If you dropped the Buddha into a modern metropolis, would he come off sounding like a 16th-century morality play or more like a drive-time disc jockey? Lama Surya Das doesn't spin platters for a living, but he does have a hip delivery that belies his years of sheltered training in Buddhist monasteries. In Awakening the Buddha Within, he borrows a time-tested bestseller format for a 2,500-year-old tradition that comes off as anything but ancient. With the "Five T's of Concentration," the question of "need or greed," and the story of the monk who bears his backside to prove a point, Surya Das invokes a path of wisdom that is as accessible and down-to-earth as a worn pair of loafers. It's not an easy path--it demands thought, effort, and discipline. But Surya Das is there for you, lighting the way to wisdom training, coaxing you into ethics training, and laying out step by step the path of meditation training. And if that's not enough to get you to live in the now, consider these words of the enlightened lama: "You must be present to win." --Brian Bruya

Review
"A warm, accessible, deep, brilliantly written exploration and adventure along the Buddhist path." --Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D.

"[T]his is a great achievement and I feel deeply grateful for it."
--Thich Nhat Hanh, author of Living Buddha, Living Christ

"This open-hearted offering of the Buddha's teachings ranges from fundamentals to magic. It is a wonderful gift."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of Loving Kindness

"Wise and wonderful, gentle and profound. . . . This is surely one of the finest spiritual manuals meant for a larger public and it succeeds brilliantly."
--Ken Wilbur, author of A Brief History of Everything


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Book Description
Awakening the Buddha Within will be definitive--the first real audiobook of Western Buddhism, explaining American and Western Buddhism not only from the heart, but also from the ground up. Awakening the Buddha Within will cover the traditional Three Trainings for Enlightenment: Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom, and includes all the major concepts of Tibetan Buddhism from the Eight Steps to Enlightenment to the Six Principles of Enlightened Living, and sets them in the context of our Western lives and experiences. As few people today are able to spend countless hours in meditation and in direct instruction from master to disciple, Lama Surya Das takes what he knows of these traditional teachings, and shows how this wisdom can be integrated into life here and now, in homes and marriages, relationships, with family, and on the job. For new and experienced seekers, Awakening the Buddha Within will help them lead more inner-directed, spiritual lives, and it will teach listeners how to integrate this spirituality into everything they do, day to day.

From the Publisher
"A warm, accessible, deep, brilliantly written exploration and adventure along the Buddhist path." --Jon Kabat-Zinn, Ph.D."[T]his is a great achievement and I feel deeply grateful for it."
--Thich Nhat Hanh, author of Living Buddha, Living Christ"This open-hearted offering of the Buddha's teachings ranges from fundamentals to magic. It is a wonderful gift."
--Sharon Salzberg, author of Loving Kindness"Wise and wonderful, gentle and profound. . . . This is surely one of the finest spiritual manuals meant for a larger public and it succeeds brilliantly."
--Ken Wilbur, author of A Brief History of Everything

From the Inside Flap
Awakening the Buddha Within will be definitive--the first real audiobook of Western Buddhism, explaining American and Western Buddhism not only from the heart, but also from the ground up. Awakening the Buddha Within will cover the traditional Three Trainings for Enlightenment: Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom, and includes all the major concepts of Tibetan Buddhism from the Eight Steps to Enlightenment to the Six Principles of Enlightened Living, and sets them in the context of our Western lives and experiences. As few people today are able to spend countless hours in meditation and in direct instruction from master to disciple, Lama Surya Das takes what he knows of these traditional teachings, and shows how this wisdom can be integrated into life here and now, in homes and marriages, relationships, with family, and on the job. For new and experienced seekers, Awakening the Buddha Within will help them lead more inner-directed, spiritual lives, and it will teach listeners how to integrate this spirituality into everything they do, day to day.

FROM THE PUBLISHER