Dr. Frederick P. Lenz ("Rama")

Frederick P. Lenz began teaching Buddhist meditation in his early twenties. Throughout his life, his goal was to transmit the essence of Buddhism so that Western practitioners could achieve the highest state of Buddhist realization – enlightenment.

Dr. Lenz was born on February 9, 1950, in San Diego, California. When he was three years old, his family moved to Stamford, Connecticut. He attended schools in the Stamford area and enrolled in the University of Connecticut where he majored in English and minored in Philosophy. He was inducted as a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Photo by Greg Gorman.

After winning a highly competitive State of New York Graduate Council Fellowship, he received his MA and Ph.D. in English Literature from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. His doctoral dissertation was directed by the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, Louis Simpson, Ph.D.

By the time he was 29, he had lectured and taught classes at universities around the world, including the State University of New York, Long Island University, Harvard, U.C.L.A., Stanford, Heidelberg, and the University of Zurich. In the early 1980s, he formed his own school of American Buddhism. From that time forward, he taught Buddhist principles and meditation to over 100,000 people.

Dr. Lenz wrote a number of popular books about Buddhist teachings including Lifetimes, True Accounts of Reincarnation (1979); Total Relaxation: The Complete Program for Overcoming Worry, Stress, Tension and Fatigue (1980); Surfing the Himalayas (1995) and Snowboarding to Nirvana (1997).

Working with the band Zazen, he co-wrote and produced 14 musical albums including Canyons of Light, Enlightenment, Cayman Blue and Ecologie. All of the albums featured music geared towards facilitating the practice of meditation.

As a software designer, Dr. Lenz and his companies created a wide range of helpful products. He was active in the introduction of educational, client/server, networking, medical, banking, trading systems, encryption, internet and intranet software and technologies.

He achieved excellence in a variety of challenging sports. He was a certified PADI Divemaster and technical scuba diver, a world-class snowboarder and a black belt in martial arts.

Dr. Lenz was a major contributor to National Public Radio in Connecticut and a donor and supporter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Cancer Institute, the AIDS Fund, Amnesty International, the National Museum of Women and the Arts in Washington, D.C., Shotokan Karate, The Cousteau Society and the Audubon Society.

Frederick Lenz passed away on April 12, 1998 in Long Island, New York and willed the majority of his estate to the Foundation for the purpose of supporting Buddhism in America.

"Most people think that an enlightened Buddhist teacher is a fireman; his job is to put the fire out so that you can live in your home safely. But seeker beware! A fully enlightened Buddhist teacher is an arsonist! His job is to set your spirit on fire! By feeding the flames of your soul with love."

Rama – Dr. Frederick Lenz