DelawareOnline.com / The News Journal 11/27/2003
Copyright 2003 The News Journal

Each October, a holiday tradition as entrenched as mistletoe and menorahs takes place: industry gurus forecast shopping and sales patterns for the period from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas.

This year, a new player has gotten into the forecasting game, with a twist.

Buddhist Lama Surya Das is a Buddhist meditation teacher and scholar who is the head of the Dzogchen Foundation in Boston and author of a new book called "Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be." The Lama hired Opinion Research Corp. of Princeton, N.J., to conduct a telephone survey of holiday shopping intentions. The survey found that only 33 percent of shoppers plan to visit the malls Friday.

Other results of the survey:

• 33 percent of Americans got at least one gift last December that ended up in the trash.
• 35 percent have a gift from last year sitting in their closet that they've been unable to use.
• 8 percent of Americans will max out their credit cards by the end of the holiday season.

The Lama had words of advice for more enlightening ways to spend the winter holidays: Eat a peach (take it home and share it with someone you care about); collect a dollar bill for charity; light a scented candle; give someone an unexpected thank you and forgive someone.

The Lama was born Jeffrey Miller on Long Island, N.Y. "Jewish on my parents side, Buddhist by choice and training," he said in an interview Wednesday. He had his bar mitzvah, went to State University of New York at Buffalo, attended Woodstock, and spent nearly 30 years studying Zen, yoga and Tibetan Buddhism.

He celebrates Hanukkah. He gives gifts but tries to stick to those that don't cost money, like sharing a poem, a prayer, or giving gift certificates for baby-sitting or leaf raking.

"We could all consume a little less and cultivate a little more generosity," he said. "Be a little more aware."

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