Why Be a Buddhist, When You Can Be the Buddha?

ISE Keynote: Lama Surya Das

"Why be a Buddhist, when you can be the Buddha?"

With this simple question, Lama Surya Das cuts directly to the heart of the integral spiritual impulse, hinting at a secret that lies at the center of all the world's spiritual traditions. It is a secret that has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years; a secret that you yearn to discover for yourself. You know that the world's religious legacies represent so much more than mere codes of conduct, moral platitudes, or anthologies of myth and superstition. At the core of every major religion, we can find a treasure trove of powerful technologies for awakening, transformative practices designed to invoke in us the very same experience of fullness, transcendence, and immeasurable love that the great religious founders themselves were able to have.

That's right—you can have the same experience that the Buddha had. You can have the same experience that Jesus Christ had. Or that Muhammad had, or St. Teresa, or Rumi, or any other great mystic in history. All this is abundantly available to you, at this very moment.

This realization forms the bedrock of the 5-year Integral Spiritual Experience event, which is rapidly becoming something like "the United Nations of world spirituality." We recently held our first annual Integral Spiritual Experience event in Asilomar, CA over the 2009-2010 New Year, and were deeply honored to have Lama Surya Das as one of our featured keynote speakers. An exemplary teacher of Dzogchen Buddhism, Lama Surya delivered his presentation with diamond-tipped clarity, precision, and wit. He suggests a few ways we can carry this realization for ourselves through our day-to-day lives, while reminding us how simple it all really is: the most sublimely ordinary experience you will ever know.... [+more]

Don't Miss:

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Take a Moment

To awaken to your own true nature is to lay claim to your birthright. It's why you are here, suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous incarnation. This is not an invitation, nor is it an obligationit's who you already are, right now. All that's left to do is to wake up. But first, you need to know that you can wake up in this lifetime, that enlightenment is a real possibility for you and for your loved ones. Second, you need to give yourself permission to pursue your own enlightenment. You deserve to be awakebecause in a certain sense, you already are.

As you listen to Lama Surya's keynote presentation, pay particular attention to his advise around daily meditation practice. Surya draws from a rich legacy of Dzogchen Buddhist teachings to develop some astonishingly simple ways to embody our own awakening in our daily lives, emphasizing how helpful it can be to break our meditation practice into many smaller meditations throughout the day. Take a moment to download the guided meditation Lama Surya offers, available as an audio mp3, and add it to your iPod (or burn to a CD) for a daily reminder of your own already-awakened nature.

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