Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life (Hardcover)

by Lama Surya Das (Author) "Life is about relationship-the relationship we have with ourselves, with each other, with the world, as well as the connection to that which is beyond..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dalai Lama, Heart Sutra, Lama Norlha (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Surya Das's breezy delivery makes his teachings come off like colorful conversation. In the third installment of his bestselling "Awakening" series, America's most popular lama shows us how to integrate inner and outer practices. Our inner spirituality, he says, can never be separate from our relationships with others. With his trademark clarity, he integrates his teachings with light- hearted anecdotes and down-to-earth practices. Basic meditation, for instance, can help us create a gap between our knee-jerk judgments and our reactions, allowing for calm, wise relations. Likewise, one can try authentic listening ("opening the third ear") or exploiting the power of speech to build deeper connections. And beyond human relations lies our connection to the natural world, for which Surya Das also includes a few lovely meditations. Taking that extra step in our practice from the self to the world requires more than just individual persistence, it takes compassion and teaches more than you'd expect. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly
The "Buddhist heart" that Surya Das refers to in his third book turns out to be a good heart. Blending intimate anecdotes with wisdom gleaned from his decades of study with traditional Tibetan Buddhist teachers, the American-born author seeks to help readers to awaken this heart so that their everyday relationships may become a way to experience the meaningful interconnectedness and sacrednessness of life. Surya Das wishes to cut to the essence of Buddhist wisdom, while bolstering a general readership with a dawn-of-a-new-era pep talk: "As we enter a new century and a new millennium... it seems increasingly important to awaken our Buddha-like hearts through spiritual connections." Unlike in his first two booksAAwakening the Buddha, an explication of Tibetan Buddhism, and Awakening the Sacred, an attempt to describe spiritual values in nonsectarian termsAhere Surya Das initially seems to be trying to be all things to all people, and the advice he offers can feel flimsy or vague. He counsels readers to cultivate a more authentic presence, for example, by learning to be natural, simple and open. The disarming honesty of the many personal accounts he presents puts a friendly human face on an ancient tradition, yet the work as a whole lacks power and coherence. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (November 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767902769
• ISBN-13: 978-0767902762
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #848,795 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful........, December 16, 2001

By	B. netervala (United States) - See all my reviews

Since 09-11 I have paid more attention to what I have been reading. Life is short, and knowing this, I am trying hard to read books that can help make a difference, however small it may be.

I have been reading a lot of books on Buddhism recently, and I must say that this is THE ONE!!!!! I love LSD's sense of humor, his honesty, and the way he approaches life.

This book should be required reading in or out of school and the home...for the PARENTS too! We must learn how to live in today's times, and no one gives better guidance than LSD.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars POWERFUL WORDS - ELOQUENTLY WRITTEN!, June 15, 2001

By	Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books" (Prince Edward Island, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I have been a follower of Buddhist philosophies for many years and during that time have read all the books of Lama Surya Das. Even if exploring the philosophies of Buddhism takes you into unknown territory, you will find his books easy to follow and understand because the author's concepts have been adapted for the Western World. If you are just beginning to read the books of Lama Surya Das, I would suggest starting with, "Awakening the Buddha Within" as it gives a very general overview of the fundamentals of Buddhism; however, all his books are excellent, leaving much food for thought.

In this book, the author helps the reader to understand the importance of integrating love, compassion and understanding into our personal relationships on a daily basis. The limits also go beyond to encompass the relationships we have with those in our community, our country and around the world. By awakening one's own Buddhist heart, one will find inner peace, contentment and happiness abound. The greatest gift we can share with the world is our love for humanity.

The beautiful meditations and amusing anecdotes the author lavishly uses in this third book of the "Awakening" series will immediately warm your heart and soul. The reader quickly realizes Lama Surya Das is a man with strengths and weaknesses like our own. He is humble, compassionate, kind, inspirational and enlightening, everything one would expect to find in a true "Bodhicitta." I highly recommend this beautiful and expressive book from a inspiring and insightful man.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent-Uplifting!, March 21, 2003

By	"katpau6" (Westchester County, New York United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Awakening The Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning, and Connection into Every Part of Your Life (Paperback)

I have been studying Buddihism for nearly 3 years now and Lama Surya Das is by far one of my favorite authors. This book provides beautiful examples of humanity and how we can bring more love and harmony to our lives and is presented with reality to a western thinker.
He takes the intimadating part out of buddhist practice and shows how accessable it can be in one's life.

I have read many other Buddhist authors who I found so self centered, so very "enlightened" apparently that they now came off a bit cold and condescending, so wordy and esoteric that their message is lost. Or what they were writing about couldn't possibly be applied in American or Western culture.
LSD talks with you, that what I loved. I came away feeling, Yeah I can do those things and be inspired. That is what one hopes to gain when reading a book on spirituality/self improvement. Lama Surya Das succeeds amply with this book.