Attention Means Attention

Here are more Weekly Words of Wisdom from Lama Surya Das. Today we hear from Zen Master Charlotte Joko Beck. Unfortunately, she died last June and I was deeply saddened by her passing. She was an American Zen teacher and the author of Everyday Zen: Love and Work and Nothing Special: Living Zen. Whenever her writings appeared […]

Lincoln And Enlightened Leadership

This week’s Words of Wisdom chosen by Lama Surya Das is about the movie, Lincoln. The movie stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field, Jackie Earle Haley, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and was directed by Steven Spielberg. I’ve heard that Sally Field gained a lot of weight to play the part of Mrs. Lincoln. Lincoln’s struggle to […]

The Extent Of Realization

Here is another segment of Weekly Words of Wisdom chosen by Lama Surya Das. This quote tells us how to recognize the extent of realization of our practice. In prison in Tibet, the great Dzogchen Khenpo Munsel Rinpoche taught me this: “The extent of your realization will be known when you encounter difficult circumstances. You […]

What Makes For Lasting Happiness?

Here are the Weekly Words of Wisdom chosen by Lama Surya Das. Today, these come from Dr. Roger Walsh, author of “Essential Spirituality: The 7 Central Practices to Awaken Heart and Mind.” WHAT MAKES FOR LASTING HAPPINESS? “Everyone wants to be happy but what makes for lasting happiness? Interestingly, research is now validating ancient wisdom […]

Rumi On Love

Here is another installment of Weekly Words of Widsom chosen by Lama Surya Das. “Your task is not to seek for love, merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”   — Rumi     The question is, how do we find all the barriers that keep […]

The Most Beautiful Jewels In The Universe

I am happy to present another installment of Weekly Words of Wisdom chosen by Lama Surya Das. These come from a great teacher of the last century, Alan Watts. Alan Wilson Watts was born in England. He was a philosopher, writer, and speaker. Perhaps he is best known as an interpreter of Eastern philosophy for […]

Contemplative Practices In Corporate America

Here is another installment of Weekly Words of Wisdom chosen by Lama Surya Das. I am especially interested in this one because I worked for many years as a software engineer and did try to do this myself. I gave one presentation on the enneagram at Sybase in 1988. It turned out that I could only […]

“Intentional Development of Emotional Intelligence” – Lama Surya Das

These Weekly Words of Wisdom from Lama Surya Das are his own words. “What we need is not only better gun control but self-control, including the intentional development of emotional intelligence, mindful anger management, attention training and reactivity reconditioning. These virtues and character traits are eminently trainable and learnable, and the tools and techniques enabling […]

Words Of Wisdom From Dr. Jean Houston

Here are some more Weekly Words of Wisdom form Lama Surya Das. These come from the renowned spiritual leader, Dr. Jean Houston. She was also a participant in the Sounds True and Dr. Rick Hanson’s presentation of The Compassionate Brain. Her topic was Compassion in the Wider World and she said some amazing things. “Let […]

Nagarjuna’s Verses From The Center

Here are more Words Of Widsom Chosen by Lama Surya Das. These words of wisdom exemplify the teaching of interbeing. “Every moment of experience is contingent on a vast complex of myriad conditions. Nothing exists separately in and of itself as ‘this’ or ‘that,’ ‘self’ or ‘other.’ Everything is what it is only in relation […]