Awakening to the Sacred [Hardcover]

Lama Surya Das (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 4, 1999

A beautifully written, simple guide to creating a spiritual life from scratch and connecting with the sacred in everyday life.

All of us long to connect with something greater than ourselves, to experience the sacred in our daily lives, and to enhance our sense of spiritual enlightenment--yet often we don't know where to begin. Awakening to the Sacred is an extraordinary new book that provides seekers of all faiths with the tools and practices they need to build a spiritual life from the ground up and to cultivate a divine presence in everyday life.

In this elegant, inspiring book, Lama Surya Das--the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition and author of the bestselling Awakening the Buddha Within--integrates essential Buddhist practices with a variety of other spiritual philosophies and wisdom traditions to show you how to create a personalized spiritual practice based on your own individual beliefs, aspirations, and needs. Through reflections on his own life quest, thoughtful essays, and entertaining stories, Surya Das examines the common themes at the heart of any spiritual path, including faith, doubt, love, compassion, creativity, self-inquiry, and transformation. He then explores prayer, yoga, chanting, guided meditations, breathing exercises, and myriad other rituals, providing practical examples of each that we can use day-to-day to nurture our inner spirit.

Surya Das's unique and accessible approach emphasizes that we are all, by nature, spiritual beings and that our lives are naturally filled with sacred moments.  Awakening to the Sacred illuminates the natural meditations already present in daily life and shows how we can use them to awaken our hearts and minds and progress toward inner peace, happiness, and enlightenment.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Surya Das is like a Buddhist Johnny Appleseed, galavanting across the countryside, planting seeds of spirituality in bare patches of ground. He believes that we are all fertile soil for cultivating the sacred in everyday life. "We all have spiritual DNA," he says. In Awakening to the Sacred, Surya Das heightens his efforts to increase the planet's spirituality quotient by teaching people how to take advantage of their own spiritual resources. Whether Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, or atheist, we can all enhance our spiritual side. Certainly meditating is a good way, and there's no one better to teach us than this limpid lama. But even more familiar activities can help, like praying, creating a spiritual notebook, or reading spiritual books--even gardening and walking count. Surya Das excels at demystifying the mystical and urges the reader to capitalize on resources closest at hand. No need to look too far when we can draw inspiration and practices from our own traditions. So take that apple seed, thumb through Awakening to the Sacred, and nourish those precious roots of spirituality. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly

The truth is that I feel as though I learn as much from my students as they do from me, writes Surya Das, an American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and the author of the popular Awakening the Buddha. Here in the West, he adds, it seems appropriate that student and teacher should share Dharma in this way, finding their way together. In this affable, conversational tour of spiritual ideas and practices, the author, calling himself a spiritual player-coach, reaches out to the broad audience in this country who experience spiritual longing yet arent harnessed to a particular teacher or tradition. Dividing his book into three sections, Surya Das moves from a discussion of such major themes as rebirth and faith to spiritual practices, giving clear, simple instructions in meditation and the cultivation of the moment-by-moment awareness that Buddhists call mindfulness. With a disarming lack of pretension or reticence, the author explains his personal take on fasting, psychotherapy and prayer. Some of the prayers that I use include the concept of God or Divine Source or spirit, he writes. As a Buddhist and a Westerner, I am completely comfortable doing this. Others may feel differently. The book concludes with Surya Dass description of his own Buddhist tradition of Dzogchen: Dzogchen is about recognizing and realizing who we are. The author emphasizes that Dzogchen is grounded in principles of naturalness, openness and authenticity, and he demonstrates these qualities throughout. Offering the reader fresh, authentic impressions that are clearly the result of his own spiritual work and reflection, Surya Das emerges here as a genial post-denominational spiritual teacher, one whose straightforward approach to the esoteric deserves to reach a wide readership.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (May 4, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767902742
• ISBN-13: 978-0767902748
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,211,585 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

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 affectionately calls him "the Western Lama."

Surya has spent nearly forty years studying Zen, vipassana, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with the great masters of Asia. He is an authorized lama (priest and spiritual master teacher) in the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the founder of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its affiliated branches. He is the founder of the Western Buddhist Teachers Network annual conferences with the Dalai Lama.

As a best selling author, sought after speaker, teacher, and lecturer, he conducts retreats and workshops around the world. Surya is also a published poet, translator, and chant master. He has been featured in numerous publications and major media, including ABC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, The Boston Globe, Boston Herald, New York Post, Long Island Newsday, Long Island Business Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, The Jewish Free Press, New Age Journal, Tricycle Magazine, Yoga Journal, and The Oregonian.

One segment of the ABC-TV sitcom Dharma & Greg was based on his life ("Leonard's Return"). Surya has appeared on Politically Correct with Bill Maher and on The Colbert Report.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Discover your spirituality, and yourself, May 12, 2003

By 

Thomas Hochmann (Albuquerque, NM) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Personal Spiritual Life (Paperback)

In this book, Lama Surya Das acts as your guide to discovering spirituality and what it means for you. "Awakening to the Sacred" is like a guided tour through the world of spirit and soul, with Surya pointing out the sights along the way. "On your left, you see the mechanics of Karma..."

While this book draws heavily on Buddhist views and beliefs, it is refreshing to see that Surya Das does not ever try to force any views upon you. He merely describes the beliefs, techniques, and background, and allows you to decide for yourself. Even if you don't buy into the idea of reincarnation, for example, at the very least Surya will get you thinking about the possibilities.

This book is essentially a guide for those who wish to custom craft their own spiritual life. It allows you to decide how best to discover truth, and to discover yourself. Don't think this is a Buddhist book, because it is not. The lessons you take away from "Awakening to the Sacred" can be integrated into any lifestyle. You may not find yourself meditating at dawn and chanting while you shower, but you will certainly learn something about yourself as you journey through this book.

Definitely a must-read for those seeking truth and happiness.

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended Insightful and Inspiring Journey, August 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Awakening to the Sacred (Hardcover)

I couldn't put this book down. Its artful combination of wit and wisdom are a pure joy. Surya Das offers a taste of spiritual-real life through amusing and powerful anecdotes, traditional Tibetan Buddhist (and also less traditional-bound) fundamentals and practices to use each day. How do we lead the right kind of life now, today? Awakening to the Sacred shines a very bright laser-like light in my direction...and maybe yours, too. A very special book.

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful guide for developing a personal spirituality..., May 13, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Awakening to the Sacred (Hardcover)

Lama Surya Das has written a wonderful sequel to his last book, "Awakening the Buddha Within." This effort connects buddhist and eastern practices with daily western life. It will help us in the West develop our own spiritual life and practices without the baggage of eastern cultural traditions. Humerous and very personal stories of his own spiritual development sets a wonderful example of western spiritual awakening. Numerous meditations, chants, practices, etc. present many meaningful contributions to a daily practice. I know my personal spiritual practice will bloom as a result of reading this book.