American Buddhist Rebel

Rama, Dr. Frederick Lenz

By: Liz Lewinson

Narrated by: Liz Lewinson

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to study with a fully enlightened teacher?

I did that. My life transformed completely.

Winner of the Eric Hoffer and Benjamin Franklin literary awards, this biography tells the story of Rama, Dr. Frederick P. Lenz, (1950-1998), an enlightened spiritual teacher who taught a brilliant, boundary-breaking form of American Buddhism to tens of thousands of people.

Rama could heal people whom he never met. He naturally filled large auditoriums with sparkling rays of golden light—the essence of his being. He made huge audiences shake with laughter, as he filled them with luminosity and joy. Omens of an unusual, not special, life began in 1953, when, as a toddler, he slipped into samadhi—a timeless state of immersion in infinite light—in his mother's garden. His journey continued after high school, when he flew from Connecticut to Kathmandu, Nepal, with a homemade snowboard, seeking to snow-surf the highest mountains he could find. On his first downhill run, he plowed into an aged Buddhist monk, who told the incredulous teen their meeting was destined, that his past life enlightenment would return, and he would help millions of people. Upon his return to the US, he earned his PhD and began to teach on his own, and implemented new ways of placing independent and skeptical Westerners on the path to enlightenment, beginning with higher and happier states of mind. As his own realization deepened, the energy he emanated was like a huge timeless force of pure love.

This biography includes interviews and stories from over 100 students and colleagues, each with a different perspective. Rama did not just speak about enlightenment; he modeled it. Compassionate, controversial, wise, honest, prescient, reverent, irreverent, he was always teaching and still is....

©2020 Liz Lewinson (P)2022 Liz Lewinson

Masterful Biography

I would recommend this book to absolutely all spiritual aspirants of any religion or creed. Rama, Dr. Frederick Lenz unifies all spiritual paths and also updates the practices for today’s world. The elements his life, which he leveraged for his mission as a spiritual master, were fascinating to learn about.

Liz Lewinson does an excellent job of capturing the life, message, mission and magic of one of the most interesting and advanced teachers of our times. She shows how Rama tirelessly laid a strong foundation for the many excellent spiritual teachers and authors who came after him. The way he powerfully changed the very fabric of our reality was brought home solidly chapter after chapter.

I felt that I deeply connected with Rama, as well as to his sangha through this book and that’s the real hallmark of a masterful biography. Extremely well done. A must read.

Great bio and summary teachings

loved it , fill many he I my understanding.
wonderfully sequence with many direct comments form the people at there at the time.

Loved it! highly recommend

Great audiobook, I previously read the paperback book. Very entertaining story about an amazing radical American Buddhist teacher.  It’s gives a different perspective on buddhism and meditation. For me, this book really taps into the ancient side of things.  I can imagine these stories taking place like 2000 years ago, but it actually happened in the near past, during our lifetime.