Lama Surya Das is the founder of the Dzogchen Center and the author of the trilogy Awakening the Buddha Within, Awakening to the Sacred, and Awakening the Buddhist Heart. In this volume, he shows how questioning is a wisdom practice that deepens and enriches our lives and gives us an appreciation for the ample mysteries of existence. He agrees with the historian Daniel Boorstein who called human beings "the asking animal." And he also goes along with the humorist James Thurber who stated, "It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."
In 14 chapters, Lama Surya Das examines the most important questions:
• What Is Happiness and Where Can It Be Found?
• What Is the Meaning of Life and What Is My Purpose Here?
• Who Am I?
• Does God Exist?
• What Is Love and How Do I Find It?
• What Is Karma, and How Can I Manage It in My Life?
• What Is Enlightenment?
• What Happens After Death?
• How Can I Integrate Spirituality Into My Life?
• Do I Need a Spiritual Teacher or Mentor?
• Can a Spiritual Life Include Sexual Passion, Meat, Drugs, and Alcohol?
• How Can I Remain Nonviolent in a Violent World and Deal Intelligently with Anger?
• From a Spiritual Point of View, Is Homosexuality Wrong?
• How Can I Balance Taking Care of Myself with Helping Others?
The chapter probing happiness is a good example of the author's rigorous and wide-ranging approach to these pressing and poignant questions. He includes thought-provoking quotes from Helen Keller, Robert Ingersoll, Antoine de Saint-Exupery, and others. He covers the Buddha's five kinds of happiness and Shantideva's wise advice: "Happiness in this world comes from thinking less about ourselves and more about the well-being of others. Unhappiness comes from being preoccupied with the self." He also includes some exercises that help sharpen our perception of happiness in our experience.
We were gratified to see Lama Surya Das give such solid evidence of the importance to questioning in the spiritual life. It makes everything so much more adventuresome and meaningful.
