a translator summary vs actual poetry!
Confusion with Shams -teacher or what? ? Lover ? The use of the word love so frequently actually loses its definition
Confusion with Shams -teacher or what? ? Lover ? The use of the word love so frequently actually loses its definition
April 18, 2020
This is a book I keep by my bedside at night so I can peruse, dabble in it when I need spiritual shoring up or comfort. The translations are beautifully, simple, and direct. I could not recommend it more highly.
February 23, 2022
It was a poetry book and it had some incredible sayings in it i would recommend anyone who really likes poetry to read it also im an astrologer so it had poems for all the zodiacs and their background and it had poems regarding to the zodiacs so that was really imaculate
May 17, 2023
Though a thoroughly enjoyable reading experience, I was a little disappointed that these were not translated from the original Persian texts, but rather are interpretations from other Persian-to-English translations.
Something to keep in mind.
Something to keep in mind.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 79 reviews