xiv, 414 pages ; 25 cm; pt. 1. Discovering ancient wisdom in a modern world. We are all Buddhas ; A Tibetan prophecy ; Deconstructing the house that ego built -- pt. 2. Walking the eight-fold path to enlightenment -- the heroic journey. The four noble truths ; Wisdom training: seeing things as they are ; Step one. Right view: the wisdom of clear vision ; Step two. Right intentions: plumbing your wise Buddha-nature ; Ethics training: living a sacred life ; Step three. Right speech: speaking the truth ; Step four. Right action: the art of living ; Step five. Right livelihood: work in love made visible ; Mediation training: awareness, attention, and focus ; Step six. Right effort: a passion for enlightenment ; Step seven. Right mindfulness: keeping your eyes open ; Step eight. Right concentration: the joy of meditation -- Epilogue: Toward a western Buddhism and contemporary Dharma.; Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition, presents the first comprehensive book of Western Buddhism for the modern-day spiritual seeker. Buddhism offers a profound yet practical path to enlightenment. In this book, the American-born and Tibetan-trained Lama Surya Das offers at once a definitive and nonsectarian guide to the wisdom found in ancient Tibetan teachings and a tried and true path of spiritual transformation. The radical and compelling message of Buddhism tells us that each of us has the wisdom, awareness, love, and power of the Buddha within; yet most of us are too often like sleeping Buddhas. Surya Das shows how we can awaken to who we really are and thus walk the liberating, peaceful path of mindful and compassionate living. With lively language, meditations, and spiritual practices, this unique book provides a bridge between East and West, past, present, and future. It offers a complete yet accessible understanding of the unique Buddhist teachings embodied in the traditional Noble Eight-Fold Path and its Three Enlightenment Trainings, common to all schools of Buddhism: Wisdom Training: Developing clear vision, insight, and inner understanding; seeing reality and ourselves as we really are. Ethics Training: Cultivating virtue, self-discipline, integrity, and compassion in what we say and do. Meditation Training: Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and awareness of the present moment. This work illuminates such key principles as karma (what we do does matter), rebirth (every moment is an opportunity to start afresh), letting go (simplifying our lives by clarifying our hearts and minds), as well as conscious living and dying, and Dzogchen, the ultimate, mystical teaching of Tibet. In this work, this author has written an invaluable, authoritative text for the novice and the experienced student of Buddhism alike; it reveals how sacred wisdom, contemplative practice, and altruism can be integrated into our outer and inner lives--in our relationships, in the workplace, and at home.; 

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