The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword: Enlightening the Mind, Opening the Heart

by Surya Das

From bestselling author and beloved teacher Lama Surya Das comes a thorough, engaging, and user-friendly guide to the teachings of Buddhism.

Lama Surya Das is one of the most well-regarded Buddhist teachers and scholars in America today. His books have sold hundreds of thousands of copies and his seminars and retreats are continually in demand. In part, it is his straightforward, accessible, and humorous approach that audiences react so strongly to–and in The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword, Surya brings that unique approach to a comprehensive guide to the most essential Buddhist teachings.

For beginners and experienced practitioners alike, Lama Surya Das outlines his Six Building Blocks of Spiritual Practice and offers insight and advice not only on how to find and develop a spiritual center, but how to integrate it into your daily life. From daily meditation and yoga to creative work, journaling, volunteering in your community, and finding teachers in unexpected places, Buddhist practice can and should be part of everything you do. The Mind Is Mightier Than the Sword is a practical guide to using the teachings of Buddhism to live a happier, healthier, more enlightened life.

Genres: Spirituality

432 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

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

[Marianne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Surya Das’s tone. He makes me feel like my practice is going the way it should. On pg. 395-6, he writes, “You don’t have to be alone to meditate. You can be doing it on the highway or at the beach or anywhere at all. I think it is very important to be creative with taking what we have learned in our practice— for example, letting go, sky, gazing, or cutting through— and find moments during the day to apply it. Of course, every moment is the best moment, but maybe we can’t remember every single moment. Let’s just try our best to use it during the day and not just during one hour of meditation in the morning…. each moment can be a little awakening, a little prayer…. it is a lovely way to live.“

[Horia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This seemed like an interesting book to read, considering the high profile of the author. However, I didn't manage to get past the first two chapters.
There might be some value in the book, but the writing style is hard to follow to say the least: the author throws in buddhist names and jargon indiscriminately and makes up these convoluted word groups that mean everything and nothing.
It's supposed to be a user-friendly book about buddhist teachings, right? Then why not write the ideas with a clear and simple language?
Why can't a "single moment of incandescent awareness" be just "a moment"?
"... Many of which I visited on my six around-the-world journeys..." - I thought Buddhism was about being humble and modest. Why does the reader care of the authors journeys?
The book mentions the story of Alexander the Great being asked by Socrates to "stand out of the sun". Except the correct story involves Diogenes and Alexander.
And I can find issues on almost every page. My mind is entirely made up. This book is not worth its salt. There are better books on Buddhism out there.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lana Surya Das has an amazing way of presenting profound concepts in an engaging way. You want to be a better person after reading this book, and he gives you ways of approaching things that allow you to get there

[Alexander M Nandan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overview of a tradition of life as lived by a man who gives good generalizations to the matter.

[Chacko · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing follow up book to " AwAken the Budda within"

[Jesse Flint · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was OK. I liked the first half pretty much but the second was leaving me a bit wanting.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another outstanding book by Lama Surya Das. While containing Buddhist wisdom it's message can be applied to anyone anywhere. I highly recommend this book. Make annotations in the book and margins....this is a book you will return to often when questions come to mind.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

the mind is definitely mightier than the sword. Learning is not the difficult part, practice is.