I loved Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das so much that I will have to get a copy for myself.
This simple meditation is one of my favorite things from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.Beach Chair Meditation
Lean back in a comfy beach chair
or chaise lounge, with legs outstretched
and totally relax.
Let go of body and mind;
let go, and let goodness
do it.
At poolside, or on your patio or porch;
in a garden
or on the beach;
raise your gaze,
open your eyes and heart and mind.
Elevate the scope of global,
three-hundred-and-sixty-degree panoramic awareness.
Simply relax
and watch the rolling waves
of sea or river,
or the clouds pass by
while the mind unfurls,
as the soul unfolds
and the infinite sky opens up
revealing the joy of meditation.
I really liked this simple statement on mindfulness from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.The Mirror of Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the root of the Dharma.
Mindfulness is the body of practice.
Mindfulness is the fortress of the mind.
Lack of mindfulness will allow the negative forces to overcome you.
Lack of mindfulness is the creator of evil deeds.
Without mindfulness and presene of mind,
Nothing can be accomplished.
Lack of mindfulness piles up shit.
Without mindfulness you sleep in an ocean of piss.
Without mindfulness you are like a heartless zombie, a walking corpse.
I really liked this simple chant for meditation from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.Four Heartitudes
May all beings have happiness and the cause of happiness.
May all beings remain free from suffering and the cause of suffering.
May all beings come to remain unseparated from the sacred joy and happiness that is totally free from sorrow.
May all beings come to rest in the boundless and all-inclusive equanimity that is beyond attachment and aversion.
We rejoice in the good fortune of all. We rejoice in the virtuous good deeds and accomplishments of others. We put an end to covetousness and jealousy. We forgive and accept others, and put an end to feelings of ill will and enmity. Blessings to the world. Blessings to ourselves.
This section about meditation from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das is a great introduction for Westerners:Meditation Training
Awareness, Attention, and Focus
Westerners who are attracted to Buddhism because of meditation often make the mistake of seeing meditation in the narrow sense of going into a quiet room, crossing your legs, and closing your eyes. What the Buddha actually intended by this part of the path was mental discipline, an effort to train the mind through the cultivation of mindful awareness and attention to the present. If all the difficulties of life are the result of ignorance, deluded thinking, and conflicting emotions, then the obvious solution is to get wiser, more aware, balanced, and loving. We do this through the practice of meditation training or samadhi. Meditation training includes Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.
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Demystified and divested of religious and cultural trappings, meditation basically means the intentional cultivation of mindful awareness and pure attention -- an alert, wakeful presence of mind. This development of awareness eradicates ignorance -- about ourselves and others as well as reality. Meditation awakens and frees the mind, and opens the heart, helping us develop inner wisdom, clarity, joy, and compassion, thus bringing spirituality and a larger perspective into every aspect of daily life. Meditation training helps us to concentrate as well as to see and think more clearly. In this way we develop spiritually into wiser, more selfless, and caring men and women.
Awakening The Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life by Lama Surya Das was such a quick read (much faster than Awakening the Buddha Within).After recently re-reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s Anger: Wisdom for Cooling the Flames, I enjoyed reading the brief section about anger in Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.I think it's important to remember that there is nothing in the Dharma that tells us never to be angry. Anger is a human emotion; it doesn't automatically disappear. Also it has its own logic, its own intelligence and function. If you bottle up and swallow your anger too often, you are going to make yourself ill. Meeting the challenge of ill will is not about denying, repressing, or suppressing anger. It's about staying up to date with anger and other emotions by experiencing and releasing their energy moment by moment rather than storing them up. It's about not carrying grudges or blaming yourself, or turning your anger inward and becoming depressed and despondent. Ideally we should be able to be sensitive and aware enough not only to feel life fully but also to let it go.
Have you ever been in a situation where you felt that someone had treated you very badly, and you couldn't let it go? You continued to want some kind of resolution or vindication. Perhaps this went on for so long that you felt out of control, and instead of briefly befriending your anger and disappointment, you allowed these feelings to become uncomfortably close companions? The Dharma doesn't tell you to turn your anger inward. Buddhist wisdom encourages you to look at these situations realistically, experience freely and feelingly, stop grasping, and transform your attitude.
May all beings be happy, content, and fulfilled.
May all beings be healed and whole.
May all have whatever they want and need.
May all be protected from harm, and free from fear.
May all beings enjoy inner peace and ease.
May all be awakened, liberated, and free.
May there be peace in this world, and throughout the universe.
After reading Awakening the Buddha Within by Lama Surya Das, I decided to check out one of his other books, Awakening The Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life.Introduction 1
1 Spiritual Intelligence - Connecting to the Bigger Picture 3
2 Awakening to the Deeper Love - A Buddha's Love 27
3 Connecting to Your Life Experience 41
4 Developing Authentic Presence 61
5 Letting Go, Getting Real 81
6 The Connection Reflex - Building Meaningful Relationships 107
7 Finding Our Sacred Place in Nature 135
8 Joyfully Crazy and Wonderful Awakenings 157
9 Spiritual Alchemy - Embracing Life's Lessons 175
10 Learning to Love What We Don't Like 197
Epilogue A Prayer for the New Millennium 219
Appendix The Bodhicitta Practices of an Awakened Heart 221
Index 247
I really liked this section about cultivating mindful awareness from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.Mingling Dharma with Your Daily LifeClick here to view the table of contents and here to read an excerpt.
When I lived in my teacher's monastery in Nepal, the most traditional lamas had thick, handwritten books of power words or phrases known as mantras. These books included a mantralike benediction for every single activity. There was a mantra for walking through a door or eating a meal, just as there was a mantra for using the toilet. These mantras were significantly more than mere words or empty rituals performed mechanically by rote. They were used to bring a practice of mindfulness, meditation, and gratitude into everything that was done. Many Western families grow up with a tradition of saying grace before meals. In Buddhism, a moment of mindfulness is like a "grace"; these moments can consecrate every activity, waking each of us up to the sacredness of what we do, as we do it. In this way, we recognize everything we do as a spiritual activity.
Here are some ways that we can cultivate mindful awareness and bring meditation, calm, and clarity into our daily activities:
- Breathe and smile. Relax. Take a moment to let go, and just be. Enjoy it.
- Do standing meditation, while waiting in line for a movie or bus or train. Just stand there, breathe, and awaken.
- Whenever you sit down or stand up, stop and appreciate a moment of change, of freedom.
- Whenever you cross a threshold, go through a doorway, or enter a room, see it as entering a temple and do so reverently.
- Walk barefoot in the grass or on a thick carpet and feel fully each sensation with your toes and soles.
- Walk on the edge of a beach, where the water meets the sand, with your eyes closed, feeling your way along, totally vigilant and attentive.
- Walk slowly upon crunchy snow or autumn leaves, attending to the crackle of each step.
- Sing, chant, or pray till you totally forget and lose yourself; then stop and drop into a moment of inexpressible isness, completely beyond concepts, stories, and strategies.
- Experience simple, repetitive work like sewing, embroidering, or even washing dishes as meditation in action, focusing totally on the moment in hand and nothing else.
- Try doing manual labor in a sacred manner, just doing what you are doing as if it is the ultimate divine service, for it is.
- When eating, chew each mouthful fifty or one hundred times, getting the most out of the food as well as being further nourished by the richness of the moment.
- Try chewing one single raisin for several minutes and experiencing everything you can about it.
- Before speaking, notice what motivates your words.
- Set a beeper on your watch or alarm clock to ring every hour on the hour, reminding you to wake up and appreciate the miracle of every moment. Call yourself by name and say, "Wake up!"
- Recognize the Buddha-light shining in everyone and everything and treat others accordingly.
- Enjoy the indescribable joy and peace of meditation.
I really liked this section about bringing spirituality to daily life from Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch
Recently I've been going through some old notebooks, looking at some of the things that I wrote down at Lama Yeshe's monastery. In one notebook, I found a "To Do" list called "Daily Necessities." If you reflect upon some of these practices and bring a few into your life every day, you will be transformed.
The living Buddha, the Sixteenth Karmapa, said, "If you have one hundred percent dedication and confidence in Dharma teachings, every living situation can be part of spiritual practice. You can be living the practice instead of just doing it."
Daily Necessities
Tips and Pointers for Building a Spiritual Life from Scratch
Pray
Meditate
Be aware / Stay awake
Bow
Practice yoga
Feel
Chant and sing
Breathe and smile
Relax / Enjoy / Laugh / lay
Create / Envision
Let go / Forgive / Accept
Walk / Exercise / Move
Work / Serve / Contribute
Listen / Learn / Inquire
Consider / Reflect
Cultivate oneself / Enhance competencies
Cultivate contentment
Cultivate flexibility
Cultivate friendship and collaboration
Open up / Expand / Include
Lighten up
Dream
Celebrate and appreciate
Give thanks
Evolve
Love
Share / Give / Receive
Walk softly / Live gently
Expand / Radiate / Dissolve
Simplify
Surrender / Trust
Be born anew
I am about finished reading Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World by Lama Surya Das.
