Lama Surya Das

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The Evolution of Buddhism

It's been almost 30 years since Rick Fields published his now-famous history of Buddhism in the west, How The Swans Came To The Lake. Today, we can safely say the swans didn't just come, they stayed and grew and married and had kids of their own! Indeed, the eastern spiritual traditions have become a vital and inseparable part of the great, evolving tapestry we call western culture. In this Great Integral Awakening conversation, host Craig Hamilton will speak with Lama Surya Das about the evolution of Buddhism in the west.

Lama Surya Das is one of America's foremost Buddhist teachers and scholars and is an authorized Lama in the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism. His twenty years of intensive practice in the east combined with his twenty years of teaching in the west make him one of the most venerable American interpreters of eastern spirituality today. We'll discuss with him the changing face of eastern thought and will explore how these traditional teachings are continuing to adapt to the demands of modern western culture. What is the Integral profile of Buddhism today and in what ways will it continue to adapt to it's newest home in this new age?

About Lama Surya Das

Born Jeffrey Miller, Lama Surya Das was raised in Valley Stream on New York's Long Island, where he celebrated his bar mitzvah and earned letters in basketball, baseball, and soccer at Valley Stream Central High School (class of 1968). While a student at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he attended antiwar protests, marched on Washington, and attended Woodstock. After graduating with honors from college, he traveled throughout Europe and the East, and he has spent nearly thirty years studying Zen, vipassana, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with many of the great old masters of Asia.

Today, Lama Surya Das teaches and lectures around the world, conducting dozens of meditation retreats and workshops each year. Based on his relationship with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Surya Das founded the Western Buddhist Teachers Network and has organized three week-long conferences of Western Buddhist Meditation Teachers with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India. He also teaches regularly at Esalen, Open Center, Omega Institute, Interface, at universities in the United States and abroad, and at spiritual centers of all kinds.

Join Us In Creating The Future...

Today's leading spiritual luminaries are converging online for an unprecedented exploration.

Their question: How does the spiritual path need to evolve to serve the evolutionary needs of humanity in the 21st century?

The great wisdom traditions emerged at a time when life was radically different than it is today. The world has changed immeasurably in the past two thousand years. And human beings have changed along with it.

We are a new humanity facing a new set of challenges—and a new set of opportunities.

How can we liberate the spiritual impulse from the outmoded structures of the past, so it can guide us in creating the future?

We’d like to invite you to join us in our quest for answers.

Each event will explore this question from a unique angle. We'll look at how the discovery of evolution is giving birth to an entirely new spiritual impulse-- as well as a new framework for engaging in spiritual practice. We'll ask how the great traditions of the past can be brought up to date and kept relevant to a rapidly changing, increasingly complex world. We'll explore some of the new, more integral forms that spirituality is taking, from the emergence of new paths of self-inquiry to the birth of collective enlightenment. And we'll think together about the vital role each of us can now play in creating a more enlightened future for humanity.

Participation Is Free

There is no cost to participate in this live, interactive event. Thanks to our generous sponsors, and to all the luminaries who have volunteered their time, we are able to offer this event for free to the public.

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