I Have Such a Teacher Summary

Barks's commentary talks about his teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, who taught both Barks and the book's illustrator Michael Green. Bawa was a Sufi like Rumi, who lived alone in the jungle before beginning to teach in Sri Lanka in the 1940s and taught in Philadelphia in the 1970s. He taught until he died in 1986. Barks says Bawa's teachings helped him appreciate Rumi and encouraged Barks and Green to bring Rumi's poetry to the west. The following poem was written by Rumi on his deathbed.

Rumi's poem begins by stating that death is the only cure. In a dream, an old man in a garden of love reached out to call him forward. The poet's teacher taught him to have and want nothing. The elements of the world around him become his clothes and jewels. The poet...