CJ Liu (“Fire It Up With CJ” host) shares a story of a racist encounter and asks Lama Surya Das how a Bodhisattva would respond with moral self-discipline. Lama Surya shares several strategies for mindful action when someone is acting in hurtful ways and offers the wisdom of taking the middle path. These encounters are like driving a car; we need to know when to yield, when to go, and how to recognize the gray areas in between. Surya Das recounts advice from the Dalai Lama who suggests that sometimes the kindest thing to do is yield, to prevent a person from collecting more karma.
Interview With CJ Liu
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Meditation Town Hall
Meditation Town Hall with Lama Surya
Lama offers weekly Virtual Meditation Town Hall every Sunday from 11 AM to 12 PM EST. To register for this free offering, go to www.dzogchen.org/Meditation-Town-Hall
All are welcome!
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A Moment of Silence
A Moment of Silence
These days we have war, oppression, humanitarian crisis, refugees, indiscriminate bombing, death…. dare I say insanity. Let’s have a moment of noble silence, noble solitude, alone together. Standing with all of those who are beleaguered and oppressed. Over 84 million political refugees in the world are seeking asylum, seeking safety and security for themselves and for their loved ones, as the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees tells us.
A moment of silence, noble silence – quieting the mind, not just the lips.
Breathing in, calming and quieting the mind, as Thich Nhat Hanh, the late, great Zen Master might say. Breathing out, letting go, relaxing and smiling,
(from Meditation Town Hall, Lama Surya Das – March 13, 2022)
Due to a severe “superstorm” in the Boston area, there are some pauses in the recording.
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Finding Spiritual Alignment
Finding Spiritual Alignment
“Spirit is sovereign, the Dharma is timeless and boundaryless. … So grateful and fortunate to be able to take refuge, to know there is something more than the sunlight and shadow of the many mountain peaks of the vacillating graph of our outer and worldly life. That there’s a deeper source of refuge, solace, reliance. Refuge means reliable, not relying on the impermanent things of this world, outer things or inner vacillations, the vagaries of experience. We can be deeper people, live in our spiritual center. Where is our spiritual center? (And I don’t mean the address or what town it’s in.) Can we find alignment? Can we stop and take a breath? Step off the treadmill of conditioning, staggering forward under the moment, the baggage, as if life is a to-do list. Tune more into being. Can we ever just stop and just Be? … When I take a breath and drop everything and just Be, that’s taking refuge in the Buddha.”
~ Lama Surya Das, Meditation Town Hall, April 3, 2022
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Finding Inner Balance
Finding Inner Balance
Meditation Town Hall ~ April 17, 2022
“Take a breath. Step off the wheel of samsara, the vicious conditioning, the treadmill. Stepping off the gerbil wheel. Breathing, relaxing, smiling. …. Let’s find the inner balance, have some ballast in our ship, our great vehicle, our Mahayana. Ballast in the belly of our ship, in the hull, by letting go and letting be just for now.” ~ Lama Surya Das
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Finding Unity in Diversity
During his last teaching time at Sivananda Ashram Yoga Retreat in the Bahamas, Lama Surya Das discussed unity in diversity, and finding the “one” in the “many.” This helps us to see others in ourselves, contributing to a peaceful existence. He also shared stories about renowned spiritual guru Neem Karoli Baba and his first-hand experiences.
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It’s now or never as ‘tiz said.
It’s now or never as ‘tiz said. We can get there from here. Being here right now. That’s our practice today. We are all artists in the art of life. We are all adventurers! (Like Titin in Tibet!) Every day is a good day if we are in a good state of mind, way of heart.
How fortunate we are! We get to do this life. We get to do what we are doing right now. It’s inherently meaningful, beautiful, and purposeful. Let’s just be aligned with ourself, our body. Sit up straight. Not over-thinking. Not looking out the window like kids at school waiting to go out and play. Gaze into the window of emptiness and recognize your true nature. Come home to yourSelf. Just sitting, just breathing, just being present and awakeful. Mindful rather than mindless. Atuned. Aligned. Come home to ourselves – just being. We already are!
What do we have to do to be? … Just breathe, relax and smile. Arrive here and now. Unadulterated, undivided attention is the essence of contemplative practices, as Simone Weil said.. This moment only moment. Just this much, as my Thai teacher, Ajahn Chah said. Dig it.
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May His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama live long and strong
And his liberating Buddha activity,
Enlightenment activity, continue
And benefit the whole world, the whole universe.
May the beleaguered people of Tibet,
All those who are oppressed,
Be eased, be freed,
Be liberated.
May all in this country, the Baltic, the Black Sea area,
Southeast Asia, those who are in developing countries,
The poor and starving, which could be the majority of this world,
The violence, hatred, selfishness, cruelty, meanness, recede
And the Bodhisattva, bodhicitta heart, rise, shine
Like the ever-rising, great Eastern Sun of Awakefulness.
Of Awakening, ever-rising rays, sun, rigpa.
Peace, harmony, shanti.
May it be so.
From our mouths to Buddha’s ears,
As they say.
Emaho!
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We can put it all down. I wonder what would happen, how it would feel, how it would be, if we dropped everything. Like Japan’s greatest Zen Master, Dogen Zenji, said 800 years ago – like a stick of incense on the altar that has burned down and still just has the shape of a stick, but it’s just ashes. And then phhhhht back into the flower pot or incense holder. Just drop everything. He says, drop body and mind and then sense beingness – what Kant called ‘ens’ – if we must translate ‘being’. Drop everything, drop body and mind, speech. Drop into it. … What is being without ‘me’ and ‘mine’? It’s like a gold mine. It’s like a kryptonite mine to the super-ego. Ahhhhhhh. How sweet it is!
Lama Surya Das ~ Meditation Town Hall – July 10, 2022
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Lama Surya Das shares his timeless wisdom with Dr. Roger Walsh and John Dupuy on the Deep Transformation: Self-Society-Spirit podcast in this spirited conversation about life, self-knowledge, the path of awakefulness, and unshakeable realization.
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