Product Description

Sadi’s Gulistan, or The Rose Garden, is both one of the best known of the Sufi classics and a major work of Persian literature. From its creation in the first half of the 13th century, this work has attained a popularity in the East which is unsurpassed. To this day it is quoted by schoolchildren and scholars alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1648447 in Books
• Published on: 1979-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 243 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780863040696
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Review
"Singularly attractive" -- Books and Bookmen

Language Notes
Text: English, Persian (translation)

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"Like all Sufi materials, Sadi's Rose Gaden contains information, and is formulated, to gain acceptance in the culture in which it is projected -- and is an instrument of enlightenment and experience. It is not for nothing that people say, " Har lafz-i-Sadi, Haftad-o-do maani" (Each word of Sadi has 72 meanings)."

From the Introduction to Sadi's: The Rose Garden by Idries Shah

Customer Reviews

about the translation
Although the publication date says 1979, this edition is not a new translation of Sa'di's "Gulistan," but a reprint of the one made by Eastwick in 1852.

Translation that easily spans east to west
As a westerner interested in learning about other cultures, I learned about this book and wanted to read it. Some of the books from Asian writers who have read have suffered because of their patronizing approach to the writers and their cultures but that is not so in this case. Sadi's collection of moral stories admixed with his beautiful poetry is a wonderul inroduction to Sufist philosophy.
It's best to indulge in small doses as i is as powerful as poetry in any language.

Wonderufl book that deserves to be better known
While the Mathnawi of Rumi is pretty much well known to the west (sadly to some extent for the wrong reasons) and popular amongst many of the "supermarket spirituality" school of thought largely due to re-prints and miss prints of Nicholson's great translation the Gulistan and Bostan of Shaikh Said are sadly very little known.

The book in many ways is similar to the Mathnawi in that in a prose style, it is a collection of moral stories, wise words and tales. It is not something you would pick up and read from start to finish but rather refer to and contemplate upon. Anyone familiar with Eastern books of wisdom (or even say for example Aesop's Fables or Canterbury Tales) will appreciate this book.

The translation is a little dated but well done and easy to read and follow. This book was once a popular study guide in the East (at a time when wisdom was something that was favoured and cherished) It comes with a biography of Shaikh Sadi and a little background to the book. It does come with an introduction by Idrees Shah (of what value that is make up your own mind. I for one am a little tired of his 'anti Turk' introductions to books he has published with his name on the front as though he wrote them or translated them himself) The one benefit however with books published by Shah is that they are fairly cheap!