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Awakening the Buddha Within: Tibetan Wisdom for the Western World

surya das

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Lama Surya Das, the most highly trained American lama in the Tibetan tradition, presents the definitive book on Western Buddhism for the modern-day spiritual seeker.

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. In Awakening the Buddha Within, Surya Das shows how we can awaken to who we really are in order to lead a more compassionate, enlightened, and balanced life.  It illuminates the guidelines and key principles embodied in the noble Eight-Fold Path and the traditional 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, and compassion in what we say and do.

Meditation Training: Practicing mindfulness, concentration, and awareness of the present moment.

With lively stories, meditations, and spiritual practices, Awakening the Buddha Within is an invaluable text for the novice and experienced student of Buddhism alike.

414 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1997

This edition

Format
414 pages, Paperback
Published
June 15, 1998 by Harmony
ISBN
9780767901574
ASIN
0767901576
Language
English

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About the author

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surya das

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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.

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Community Reviews

Rating(3.8 / 5.0, 100 votes)
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Profile Image for Kimberly .
DynamicDylan
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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For anyone who is interested in the basic/fundamentals of Buddhism, this is the book for you. It is written in lay man terms and easy to understand. THis book lays out all the fundamentals of practice in a clear and concise manner, adding to it a sense of humor. It takes the precepts of Buddhism and places them in our modern day world and teaches one how to begin and stay on the path.
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CaiusRocker
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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In the beginning I did not like Lama Surya Das’ style nor the structure of the book. But he won me over. Das writes in a poetic, simple style with the intent of distilling Buddhism down to its core components thereby making it accessible to westerners while preserving the innate beauty of the philosophy/religion/ethical code. Sometimes it feels like you are reading an author who is the guy you hate in your high school English class that uses words like ephemeral, duality, and esoteric, but other times pure wisdom shines through. Definitely worth the read for a broad understanding and for thinking more deeply about the question of “Who am I”.
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vashfrieddonuts
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Awesome Book! It took me a few months to read, absorbed, and try to practice some of the principles explain here. At the time I was pursuing Yoga and Meditation wholeheartedly. I stopped doing both for a long time, now; I should get back to it.
This book is autobiographical and also explains the fundamentals of one of Buddhism's branches. Yet, although it is an informative book, it is not a book you read all the way through as an historical book. It requires pausing and taking time to think the material you read and let it sink in.
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will1989
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book enlightens one on Buddha ways without having to become a buddhist/monk. Helped me focus on the present and developing from within for myself and the community. An easy read, easy to implement and am now reading Awakening the Buddhist Heart
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Aerynia
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I really enjoyed this book. It has taught me so much on meditation and has made me understand that their is no right or wrong just what is when it comes to being enlightened. It also go into great deal of mindfulness. All around great book!
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Virtualmima
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I not only read this over 20 years ago, I also attended some weekend retreats with Surya Das. I go back to it at times when I start feeling overwhelmed. This was my first beginners book in regards to Tibetan Buddhism. It was a gamechanger for me. I love how he brings Tibetan tradition to the West.
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BrattierMinotar
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This book took me forever to get through. I think it took over a year. It's dense and has a lot of content that you could probably spend the rest of your life meditating on. I could only take chunks of it at a time to truly be able to absorb it all. That being said, there were parts that were beautiful and really enlightening and profound (meditation on death and the metta prayer, which I sue with some regularity now). I would recommend it if you really want something to chew on.
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eggoist
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Although this book was quite lengthy and took me awhile to get through and absorb, I think that it covered many of the essential concepts of Buddhism, i.e the noble truths and going in depth on the eight fold path. I thorougly enjoyed how as a person brought up in the Western society, he was able to relate to someone who may be viewing Buddhism from that perspective. Thus, there was a feeling of kinship or understanding, where he too admitted to feeling doubt at times over his meditation practices, questioning the purpose of things and beliefs. This therefore successfully emphasised the idea that even the Buddha did not say to have blind faith over things that are taught to you by spiritual leaders or in books. Instead we must analyse for ourselves what applies to our lives and can better our own spiritual path.

I also enjoyed the mini anecdotes that he would use about people's common life in order to stress how these practices can be used in daily life, not just by the monastics who live in serene settings where it can be easy to not be faltered by the stresses of the modern world.

I have to admit that I did glaze over some of the descriptions of certain specific meditations, but these may be descriptions that I return to in the future, if I feel like I can put them into practice. As a beginner, for now I'll have to stick to observing my breath or basic metta meditation haha.

A few of the quotes or ideas that I have noted down from this book include:

- Renunciation means to let of holding back... the relief of finally dropping and getting rid of excess baggage through an inner certainty about the illusory nature of created things.

- "There are antidotes to suffering... by resisting less, grasping less, and identifying with things less." "NOTHING IS HALF IMPORTANT AS WE USUALLY THINK IT IS."

- "Have a nice day, unless you've made other plans"
- "Always maintain a joyful mind"
- "All activities should be done with one intention."

- "Reflect on the kindness of everyone you meet" Give thanks to many beings. You can learn something from everyone. Practice humility.
- Clinging to the ego is a self centred notion. Sets the stage for our own difficulties.

- Help me turn from seeking happiness from outer experiences toward more lasting happiness, peace.

- Turn inwards to find happiness. "Meditate on the difficulties. Be present with the difficulty. Face doubt rather than try to avoid or suppress it."
- Even in meditation if you have moments of restlessness and boredom. Meditate on why you feel this way. "I'm in the perfect place doing perfect things, why am I feeling restless?"
"Why am I never satisfied?"

- "Small doubt, small enlightenment; big doubt, big enlightenment."

- "With Buddha Dharma there is nothing to believe and everything to discover. The Buddha encouraged seekers to investigate and inquire for themselves."

- "Beware of tendency to give up too early if there are road bumps in your spiritual path. This may be caused by things that you are ignoring in yourself."

- "Only our search for happiness prevents us from seeing it."
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