Natural Perfection

By: Lama Surya Das

Narrated by: Lama Surya Das

With the publication of Awakening the Buddha Within (over 130,000 copies in print), Lama Surya Das has emerged as a leading figure in American Buddhism. His simple and direct approach to meditation and enlightenment—what he calls “Western dharma” offers us a vital and authentic link to the treasured teachings of ancient Tibet. With Natural Perfection, Lama Surya Das introduces mainstream America to Tibet’s most closely guarded enlightenment tradition—dzogchen, “The Natural Great Perfection.” The Buddhist masters of Tibet believed that this practice was destined to become the single, most powerful spiritual vehicle in the West. Why? “Because dzogchen takes the struggle out of meditation,” explains Surya Das. “It is spacious, natural, and relaxing—and it doesn’t require religious beliefs or fixed rules about how to live or meditate.”
In six energizing sessions, Lama Surya Das guides listeners through each step of dzogchen practice to help them discover the great awakened state that they already possess—their own Natural Perfection.

fantastic

if you are looking for
a) a good introduction to the teachings of dzogchen
b) an understandable no-frills method of meditation
this is the book for you.
only the chanting part was a bit too long for my taste (30min+)

A long Dharma talk... a really good one.

This is my intro to Dzogchen after a couple years of practice in the Theravada tradition. It was very insightful into the foundation and subtle but profound differences. Das delivers the book in a casual style, clearly not totally on transcription of the book. He adds personality to it in a way I can appreciate.

A Bit of a Mess

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. Its a bit of a stream of conscious mess that meanders and repeats. About once an hour there is some kind of "jem" of wisdom that almost makes the previous 55 minutes worth it. Maybe it's supposed to be that way as his kind of Eastern/American/NYC teaching method.

BEST AMERICAN GURU, TRUE HOME GROWN, TRAINED IN...

TRAINING CARE OF GURUS OF
"CAT-MAN-DOO"
PLEASE 2 EXCUSE MY POOR BOY BLUES
SPELLING CARE OF YOU KNOW WHOS'
TOO MANY SCHOOLS, NEW FACES.
... ALWAYS NEW TOO EVERY SHOOL.
PART OF WHY I LOVE THIS MAN/GURU...
ALL I HEAR HIM SPEAK IS TRUE,. TOO ME
ALWAYS THE NEW KID. HE REALLY BRINGS THE TRUTH HOME TO MY "MY HEART, & I AM! POINTING TO MY ❤️ MY CHEST, YOU KNOW?!" MYSELF IS 'NOT IN MY BRAIN!!'
ALWAYS LITTLE APACHE BOY,
geo
🤠
ps I can always listen to MY MAN, MY
AMERICAN GURU. 🤠🤠

NO CHANT LEARNING

Any additional comments?

NO TIME SPENT LEARNING CHANTS! Given the title I thought for sure we would spend some time breaking down chants and learning them but alas no such luck! It's actually the main reason I got this book, for advanced or even intermediate meditation practitioners most all of this is old hat, not that that's a bad thing, but when a book offers teachings on chants you'd expect there to be some time spent in learning the chants! While there are chants in the book, there is no time spent with them, they are simply segways into another part of the teachings or meditations.

Lama serious dass does present this very nicely and it was a joy to listen to. Being reminded of some meditations and their simplicity is always nice. I still would recommend this as far as the teachings and meditations are concerned, but if you're looking to learn and understand chants in the Dzogchen tradition, I'm afraid you'll have to keep searching. Good lucks friends.