Sweet Sorrows: Selected Poems of Sheikh Farideddin Attar Neyshaboori
The poet's original name was Abu-Hamed Mohammad-ebne Ibrahim. He used Attar (shortened his full religious name Farideddin Attar Neyshaboori) as his pen name. He was born in 1119 in Kadkan, Khorasan. He married and had children, but details about his life are sketchy, although his poetic legacy has made him a household name in Persian-speaking homes. Untold seekers on the Path for generations-including other great Sufi mystic poets, like Rumi, who succeeded him-have been nourished by his extensive works. Attar was killed during the Mongol invasion of Khorasan in 1221.Vraje Abramian, born in Iran, grew up in a family of mixed languages and cultures: Armenian, Turkish and Persian. He began English studies at the age of 11 and became an English teacher at the age of 19. He studied applied linguistics at UCLA and is a certified instructor in English as a Second Language. Mr. Abramian is a writer specializing in the Persian poets of Sufism. He has traveled and lived in both Asia and Africa, and currently teaches at a private language school in Los Angeles. He has practiced meditation for 30 years, and was initiated into the Sant Mat tradition 24 years ago.