Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection [Hardcover]

Lama Surya Das (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2005

Bestselling author Lama Surya Das' first complete instructional tool for the daily practice of Tibetan Buddhism's "direct path" of realization.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars. He teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. Based on his relationship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Surya Das founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network and has organized three weeklong conferences of Western Buddhist Meditation Teachers with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. He also teaches regularly at Esalen, Open Center, Omega Institute, Interface, at universities in the United States and abroad, and at spiritual centers of all kinds. He is the founder of the Dzogchen Foundation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 110 pages
• Publisher: Sounds True, Incorporated; 1St Edition edition (June 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1591792835
• ISBN-13: 978-1591792833
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 6.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,263,760 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

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Surya Radiates Accessibility!, September 21, 2005

By 

daire (Raleigh, NC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection (Hardcover)

To those who are not familiar with Lama Surya's other writings, this book is a great way to get to know Dzogchen.

The CD which comes with the book will give you a glimpse of Surya's speaking and teaching style and is an excellent guide for Dzogchen practice!

For those already familiar with Surya, you will not be disappointed. Continue to further your Dzogchen study with this superbly accessible book and CD.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Have you HUNG out with Dzogchen?, April 14, 2007

By 

Neal J. Pollock (VA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection (Hardcover)

This is a clever combination of a 111 page small-format book & a 77+ minute CD. The CD has 7 practices/exercises on 7 tracks: (1) Morning Wake-up sky breath 4:13, (2) Rushen: subtle discernment 10:03, (3) Natural Meditation 13:58, (4) Trekchod: Seeing Thru 11:46, (5) Sky Gazing Meditation 15:52, (6) HUNG Mantra 10:12, & (7) Togal: Being There 11:24. The book also describes the exercises/meditations. They address 3 main Dzogchen practices, but are rather elementary: serving as a good introduction to Dzogchen practices. However, his description of Rushen seems quite ~ standard Vajrayana vipashyana insight meditation; "Natural Meditation" seems ~ std. Vajrayana Shamatha/shine or tranquil/calm abiding; the mantras are, of course, very Mantrayana; & (as usual) little is imparted on Togal. Nevertheless, p. 96: per Khenpo Ngawang Palzang--"Dzogchen is extremely simple, but not easy." So, there are some fine subtleties hidden herein. The Beatles "Let It Be" could be the motto of Dzogchen (& Taoism) while utilizing p. 35: "deep penetrating insight & discriminating awareness that discerns the true nature of things as they are." The simple, but elegant Dzogchen truth is that the grass is greener than you think--just where you are--p. 49: "the spiritual zone...one with everything; not thinking & without need to think. This is the sacred zone, in which everything just flows." In a practical vein, we are told to "fake it till you make it" on the CD; this is good psychological advice if one can internalize one's actions through investing one's efforts in relevant activities. First we do to "be" what we envision; then our "being" naturally manifests as doing--in the flow or groove---without attachment (p. 80 "like Velcro" without the rings to hook to).

I particularly liked p. 66/track 5: "Sky gazing: Mingle your gaze with this space; merge yourself & your mind with infinite, empty space. Dissolve into space until you become spacious awareness itself...experience the radiant transparency of free-flowing present awareness." His description is one of the best I've experienced--esp. the one on his video "Natural Meditation" (ASIN 1591793149). Overall, the CD is helpful & soothing with a bit of humor. This would be a nice gift to someone with some interest in the spiritual but without background in Dzogchen--a lot of breadth though not much depth. After this, read Namkhai Norbu (e.g. "The Mirror" or "Crystal & the Way of Light") or Tulku Urgyen (e.g. "Rainbow Painting" or "As It Is"). As a scientist, I found one of his quotes most intriguing: p. 4: "My last teacher Tulku Urgyen used to say, `Bring the scientists, they have the sharp capacity to be able to understand these naked teachings.'"

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compassion and wisdom come together in this profound book of teachings!, November 15, 2005

By 

C. Overton "Yangchen" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection (Hardcover)

Lama Surya Das has a natural way of teaching a subject that could be new to many, and yet he does so with his normal straightforward, yet compassionate way.Add his humor to the mix, and you receive a gift. This is yet another excellent book of his and I cannot recommend it enough to all seekers of Buddhism. The CD is a wonderful addition and allows you to hear mantras as well as be led through guided meditation. It goes without saying that if this is new to you, it is a gift and to those who already are familiar with Lama Das and his teachings, then this only deepens one's practice. Thank you Lama Das and bless you.