Ram Dass thread
adamcrossley
VeteranUK Veteran
A place to share your favourite quotes and stories from this wonderful teacher. We don’t mention him often on NB, perhaps because he’s more associated with Bhakti Yoga than with Buddhism. He is however a longtime practitioner and teacher of Vipassana meditation, having studied in the Mahasi Sayadaw tradition in Burma.
I’d like to start things off with a pearl of wisdom that always makes me laugh (taken from a recorded lecture, I can’t remember which...).
Our job is to get free of the entrapment of fear, and the fear is rooted in our lack of faith in what is. You keep wanting to control everything. What’s your rush to control it all? As if I don’t control it, it’ll all turn to shit. You of little faith, how do you know the shit isn’t just what you need?
May you be happy, may you be well.
Comments
I’ve always liked Ram Dass, I last saw Ram Dass, Going Home, a documentary about him and how his life is now on Netflix. He is definitely coping with old age and has some caring people around him. I’m still waiting to see Dying to Know, the other documentary featuring him.
Going Home is a good film. Thanks for your comment, @Kerome. Glad to know there are more Ram Dass fans here
There is also an excellent podcast called Ram Dass, Here and Now. There’s a variety of topics such as Journey into Innocence or Motives to Meditate... they are older talks with a modern introduction, provided by 1440 University, often about an hour long.
Yes, I love this podcast! I listen to a few on the Be Here Now Network.
“Everything changes once we identify with being the witness to the story, instead of the actor in it.”
~Ram Dass~
I'm a fan of any teacher whose words ring intuition's bell...and believe me ...there are many
Thanks for the doco advice, a good watch.
The great way is easy for those without preferences - Ram Dass
I think the original quote @Bunks is from Jianzhi Sengcan (The Third Patriarch of Zen)
The great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.
From the "Faith in Mind" poem
Aditya hridayam punyam sarv shatru bena shanam.
“All evil vanishes from life for him who keeps the sun in his heart.”
This is a Hindu mantra, originally in Sanskrit, translated by Ram Dass.
I totally agree. It is not surprising how very diverse teachers have different perspectives to add on the same truths. What I really like about Ram Dass is that he keeps some historical perspective, when you hear him talk about the 1960’s and his time at Harvard it’s very interesting.
Finally, I think in relationships, you create an environment with your own work on yourself, which you offer to another human being to use to grow in the way they need to grow. You become the soil, moist and soft and receptive, so the person can grow the way they need to grow, because how do you know how they should grow?
—Ram Dass, from an early lecture
“I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion--and where it isn't, that's where my work lies.”
― Ram Dass
He is jewish, also... interesting mixture of faiths. In the podcast there is an episode where he talks about his visit to the Dachau concentration camp in Germany. He speaks of becoming close to what it means for human beings to do those things to each other, and then he extends it to what humans do to the animal world.
Ram Dass is the best. The podcasts never fail to blow me away. Its as if everytime I listen to one its the exact thing I need to hear to understand what I'm experiencing.
I know its not Buddhist, and not Ram Dass originally, its from the Ramayana.
But when Hanuman is asked who he is by Ram (the incarnation of God, im sure you know) he says: 'When I don't know who I am, I serve you. When I know who I am, I am you'.
Just one of the amazing things that Ram Dass has introduced me to.
Be Here Now is one of the greatest books you can ever have.
There's a film coming out this year about him called 'Becoming Nobody'.
If you subscribe to the website they often do like free online courses. They have like Bob Thurman, Roshi Joan Halifaz, Jack Kornfield, Sharon Salzberg and so on
Also must mention Duncan Trussell who without I would never ever of heard of Ram Dass. His podcasts are great
There are a lot of Jews who veer towards Eastern paths. Buddhism is very similar to a lot of our teachings and scholarly works. The main difference being there is no theistic belief in Buddhist teachings.
Obsessions
Dying to Know — Timothy Leary and Ram Dass
It’s a bit long but I very much enjoyed it, just finished watching it and it is a fascinating piece of counter culture. I didn’t know that Leary had spent 4 years in jail and 2 years in solitary confinement, just goes to show that you can’t trust the government.
I’ve moved on to reading The Psychedelic Experience by Leary, Alpert and Metzner. Its a very interesting book which looks at a psychedelic experience as similar to death as described in the Tibetan book of the dead. Fascinating stuff.
If you think you are so enlightened, go and spend a week with your parents.
— Ram Dass
"The resistance to the unpleasant situation is the root of suffering."
— Ram Dass
I came across this article in Tricycle, there still are a lot of buddhists who connect to Ram Dass because he was one of those figures of spirituality back in the seventies.
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/ram-dass-interview/
Anyway it’s an old interview from 2000 where Ram Dass talks about his life after his stroke and what it feels like to be moving into a new stage in life, preparing for death.
Absolutely beautiful.