Lama Surya Das

Lama Surya Das is one of the foremost Western Buddhist meditation teachers and scholars, one of the main interpreters of Tibetan Buddhism in the West, and a leading spokesperson for the emerging American Buddhism. The Dalai Lama affectionately calls him "the Western Lama." Surya has spent over forty years studying Zen, vipassana, yoga, and Tibetan Buddhism with the great masters of Asia. He is an authorized lama (priest and spiritual master teacher) in the Nyingmapa School of Tibetan Buddhism as well as the founder of the Dzogchen Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its affiliated branches. He is also the founder of the Western Buddhist Teachers Network annual conferences with the Dalai Lama. As a best selling author, sought after speaker, teacher, and lecturer, he conducts retreats and workshops around the world. Surya is also a published poet, translator, and chant master. He has been featured in numerous publications and major media, including ABC, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, New York Post, Washington Post, Long Island Newsday, Long Island Business Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Jewish Free Press, New Age Journal, Tricycle Magazine, Yoga Journal, and The Oregonian. One segment of the ABC-TV sitcom Dharma & Greg was based on his life ("Leonard's Return"). Surya has appeared on Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher and on The Colbert Report.