Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das
Awakening the Buddha Within, Lama Surya Das
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Awakening the Buddha Within

Author: Lama Surya Das

Narrator: Lama Surya Das

Abridged: 3 hr 6 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/05/2000


Synopsis

Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition, presents the first comprehensive book of Western Buddhism for the modern-day spiritual seeker.

Buddhism offers a profound yet practical path to enlightenment.  In this loving and generous book, the American-born and Tibetan-trained Lama Surya Das offers at once a definitive and nonsectarian guide to the wisdom found in ancient Tibetan teachings and a tried and true path of spiritual transformation.

The radical and compelling message of Buddhism tells us that each of us has the wisdom, awareness, love, and power of the Buddha within; yet most of us are too often like sleeping Buddhas.  Surya Das shows how we can awaken to who we really are and thus walk the liberating, peaceful path of mindful and compassionate living.  With lively language, meditations, and spiritual practices, this unique book provides a bridge between East and West, past, present, and future.

Awakening the Buddha Within  offers a complete yet accessible understanding of the unique Buddhist teachings embodied in the traditional Noble Eight-Fold Path and its Three Enlightenment Trainings, common to all schools of Buddhism:

Wisdom Training: Developing clear vision, insight, and inner understanding--seeing reality and ourselves as we really are.

  Ethics Training: Cultivating virtue, self-discipline, integrity, and compassion in what we say and do.

  Meditation Training: Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and awareness of the present moment.

This fresh and original work illuminates such key principles as karma (what we do does matter), rebirth (every moment is an opportunity to start afresh), letting go (simplifying our lives by clarifying our hearts and minds), as well as conscious living and dying, and Dzogchen, the ultimate, mystical teaching of Tibet.

In this wonderful marriage of the timeless and the timely, Surya Das has written an invaluable, authoritative text for the novice and the experienced student of Buddhism alike.  Awakening the Buddha Within reveals how sacred wisdom, contemplative practice, and altruism can be integrated into our outer and inner lives--in our relationships, in the workplace, and at home.

Here is a guidebook to enlightenment--a sourcebook of the sacred for anyone who wants to lead a more serene and beautiful life.

About The Author

For almost thirty years, Lama Surya Das has studied and lived with the great spiritual masters of Asia.  He has twice completed the traditional three-year Vajrayana meditation retreat.  A leading spokesperson for the emerging Western Buddhism, he is a Dzogchen lineage holder and the founder of the Dzogchen Foundation.  A poet, translator, and full-time spiritual teacher, Surya Das lectures and leads meditation retreats and workshops worldwide, brings Tibetan lamas to the West to teach, and regularly organizes the annual Western Buddhist Teachers Conference with the Dalai Lama in Dharmasala, India and is active in interfaith dialogue.  He is the author of The Snow Lion's Mane: Wisdom Tales from Tibet and Natural Great Perfection (with Nyoshul Khenpo Rinpoche).  Surya Das lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Heather on July 31, 2011

This is the book that turned me on to Buddhism. I read it originally in 1999, at my therapist's recommendation and it changed my life. I started meditating twice every day and shifted my focus away from how miserable I felt and toward how I could be a positive force in the world. This shift pulled......more

Goodreads review by Steve on October 31, 2012

This is my favorite spiritual book ever, and in fact, my favorite non-fiction book of all-time. If I can only suggest one introduction to Buddhism from a Western perspective, this would be it. Lama Surya Das simply and effectively presents the principles and outlooks of the East, with a foot firmly......more

Goodreads review by Linda on June 18, 2012

I have already read this book twice on my Kindle, so you know I value the wisdom and light shown on the history of Western Buddhism. If you want to better understand how Buddhism came to the US and its ongoing evolution in our culture, this is a very readable description of how that is coming about.......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on December 03, 2008

This was the first buddhist book I ever read. It is the reason for me finding my home in spirituality. It is well written, clear and moving. You will learn a lot from this book and it will help you find your path. I recommend this book to anyone searching for a spiritual direction.......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on September 10, 2012

This is a book that will remain with me throughout my life. I have read it a couple of times and listened to it as well. It is a definite must read for anyone seeking growth and spiritual awakening.......more


Quotes

"A warm, accessible, deep, brilliantly written exploration and adventure along the Buddhist path." --Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

"[T]his is a great achievement and I feel deeply grateful for it."
--Thich Nhat Hanh, author of Living Buddha, Living Christ

"This open-hearted offering of the Buddha's teachings ranges from fundamentals to magic. It is a wonderful gift."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of Loving Kindness

"Wise and wonderful, gentle and profound. . . . This is surely one of the finest spiritual manuals meant for a larger public and it succeeds brilliantly."
--Ken Wilbur, author of A Brief History of Everything