Customer Reviews

Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection

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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.

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.'"

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.

In Natural Radiance, Lama Surya Das introduces readers to the insights of Dzogchen, "the Great Perfection". This Buddhist philosophy, or technique, is described by Das as the "fast track" to enlightenment, and he talk about why it is can be applicable to Westerners in the modern world. Das does what he does best in Natural Radiance - make Buddhist teachings accessible to Western audiences. He is masterful at making these teachings easily understood and effortlessly practiced. His words in this book are poetic, inspiring, and insightful. Even opening up and reading a few pages brought a sense of calm and peace to my mind. Those unfamiliar with Buddhism will find the text appropriate and accessible. Dzogchen is also appealing in its lack of rigid structure or discipline. It is more about awakening your mind to simple practices, like meditating on the infinite space of the sky or observing how thoughts form and arise in the mind. I really love how Das writes about emotions and thoughts. He talks about how meditation isn't about turning off the mind or getting rid of emotions. He uses a great surfing analogy on this topic - the bigger the waves of life, the better the ride! The highs and lows of an emotional life aren't antithetical to Buddhism, but rather it is about how you relate to your emotions that makes all the difference. Dzogchen is also a technique passed from teacher to student orally. Natural Radiance comes with a companion CD of guided mediations so that Das (an ordained Lama) can use his voice to guide you on the Dzogchen path. The combination of written text with CD is perfect! The text provides background information on the philosophy and pith instructions which are helpful, short instructions of one or two sentences. The CD enables you to immediately try the meditations under the direct tutelage of a master. Natural Radiance is a must have for anyone looking to start a mediation practice, or to deepen an existing practice. Lama Surya Das is a masterful writer who really hits the mark with this book. Don't miss it!
-Jessica Teel

I absolutely loved Natural Radiance. I already do a lot of yoga, but this book helped me to begin to integrate Buddhist mediation into my routine. Natural Radiance is a straightforward book that gives you tools to practice meditation immediately! The CD is great and well produced. Lama Surya Das sounds like the guy next door, and his voice makes the practices seem effortless! I appreciated his tone and the way he speaks to the audience. He puts the listener at ease, and makes you realize that meditation isn't some scary, foreign concept, but something any one can practice everyday. I liked having a book and a CD, because I could read about the concepts practiced in the guided mediations to learn more. I had never heard of "Dzogchen", but Das made it easy to understand and also put into practice. This is a wonderful book and guided mediation CD!

Bless his heart, Surya Das is trying to do something. What that something might be is unclear. The book is only a foil for the cd. The chapters of both imply that something not dissimilar to the innermost secret Nyingtig texts like the famous Nyingtig Yabshi, Lama Yangtig, or Yeshe Lama is being presented. This is absolutely not the case, and is far from the real thing. The author tries to present something like a series of guided meditations, but ends up being not much more than attempting to be inspiring in a generalizing new-age Buddhist-ish sort of way. To start from the end of the cd, the last section entitled Togal is positively NOT even remotely a presentation of that very specific set of practices, but rather a somewhat romanticized visualization of Kuntuzangpo, dorjes, and a paen to what might be called Buddha Nature. The Hung practice section has a very slight relationship to a similarly named set of practices in the Nyingtig texts, but not a very much. The Skygazing section is nice, and Surya Das' instructions are uplifting in tone and language. Trekchod is a specific stage as well as a group of techniques, a tiny corner of which are alluded to by Surya Das in his short talk in this part of the cd. The Rushen section doesn't really have any meat to it, while the first talk, Morning Wake-Up Sky Breathing is admittedly rather good, and one of the practices is one which comes at a much later stage in one's practice and should be done only in a real context under the guidance of a qualified master. All in all, it's very puzzling that Surya Das is using words like Trekchod and Togal in the context of a cd of supposed guided meditation sold to the general public, even though he really doesn't present those practices. I must admit more than a little discomfort with a person using even chapter headings of a most secret Dzogchen transmission in such an an open and heedless manner. You may be sure, however, that he's not actually revealing anything much at all, and where the cd instructions do parallel actual practices (which it does in a couple of instances) those practices are presented in a manner pretty much devoid of the transformative power of the Dzogchen lineage. At best this is a pretty much a new-agey kind of presentation. I was surprised at how lacking the cd is in the punchy raw realism of authentic Dzogchen and how overstuffed it is in attempts at poetic imagery and airy atmospheric language. If you really want to get the genuine article on Amazon, buy White Lotus: An Explanation of the Seven Line Prayer of Padmasambhava. It succinctly yet beautifully sets forth each and every stage of the Path up through Trekchod, Togal, and ultimately beyond the beyond to the farthest possible extent. I know Surya Das is trying to do something good, but he surely could have done far better than this. A less charitable person could write a much more critical review than this one, beginning with the words bait and switch. But I probably don't have sufficient understanding to know what he's trying to accomplish.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama calls author Lama Surya Das the western lama, and his book "Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection" is a testament to that claim. Suggesting that all people are potential Buddhas by nature, in that they have the ability to be infinitely open, luminous, compassionate, wise, and free. "Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection" is a guide to channeling these inner qualities and being passed them from a master of the tradition. Hoping to help your mind attain rigpa - total and pure presence, and enhanced with a free CD with seven guided Dzogchen techniques, "Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection" is highly recommended to Buddhist study shelves everywhere.

Wonderful book!

Lama Surya Das masterfully blends the essential ignition energy of the Dzogchen pith with an educational format that is accessible to the Western seeker. The impetus of the pith surfaces again and again in his written words and in his verbal guidance in the cd, accomplishing its purpose: to hone the awareness of the reader, again and again, in a way that helps to cultivate the necessary perennially blooming energy that is so important in upholding the Dzogchen view...a view of inexorable awe and galvanized awareness...a view that says "Emaho!".....Wonderous!...Incredible!....Yes! For those who have begun their devotion to unfolding this view in their daily lives..this book is indispensible.

Buddhist lineages are kept very accurately. I've heard many claims such as "highest trained" about Lama Surya Das, but have seen no report of the teachers from whom he learned the oral transmissions. Who ordained this guy? After I sent a link on his retreats out to our sangha, a member took me aside and related that he is not well respected in the Dzogchen community. So I'm not sure what to make of all this. ...I did get a bit suspicious upon reading the stated goal of his organization which is to further the teachings of him and his other teachers(http://www.dzogchen.org/members/annual_letters/2005_Membership_Letter.pdf) Now this is very unusual coming from a reported lineage holder. That title speaks of someone whoes own ego has been overcome and who expounds the authentic teachings of a lineage originator - a great bodhisatva or fully enlightened Buddha. We in the West are so fed up with commercialized materialism and relatively frustrated with religions that don't make logical sense that seek desparately for some hope in finding the path to our inner wisdom. It makes us vulnerable to those who would lead us astray in pursuite of nepharious aimes, under the auspices of an otherwise effective and authentic spiritual system. It is good to carry a healthy degree of decernment.