Using the example of a pen, Lama Marut shows how it is empty -- there’s something not there we thought was there. There’s no “pen-ness” to a pen, that is, no essence. It can’t exist “out there,” objectively or inherently, as a pen. It is not a pen until we conceptualise and label it as a pen. And all things exist only like that. But what causes us to label the things in the world the way we do? And how can we change those causes such that we would be forced to conceptualise our world and everything in it as perfect? This podcast comes from a “Dharma Essentials” course on the Diamond Cutter Sutra taught in Los Angeles in April, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s video podcasts please go to: http://www.aci-la.org/mg-video.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

The highest form of compassion or “bodhicitta” is divided into its “deceptive” and “ultimate” forms. The former is the wish to help alleviate the suffering of the beings who appear in our world. But ultimate bodhicitta is a transformative mystical experience that allows us to understand that there are no suffering beings who exist in any other way than as projections coming from us. This is the “good news” or “gospel” of emptiness: all things can be changed because all things are empty of having any nature of their own. This podcast comes from a “Dharma Essentials” course on the Diamond Cutter Sutra taught in Los Angeles in April, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s video podcasts please go to: http://www.aci-la.org/mg-video.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Understanding emptiness is the key to changing our lives quickly. But what does it mean? Something you thought was there isn’t there. This is the essence of wisdom: things don’t exist the way they seem to. Lama Marut in this segment explores the example of an irritating person – someone we think exists as such from their own side, intrinsically or inherently – and shows that an essentially irritating person is impossible. This podcast comes from a “Dharma Essentials” course on the Diamond Cutter Sutra taught in Los Angeles in April, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s video podcasts please go to: http://www.aci-la.org/mg-video.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

Finding and learning how to think about the spiritual teacher is one of the high practices of yoga which are designed to work very fast. . . because it is so dangerous. Lama Marut here urges us not to domesticate the tiger that is your practice by making it safe. The purpose of one’s spiritual life is not to try to fit into samsara better. Rather, we must think of ourselves as alienated rebels, like the sadhus of traditional India. This podcast comes from teachings on the philosophy of yoga given in Vancouver, Canada, in March, 2008. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s video podcasts please go to: : http://www.aci-la.org/mg-video.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

In this culmination of the last several podcasts on the seven steps for generating the highest form of compassion, “bodhicitta” or the determination to reach perfection so that you can bring all other beings to that state, Lama Marut leads a guided meditation through all the steps. This podcast was extracted from a set of teachings on compassion given at a retreat in South Lake Tahoe, California, over Thanksgiving weekend, 2007. Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org To subscribe to Lama Marut’s video podcasts please go to: : http://www.aci-la.org/mg-video.html Visit Lama Marut's Blog at: http://www.lamamarut.org For complete audio teachings, please go to: http://www.aci-la.org

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