Lama Surya Das (Part 1) – The Essence of Awakening: Who Are We Really—and How Can We Find Out?

Ep. 83 (Part 1 of 2) | Lama Surya Das, beloved meditation teacher, scholar, pioneer of bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West, and author of the bestseller Awakening the Buddha Within among many more, shares bright gems of wisdom from his extensive experience practicing Dzogchen, his long immersion in meditation retreats, and studying in person with the great spiritual teachers of Asia. Lama Surya is dedicated to getting the word out, and to young people especially, that the timeless teachings of the great masters are every bit as important and transformative in today’s modern world as they ever were. One doesn’t need to go on retreat to come to a place of wonder, understanding, and appreciation for life; Lama Surya assures us that daily practice of attentive awareness on the path of “awakefulness” is doable and effective in today’s world. This is the path that leads to self-knowledge, and we just need to explore and investigate to discover for ourselves that realization of the Great Perfection, of oneness, is never far away.

Lama Surya embellishes his teachings with humorous tales of his early explorations with psychedelics, his spiritual adventures in India, how he came to undertaking not one but two 3-year silent retreats in the great Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen, and coming home afterwards with a mission for transmission. He talks about divine love and how amazing and influential it was to hang out with spiritual teachers who actually practice unconditional love, here and now. Lama Surya Das’ own deep caring and compassion shine through his words, and his well-known “jolly lama” humor often elicits laughter from Roger and John. “There are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening, you just want to watch you don’t go off into the ditch.” His authentic, endearing humility shines through as well. He is certain that “if I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” Recorded September 7, 2022.

“Timeless wisdom is an endangered natural resource.”

(For Apple Podcast users, click here to view the complete show notes on the episode page.)

Topics & Time Stamps – Part 1

• Introducing Lama Surya Das, dedicated practitioner, spiritual teacher, pioneer of bringing the wisdom of Tibetan Buddhism to the West (01:09)
• How Lama Surya Das got to where he is now: his humor, his education, going to India and meeting his guru (03:57)
• Spiritual elixir is the greatest panacea for our mind, body, heart & soul (07:32)
• A core theme of Buddhist teaching: check it out for yourself (09:16)
• Dzogchen, the Great Perfection, the height of Tibetan Buddhism: awakefulness is the way (10:32) 
• Mahamudra evergreen teachings of nondual awareness: we’re all buddhas by nature (15:52)
• If everything is perfect as it is, how come we feel like crap? (18:08) 
• Self-knowledge is the way to wisdom: growing up to be a true mensch (18:45)
• The five wisdoms (gnoses), mirror-like wisdom, discriminating wisdom, and how they apply to now (21:20)
• Lucid faith, unshakeable realization (22:57)
• Lama Surya Das’ first vision of God, “beyond oneness or noneness” (24:28)
• Who are we really? Are we consciousness? What about the unconscious, the subconscious? (32:22)
• Replicating ego death in meditation, sensing Presence, experiencing beingness (33:33)
• “If I can do it, you can do it, anyone can do it.” (34:49)
• The middle way, moderation in moderation: there are a lot of lanes on the highway of awakening (36:50)
• Questioning and investigation are an important part of the spiritual path (37:57)
• Timeless wisdom is an endangered natural resource (39:10)
• A story of Lama Surya Das’ first 3-year Tibetan retreat, as told by Roger (40:06)

Resources & References – Part 1

• Lama Surya Das’ website (which includes his lecture and retreat schedule): https://surya.org
• Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World*
• Lama Surya Das, Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life*
• Lama Surya Das, Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life*
• Lama Surya Das, Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now*
• Lama Surya Das and Sounds True, Dzögchen Meditation Training: A Direct Path for Awakening to the Radiant Buddha Within* (audiobook)
• Lama Surya Das, The Yeti and the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship*
• Lama Surya Das, The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword: Enlightening the Mind, Opening the Heart,* contains the Meister Eckhart quote, “The eye through which I see God is the eye through which He sees me.”
• Kalu Rinpoche, Dzogchen master and Mahamudra teacher, Luminous Mind: The Way of the Buddha*, Foundations of Tibetan Buddhism*
• The laughing diamond sutra or Hevajra
• Socrates, “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom.”
• The five wisdoms (gnoses), mirror-like wisdom, discerning, discriminating wisdom, and more
• Rabindranath Tagore, Bengali poet, playwright, and composer, the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, “To know your Self is to know God.”
• Sharon Salzburg, co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society, longtime teacher of Vipassana meditation, author, LovingKindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness*, et. al.
• Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason*, ens realissimum, the philosophical origin of the idea of God
• Encounter groups at Esalen Institute
• Henry David Thoreau, “Read not the Times. Read the Eternities.” “I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.“
• Roshi Philip Kaplan, The Three Pillars of Zen: Teaching, Practice, and Enlightenment*

* As an Amazon Associate, Deep Transformation earns from qualifying purchases.

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Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him “the American Lama.” Lama Surya has spent over forty-five years studying Zen, Vipassana, Yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with many of the great old masters of Asia, including some of the Dalai Lama’s own teachers. He is an authorized lama in the Tibetan Buddhist order, a leading spokesperson for Buddhism and contemporary spirituality, a translator, poet, meditation master, chant master, and social-spiritual activist.

Lama Surya Das is the author of the international bestselling Awakening trilogy: Awakening the Buddha Within, Awakening to the Sacred, and Awakening the Buddhist Heart, as well as his latest release and first children’s book, The Yeti & the Jolly Lama: A Tale of Friendship, and eleven other books. In 1991, he established the Dzogchen Centers and Dzogchen Retreats, and in 1993, with the Dalai Lama, he founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network and regularly organizes its International Buddhist Teachers’ Conferences. Today, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. Lama Surya can be followed on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; his own podcast Awakening Now can be found on the Be Here Now Network. For more information on Surya, as well as his lecture and retreat schedule, go to www.surya.org. Lama Surya Das resides in Lexington, Massachusetts.

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Podcast produced by Vanessa Santos and Show Notes by Heidi Mitchell