Robert Sachs - Becoming Buddha: Awakening the Wisdom and Compassion to Change Your World

Robert Sachs moved to England from America during his late teenage years where he received his BA in comparative religion and sociology at the University of Lancaster. He began to study with Tibetan Buddhist masters, and embarked on a study of Asian healing systems, including macrobiotics, with Michio Kushi and Rex Lassalle at the Kushi Institute in London, and hatha yoga. Before returning to America in 1976, Robert completed training as a mental health counselor with the Richmond Fellowship and was certified as a hatha yoga instructor. He returned to London to complete shiatsu training with Rex Lassalle and was instrumental in starting the Community Health Foundations Growing Family Centre. He went on to receive a massage license from Central Ohio School of Massage and a Masters in Social Work at the University of Kentucky.

Following the death of one of his daughters, Robert was led into the study of the conscious dying practices as found in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and has worked as a social worker, bereavement counselor, and instructor for hospices as well as assisting many friends and private clients to die more peacefully and consciously. Along with his wife, Melanie, Robert has also pursued studies in Indian and Tibetan Ayurveda and their published works in this field are considered by such teachers as Dr Deepak Chopra to be the clearest and most usable texts available.

Robert continues to work with the medical profession to integrate contemporary scientific approaches with the ancient wisdom traditions in the areas of stress management and preventive health care. He has been a guest instructor for the Chopra Center for Well Being in San Diego, a lecturer in Tibetan Medicine for the Sino-American Rehabilitation Association College in Los Angeles, as well as the instructor on Ayurvedic nutritional practices with the Academy of Healing Nutrition. He lectures at holistic health care conferences and trade shows nationally, is featured in a number of magazines along with being a guest for national and local radio and TV shows, and has hosted his own talk radio shows in New Mexico and California focusing on a unique system of astrology called 9-Star Ki and alternative health care.

Robert lives in San Luis Obispo, California, where he and Melanie co-own and direct Diamond Way Ayurveda. They have three children, Kai Ling, Harriet Christina, and Jabeth David-Francis.

Nine Star Ki: Feng Shui Astrology for Deepening Self-Knowledge and Enhancing Relationships, Health, and Prosperity

Tibetan Ayurveda: Health Secrets From the Roof of the World

Rebirth Into Pure Land

Perfect Endings: A Conscious Approach to Dying and Death

The Passionate Buddha: Wisdom on Intimacy and Enduring Love

The Buddha At War

The Wisdom of The Buddhist Masters: Common and Uncommon Sense

awakening the wisdom and compassion
to change your world

ROBERT SACHS

Distributed in the USA and Canada by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016-8810

This revised edition published in the US 2010 by
Watkins Publishing, Sixth Floor, Castle House,
7576 Wells Street, London W1T 3QH

First Published as Buddha at War 2006
Text Copyright Robert Sachs 2006, 2010

Robert Sachs has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the Publishers.

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ISBN: 978-1-780282-86-2

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Preface by His Holiness the 14th Kunzig
Shamar Rinpoche

On September 11th, 2001, while fanatics with limited and narrow fundamentalist beliefs were cutting the throats of airline crews and taking aim at the Twin Towers of New York, His Holiness the 14th Shamarpa (Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche), a high Tibetan lama and my teacher, was on a plane landing at New Yorks JFK airport. From the point of view of an outside, unenlightened observer, he had no particular reason to fly to New York that day. But that is how he is. He does what he does when he sees the need to do it.

As the Rinpoches plane touched down on the airport tarmac, the first hijacked plane smashed into the first tower. As he cleared customs, the second plane smashed into the second tower. Having been picked up by his host and driving toward the city, they saw plumes of smoke rising above the towers, which were soon not to be. His car was one of the last cars allowed over the bridge into the city before police shut it down.

For three days, Shamar Rinpoche worked with the shocked and the grieving. He offered prayers for the fallen and grief-stricken and gave teachings about life, death, and the truth of impermanence. He provided comfort and showed a path that leads away from fear, hatred, and revenge toward peace, understanding, and profound compassion. Weeks later, he made a speech which, in fact, inspired me to write this book. This speech you will find in the appendices to this volume (see page 245).

In the spirit of what this great and dedicated teacher demonstrates through his Buddha-activity, I dedicate this book to the families of the September 11th bombing victims and to each and every being who has had to grieve for loved ones lost to the senseless slaughter perpetrated by humanity against itself. In the words of a Buddhist prayer:

May sickness, poverty, and warfare subside
wherever we may be.

May good omens and Dharma* increase!

Robert Sachs,
San Luis Obispo, CA

* understanding of the way things are

by His Holiness the 14th Kunzig Shamar Rinpoche

In modern countries where materialism is strong, the concepts and practices of Buddhism can be effective in neutralizing the problems that naturally arise and create much suffering, including conflict and war. My student, Robert Sachs, has written this book to show what role Buddhism can play in creating lasting political and social change.

It is my sincere wish that Becoming Buddha is helpful to all who read it and that it fulfills the need to bring strength and confidence to those wanting to see a world free from sickness, poverty, and warfare.

Shamarpa,
Los Osos, CA,

by Stephen Levine

Robert Sachs concern for the well-being of others extends to the horizons in which we wish our children to be born, a world where mercy and awareness are its most treasured values and its rewards are from the hard-earned activation of compassion and care for other sentient beings.

Reading Becoming Buddha, I hear a bell ringing. It is like the bell that begins and concludes a period of meditation, and it is also the All Clear bell that signals it is safe to venture out, the bell that rings the end of war. The Buddha said it was less difficult to overcome ten thousand enemies on the battlefield than it was to release attachment to the hindrances to the heart. It was easier to go to war than to find peace in ourselves.