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. The Dalai Lama calls
him “The Western Lama.”
Surya Das has spent 35 years studying Zen, vipassana,
yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with the great masters of Asia,
including the Dalai Lama’s own teachers, and has
twice completed the traditional three-year cloistered meditation
retreat at his teacher's Tibetan monastery. He is an authorized
lama (priest and spiritual master teacher) in the Nyingmapa
School of Tibetan Buddhism and is the founder and spiritual
director of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
and its branch centers in New York City, New Jersey, California,
Portland, and Texas. Founder of the Western Buddhist Teachers
Network with the Dalai Lama, he regularly organizes its
international Buddhist Teachers Conferences, and is also
active in interfaith dialogue and social activism.
Surya Das is a sought-after speaker, and teaches, lectures,
and conducts retreats around the world. He is also a published
poet, translator, and author of many books, including Awakening
the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World;
Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning,
and Connection Into Every Part of Your Life; and Awakening
to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life (the
three books that comprise his best-selling Awakening Trilogy,
the first trilogy of Buddhism for the West). His other
books include Letting Go of the Person You Used to
Be: Lessons on Change, Loss, and Spiritual Transformation;
Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection; Buddha
Is as Buddha Does: The Ten Original Practices for Enlightened
Living; and The Big Questions: How to Find Your
Own Answers to Life’s Essential Mysteries. As
a chant master, he has released Chants to Awaken the
Buddhist Heart, with Stephen Halpern.
A contributing editor to Body+Soul magazine,
he writes regularly for Tricyle and other magazines,
and is a founder and board member of many Buddhist monasteries,
centers, and charitable projects in refugee camps in Asia.
He also writes a regular Ask The Lama column online at
Beliefnet.com.
Surya Das has been featured in numerous publications and
major media, including a magazine story on CNN and appearances
on Politically Correct with Bill Maher and The
Colbert Report. In addition, an episode of the ABC-TV
sitcom Dharma & Greg was based on his life (“Leonard's
Return”). |
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