For centuries along the vibrant cultural corridor of the Silk Road of Central Asia, philosophers and thinkers from Hellenic, Chinese and Indian traditions debated existential issues. Out of this stimulating milieu, the iconic poet-mathematician Omar Khayyam emerged in the eleventh century, advancing a transformative intercultural philosophy in his poetic work, the Rubaiyat.

Vaziri traces the themes of Khayyam’s Rubaiyat back to the highly influential philosophical traditions of the Silk Road and uncovers fascinating parallels in original works by Heraclitus, Zhuangzi (Daoism), Nagarjuna (Mahayana Buddhism), and the Upanishads. In addition, Vaziri’s elegant translation and unique classification of the verses of the Rubaiyat reveal an existential roadmap laid out by Khayyam.

In this pioneering volume, Vaziri not only fuses the multiple disciplines of literature, philosophy, culture, history and medicine but also takes the approach of the Rubaiyat to a new level, presenting it as a source of wisdom therapy that stands the test of time in the face of doubt and confusion, offering a platform for self-restoration.

List of Figures

Prelude

Part I: Interwoven Philosophies of Life

Chapter 1 A Nexus of Wisdom on the Silk Road

Chapter 2 Life is Like a River: Heraclitus and Khayyam

Chapter 3 The Liberated Drunkard: Daoism and Wine in the Rubaiyat

Chapter 4 Self-Rule, Joy and Emptiness: The Bedrock of the Buddhist and Khayyamian Paths

Chapter 5 The Immortal Clay: An Echo of the Chandogya Upanishad in Khayyam’s Allegory

Part II: Therapeutic Approach: Four Essays

Chapter 6 Poetry-Philosophy as Medicine: A Historical Background

Chapter 7 The Entrapped Mind and Psychosomatic Alarms

Chapter 8 Wisdom Therapy and Khayyam’s Poetry

Chapter 9 Khayyamian Thought as a Psychological Alternative

Conclusion

Part III: The Quatrains

Chapter 10 The Flow of the Rubaiyat: New Translation and Classification

Bibliography

Index

Mostafa Vaziri, anthropologist, physician and the author of a number of groundbreaking books, is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. His most recent book is Liberation Philosophy: From the Buddha to Omar Khayyam (Vernon Press, 2019).

Omar Khayyam, Rubaiyat, Greek philosophy, Daoism, Buddhism, Vedanta, Heraclitus, Zhuangzi, Nagarjuna, Upanishads, Wisdom Therapy