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From the author of the bestselling Awakening the Buddha Within (over 125,000 copies in print), an accessible, practical guide to living a more enlightened and spiritual life...

AWAKENING TO THE SACRED
Creating a Spiritual Life from Scratch
by Lama Surya Das

Lama Surya Das, one of the foremost American Lamas in the Buddhist tradition, has been an integral part of Buddhism's surge in popularity in recent years. His bestselling book, Awakening the Buddha Within (Broadway Books; 1997), made Buddhism accessible and inspiring to serious practitioners and neophytes alike. Now, Surya Das combines his extensive background and intense training in Buddhist practices with his remarkable knowledge of other religions, philosophies, and psychology. His new book AWAKENING TO THE SACRED: Creating a Spiritual Life from Scratch (Broadway Books; Hardcover; May 12, 1999; $26.00) will help readers of all religious and cultural backgrounds to develop their own personal spiritual programs and incorporate inner peace, spiritual joy, truth, and mindfulness into their everyday lives.

Surya Das, born Jeffrey Allen Miller to a Jewish family on Long Island, firmly believes that adopting beliefs and practices from disparate sources can strengthen rather than dilute one's faith and spirituality. "So many of us grew up in families, towns, and neighborhoods that can be described as 'mix and match' that a spirituality that combines elements of several traditions makes sense," he writes. "It feels authentic and true to who we are." Starting from that premise, AWAKENING TO THE SACRED encourages us to look deep within ourselves and determine which of our current beliefs - if any - are important to us, and to then turn outward and open ourselves up to new ideas and practices conducive to enlightened living; many of these can be found in Tibetan Buddhism and other timeless spiritual traditions. The key to building a spiritual life, Surya Das maintains, is living a spiritual life - each and every day. "Each of us - you and me - stands at the center of his or her own truth," he asserts. "Truth is found by living truly."

Beginning with a series of illuminations that explore the different ideas and philosophical concepts behind spirituality, such as God, rebirth, faith, love, and transformation, AWAKENING TO THE SACRED includes chants, prayers, meditations, affirmations, and breathing exercises that will start even the most spiritually uncertain of us on the path to living truly. Although Lama Surya Das is flexible in terms of the breadth of beliefs he embraces, he is firm in maintaining that inner peace can be achieved only by freeing ourselves of some of our emotional and material baggage and incorporating spiritual practices into our everyday lives. "Spiritual practices like meditation help us stay connected to the sacred in ourselves," he explains. "When we feel lost, spiritual practice helps us find ourselves." As you adopt practices like meditation and begin to lead a more mindful, spiritual life, you will benefit by developing the ability to:

• Experience more serenity, inner peace, and happiness
• Cultivate ideals like wisdom, love, and compassion
• Handle physical problems that have a mental or emotional component
• Control previously uncontrollable fearful, angry or obsessive thoughts
• Reconnect the soul, body, and spirit
• Open the heart and awaken the mind
• Experience grace and a sense of the divine in daily life

AWAKENING TO THE SACRED offers instruction not just on meditation, but also on other spiritual practices that readers can incorporate into their daily lives, including visualization, yoga, prayer, chanting, fasting, haiku, and inspirational reading and walking. Surya Das answers questions as mundane as "Do I need special clothing for meditation?" and as profound as "How can I experience the divine?" He has transcribed a number of prayers that range from an agnostic's prayer to an ancient Tibetan healing prayer to Albert Schweitzer's "Prayer for the Animals."

Surya Das also covers practical matters such as what to expect from a spiritual teacher, how to find a spiritual community, creating a spiritual notebook, and integrating spiritual practices with psychotherapy.

Incorporating Buddhism into your already extant spiritual beliefs and behavior, Surya Das explains, will enable you to come home to your true nature and live a life that is calmer, more compassionate, more meaningful, and, ultimately, happier. In his epilogue to AWAKENING TO THE SACRED, Lama Surya Das offers these words of encouragement to his fellow seekers: "I hope these teachings are able to help you, the reader, find your own inner truth and wisdom, awakening to the inexhaustible love and untrammeled inner incandescence that is your true spiritual nature."

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AWAKENING TO THE SACRED:
Creating a Spiritual Life from Scratch
by Lama Surya Das
Published by Broadway Books;
May 12, 1999; Hardcover; $26.00; 400 pages
ISBN: 0-7679-0274-2

About the Author

Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition, is a poet, translator, and full-time spiritual teacher who lectures and leads meditation retreats worldwide. He is the author of three books including Awakening the Buddha Within (Broadway Books, 1997), and is a regular contributor to Tricycle magazine, New Age, Yoga Journal, and The Shambhala Sun. Founder of the Dzogchen Foundation, his motto is "Buddhism for the West." He lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts.