Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World - Softcover

Das, Lama Surya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0767901576 ISBN 13: 9780767901574

Publisher: Harmony, 1998

Synopsis

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

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. In Awakening the Buddha Within, Surya Das shows how we can awaken to who we really are in order to lead a more compassionate, enlightened, and balanced life.  It illuminates the guidelines and key principles embodied in the noble Eight-Fold Path and the traditional 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, and compassion in what we say and do.

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

With lively stories, meditations, and spiritual practices, Awakening the Buddha Within is an invaluable text for the novice and experienced student of Buddhism alike.

About this title

Review:

If you dropped the Buddha into a modern metropolis, would he come off sounding like a 16th-century morality play or more like a drive-time disc jockey? Lama Surya Das doesn't spin platters for a living, but he does have a hip delivery that belies his years of sheltered training in Buddhist monasteries. In Awakening the Buddha Within, he borrows a time-tested bestseller format for a 2,500-year-old tradition that comes off as anything but ancient. With the "Five T's of Concentration," the question of "need or greed," and the story of the monk who bares his backside to prove a point, Surya Das invokes a path of wisdom that is as accessible and down-to-earth as a worn pair of loafers. It's not an easy path--it demands thought, effort, and discipline. But Surya Das is there for you, lighting the way to wisdom training, coaxing you into ethics training, and laying out step by step the path of meditation training. And if that's not enough to get you to live in the now, consider these words of the enlightened lama: "You must be present to win." --Brian Bruya

From the Publisher:

"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

About this edition

• Publisher: Harmony
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0767901576
• ISBN 13: 9780767901574
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 414