Susan C: How can we deal with difficult emotions like anger?
Lama Surya Das: One moment of anger can destroy a life or a world, they say. Anger is poisonous, and erodes the heart and soul as well as body and mind, and must be dealt with in a healthy and intelligent manner. Anger is just an inner energy and an emotion; it is not necessarily the same as violence. Feeling it rather than suppressing or indulging it is one of the most important lessons. Mindful anger management helps us create some time to breathe, reflect, and then choose how and if and when to respond, rather than simply reacting...
Danny: I’m a high school student from New York State. I’ve just begun reading your book “Awakening the Buddha Within” and am so far very pleased with what I am finding within its pages. However, that is not the reason I am writing you. To keep it simple, I have a question: my whole life I’ve wanted to travel, to be set free and roam the earth with nothing more than my iPod and backpack. I am 16 and have a family that cares for me deeply. My mistakes have brought them much trouble and misery, I am torn. I do not know whether I should stay and try to make up for my ignorance...
10 Nov 2010 |
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Chris J: What is the best form of meditation?
Lama Surya Das: The best meditation definitely for you is the one you can actually do…to hear my full answer, watch the above video.
Submitted by Chris J. via “Contact Us” @ www.surya.org on September 18, 2010
So many of you have been writing me and asking me how to fit spiritual practice into your fast paced modern life that I felt that it was a worthy topic for my session at the second International Conference on Tibetan Buddhism, at Emory University in Atlanta, with the Dalai Lama, a truly joyous occasion. The session titled, Encountering Modernity: Buddhism in the Modern World and Western Culture, discussed the challenges and opportunities we find now with the tremendous spiritual hunger and need in the fast-paced and changing world today, while we have a great reservoir-like treasure trove in the Tibetan...
Deborah R.: How do we become confident and acknowledge our personal power yet not become open to ego? How does Buddhism view competitiveness?
Lama Surya Das: Self-confidence is good and useful, but we should strive to develop genuine confidence in the right thing. There’s more to this matter of inner empowerment than mere egotism. Do we really know our true selves, which we all are part and parcel of and equally share— or are we merely reveling in egotism and pride, whether subtle or even gross, which separate us from others and also inhibits the realization of our true heart and soul?...
02 Nov 2010 |
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Anna P: Do you need to convert to Buddhism in order to meditate?
Lama Surya Das: We live in a melting pot country; we have melting pot karma, so we have melting pot Dharma…to hear my full answer, watch the above video.
Submitted by Anna P. via “Contact Us” @ www.surya.org on October 27th, 2010
Nicole C: Ever since the Spring Retreat I have been meditating more than ever. Oftentimes, I imagine myself at the retreat, in the meditation room, with you there in front. So my question is…by imagining that I am somewhere else, is that a problem? It really works for me.
Lama Surya Das: That is how Tibetan Buddhists practice what is called Guru Yoga, meditating on or with your root teacher. It’s a great way to travel, if it works for you. (It certainly does for me, and many of my teachers as well, and is highly recommended.) For instance, I was just with His Holiness the Dalai Lama...
Jessi K: Lama, there are many 3’s in Buddhism. Are these all interrelated? For example; three jewels, maitri-karuna, three curves of OM, and even your recent quote of transforming, healing and knowing.
Lama Surya Das: Buddha was not from the accountant caste, but he did teach long ago in an oral culture where mnemonic devices such as rhyme, meter and lists were both useful and prevalent in helping others learn and retain theories and practical instructions— not unlike our western notions like The Seven Seas or The Nine Planets. One could certainly say that, in general, the kind...
@karmakees: When and where does ego end?
Lama Surya Das: Ego is not the real problem, but egotism is. At least from the Buddhist point of view, egotism is the root of all evil. I think it’s selfishness and egocentricity that causes us— and those around us— the most grief.
Egotism is based on the delusion that we are separate selves in competition with others and the rest of the world. Ego probably has no beginning nor end, but who can say? Some would say that ego ends in enlightenment, but that is overstating the case. Even an enlightened person, though they may be selfless...
29 Oct 2010 |
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Lisa F: Do lamas, monks or gurus believe in lifesaving measures or treatments that prolong life, such as blood transfusions, surgeries, or antibiotics? Do they believe in treatments which can improve the quality of the current state of their human existence and using the above measures to extend the time they have here or do they allow nature or life to runs its course?
Lama Surya Das: As Buddhists we believe in cherishing life in all its forms, human or otherwise, yet we are very aware of some of the complications involving end of life issues… to hear my full answer,...
