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    Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment | Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World
    Unavailable
    Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment | Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World
    Unavailable
    Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment | Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World
    Audiobook (abridged)3 hours

    Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment | Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World

    Published by Penguin Random House Audio

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition, presents the first comprehensive book of Western Buddhism for the modern-day spiritual seeker.

    Buddhism offers a profound yet practical path to enlightenment.  In this loving and generous book, the American-born and Tibetan-trained Lama Surya Das offers at once a definitive and nonsectarian guide to the wisdom found in ancient Tibetan teachings and a tried and true path of spiritual transformation.

    The radical and compelling message of Buddhism tells us that each of us has the wisdom, awareness, love, and power of the Buddha within; yet most of us are too often like sleeping Buddhas.  Surya Das shows how we can awaken to who we really are and thus walk the liberating, peaceful path of mindful and compassionate living.  With lively language, meditations, and spiritual practices, this unique book provides a bridge between East and West, past, present, and future.

    Awakening the Buddha Within offers a complete yet accessible understanding of the unique Buddhist teachings embodied in the traditional Noble Eight-Fold Path and its Three Enlightenment Trainings, common to all schools of Buddhism:

    • Wisdom Training: Developing clear vision, insight, and inner understanding--seeing reality and ourselves as we really are.
    • Ethics Training: Cultivating virtue, self-discipline, integrity, and compassion in what we say and do.
    • Meditation Training: Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and awareness of the present moment.

    This fresh and original work illuminates such key principles as karma (what we do does matter), rebirth (every moment is an opportunity to start afresh), letting go (simplifying our lives by clarifying our hearts and minds), as well as conscious living and dying, and Dzogchen, the ultimate, mystical teaching of Tibet.

    In this wonderful marriage of the timeless and the timely, Surya Das has written an invaluable, authoritative text for the novice and the experienced student of Buddhism alike.  Awakening the Buddha Within reveals how sacred wisdom, contemplative practice, and altruism can be integrated into our outer and inner lives--in our relationships, in the workplace, and at home.

    Here is a guidebook to enlightenment--a sourcebook of the sacred for anyone who wants to lead a more serene and beautiful life.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateJul 5, 2000
    ISBN9780553750607
    Unavailable
    Awakening the Buddha Within: Eight Steps to Enlightenment | Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World

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    Reviews for Awakening the Buddha Within

    4/5

    305 ratings16 reviews

    What did you think?

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    • 5/5
      Made me feel so much connected to my self and all around me. thank you! ???
    • 5/5
      This was so excellent . ..I listened to it in one night. so much good information . ..
    • 5/5
      This book saved my life. Reconmended to any seekers.
    • 5/5
      belo resumo sobre o nobre caminho do Buda. meditações no final.
    • 4/5
      This book was my first experience into the principles of Buddhism, meditation and personal spiritual growth. I was genuinely impressed with the presentation and the content. It has motivated me to pursue this phenomenon much further.
    • 4/5
      good book to start on the journey to enlightenment .start from here
    • 4/5
      A good introduction to Buddhism for Westerners from a western point of view.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I am one, who enjoys listening and reading books. Helping me, to become conscious of my souls longing, to be more intimate, with our Lord and God. Buddha is One of many Spiritual Beings that touch the hearts, Souls and minds of Believers worldwide. Giving Hope to learn to be One with God. Teaching all to live A healthy, happy and positive life. Yearning to help others to be good, do good and grow spiritually.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      I listened to the abridged version of this book read by the author. He had quite and interesting journey as a Jewish boy from Long Island, to the Tibet during the wild sixties.

      Although Tibetan Buddhism sounds to me like a fundamentalist type of religion, the overall principles resonated with me completely. The awareness that we are only a small part of a great divine whole is a beautiful idea, and explains the diversity of human journeys some of which are extreme in their difficulty while others are cut short and seem to lack any value for the person living them.

      I always thought that life is precious, more precious than eternity, simply because of its transient and fleeting nature, so the principle of living in the moment is paramount for a peaceful existence.
      This book is a landmark for me in my spiritual journey and I think I will read it again in its printed and unabridged form.
    • 5/5
      So beautifully explained and delivered. Glad I read it. Thanks.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      With the dizzying array of books on spritual enlightenment in general, and Buddhism in particular, I found this book superior to most. Lama Surya Das explains Buddhist terms and concepts in ways that are not confusing or koan-like.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      This is a decent introduction to some core Buddhist beliefs from a Western perspective. I think Lama Das could have spent a little less time talking about himself. About half the book was on meditation and there's so much more to discuss like Dharma and noble choices but, overall, not bad.
    • 5/5
      This is a kind of book to be read on and off, spread out over time and giving time - to absorb what's in it. And that's what I did. It is a thoughtful blend of inspiring stories from the history of Buddhism (Dzogchen lineage in particular) along with the author's own experience on the path towards enlightenment, as well as basic concepts of Buddhism, and very detailed practical meditation advice (quite doable!). Meditation is a way of life, the author says: "... think of daily meditation as a mental hygiene, a form of mental floss that retards truth decay". He warns against "instant-coffee mind" that most of us tend to have; he stresses the concept of "allowing": "The universe is beyond our control anyway. Trying to control things creates more stress, struggle, and irritating friction in the greater system". Practically all aspects of everyday life are touched upon in this book (no renunciation required), with the central idea being - "Living a mindful life is a sacred way of being in this world". I found it most appealing. I know I would be returning to this book over and over again: to re-enforce some of the things that I am already doing and to learn new notions.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      It is not often I can say that a book changed my life, but I can with this one. I just loved "Awakening the Buddha Within" and it helped me so enormously in my life that words fail me. If you have any desire to read about Buddhism and how it can help you (and in turn, the people and world around you), this is about the best place to start that I can think of. The funny thing is, this book was sitting on my shelves for about 10 years and I guess now was the right time for me to pick it up. Highly recommended for anyone either interested in learning about the practice, or even furthering it. Lama Surya Das is a wonderful storyteller, guide and just all around nice, interesting guy who easily spreads the joy (and yes, work) of being a better human being.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      It probably took me longer to read this book than any other — over 2 years. But I like to think that I read it in a very Buddhist manner, that is, I savored and absorbed small chunks of it as I needed and could understand them. Written from a Western point of view, this book provides a thorough grounding in Buddhist principles and practices. I know I’ll be exploring more, and also returning to this book time and again for inspiration and grounding.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 3/5
      I have a fundamentalist Christian background, and this was my first intro to Buddhism. Because the author is American and has a Judaeo-Christian perspective, the book was pretty accessible -- as far as any book on religion is accessible anyway. Gave me a new view of some of my Christian beliefs and opened me up to some psychological avenues of better managing my life.

      1 person found this helpful