Gratitude Is My Favorite Prayer with Lama Surya Das | GratitudeSpace

Exclusive Interview

Gratitude Is My Favorite Prayer

with Lama Surya Das

Interview by Chris Palmore

Lama Surya Das has spent decades exploring meditation, Buddhism, spiritual practice, and what it means to live an awakened life.

When we sat down for this GratitudeSpace conversation, however, we kept returning to something beautifully simple: gratitude.

“Gratitude is my favorite prayer,” he told me.

Our conversation moved from appreciating the ordinary things we so easily take for granted to generosity, service, inner peace, and the unexpected journey that took him from a young man traveling through Europe to studying with spiritual teachers in the Himalayas.

Special thanks to author Steven Sieden for connecting me with Lama Surya Das and helping make this conversation possible. More about Steven ↓

Watch the full GratitudeSpace conversation with Lama Surya Das.

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Gratitude Is My Favorite Prayer

Prefer to listen? Hear the conversation with Lama Surya Das on GratitudeSpace Radio, or continue below to read highlights from the interview.

How does gratitude relate to generosity and spiritual practice?

Gratitude is part of the transcendent virtue of generosity—of paying back and giving of yourself.

Generosity is practiced and cultivated through gratitude, appreciation, and inclusiveness. These are transformative practices.

It’s not just about being grateful when somebody says something nice to you. Can you also be grateful when you’re sick? Can you appreciate what is happening even when it isn’t what you would have chosen?

That’s where the practice becomes deeper.

“Gratitude is my favorite prayer.”

How do we cultivate gratitude for the everyday things we take for granted?

A gratitude journal is a great practice.

I live in Massachusetts, and it had snowed so many times. It was freezing and windy. But then I think about living in India, where we didn’t have central heating or air conditioning.

Here, I have a car with a good heater and snow tires. I have a house. I have time and leisure to teach, write, exercise, have fun, and connect with my family.

We have so much.

Think about clean water, heat, air conditioning, screens on the windows, a roof that doesn’t leak. I’ve lived without those things.

We can spend our lives looking at what we don’t have and miss the extraordinary amount that is already here.

Why do we tend to focus on the one thing that goes wrong?

Authors aren’t that different from actors and other people who put their work into the world. We remember the one critic who didn’t like it—not the 99 percent who did.

That’s human nature, but we can understand it and go beyond it.

This is where mindfulness comes in: remembering our insights and our maturity instead of giving in to the four-year-old voice that lashes back or complains, “Nobody understands me.”

We can learn to access our more mature parts—our wise elder, our self-love, our self-esteem.

These are things we can cultivate.

You’ve talked about “paying gratitude forward.” What does that mean?

Think about the people you are most grateful to. Maybe it’s one person. Maybe it’s a few. Maybe it’s even your pet.

Cultivate that attitude of gratitude—and then pay it forward.

You can’t really pay it forward unless you have something to give. And I don’t just mean materially.

Give your time and energy. Lend a shoulder. Lend an ear. Give courage. Give support. Be there for others.

If you give without expecting something in return, it becomes more than an ordinary good deed.

The inner sun of gratitude warms our hearts toward those we’re grateful to. Eventually, we begin carrying that atmosphere with us wherever we go, and its rays naturally shine on everyone around us.

“Cultivate that attitude of gratitude—and then pay it forward.”

When did you decide to go to the Himalayas?

I didn’t really decide to go.

I graduated from college in 1971, flew to London, and hitchhiked across Europe. I thought I might go to Israel or Greece, but I ended up in Turkey.

The most interesting people I met were going east and telling interesting stories about the East.

I had learned meditation and yoga in college, but I was looking for a better way of life—for truth and something I could rely on.

There was never one real step. There were turning points.

Eventually, I realized I had to stop fighting for peace. It felt like a contradiction in terms. I needed to become peace—to find inner peace, God, truth, or simply a better way of living.

I didn’t go to India looking for Buddhism or a guru.

I was looking for a better way of life.

What did that journey teach you about gratitude?

I remember my 21st birthday in Nepal.

I was living in a mud hut with a thatched roof. Every morning, I carried a clay jar about half a mile to a spring to get water. There was no running water or toilet paper.

And it was great.

On my birthday, I looked at the stars and thought, “Nobody knows it’s my birthday.”

I could have felt lonely. My family and friends would have made a big deal of it back home.

But I remember thinking:

I’m not lonely. This is a gift. Look where I am. Look what I’m doing.

The narrative had shifted.

Instead of seeing myself as alone, I saw it as noble solitude.

I was 21 years old, near my teacher’s monastery, learning every day and searching for something meaningful.

I felt lucky.

“I’m not lonely. This is a gift. Look where I am. Look what I’m doing.”

Gratitude, in Lama Surya Das’s telling, isn’t about pretending everything is perfect.

It’s a practice of noticing what is already here, remembering the people and circumstances that helped us get here, and allowing that appreciation to change how we show up for others.

Perhaps the simplest challenge from our conversation is also the most useful:

“Notice what you’ve been taking for granted. Appreciate it. Then pay some of that gratitude forward.”

Connect with Lama Surya Das

Continue exploring Lama Surya Das’s teachings, books, meditation resources, retreats, and other work.

Surya.org Dzogchen Center Ask the Lama Facebook X / Twitter Instagram More Resources

With Gratitude to Steven Sieden

I also want to thank author Steven Sieden for connecting me with Lama Surya Das and helping make this conversation possible.

Steven is the founder of Gratitude Love Joy Equanimity Wisdom Compassion Peace , one of the largest gratitude communities on Facebook and a space devoted to gratitude, compassion, wisdom, connection, and peace.

If you’d like to connect with Steven and the community, visit Gratitude Love Joy Equanimity Wisdom Compassion Peace on Facebook .

Steven is also the author of A Fuller View: Buckminster Fuller’s Vision of Hope and Abundance for All, a book exploring the ideas, legacy, and vision of Buckminster Fuller.

Explore A Fuller View by Steven Sieden on Amazon .

INTERVIEW

Gratitude Is My Favorite Prayer

Gratitude Is My Favorite Prayer

How does gratitude relate to generosity and spiritual practice?

How do we cultivate gratitude for the everyday things we take for granted?

Why do we tend to focus on the one thing that goes wrong?

Connect with Lama Surya Das

With Gratitude to Steven Sieden

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