Lama Marut Podcasts

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All authentic spiritual traditions teach us the true means to achieve real and lasting happiness -- the development of compassion, kindness, love, wisdom, gratitude, forgiveness, trust, and so on. Primary Format : Buddhism Language : Unknown Also Listed as: City : Los Angeles State/Province : CA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of Lama Marut Podcasts Methings.com listings of Lama Marut Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

Challenge Your Beliefs This starts as an answer to a question about Reincarnation, but as is often the case, the answer becomes so much more. Lama Marut said, "If you're serious about a spiritual life, make a commitment and then expect trouble. There will be challenges and there SHOULD be challenges. If there are not challenges either your teacher's not doing something right or you're not taking it seriously enough." Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website There's A Problem Here The first step to fixing a problem is recognizing that we have one. Here Lama Marut lovingly but unflinchingly addresses this fact through a treatment of the cause and effect nature of the Four Arya Truths. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Be a Rebel WITH a Cause Many times finding one's personal spiritual path means to move away from certain ways of thinking or being, and that's a good start. But in some cases this tendency can lead to a path which has no clear destination. Here Lama Marut makes it very clear where a spiritual path should be leading us, and though we may think we've heard it before, if we're not there yet, it's good to be reminded, especially by such a generous and wise guide. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Guru Problems Perhaps the first cessation in a spiritual life is the cessation of NOT being able to see teachers. So we start with one nominal "Guru"and we TRY hard to see them as perfect. But when we do we will definitely meet with challenges. Not because of their karma but because of our own. This is one of the best functions of the Guru, to help us recognize (re-cognize) our own Divinity by trying to see it in another being, despite any evidence to the contrary. Here Lama Marut gives us some pers ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Comments On Retreat There is so much to say about the vital practice of retreat. But the best advice is sometimes the simple practical advice of an experienced master. Listen to Lama Marut wisely set the tone for the students at this year's Summer Retreat. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Buddhist Christian Dialogue: Unity in Difference We will begin occasionally posting material from a wonderful conversation between Lama Marut and Reverend Brian Baker. This is a fantastic dialogue between two great modern masters of relaying ancient wisdom for present day happiness. Stay tuned. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-l ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 12: Meditation on the first steps Lama Marut takes us through a short meditation on the beginnings of the path to happiness. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 11: Refuge in Karma and Buddha Nature The fear of a consequences of our bad actions and the faith that there is something which can help us, drive us to seek refuge in things. But often we seek our refuge in the wrong things. Here Lama Marut describes two ways of thinking about something you can take refuge in which will not let you down. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 10: Refuge and the Anti-Whining Law We love cause and effect as a system when it seems to be working in our favor, but as soon as we experience something negative we sometimes tend to loose our faith in cause and effect. But as Lama Marut says in this talk, there's no need to whine about what you are experiencing. Just put the causes into play to change your order. You can take refuge in the fact that cause and effect is working, and then set about doing what is required to change your life for the better. Write to us at: ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 09: Karma Dissected If you want to make things better, you have to understand how and why they are working the way they are. This leads us to the often misunderstood concept of Karma. More than good luck or some kind of spiritual accounting. Karma describes an underlying exchange between how we see the world and how we see ourselves thinking and speaking and acting in the world we see. Here Lama Marut deftly drills down into Karma and gives us a peek. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 08: Three Problems of the Mind This episode of our series is a powerful exposition of how our minds are almost always currently wired in exactly the wrong way. Lama Marut brings insight to the way we mess ourselves up, but also, in a very honest and wisely compassionate moment, he explains to one plaintive student that even if his life has been a Karmic disaster up until now, this path is defined by the understanding that there is always a chance to turn things around. All it takes is some joyful effort. Write to us ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 07: Watch What You Say Nothing goes for naught. Being mindful of the way you speak, and the intention behind it is a vital part of beginning to manage the thoughts which motivate that speech, and the karma which motivates those thoughts. Here Lama Marut is delving deeply into the portion of the Lam Rim which focuses on getting ourselves prepared to move further along the path to awakening. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podc ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 06: Stealing, Lying, and Sex, Oh My. In this world we are always committing actions which will have consequences. Because these "consequences" become our reality, it is vital then to know which actions we should be careful about and which we should strive to avoid entirely. This is a key part of the steps on the path. Lama Marut likes to call it "What to give up, and what to take up". Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lam ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 05: Karma and what no killing means We live in a broken realm where we have the Karma to constantly be harming others, and that's not good for us because the results of our karma are definite. But we can strive to do less harm. Perhaps we can even perfect that practice. Here Lama Marut will clear up some of the understandings surrounding these issues. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.la ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 04: Death Awareness As the man said, "Nobody gets out alive". To get really serious about a spiritual life there's no escaping an examination of what happens when the experience of this life is over, and how you are both preparing for that, and making the most of the time you have. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 03: Leisure and Fortune Just the fact that you are reading these words, almost guarantees that you are living a life of blessing far beyond what most humans who ever lived could have imagined. Understanding that deeply is the beginning of getting serious about a spiritual life. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://w ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 02: The Teacher, Fast Track to Bliss How can you learn anything except from a teacher? Your teacher is responsible for everything you now know, or hope to know. But who and where is your teacher? That is a question best left to someone like Lama Marut to explain. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lam Rim Intro 01: Mapquest to Bliss The Lam Rim is an extremely powerful method for understanding and embodying the teachings of Buddhism. It's an "A-Z" guide to enlightenment. This is the first of a 12 part series which will introduce the major concepts of this amazing teaching. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Meditation on Challenges of Spiritual Life If you've been practicing for any period of time you know that challenges arise. But with the right understanding we see that these are generally not inhibitions to our practice so much as vital objects of our practice itself. Here Lama Marut gives us a wonderful meditation on this experience. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For comple ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Find a teacher and hang on tight The relationship between teacher and student is potentially the most transformative experience of one's life. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Reconciling Your Religious Heritage Even for those facing disillusionment with the spiritual tradition they group up with, there is still room to look at it in a new light, to find the essential truths which made it valuable enough to be passed down to you in the first place. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Escaping Death, A true Budhist POV As ancient teachings such as Buddhism adapt to the modern world some interpretations tend to soften their more radical assertions, such as the elimination of ALL types of suffering. But here Lama Marut argues that to do so misses the true power these teachings have to offer us. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Why Fit In? Accept What Comes With Bodhichita. In this short and to the point podcast from a great Q&A session, Lama Marut uses his wit and wisdom to clarify what is required to really practice Bodhicitta Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Where are good and bad coming from? If good and bad were self existent, we'd all see them the same way. But we don't. How is that possible? Here Lama Marut will begin to unravel how that is happening. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Highest Form of Love Lama Marut explains how the many different expressions of love which we we experience are actually rooted in love for the Divine. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website If it's not deep seated it wont last Good intentions will only get us so far. In the face of repeated challenges, we need a deep understanding of how things are working and why we should be careful about our intentional actions. Here Lama Marut discusses the value and importance of a deep understanding of the Dharma to make it work for us in the real world. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://ww ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Virtues 4: Ultimate Devotion In this final installment of the four part posting on Buddhist Virtues, Lama Marut sums it all up with an explanation of the highest practice of devotion. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Virtues 3: Remove doubt, Show devotion, Practice perfection More of Lama Marut's exposition of Buddhist Virtues. This is the third of four parts. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Virtues 2: Compassion and Right World View Here Lama Marut continues his very clear and fresh explanation of Buddhist Virtues. This is the second of four parts. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Virtues 1: Dont harm, Dont lie, Keep pure Here Lama Marut gives a very clear and fresh explanation of Buddhist Virtues which will we share with you in four parts. This is Part 1. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Giving up the wacky self to discover a Divine self Part 2 One of the most primary sources of our discontent is our flawed sense of self. But what if we could redefine that sense closer to perfection? Lama Marut discusses rediscovering the divine within ourselves in the second half of a two part podcast. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Giving up the wacky self to discover a Divine self Part 1 One of the most primary sources of our discontent is our flawed sense of self. But what if we could redefine that sense closer to perfection? Lama Marut discusses rediscovering the divine within ourselves in the first of a two part podcast. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Where is YOUR Lama? The beginning of the path is finding a teacher. But who IS your teacher. WHERE is your teacher? Here Lama Marut gives us a lesson in one way to find our teacher, by looking at the people closest to us. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Who REALLY Makes You Unhappy? If we analyze the true source of our unhappiness we will find that the point of origin is much closer than we tend to suspect. Which is good news, because with wisdom we can actually do something about it. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Most Sacred Truth In characteristic style, Lama Marut distills the complexity and mystery of life down to one simple truth. At once so simple, yet at the same time not so easy. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Here are the Rules Pt 3 In the final installment of this three part podcast Lama Marut finishes telling us about the rules for how to live a happy and moral life. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Here are the Rules Pt 2 In Part two of this three part podcast Lama Marut takes us deeper into the "simple" rules for living a good life. Simple, but not necessarily easy. Thankfully we have an excellent teacher to guide us through. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Here are the Rules Pt 1 In the first of a three part podcast trifecta, Lama Marut goes over the rules to live by if you want a happy life. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Thanksgiving Meditation In this very special extended podcast Lama Marut takes us through a beautiful meditation on giving thanks. Great for ANY season. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Graceful Teacher Lama Marut often says that your teacher is "The cypher to the sacred, for you". Here he beautifully explains why that is so. And why it is so important. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Working Towards Larger Goals It's not that we don't know how to work hard. Mostly though the things we are working towards will not bring us lasting happiness. Here Lama Marut tells us how to realign our daily efforts with a larger goal in mind. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Dealing With Demons Often misunderstood, Lama Marut here explains the parts of ourselves which persistently keep us from being happy. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Why Be Good? It's a good question. What is the basis for maintaining your morality? Lama Marut discusses the very reasons why it is in your self interest to do so. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Bodhicitta Juggernaut Lama Marut explains how "Bodhicitta" can be used to create nearly unstoppable spiritual momentum. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Real Way to be Happy Here Lama Marut discusses the deepest secret of life.  The way to be happy.  The answer is easy to say, but not so easy to do. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Snowball Effect of Happiness Lama Marut discusses the way our actions create a momentum based on our choices. If we choose wisely, our spiritual momentum can lead us towards happiness. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website True Happiness We seek happiness but all too often we seek it in exactly the wrong places. Here Lama Marut discusses the true nature of lasting happiness. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ultimate Reality, Part 2 We are deceived by reality because we think it exists in ways that it simply cannot exist.  In part two of this teaching Lama Marut explains how this keeps us suffering, and how to break out of this incorrect way of looking at our reality. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ultimate Reality, Part 1 We are deceived by reality because we think it exists in ways that it simply cannot exist.  In part one of this teaching Lama Marut explains how this keeps us suffering, and how to break out of this incorrect way of looking at our reality. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Don't wait to get started Sometimes we are too occupied with the busy-ness of our life to think about the meaning of our life. In this podcast Lama Marut challenges us to escape the mindless parts of our life that are keeping us unhappy Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Constituting the Guru Here Lama Marut explains where the guru in your life will actually come from, and what it will take to begin to see them. This videocast is taken from a retreat teaching given in Lake Tahoe in 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Making Your Life Miraculous Lama Marut explains how and why to try to see the miraculous in your daily life. This videocast is taken from a retreat teaching given in Lake Tahoe in 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Be a Rebel, Be a Yogi Lama Marut explains how the practice of real yoga is counter-culture and goes against the grain of ignorance, selfishness and unhappiness. This videocast is taken from a teaching given Mahasukha Los Angeles, in April 2010. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Don’t Waste Your Suffering Lama Marut describes how recognizing your own suffering is essential for generating compassion for other people’s suffering. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Reno, January 2009. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Relax into Reality Lama Marut brings to light how accepting change relieves you of the unrealistic expectations of life and exercises your only option for happiness. This videocast is taken from a teaching given Mahasukha Los Angeles, in April 2010. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Religion: Armed and Dangerous Lama Marut explains how the best way to live a peaceful life is to make your spirituality armed and dangerous to your unhappiness. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Lake Tahoe, 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Religion: Armed and Dangerous Lama Marut explains how the best way to live a peaceful life is to make your spirituality armed and dangerous to your unhappiness. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Lake Tahoe, 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Overcome jealousy and envy Lama Marut relates how feeling joy for other people’s happiness and compassion for their unhappiness transforms envious and jealous tendencies. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Lake Tahoe, 2009. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Acts of Compassion Lama Marut lists several simple ways you can act with compassion towards others such as not repaying criticisms and happily living a spiritual practice for the benefit of all. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Los Angeles, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Advice On How To Die Well Lama Marut reveals how to prepare yourself and others for death with compassion, forgiveness and generosity. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Essex, Massachusetts February 2009. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Noblesse Oblige: The Cause of The Good Life Lama Marut explains how those of us who believe we're leading a good life must help others because our past generosity is the exact cause of the life we enjoy today. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Essex, Massachusetts February 2009. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Equalizing Self and Others Lama Marut teaches one of the great classics of the “lojong” tradition, instructions on how to “develop the good heart.” Breaking down our selfishness begins with the recognition that everyone’s claim to happiness is equal, and yours is not somehow privileged. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Essex, Massachusetts February 2009. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Vis ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Overcoming Obstacles to Happiness We need to work hard for our spiritual goals but we are hindered by our laziness – in the form either of indolence or excessive business – our attraction to bad things, and our low self esteem. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Los Angeles, November 26, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachin ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Changing the Past The only past that exists is a part of our present mind, and that can certainly be changed. To live a happier present, we must change our idea of the past by practicing the virtue of forgiveness. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in June, 2009, at the Three Jewels in Tucson, Arizona. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For comp ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Compassion for Those Who Harm Lama Marut here explains why the proper, human response to people who hurt you is not anger or the desire for vengeance but rather compassion. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in June 2009 at the Three Jewels in Tucson, Arizona. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Practicing Forgiveness and Patience In order to achieve perfect patience – the opposite of anger -- and forgiveness, we have to practice these virtues in little ways all day long. And since praise and fame can be major distractions, could we say that those who defame us are really protecting us? This videocast is taken from a teaching given in June, 2009, at the Three Jewels in Tucson, Arizona. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How Happy Are You? Your relative happiness is the real gauge of spiritual progress. The first steps to perfect happiness are to recognize the unhappiness we presently live with and have become inured to. And when we begin to see the results of even a little practice, we get some faith and are willing to work hard for our spiritual goals. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in February 2009, in Vancouver Canada. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts ple ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Contentment is Being Happy, Here and Now For most of us most of the time, things are actually alright. So why aren’t we content with the present? Instead, we are spending an inordinate amount of time worrying about the imaginary future or cultivating resentment about a past which is done and over. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in February 2009, at Woodman's in Massachusetts. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Happiness Revolution Which part of you doesn’t want to be happy? Lama Marut here reviews the forces – internal and external – that are keeping us from true happiness. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in June, 2009, at the Three Jewels in Tucson, Arizona. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://w ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ignorance: Public Enemy #1 Ignorance is the root of all our mental afflictions, leading us to believe that other people can make us either unhappy or happy. Lama Marut here encourages us to take back the power over our own happiness and to realize that it is never in our real self-interest to be anything other than happy. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Cape Ann, Massachusetts in n August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: htt ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Learning to be a Spiritual Warrior Lama Marut here discusses several of the qualities of a spiritual warrior – learning to live an ethical life so as to change your conception of the kind of person you are, and developing patience in the face of provocation. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Mahasukha Center in Los Angeles in December of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: h ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Meditation and Wisdom Learning how to meditate and developing wisdom about how the world is really working are, according to the Buddhist texts, altruistic and compassionate activities. If you want to change the world you have to understand that the only way to do it is to change yourself into a more selfless person. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Mahasukha Center in Los Angeles in December of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Relax into the Insecurity Real renunciation means giving up suffering and its causes. We can start by not continually putting our eggs in the wrong baskets and, realizing there is no certainty in secular things, relaxing about change itself. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at The Waldorf School, Los Angeles, in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.la ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wake Up and Turn it Off Lama Marut here urges us to stop being diverted (through watching television, for example, over four hours a day on average) and remember our real purpose and mission. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What Goes Around, Comes Around Why do things happen the way they do to us? Lama Marut here goes through specific correlations between karmic cause and effect and the general principles behind them, and then urges us to learn to take responsibility for everything that occurs in our lives. This videocast is taken from a teaching given The Waldorf School, Los Angeles, in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Vi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Chain of Pain Lama Marut reviews the cause and effect “chain of pain.” It starts with the ignorant seeds we carry into this life from previous lives which then ripen and forces us to think of things ignorantly and react to them ignorantly – which causes us to create the causes for more suffering. We break the cycle through cultivating wisdom about where likeable and dislikeable things in our lives really come from. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Mahaukha Center in Los Angel ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Learn to Float Lama Marut here advises us to “relax into the insecurity” of life. Everything is changing and impermanent, and a little bit of wisdom about this goes a long way in aid of a happier life. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lama ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Working Hard for True Happiness Lama Marut here advises us to work at least as hard for our spiritual goals as we do for our professional advancement, money, or relationships. He reviews the three obstacles that stand in our way: laziness, attraction to bad things, and low self-esteem. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Los Angeles in November of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's B ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Karmic Correlations Lama Marut here reviews the various kinds of karmic consequences of our actions, providing specific correlations between causes and effects. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at The Waldorf School, Los Angeles, in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website CD’s and the 1st Arya Truth The Buddha’s very first teaching is that life is suffering. When we are in the midst of a disaster, we know this. But it’s in between disasters that we have to remember that every good thing we obtain – ranging from our new CD or pair of shoes to our youth and health and every relationship -- we will lose. Truth happiness has to be found within, not in the ever-changing things outside of ourselves. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the annual Windhover retreat in Ro ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Truth is Paradoxical A religious practitioner must have a high degree of tolerance for cognitive dissonance, for the truth often seems to us (ignorant ones) as paradoxical. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Los Angeles, in November 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Working Hard (Happily) for Your Spiritual Goals One of the biggest obstacles to a spiritual life is laziness. Lama Marut here relays advice on how to overcome the inertia that keeps us from working hard, and with “joyful effort,” for our spiritual goals. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Mahasukha Center in Los Angeles, December of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamama ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Eliminating An Irritating Person Lama Marut reviews the three steps of breaking the cycle of responding with irritation to an irritating person. This videocast is taken from a teaching given in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Daily Practice What are the components of a good daily practice? Lama Marut reviews the basics, including meditation every morning, checking your morality all day long, doing something for others, and daily study of a sacred text. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Bl ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Re-Identity Yourself A very important spiritual practice is to simply re-identify ourselves – as a kind, compassionate, happy person instead of a suffering schmuck. Additionally, when we encounter others we have a choice between two unconfirmable assumptions. The other person can be interpreted as ordinary or anextraordinary being trying to help you. Since we can’t confirm either choice, which one would be more useful? This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the annual Windhover retreat in Ro ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Three Problems of the Starbuck Cup Lama Marut talks about how to be a good student by avoiding three typical problems: thinking you have nothing to learn, improper motivation, and having the teaching go in one ear and out the other. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Practicing for Showtime All our life is practice for death. At death we will lose everything, so practicing for it is a matter of detaching from the things and people we can’t keep. This videocast is taken from from the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, pleas ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Learning to Be a Spiritual Warrior Stop playing footsies with samsara! Practice the bodhisattva’s way of life instead. Be a “saint in training” and train yourself in the perfection of giving -- especially in the form of the gift of love, protection from fear, and the gift of the dharma – and learn to live rationally instead of instinctually This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Mahasukha Center in Los Angeles in December of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Creator Gods in the Making Because all things, without exception, are empty of self-nature, the world around us exists only as a projection. In this videocast, Lama Marut proves that things can’t exist “out there” at all. Because things are coming from us and not at us, we must be very careful about our karma, for it is karma that forces us to project the world we do. This videocast is taken from the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Happiness is Freedom We are enchained by our things, our possessions, our plans. Freedom comes from living happily in the present and letting go of the attachments that are causing us to suffer – especially our present sense of who we think we are. This videocast is taken from the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Slouching Towards Happiness When religions talk about the need for "renunciation," what's meant is renouncing pain and suffering. Religion should be fun, and should lead to the "funnest." Lama Marut here argues that good spiritual practitioners "slouching toward happiness." And higher levels of happiness require lower ones, beginning with contentment. This videocast is taken from the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Ma ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Filtering the World Through Our Subjective Apparatus The appearance of things as if they existed apart from our perception of them is an illusion. Wisdom begins with honesty. We must admit that we are not and cannot be objective. Everything is filtered through our subjective perceptual apparatus, which in turn functions as it does because of our karma. By learning to treat others better, we change ourselves and therefore the world (as it exists for us) will also change. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Mahasukha Cen ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Abortion, Euthanasia, and the Impossibility of Living Without Killing While the Buddhist text state that both abortion and euthanasia involve negative karma, the intention is critical. If one truly believes that a foetus is not a living being, for example, the karma of abortion is less serious than otherwise. Lama Marut here addresses some of the more difficult moral dilemmas of the modern age. This videocast is taken from the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama M ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Specialists in Happiness The authentic, time-tested spiritual traditions are the only real specialists in happiness. If you’re not getting happier practicing your spiritual life, you’re not doing it right. This videocast is taken from the annual Windhover retreat in Rockport, Massachusetts, in August of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete aud ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Road to Bliss Consumer capitalism will not bring the happiness we are seeking in it. It is only the spiritual traditions that are teaching the true road to bliss: learning to live a life of compassion and altruism toward others. But in order to get to the goal, we must travel to the path step by step. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Rockport, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2008 as part of an annual retreat at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Be Happy, Be Grateful Lama Marut advises us here to cultivate gratitude in order to live a happier life. If we just pay attention a bit, we�ll see how much others are doing for us all the time. And feeling grateful is a very potent method for combating low self-esteem. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Eliminating an Irritating Person We can get rid of the irritating people in our lives. In this videocast, Lama Marut goes through the three steps for doing so: run away, just take it without retaliation, and finally, feel nothing but love and feel compassion for the (formally) irritating person. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Visit ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Your Real Enemies Your real enemies are not external. They are the �mental afflictions,� and disturbing your peace of mind is their very nature. In this videocast Lama Marut talks about the top three mental afflictions � ignorance, ignorant liking, and ignorant disliking. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Rockport, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2008 as part of an annual retreat at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website �The Big �False Causality�� While we embrace causality as the explanation for why things happen, the causality we believe in is false. The principal way we mistake false causality for the true causes of things is thinking that the way we achieve our own happiness is worrying about ourselves instead of turning attention to the needs of others. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Rockport, Massachusetts, in the summer of 2007 as part of an annual retreat at the Windhover Center for the Performing Arts. Wri ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Things Exist Only When They Are Known The great Buddhist philosophy Arya Nagarjuna proved that things aren�t �out there� waiting to be discovered. Things exist when they are known � and not until. And, conversely, we don�t exist until and unless we interact with the world. Subjects and objects exist only interdependently, which is one thing that�s meant by saying that things are �empty.�This videocast is taken from classes taught in Los Angeles in the spring of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Emptiness of the Cup, Part Two Objects in the world have to be projections of wholes on the basis of parts. But that process of projection can�t exist the way it seems to either � we would never finish projecting even one cup. Projections themselves are projections! Wisdom starts with the sense that �something�s fishy here,� for ignorance depends on a false sense of certainty that things exist the way they seem. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Los Angeles in the spring of 2008. Write to us at: podcas ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Emptiness of the Cup, Part One The world can be divided into subjects, objects, and the relationship between them. None of them has any self-existence; they are all empty. If objects like a cup existed the way they seemed to, they would be �out there,� on their own, with some kind of self-nature. If the cups existed like this, it would have to be singular or plural, one or many. If it were one thing, how could we see parts in the cup? And if it were many things, how could it be one cup? The cup actually can�t be �o ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Overcoming the Blockage of Pride One of the most powerful motivations to overcome our pride and take ourselves to a spiritual teacher is when we have a personal disaster, when it becomes clear that life is indeed suffering and that we actually need help. There is no refuge or protection from the realities of life other than a spiritual life, and this usually becomes clear only when the rug is pulled out from underneath us. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Waking Up To Reality Most modern people aren�t actually interested in what is real; we�re too busy with our entertainment and games. We�re addicted to our own unhappiness and ignorance and resist the very things that would overthrow them. To counter these tendencies we must train our minds and use our reasoning. If we do so, we will realize that everything is changeable and real happiness is potentially in our grasp. This videocast is taken from classes taught in Los Angeles in the spring of 2008. Write to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Recognizing Suffering in Order to Be Happy Our experience of the world is only an interpretation, but why do I interpret the world the way I do? Interpretations are forced upon us by karma, by how we�ve treated others in the past, and because we have been selfish instead of compassionate we continue to suffer. Recognizing the suffering in our own lives is the precondition for compassion for others, but generally we are ignoring the truth of suffering and therefore can�t even begin a serious quest for the alternative. This videoca ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is There Anything Good About Suffering? Are there any advantages to suffering? All experiences � bad and good � that have happened to us in the past were necessary to makes us the people we are now. We can begin to have a healthier attitude toward past and present suffering by cultivating acceptance, patience, and compassion for others. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore, Los Angeles, in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio podcasts p ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Resuscitating the God We Have Killed We are living in a radically secular time and place, where nothing is special. Within a world where nothing is sacred, we must rediscover the possibility of the miraculous, especially in the form of our teachers. But we can only see what we have the goodness to see. A spiritual practice includes creating the karma that allows us to see that the sacred is potentially all around us all the time. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course taught in Tucson, Arizona, in ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pride in Intelligence While our intellect is a great gift, we must be careful to avoid pride in our intelligence which, like our money or good looks, we will inevitably lose sooner or later. Pride blocks us from learning in general, and in our spiritual life it is one of the worst of the mental afflictions and prevents us from making any progress. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course taught in Tucson, Arizona, in the spring of 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscrib ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Disturbing Your Worldview Does cigarette smoking cause lung cancer? Does exercise bring health and longevity? Does medicine cure disease? In this videocast, Lama Marut points out that a cause is something that brings about its effect all the time, for everyone. The real causes of things are karmic � how we have treated others in the past. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in August, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What if God was One of Us There are enlightened beings all around us, trying to help us. But the way they help us is to teach us how to help ourselves. And so one of the most obvious manifestations of the divine in our lives is in the form of our teachers who are doing the work of the Buddhas. The enlightened ones can also come as our husband or wife, boyfriend or girlfriend, or our children. Do we really know who the people close to us really are? This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Roc ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Freedom from Karma Can we ever be freed from karma? In Eastern texts, �freedom� often means freedom from the illusion of a concrete entity we call �ourselves.� Karma is stored in our present conceptualisation of ourselves. If we could learn how to change our understanding of ourselves, we could completely change our whole karmic record. But we have to create the karma to have the possibility to totally recreate our karma! This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tuc ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Committing Karmic Suicide When we don�t have enough karma to get what we want without depriving others, we should commit �karmic suicide.� Instead of pushing the karmic envelope, let it ride; let others go first or have what you wanted. Sacrificing what you want creates the karma to have an abundance of it in the future. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio podca ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Being in the World But Not of It The Bhagavad Gita teaches us how to act properly in a messy, imperfect world. First and foremost, we must understand the real principles of causality � which is one element of what the Gita calls �karma yoga.� Everything is in the nexus of causality and change. There are no �things� in the world. Everything is just movement or process; everything is coming from karma. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Selfless Action Karma yoga in the Bhagavad Gita means, among other things, �selfless action� � learning how to act in the world without creating negative karmic consequences or repercussions. How do we do this? Primarily through selfless action � compassion action in the service of others. Taking the self-interest out of action defuses negative karmic fruits. This videocast is taken from a course taught for Diamond Mountain University in Tucson, Arizona, in the fall of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@a ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Enlightened Self-Interest Doing something for others � preferably anonymously � everyday is one of the secrets of happiness. Helping others is actually the best thing we can do for ourselves. Altruistic behavioir is the cause of our own happiness and is therefore in our �enlightened� self-interest. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/ ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Smackdown With Anger It is possible to eradicate anger entirely. But it�s not easy. We need to have a �smackdown with anger� to overcome it. Lama Marut here tells us how to do this in three steps: 1) at first, you�ll need to just �run away,� that is, get yourself out of the situation if you can�t restrain yourself from retaliating; 2) when you get stronger and are ready, when the provocation starts you just take it without responding to anger with anger; 3) after practicing for a long time, instead of gettin ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Ten Commandments of Karma Yoga At the very foundation of what the Bhagavad Gita calls �karma yoga� is understanding the grossest level of karmic management: don�t kill, don�t steal, don�t commit adultery, etc. We must become masters of morality; we can�t practice more advanced forms of a spiritual life until we are firmly grounded in the basics. We must �yogify our karma�: restrain ourselves from hurting other beings and cleanse the bad karma we have already committed. This videocast is taken from a course taught for ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Our Infinite Potential Because things are �empty� of self-nature, both the perception of ourselves and that of the world around us are infinitely perfectible. Our sense of ourselves (that little inner voice we are forced to listen to) and of the world around us are both filtered through our subjectivity. What�s crucial is to learn what causes us to interpret our reality the way we do so that we can change it for the better. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Finding Your Teacher What qualities should you look for in a spiritual teacher? Lama Marut reviews the list: You should have a strong attraction to them and they should be happy (since that�s what you want them to teach you!). They should be ethical, good at meditation, and intellectually know the nature of reality. Their spiritual qualities should exceed yours, they should be happily working hard to teach you, and they should know the spiritual texts that they are teaching. They should have a deep realiza ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What Forgiving Is and Isn�t We cannot be happy while carrying grudges and resentments about what others have done to us in the past. We must forgive them � unilaterally and pre-emptively. In order to do this, we have to understand what forgiveness is and isn�t. It isn�t just forgetting, it isn�t about whether the offender deserves it or has apologized, it isn�t an act of weakness or capitulation, and it isn�t for their sake. Forgiveness is for us; it is in our own self-interest, for without it we�ll never be hap ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Reaching Ecstasy Many people in the Western world seem to have forgotten that true goal of every spiritual tradition is the highest happiness � bliss or ecstasy. Every authentic spiritual path leads to this goal, and on the way to that goal the practitioner should be getting happier and happier. Non-spiritual paths like consumer capitalism do not bring happiness, and the proof of that is that we all got everything the materialistic worldview promised. Instead of happiness, our prosperity just brought mor ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Is It a Pen or a Chew Toy? Reality can be divided into how things appear and how things really are. Things exist �deceptively� in that they appear differently from how they really are. It seems that things are �out there,� independently and objectively. But actually they are �empty.� Things do exist, but only as projections coming from us due to how we�ve treated others in the past. Humans see a cylinder as pen while a dog might see it as a chew toy due to different karma. Because things are ultimately empty of ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What is the Real�Secret�? The real secret to obtaining true happiness is not just wanting it. We have to create the causes for it. Being happy is not a trivial goal. It is the precondition to being able to be compassionate toward others. And the only way to be happy is to worry about someone else�s happiness, and not obsess all the time about our own selfish desires. This videocast is taken from a public talk at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org T ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Taking Advantage of Your Miraculous Life We are living miraculous lives, but what are we doing with them? We are mostly taking them for granted instead of taking full advantage of our amazing opportunity. We have are living the lives that millions of traditional practitioners have prayed for, and should not just sleep walk through it. This videocast is taken from a series of teachings given at Rockport, Massachusetts, in January, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut�s audio podcasts please go t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Religious Teacher, Part 2 Can we prove that our spiritual teacher or guru is an Enlightened Being? Do we really know for sure, somehow, that our teacher is not a Buddha? Our preconceptions about what an Enlightened Being should look like prevent us from seeing our teacher for who he or she really is. The process of �guru yoga� is learning to be the teacher. If you see the teacher as perfect, you will become that. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taught in Tu ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website True Happiness and the Fact of Suffering The spiritual path is meant to lead to �freedom,� liberation from suffering and unhappiness. But until we are enlightened, we don�t really know what true happiness would feel like. We are entrenched in suffering, no matter how materially comfortable our lives are. Recognizing our own unhappiness is a necessary precondition for starting on the path. We have to first get serious about the fact of suffering if we are going to be liberated from it. This videocast is taken from a course ta ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Why Consumer Capitalism Won�t Make You Happy The purpose of a spiritual path is to lead the practitioner to happiness. The authentic and time-tested traditions work � they deliver the goods. But the false religion of consumer capitalism cannot bring the happiness we seek in it, and we are living proof of that. We got everything the ideology promised and were not made happy as a result. This videocast is taken from a public talk at the Bodhi Tree Bookstore in Los Angeles in December of 2007. For Lama Marut�s audio podcasts please ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Religious Teacher, Part 1 God can be understood to be a transcendent figure, outside of us, or as very close, right here in our lives. In the Bhagavad Gita, God is presented as Krishna, the guru and close friend of His devotee, Arjuna. We too can have an intimate relationship with the divine in the form of our religious teacher, but we must first must recognize the guru as our personal portal to the sacred and surrender ourselves to Him or Her. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Laws of Karma, Part 2 Lama Marut discusses the three worldviews we use to explain how and why things happen to us in life. #1. Things happen for no reason. #2. God is micromanaging the Universe. Or #3. Everything is in the web of causality. We conveniently mix and match these worldviews to explain our circumstances, but a true believer of worldview #3 takes responsibility for everything that is happening in their world. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita taug ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Laws of Karma, Part 1 The Bhagavad Gita states, �No action in this world goes for naught, or brings about a contrary result.� Actions of selflessness and altruism toward others can bring nothing other than goodness to you, and actions of selfishness and harm to others can bring nothing other than harm. Although these laws do not always seem evident, if we fail to assume the basic principles of karma our whole moral code begins to crumble. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Obstacles to Working Hard for Happiness, Part 2 Lama Marut continues the delineation of the main obstacles to working hard, happily, for real and lasting happiness. �Attraction to things that are bad� or bad habits means, among other things, watching TV instead of spending time more profitably. And feeling discouraged, low self-esteem, or depression � which has increased in proportion to our own affluence and is due to thinking about ourselves all the time � is another major obstacle to our spiritual progress. This videocast is taken ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Gita�s Three Yogas and Buddhism The Bhagavad Gita is linked to the early texts of the Indian Mahayana Buddhist traditions by its emphasis on the three �yogas� of devotion, compassionate action, wisdom, and devotion or bhakti. In Buddhism, the pan-Indian devotional movement found expression not only in the notion also found in Hinduism that the divine is imminent, familiar, and appears all around us, but also in the figure of the bodhisattva whose compassion for other beings is so overwhelming that he or she would do pract ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Three Spiritual Practices In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the classic texts in the history of religions, Lord Krishna teaches us three different but interrelated spiritual practices: the discipline of one�s actions (karma yoga), of wisdom (jnyana yoga), and of devotion (bhakti yoga). In this brief introduction to the text, Lama Marut reviews what each of these �yogas� entail and how we can begin to develop them in our own lives. This videocast is taken from a Diamond Mountain University course on the Bhagavad Gita ta ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Obstacles to Working Hard for Happiness Why aren�t we doing the things in life we know are the most important? What�s preventing us from developing the �joyful effort� we need to progress in our spiritual lives? The main obstacle to working hard, happily, for real and lasting happiness is laziness. Laziness can mean �just not feeling like it� � always procrastinating and putting off what we know we should do. But laziness can also involve keeping so busy with unimportant things that we don�t have the time and energy to dedica ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Running With Scissors We can�t achieve the happiness we all are seeking if we continue to create the causes for suffering. We have to let go of the scissors with which we are cutting ourselves; we have to renounce the idea that our happiness (or unhappiness) comes from any place other than ourselves. No one can make us happy, and no one can make us unhappy. Our problems derive from our true and only enemies, the three main �mental afflictions� of desire, aversion and the ignorance that underlies them. Thi ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Learning to be Happy, Part 2 �Problems� do not objectively exist. They are just interpretations of events. In order to be happy we have to learn how to concentrate on the many good things in life, realize that happiness can not come from outside of us but only from within, and learn to live contentedly in the present. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at a public talk in Los Angeles, California, on December 11, 2006. For Lama Marut�s audio podcasts please go to: http://aci-la.org/mg-podcasts.html Fo ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Learning to be Happy, Part 1 In this inaugural videocast, Lama Marut points out that our deepest desire, the only motivator of everything we do, is to be happy. But we often mistake true happiness for something ephemeral and superficial. True happiness cannot be found in money, relationships, professional advancement, or vacations to exotic places. It must be found within and must be cultivated through an authentic spiritual practice. This videocast is taken from a teaching given at a public talk in Los Angeles, C ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website