Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection

by Surya Das

One moment of total awareness is one moment of perfect enlightenment." This is the ultimate insight of Dzogchen, or "the Great Perfection," the pinnacle teaching of Tibetan Buddhism. With his previous bestselling books including Awakening the Buddha Within, American-born Tibetan Buddhist teacher Lama Surya Das has taught millions about the innate wakefulness and liberation that can be our natural ways of being. Now, with Natural Radiance, he offers his first complete daily practice program for the personal experience of the "swift and direct path" of Dzogchen.

Dzogchen affirms that we are all Buddhas by nature-infinitely open, luminous, compassionate, wise, and free. This profound realization, say the teachings, cannot be understood intellectually or studied mentally, but it can be passed from teacher to student through the spoken word. With Natural Radiance, you can now learn these time-honored practices as they have been shared for centuries-through direct transmission from an accomplished master of the tradition. Join Lama Surya Das as your trusted guide to help you awaken to the sky-like nature of mind-what is known in Tibetan as rigpa, or total and pure presence. "This is the time of Dzogchen," says Lama Surya Das, "when we most need this immediate teaching of the inherent perfection of being... the natural state of enlightenment." Includes CD with seven guided Dzogchen techniques.

About the Author:
Lama Surya Das ... is an author, meditation teacher, poet, and founder of the Dzogchen Meditation Center

Genres: Buddhism, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Meditation

138 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2005

About the author

Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars, one of the main interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, and a leading spokesperson for the emerging American Buddhism. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him “The Western Lama.”

His most recent book is Make Me One with Everything: Buddhist Meditations to Awaken from the Illusion of Separation. He is well known for his internationally bestselling Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World and the sequels in the “Awakening” trilogy, Awakening to the Sacred: Creating a Spiritual Life from Scratch and Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning and Connection into Every Part of Your Life. His other books include:

Buddha Standard Time: Awakening to the Infinite Possibilities of Now
The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword: Enlightening the Mind, Opening the Heart
Natural Radiance: Awakening to Your Great Perfection
Buddha Is as Buddha Does: The Ten Transformative Practices of Enlightened Living
The Big Questions: How to Find Your Own Answers to Life’s Essential Mysteries
Letting Go of the Person You Used to Be
Awakening the Buddhist Heart: Integrating Love, Meaning,
Natural Great Perfection: Dzogchen Teachings and Vajra Songs, with Nyoshul Khenpo
The Snow Lion’s Turquoise Mane: Wisdom Tales from Tibet

Lama Surya Das has spent over forty years studying Zen, Vipassana, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with the great masters of Asia, including the Dalai Lama’s own teachers. He is an authorized lama and lineage holder in the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism, and a personal disciple of the leading grand lamas of that tradition. He is the founder of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts and its branch centers around the United States. Surya has brought many Tibetan lamas to this country to teach and start centers and retreats over the years. As founder of the Western Buddhist Teachers Network with the Dalai Lama, he regularly helps organize its international Buddhist Teachers Conferences. He is also active in interfaith dialogue and charitable projects in the Third World, and has recently turned his efforts towards youth and contemplative education initiatives, what he calls “True higher education and wisdom for life training.”

As a sought after speaker, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting meditation retreats and workshops. He is also a published poet, translator, and chant master. His blog, “Ask the Lama,” can be found at www.askthelama.com and his lecture and retreat schedule are listed on his website www.surya.org. Follow him on Facebook--Lama Surya Das--and Twitter--@LamaSuryaDas.

Reviews

[Cherie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Different kinds of meditation activities/techniques, Buddhist style

[Tia]

Undecided! I like the message but its not pulling me for some reason which seems really odd. Perhaps I need to file it away and revist another day.

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book comes with an audio CD of meditations. The author has an heavy New York accent. It is unexpected and ironic... one more thing to let go of in the quest for peace of mind.

[Bish Denham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on meditating to be helpful and informative. Everything is laid out pretty simply and the CD adds more.