The ancient, timeless teachings are …old wine and need new bottles. The essence doesn't change but it needs new forms.

The Monthly Aspectarian: Your story is an interesting one, being an American who has attained the rank of Lama. Can you tell us how it all happened for you?

Lama Surya Das: Basically, one comes to Lama in one of two ways in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. One, like the Dalai Lama, is by being recognized as a reincarnation of the previous sage or Lama, and the other is by training. I became Lama through 20 years of monastery and eight years of meditation retreat training.

I was interested in these things in college in the late '60s and was part of the peace movement. My friend, Allison Crouse ??? was killed at Kent State in May, 1970. Also, another kid I knew, Jeffrey Miller, my namesake from Long Island was shot and killed that day when four kids were killed by National Guardsmen during protest against the secret bombings in Cambodia.

TMA: We've all seen the famous pictures.

LSD: Yes, right, and that's Jeffrey Miller lying there with the girl crying over him. My parents took part in a demonstration with me for one night because of Jeffrey and my friend at Kent State. That was a life changing experience. I graduated from college in '71 seeking spirituality and inner peace and God and doing some meditation and yoga. I met Buddhism and chanting and Eastern philosophy.

I started to think about the contradiction in fighting for peace and wanted rather to find peace and become peace, so I went to Asia. I stayed there for about ten years and then became a Buddhist monk in a monastery with Tibetan Lamas and trained as a Lama and then went into the three-year, three-month retreat that is a formal Lama training.

TMA: Were you at Dharamsala?

LSD: I have been to Dharamsala. I met the Dalai Lama in 1972 and studied with him a little bit. But I had other teachers I worked with in Darjeeling and Nepal and in Tibet and other places, too. I still do things with the Dalai Lama, like next week we're having a Western Buddhist teachers conference in California for four days and he'll be there for two of the days. There will be over 200 teachers there.

He and other of my teachers endorsed me as a Lama, and that's how I became a Lama. I lived over there in monasteries and ashrams and studied and also met a lot of the great Hindu saints and went to Japan and Burma and other places during those 15 or 20 years.

Around 1990, people started inviting me to teach at meditation centers and give lectures at universities, and lead workshops and meditation retreats and give motivational talks worldwide. I've been doing that ever since.

TMA: I spent some time lately with Awakening to the Sacred, your recent book, and I've been really enjoying it. I see that you are an -- iconoclast would be too strong a word --

LSD: Something like that. Most Buddhist teachers don't talk much about God. I think if we talk about spirituality in English today, we have to use the words we have, we can't talk in Sanscrit.

TMA: That, and as you say in so many words, if Buddhism is going to transmitted in the West, it needs to be transmitted in Western! Because we're not Tibetans and we're not Indians. I have the greatest respect for the Dalai Lama, but when I hear him say that one should settle on one path and stick with it rather than take the smorgasbord approach, I have to disagree.

LSD: It's good advice, but it's not really American melting pot advice. It's living in isolation until 1959 advice. It's not dealing with the culture we live in. Just today a gay and lesbian magazine wanted to interview me and I said, "Why are you calling me?" and she said, "The Dalai Lama seems to be against homosexuality. What do you have to say? Can we practice meditation and get enlightened if we're gay?" Of course I said yes. So that is iconoclastic. The Dalai is a great saint but he is a monk and is from a culture that lived in the Middle Ages until ten or 20 years ago. He's placed in medieval culture, and suddenly landing in the 21st century is a huge culture gap.

I try to teach contemporary dharma, not just Buddhism, but I'm a Lama, a Buddhist teacher, [and I see that] many people want to deepen their spiritual quest. They're praying to God, they're doing yoga, they may still do something related to their religion of origin -- that's fine. I'm trying to maybe help people make the next step on their path. We can talk about enlightenment and those bigger things later and help people become more committed and more evolved and more studious. But for now, I think people are looking for a better life and a better world. To experience a transformation, not just a new bunch of beliefs to believe in.

I think teaching spiritual practices and answering people's questions about them and showing people how to practice them is very important
today Then people get results. It's almost like exercise. You feel the results quick enough not to have to wait until the next life to feel the benefits.

TMA: People need different teachings and different practices at different times in their life.

LSD: Yes, that's true.

TMA: And everyone brings their own special combination of qualities to a practice.

LSD: I see the Buddha with the Light in everyone, and that's an important part of Tibetan Buddhist practice. I'm not just the answer man to fix people up. Like everybody else, we're all equal before God and before Buddha. Everybody has their own strengths and weaknesses and people do have a lot of natural spirituality and love and wisdom in them already. I try to respect that and midwife or facilitate to bring that out. That's where the path comes in, whether it's a formal path or an individual search. People need to find it within themselves and within each other and within their relationships and their work and families . . . and that's very much my message: How to make the spiritual connection today, how to awaken the heart of wisdom and compassion in themselves and not just give them a new set of dogmas that they have to believe in.

TMA: What kinds of things do you find yourself mainly focusing on these days?

LSD: Trying to teach deeper and fresher, attuning to the people who come to me, not just teaching what I've heard and learned. And writing and meditation and prayer, of course, and my own poetry and sensing the beauty and the joy of spirit through life, through relations, through love, through sex and children, through nature -- all of this is part of the path. And I'm practicing this myself. I'm not a monk anymore, so it's important to learn how to integrate these things into daily life.

These ancient, timeless teachings have a lot of very timely truths and can provide solutions, I think, for today and tomorrow. But it's old wine and needs new bottles. The essence doesn't change but it needs new forms. We need to know how to apply it in our life and in our society, so I'm also working on that. I'm also online, meeting the young people. I'm active on the Internet; I have a website, www.surya.org, and a Buddhist organization site, www.dzogchen.org. I led an online column for spiritual political belief every week. That's where I meet the young people. I'm also thinking about the future generations and leadership and values and a better life. Not just meditation but some sort of leadership in that direction also. I think that's very important for the future.

TMA: I read in your book, Awakening to the Sacred, where you mention that there are just countless ways to meditate and one needn't sit for an hour.

LSD: That's just one way and may not even be the best way. I like to jokingly say that sitting so long and solemnly is positively unAmerican. Chanting and walking meditation and eating meditation and yoga meditation and things like gardening and ocean-gazing and star-gazing can be meditation.

TMA: Even driving your car.

LSD: Driving can be meditation, but keep your eyes open, please.

TMA: I play golf as a meditation.

LSD: People tell me that. That's why they like golf. People tell me bird-watching is one of the best meditations; they get very still and quiet and wait for any movement; it's like watching the mind. Whatever you're open to; I think that's important to realize. Then we find we're relating to other things in our life: we know how to focus; that's one of the things we do a lot. I'm not into fishing because I don't like to kill animals and fish, but a lot of people go and stand in the water all day by themselves and fish and most of them couldn't do that without having little activity because little activity keeps them in a meditation space. That's why they like it. It's quiet, you're undistracted and it's peaceful. It's a beautiful way of being.

TMA: What is meditation but directed consciousness?

LSD: That's a very good question, Guy. You've obviously thought about this. I always say meditation is the intentional use of awareness, so that's directed consciousness. It depends where you direct it to, of course. If you direct your consciousness towards negative ends, then I don't know if you'd call it meditation, but it could be called concentration. But meditation has a spiritual goal, the goal of awakening, of enlightenment, of directing your consciousness to the present moment and toward things as they are, not as they ain't. Basically, it's mindfulness, living mindfully rather than mindlessly, with total presence of mind rather than going absent-mindedly through life. Paying attention, pays off in many ways. We can be mindful while we're eating or while we're talking or walking, mindful while we're washing dishes or the diapers. We don't have to sit with our eyes closed in meditation to be mindful.

That's the clarion call or the wakeup call of American Buddhism, I think. Not just Buddhism but meditation and yoga and people doing it . . . it helps them get enlivened to goals in life and be more conscious, more wakeful rather than sleepwalking. More attentive, more peaceful, more clear and calm. It brings all these benefits. Along with enhancing your performance, it increases your focus and concentration.

Phil Jackson, the basketball coach, Tony Robbins, all kinds of performance coaches use meditative techniques because it helps us focus and concentrate and be more effective. So even in a more general worldly way, there is benefit. Of course there are health benefits to meditation . . . we all know that.

TMA: Are you personally seeking to merge with the Void and not come back?

LSD: Oh no, that's just kind of a concept. I have a mission and I'll probably be doing it forever. Even though my body might die I'll go on doing this in some form or another, I think.

TMA: I went through that phase when I was younger that this was going to be the last time on the wheel for me for sure.

LSD: Rebirth control?

TMA: Rebirth control . . . I like it! (laughter) Then I came to a point where I don't even think about that. I want to do as much good as I can and if I pile up karma doing it, then so be it.

What would you like to tell our readers?

LSD: I'll probably be coming to Chicago next year after the publication of my next book, Awakening the Buddhist Heart. I have friends and followers there and I like Chicago. Things are happening . . . if they can't come then, they can come next time. This isn't just a one-shot deal. They can connect on my website. There's a lot of good stuff there free. If people can't come one weekend to something I'm doing, they can tune into something else I'm doing in the area.

I would like to say something about what I call my six building blocks of a spiritual life. A spiritual life is a well-rounded whole life, it's not just about meditation or yoga or being like a Sunday Christian, but there's another six and a half days of the week. My students have a training program where they commit themselves to a daily practice of some form. It could be meditation or it could be yoga or prayer or scripture reading, but a daily practice of some form. And also some spiritual study, something requiring introspection. Reading, tapes, lectures, however it comes in. And third, inner growth work. It could be through therapy, conscious eating or an exercise regimen or men's or women's groups or 12-Step Program. It could be journal writing, keeping a dream journal, creative arts and so on -- anything that's inner growth oriented. And fourth, sometimes group practice so they don't feel isolated, being part of a group or having a spiritual friend because it's hard to do it alone and it's very supportive to have a spiritual friend. Relating to a mentor or spiritual guide or somebody a little more experienced who can help us to grow and stay on a good path.

And fifth, relating to teachers. And sixth, serving the Highest by serving humanity; giving back, and there are various ways to do that . . . volunteering, charity work, community making or just being an informed parent or working for the environment. Whatever we can do to give back in service has always been part of the high road to awakening. We don't have to do all of those; even if we do only one or two a day we'll see that all life will be transformed.

Lama Surya Das, a leading spokesperson for the merging of American Buddhism and contemporary spirituality, is a poet, translator, and full-time spiritual teacher who leads lectures, workshops, and meditation retreats worldwide. He is the author of three books, including the national bestselling Awakening the Buddha Within, is active in interfaith dialogue, is a regular contributor of Tricycle magazine, Yoga Journal and The Shambhala Sun. Lama Surya Das has been featured in numerous publications including New Age Journal, the Boston Globe, and the Los Angeles Times.