We are all Buddhas by nature–we only have to awaken and recognize who we are and how we fit perfectly in this world. Remember to remember, “My mind ain’t the best place to live in.” Check it out!īreathe – relax – focus – center -focus – and smile. But the New Now is much more dynamic, and even proactive. Being here now is okay, as far as it goes, but seems to have become a little stale in our commodifying society. Because once we let the stress in, it’s really hard to relieve it. Mindfulness allows us to train the mind to be a less stressed place. Edison would sit in a chair, focus his mind, and hold a rock in his hand that would fall into a bucket if he fell asleep, similar to Tibetan cave yogis balancing a lit candle atop their head while sitting in meditation at night to help maintain vigilant attentive, alert mindful presence of mind, and stay awake in a multitude of meanings of the word. Einstein thought experiments were exercises in deep focusing of the mind. Socrates would spend hours in what he called deep thought, akin to meditation practice Leonardo da Vinci would light a candle, lay in bed, and watch the reflection of the candle on the ceiling to go into a deep state of mindfulness. Mindfulness and lucid, nonjudgmental presence of mind opens the door to conscious, choiceful, intentional proactive responses-rather than mindlessness, heedlessness and reactivity based upon unfulfilling conditioned, habitual kneejerk reactions. While many of us seek to enhance listening and communication skills, and increase our effectiveness at work and in life, by combining focused concentration with self-knowledge and insight mindfulness can also tackle many serious health issues, like chronic pain, headaches, and hypertension. When properly practiced, mindfulness offers many wholesome, healing, relaxing and edifying benefits. It’s said that mindfulness-the opposite of mindlessness and heedlessness-is the essence of the path of awakening, the most potent active ingredient in Buddha’s 8-fold path of enlightenment. Why? Because stress constantly plays interference, easily fogging your mind, clouding your judgement, causing “accidents” through mindless inattentiveness, and stunting both inner peace and harmony as well as creativity.
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It’s crucial to understand within your own experience what your stress looks/feels/sounds like, and even more important that you know how to deal with it. Lama Surya Das teaches us how to do so in the spirit of enlightenment, great practical wisdom, humility, and effective compassion.Got stress? Tension somewhere in your body or a relationship? Mindful attention in the present moment can help a great deal. Marianne Williamson, author of A Return to Love “It is inevitably painful to deal with transition, change, suffering, death, and other losses.We must face them with courage, grace, clarity, and wisdom. Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen master and author of Peace Is Every Step “Lama Surya Das makes the Buddha nature seem very real and accessible.” To me this is a great achievement and I feel deeply grateful for it.” What People are Saying About Lama Surya Das “Lama Surya Das communicates the wisdom of Buddhism to the people of his times and environments. Today, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year and is a regular contributor at the Huffington Post and Elephant Journal, as well as writing his own blog Ask The Lama ( ). His most recent book is The Mind is Mightier Than the Sword: New Dharma Talks, and the forthcoming book, Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now. Surya Das is a leading spokesperson for Buddhism and contemporary spirituality, a translator, poet, meditation master, chant master, spiritual activist, and author of many books, including his best-selling Awakening Trilogy: Awakening the Buddha Within, Awakening to the Sacred, and Awakening the Buddhist Heart. He is an authorized lama (priest and spiritual master teacher) in the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism and is founder of the Western Buddhist Teachers Network with the Dalai Lama, and founder and spiritual director of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its branch centers. He has twice completed the traditional three-year cloistered meditation retreat at his teacher’s Tibetan monastery. Surya Das has spent 45 years studying Zen, vipassana, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with the great masters of Asia, including the Dalai Lama’s own teachers. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him “the American Lama.” Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars, one of the main interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, and a leading spokesperson for the emerging American Buddhism.
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