Intro to Sounds of Liberation Benefit Concert
Friday, January 12, 2018
Berklee Performance Center in Boston, MA.
The concert was organized to raise much-needed funds for the reconstruction and support of Nepal’s most important Tibetan Buddhist monastery, Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling <http://shedrub.org/> , which was damaged during the devastating earthquake of 2015. Ka-Nying is a monastery housing and educating over 300 monks and nuns, and is directed by Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche, a world-renowned Tibetan Buddhist teacher and meditation master who also has students at many centers around the globe....
These agitated days, when black lives and people from “shithole countries” don’t seem to matter much, I am inspired to remember as a boy seeing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the tv news marching in Alabama, surrounded by faith leaders and actively committed citizens of many creeds and breeds— practicing non-violence and truth-power, as Mahatma Gandhi called it. The social activist, serene and sage Dalai Lama of Tibet often mentions these two pioneering peace-warriors as among his greatest inspirations, and most of my friends and colleagues and I aspire to further these important message...
Lama Surya's AWAKENING NOW Podcast EP. 54 "Inviting Balance"
Lama Surya Das teaches a lesson on the most important principles of Dzogchen meditation and discusses ways we can bring balance into our spiritual practice.
Lama Surya's "Awakening Now" Podcast EP. 53
"Compassion into Action"
In this episode of the Awakening Now Podcast, Lama Surya Das looks at how we can turn compassion into action with Metta meditation practice.
1. Practice generosity in the form of donating, gift-giving, volunteering, and reaching out by making phone calls and writing. This cultivates cheerfulness and the spirit of mutual reciprocity, without foster overindulgence in consumerism or the intemperate habits of many holiday revelers.
2. Share a prayer or inspirational poem, film recommendation, book or wise quote with someone.
3. Give yourself a gift, whether material or a gift of time and space for some reflection, noble silence, and solitude. Get a massage or take a nature walk.
LAMA SURYA’S “AWAKENING NOW” PODCAST EP. 52 “Secrets of Mindfulness Practice"
On this episode of the Awakening Now Podcast Lama Surya Das explores the secrets of mindfulness practice, teasing out the nuances of our practice so that we may guide ourselves better.
The mind is not always
The best friend to spend all your time with.
For a change of pace, try to find a spiritual exercise or mindful hobby
That naturally takes you out of your thinking mind
and into your body, breath and beyond.,
Try walking, jogging, swimming, a musical instrument
or gardening.
My ex-wife used to swim her prayers: one hundred laps, one hundred prayers.
Some teach Dancing Your Prayers.
I enjoy cultivating this full connection meditation
on a treadmill
or while walking outside
along a river, lake, or forest path.
As a daily-ish contemplative practice:
Just get wholeheartedly...
LAMA SURYA’S “AWAKENING NOW” PODCAST EP. 51 "Natural Great Perfection"
On this episode of the Awakening Now Podcast, Lama Surya Das explores the threefold path of Natural Great Perfection in Dzogchen practice.
LAMA SURYA’S “AWAKENING NOW” PODCAST EP. 50– "EMPTINESS & ATTACHMENT"
On this episode of "Awakening Now", Lama Surya Das discusses the tenants of emptiness and detachment in the Buddhist tradition.
