February, 2005
TRUE LIES
Numbers don’t lie, people do.
Pictures don’t lie, those using them do.
The problem is that our perceptions and interpretations
Aren’t veridical.
Who knows the truth?
It is the mind that lies
Due to its internal distortions;
Being bent out of shape
Is the main problem.
Knowledge as we know it
Gets in the way.
Of clear vision.
Who can see things just
As they are,
Rather than as we’d like
Them to be?
The masters say that not seeing
Is true seeing, not knowing
Is authentic knowledge;
Not finding
Is finding. I
Recommend it.
There...
February, 2005
I have been transported, even if only temporarily; and seen that another world, another way of life is possible. There is another, better world and another life, and it is here -we are living in it. We may feel far from it, but rest assured: it is never far from us. You may sometimes feel out of the flow, but the flow goes right through you: thus speak Surya.
Around that time, I wrote:
"This is the pure land. Why wait?
Everything is already perfectly one and at peace,
Just as it is.
Yes. Fantastic!"
I have had transformational experiences, growthful experiences,...
February, 2005
The politics this century leaves me cold. It fails to touch my heart. I was mad and saddened about the outcome of the Florida elections three years ago, but I got over it. Like so many, I have been alarmed by our current regime's weapons of mass distraction and its unconscious, uncompassionate conservatism; however, I am trying to take a more long term view. The truth is I feel I can’t trust these people, can’t seem to find much truth-telling amidst all the spin and media, and that our leaders fail to touch my heart.
Decades ago, RFK said that politics is a noble...
February, 2005
The search for God, peace, love or enlightenment may be a serious business,
but we have to lighten up as well as enlighten up along this great way of
awakening. Joy is an important part of life and necessary component of spirit.
If we take ourselves too seriously, life ain’t much fun. My old girlfriend
used to call me Serious Das, but I was older then. That was in the Seventies.
A laugh closes the distance between a speaker and an audience. A smile is
the shortest distance between two strangers. I have found that humor is one
of the best teaching...
February, 2009
Pure Vision, Buddha Vision: Turning the Spotlight Inward
I have noticed that if I can change the frame, the picture always looks quite different. I wonder what new and high tech specs or special eyewear can provide us with Buddha Vision. And more importantly, as my wife would want to know: How do they look on me?!
How would Buddha see this is a good question to ask. Buddhism actually has some practices to help us see things through such a divine iye.
My favorite practice of this kind is called Pure Perceptions. Cultivating this kind...
February, 2005
I would love to tell you a glorious story of personal and universal transformation. But here I would rather tell you the truth. That’s the bad news.
We all want to change. Most of all we want our mates to change, our parents or children, colleagues, boss, employees to change. We want the economy and education and government to change, and our leaders too, of course…. And while we’re at it, let’s not forget to make these things change for the better--now that we are in charge, or think we are. Too many revolutions just turn things around and revolve back...
September 2005
Letting Go While Leaving Room For Hope
By Lama Surya Das
Dzogchen Center
Austin, Texas
I remember wading through thigh-high monsoon flooded streets in Chang Mai, northern Thailand, when I lived in Asia during the Seventies, and finally seeking asylum at a hotel above the floodline, along with other tourists and foreign journalists. Having an American passport helped, of course. Yet this week I was unprepared for the searing images of carnage and chaos in a great city in our own rich, proud and powerful country, even though my assistant...
September, 2005
Lama Surya Das
Buddhist Teacher & Founder of the Dzogchen Foundation
How to handle losing everything? No words will suffice. Yet Buddhist wisdom reminds us here again about impermanence and evanescence, and the benefits of being able to let go, patiently forbear and accept. One of the prime virtues of adversity is to take this naked moment to reflect upon what really matters and is most important in life, and learn to balance our grief, fear, anger, and loss with appreciation for the fact that we are alive at all. Let's realize that the most important thing,...
February, 2005
I am often asked to make decisions for people, or to advise them. It is
much too easy to tell people what to do, but too dumb and useless for me to fall
into doing it much. Although, there's no shortage of those around who seem glad
to do so, thus disempowering others and going out on a limb themselves.
Of course if one is a professional being paid for expert advice, such as a
lawyer or accountant, that could be another matter. It is far trickier in
the humanistic realm-- spiritual direction, therapy, life skills management
counselor, etc. Each of us has to own our own experience,...
February, 2005
I love walking outside. It almost feels as if God awaits me the minute I
look up and around. I barely believe in God, and yet there is this felt
sense; it must by my Jewish genes speaking. Many wait for the messiah to
come. I sense Him awaiting me, awaiting us. Yet the God that I love is
within. Let's look deeper, and see for ourSelves.
Just connecting with nature is enough to open my heart and mind to all that
is, and feel grateful, touched, inspired. Thrilled to be alive, to be
breathing. The treetops speak to me like steeples and spires. An
overarching...
