Daniel Ladinsky
{{short description|American poet}}
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.[http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/authors/Daniel_Ladinsky Author Profile: Daniel Ladinsky] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221120156/http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/authors/Daniel_Ladinsky |date=2014-02-21 }} Sounds True{{cite web| title = Daniel Ladinsky: Maybe the Best Lay in Town Is a Poem | url = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel-ladinsky/maybe-the-best-lay-in-tow_b_373872.html|publisher=Huffington Post|date=12 September 2009 | access-date = 2014-01-18 | first = Daniel | last = Ladinsky }}
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.
Hafez scholars have argued that his writings have no connection to the great Persian poets.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/indepth/opinion/fake-hafez-supreme-persian-poet-love-erased-200601073431603.html|title = Fake Hafez: How a supreme Persian poet of love was erased}}
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
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.
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 clinicLadinsky, Daniel (1996 & 2006) p. ix., I Heard God Laughing, Penguin.
Career
In early 1990s, under the guidance of Jessawala, Ladinsky started working on English renderings of poems of Hafiz, a 14th-century Persian mystic poet. 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.Ladinsky, Daniel (1996 & 2006) p.xi., "I Heard God Laughing, Penguin. 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'',Sufism Reoriented Sufism Reoriented 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.{{Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170109-the-mystical-poet-who-can-help-you-lead-a-better-life|title = The mystical poet who can help you lead a better life}} His work is widely quoted on social media, including by Rupi Kaur,{{cite tweet|number=823672803501031424|user=rupikaur_|title=hafiz. life poems. medicine. |date=23 January 2017}} Oprah,{{cite tweet|number=927205041982676993|user=SuperSoulSunday|title="Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I'd rather see you in better living conditions." #SuperSoulSunday |date=5 November 2017}} 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.Thomas Grady Agency & NOBA Literary-permissions
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.{{cite web | title = Book Review: Love Poems from God, by Daniel Ladinsky |publisher=Spirituality & Practice| url = http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/books.php?id=5158 | access-date = 2014-01-19 }}
Ladinsky's work has garnered positive commentary from Pakistani diplomat and academic Akbar S. Ahmed,[http://academic3.american.edu/~akbar/articles/RNS%20A%20Meditation%20on%20Love%20Condensed.doc. Commentary: A Meditation on Love] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719135021/http://academic3.american.edu/~akbar/articles/RNS%20A%20Meditation%20on%20Love%20Condensed.doc. |date=2011-07-19 }} Ahmed, Akbar S. (Feb. 12, 2003) . Religion News Service. has been favorably endorsed by The Christian Science Monitor writer Alexandra Marks,[https://www.amazon.com/dp/0143037811 Marks, Alexandra (Sept. 2009) Editorial Reviews.] and has been quoted in contemporary non-fiction by American Muslim writers such as Asma Gull Hasan.Hasan, Asma Gull (2009) Red, White, and Muslim: My Story of Belief. New York: Harper One. The Islamic Foundation of North America used Ladinsky's The Gift in its Islamic literature curriculum.[https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201110/http://www.islamicedfoundation.com/sumschl/class_e.htm The Islamic Foundation of North America] Some hail Ladinsky's contemporary work for creating an immediate access to the spirit and intention of Hafiz' verse.{{Cite web |url=http://www.iamthedoc.com/toms-favorite-books |title=Shadyac, Tom "Favorite Books", I Am, the documentary |access-date=2011-10-10 |archive-date=2019-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325131805/http://www.iamthedoc.com/toms-favorite-books/ |url-status=dead }}[https://archive.today/20120713212228/http://mysticsaint.blogspot.com/2009/05/surprise-in-mystic-poetry-daniel.html Surprise in Mystic Poetry: Daniel Ladinsky and Hafiz] Alam, Sadiq (May 23, 2009). Ladinsky authored a short essay entitled My Portrait of Hafiz, that offers a description of the process and background of his work.[https://www.amazon.com/Gift-Hafiz/product-reviews/0140195815 Ladinsky, Daniel (April 2005) My Portrait of Hafiz] Turkish novelist Elif Shafak licensed Ladinsky's Rumi work for reprint in her titles.
Controversies
=Translation misrepresentation=
Scholars and critics argue that Ladinsky's poems are originals, and not translations or interpretations of Hafez.{{Cite web |url=http://home.jps.net/~nada/hafiz.htm |title=Murat Nemet-Nejat: The Poetry Project Newsletter, 1999 |access-date=2009-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208053920/http://home.jps.net/~nada/hafiz.htm |archive-date=2017-12-08 |url-status=dead }}[http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2010/04/review-gift-poems-from-hafiz-great-sufi.html 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[https://ajammc.com/2014/07/08/rewriting-hafez-persian-poetry/ 'Rewriting Hafez: Re-theorizing Untranslatability in Persian Poetry' article by Aria Fani] 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" Christopher Shackle, Translation and Religion: Holy Untranslatable? Edited by Lynne Long, 2005, p. 26)
Reviewer Murat Nemet-Nejat contacted Ladinsky and asked him for one or two translated ghazals of Hafiz. Ladinsky was unable to produce such originals.{{Cite web |url=http://home.jps.net/~nada/hafiz.htm |title=Daniel Ladinsky's The Gift: Poems by Hafiz is an "original" poem masquerading as a "translation." |access-date=2009-02-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171208053920/http://home.jps.net/~nada/hafiz.htm |archive-date=2017-12-08 |url-status=dead }}See also [http://poemsintranslation.blogspot.com/2010/04/review-gift-poems-from-hafiz-great-sufi.html Review of: The Gift: Poems from Hafiz the great Sufi Master]
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.{{Cite web |url=http://www.payvand.com/news/09/apr/1266.html |title=Supposed Hafiz poem recited by McGuinty turns out to be fake |access-date=2009-09-24 |archive-date=2018-10-31 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181031131524/http://www.payvand.com/news/09/apr/1266.html |url-status=dead }}
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."[https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/fake-hafez-supreme-persian-poet-love-erased-200601073431603.html Fake Hafez: How a supreme Persian poet of love was erased]
Personal life
Ladinsky continues to live on a rural wilderness farm in the Ozarks of Missouri,{{cite web| title = Daniel Ladinsky, Profile and Works|publisher=Poet Seers| url = http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual-and-devotional-poets/contemp/daniel-ladinsky/ }} on a ranch outside of Taos, New Mexico, and, at other times, next to the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.{{cite web | title = Something Missing In My Heart | publisher = The Sun Magazine | url = http://thesunmagazine.org/issues/454/something_missing_in_my_heart | date = October 2013 | issue = 454 | access-date = 2014-01-18 | first = Andrew | last = Lawler | archive-date = 2014-02-02 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140202095732/http://thesunmagazine.org/issues/454/something_missing_in_my_heart | url-status = dead }}
Publications
- 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
- {{cite book|title= Hafiz: The Scent of Light|author1= Daniel Ladinsky|author2= Stevin McNamara (music)|url= http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Hafiz:-The-Scent-of-Light/301.pd|year= 2002|isbn= 1-56455-958-0|publisher= Sounds True|access-date= 2014-01-19|archive-date= 2014-02-23|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140223061823/http://www.soundstrue.com/shop/Hafiz:-The-Scent-of-Light/301.pd|url-status= dead}}
See also
{{Portal|Poetry}}
- Sufism Reoriented
- Meher Baba
- Meher Spiritual Center
- Islam
- Mysticism
- Sufism
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{cite web | title = Daniel Ladinsky, Profile and Works|publisher=Poet Seers| url = http://www.poetseers.org/spiritual-and-devotional-poets/contemp/daniel-ladinsky/ }}
- {{cite web | title = Poems of Hafiz by Daniel Ladinsky|publisher=Poetry Chaikhana | url = http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/Poets/H/HafizLadinsk/index.html }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ladinsky, Daniel}}
Category:Followers of Meher Baba
Category:Writers from St. Louis
Category:American spoken word poets
Category:Jewish American poets
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:University of Arizona alumni
Category:21st-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American poets
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:20th-century American male writers