“When you look into a pond or a lake, if there’s no wind, then it’s a mirror. It’s perfectly still. If we throw a rock in, then ripples in concentric circles extend outward. The image changes. Enlightened mind is often compared to a lake, a pond without ripples. But I don’t think that that’s completely correct. Because I think enlightened mind also is a lake or a pond with ripples. We throw a rock into a lake and the pure serenity is disturbed. The ripples cascade; they come and go and then everything becomes still again. I think that’s better. It’s more like enlightened mind. ”
-Dr. Frederick Lenz, Rama
Modern Talks on Tantric Buddhism
In these diverse talks, Rama masterfully weaved classical Tibetan Buddhism into American culture offering modern audiences a way to practice Tibetan Buddhism in context of their modern day lives.
This set of 27 talks from 1989-1990 was a unique synthesis of the material Dr. Lenz had been teaching for the preceding 10 years.
These powerful teachings of Tantric Buddhism are a complete course in how to become Enlightened.
Rama, Dr. Frederick Lenz wrote 2 best selling books Surfing the Himalayas and Snowboarding to Nirvana which encapsulated his teachings on Tantric Buddhism. These wonderful works engaged modern readers and seekers via the sports of surfing and snowboarding, which Rama first learned and enjoyed as a teenager.
“While formal meditation is certainly a critical part of Tantric Buddhism, Tantric Yoga is also a process of turning all of the activities and experiences of your daily life into meditation.” —Surfing the Himalayas, Frederick Lenz
Select Quotes from the Talks
This universe is just like the sky. Clouds come and go, but the sky remains. The universe is unchanging. It takes countless forms. To be perturbed about whether there are a lot of clouds in the sky today is silly because whatever is in the sky is going to change. That’s the nature of the sky. One day it’s clear, the next day it’s cloudy. One day it rains, the next day it snows, the next day it’s sunshine.
—Buddhist Yoga
Reality is perception. And within the mind there’s a lake that contains everything — all possible realities, all possible universes, all possible perceptions. Not just of external things, but of oneself, as oneself as a god or a goddess, as oneself as an ant, as oneself as a reality, as oneself as nirvana -all things exist in this lake.
—The Nexus of All Pathways
Buddhism has existed forever, just like we have. And occasionally it’s codified; it’s put together into a system by someone who likes to codify it and put it together in a system. But it’s really just a structural understanding of how things work in the universe, inside your mind.
—Buddhist Enlightenment
Meditation is the study of perception. What we seek to do in meditation is refine, which means, simply, make more accurate our perception of things. So I haven’t had the best meditation I can have because there’s no end to the refinement of perception.
—The Best Meditation I Ever Had
Tantric Buddhism with Rama
This video features Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz in a multi-faceted presentation of his teachings on Tantric Buddhism for the West.
With dramatic backgrounds of the Himalayas, Buddhist stupas and art, Rama guides the viewer through a range of topics, from meditation, reincarnation and enlightenment to living and working in the modern world. With humor and natural eloquence, Rama opens the doorway to enlightenment in the 21st century. “
Quotes by Dr. Frederick Lenz, Rama, reprinted or included here with permission from The Frederick P. Lenz Foundation for American Buddhism