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Guided Meditation: Seven Steps to Achieving Ultimate Compassion

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

Part 2: Seven Steps to Achieving Ultimate Compassion

This podcast concludes the overview of the classic seven-step cause and effect method for generating bodhicitta (“spiritual O.C.D.”). After a review of “step zero” (equalizing all beings) and step one (thinking of all beings as your mother), we continue to steps two (recollecting what your mother in this life has done for you), three (feeling deep indebtedness to your mother and all mother beings and the wish to repay them), four (the wish that all your mothers be happy), five (compassion for their suffering), six (taking personal responsibility for their welfare), and finally step seven, which is the determination to get enlightened as soon as possible in order to save all mother sentient beings.

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

Part 1: Seven Steps to Achieving Ultimate Compassion

The classic seven-step cause and effect method for achieving true compassion begins with “step zero.” We first try to gain equanimity, thinking that all beings (those I like, those I dislike, and those I’m neutral about) are equally worthy of my love and compassion. We’re then ready to begin with the first step proper, which is to consider all beings as having been your mother in past lives. To do this step, we also have to prove to ourselves that there have been countless past lives, without beginning. We have to reject the illogical idea that there could be a first cause that wasn’t itself caused and therefore everything is just unfolding randomly.

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

57:MP3

Forgive Your Enemies:

Until we look at the fact that we actually don’t like some people – people who really irritate us or who have really hurt us – we can’t get rid of these wholly unhealthy feelings. Once we have admitted our anger, hatred, and hurt, we can then analyze whether or not they are in our best self-interest. To forgive others is hard, but we can’t wait for them to come groveling to us, begging us to forgive them. We must do it unilaterally and preemptively, because forgiveness isn’t for them, it’s for you.

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

56: MP3

Going Against the Grain:

Every day is another opportunity to start anew, to begin to seriously try to live a happy life dedicated to the service of others. But to do this we have to go “against the grain” of our own bad habits. We must say “no” to our addiction to suffering. To reverse our negative tendencies, we must first stop being complacent. We must stop being inured to our suffering, living in our little bubbles, and recognize it for what it is -- like the Buddha himself did when he finally left his pampered life and saw what this life really has in store for us.

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

55: MP3

An Interview With Lama Marut, Part 2:

Lama Marut here challenges some of the current Western understandings of Buddhism. As Buddhism comes to our culture we must be careful not to just extract what we find comfortable in Buddhism and ignore what might be difficult. Buddhism is not just a psychological tool for managing samsara. It is a method for overcoming all limitations (including death itself) and achieving total enlightenment in this very lifetime. Because everything is empty of self-existence, everything is possible.

Write to us at: podcast@aci-la.org

54: MP3

Getting Off Planet Absurdo:

We live in a society where our own science encourages us to believe that things happen just randomly and that life is meaningless. If we are to ground our morality in an understanding of real causality, we must rebel against the official worldview of our culture and the idea that the ultimate good is just shopping, entertaining ourselves, and the obsession with trivia. A real spiritual practitioner has to get off of “Planet Absurdo” and retreat to “Planet Sanity” in order to rehabilitate and get in a position to truly help others.

This podcast is taken from a “Dharma Essentials” class taught in Los Angeles in December of 2007.

Fighting The Power:

In order to live a happy life, we must resist the diversions of the secular life. Consumer capitalism cannot bring the happiness it promises, and we are living testimonials to this. We obtained everything consumer capitalism promised and we’re still unhappy. If we are going to be happy, we must be consumer capitalist drop-outs and revolutionaries and resist the power of insatiable desire and dissatisfaction.

This podcast is taken from a class taught in Tucson, Arizona, in January of 2008.

An Interview With Lama Marut:

Lama Marut talks informally about Buddhism as a radical alternative to the “shopping mall culture” of modern West, and how the Buddha’s dharma should appeal especially to young people looking for an alternative to conformity, commodification, and consumer capitalism.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

There is a Method to Achieve Total Happiness:
The Four Arya Truths, Part Four, 3

In this final podcast on working on a daily basis for our highest happiness,  Lama Marut urges us to check on our morality every few hours, do something for someone else every day, practice the “couch potato contemplation,” and end the day with study of a spiritual text.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

There is a Method to Achieve Total Happiness:
The Four Arya Truths, Part Four, 2

In this second segment on how to develop a daily practice, Lama Marut picks up with the daily “morning loll” in which, before getting out of bed, we remember that each day could be the last one we have to live so we stop taking things for granted.  We need to also learn to be “unbusy,” spending time quiet and alone every morning contemplating the meaning of our lives, practice daily meditation, and some kind of physical practice like yoga with the proper motivation.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

There is a Method to Achieve Total Happiness:
The Four Arya Truths, Part Four, 1

In order to achieve the goal of a spiritual life – total and complete happiness – we have to retrain ourselves on a daily basis.  In this first of three podcasts on how to develop a good daily practice, Lama Marut recommends that we get a good night sleep every night and wake up slowly and naturally every morning.  And before getting out of bed recall what a miracle your life is.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

There is an alternative to Suffering:
The Four Arya Truths, Part Three

The Buddha said that suffering is not inevitable. Buddhism, like all religions, holds out the promise of perfect happiness in the future. But we must work toward this goal in part by practicing being happy all the time. Lama Marut here points out that there is never a time where it makes sense to be anything other than happy.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

Suffering Has a Cause:
The Four Arya Truths, Part Two

The second of the Buddha’s fundamental teachings is that suffering is caused.  If we can stop the causes for unhappiness which we ourselves are perpetuating, we can stop our pain.  To do this, however, we must first learn to stop blaming others for our suffering and take responsibility for ourselves and learn the real causes for our unhappiness.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

The Truth of Suffering:
The Four Arya Truths, Part One

The Buddha’s first teachings were organized around what are called the "Four Noble Truths."  The first of these is "The Truth of Suffering.”  By understanding, as the Buddha did, the truth of the suffering of birth, sickness, old age, and death, we can begin our attempt to get to the real causes of ultimate happiness and the end of suffering.

This podcast is taken from a series of teachings given at the Windhover Performing Arts Center in Cape Ann, Massachusetts, in August of 2007.

Guided Meditation on the Emptiness of Problems and Feelings

This series of podcasts on the six “flavours” of emptiness concludes with a guided meditation on the feelings that arise when we think about our problems. These feelings are impermanent, out of our control in the present moment, not just random but caused by karma, empty of having the qualities we impute on them, exist only as interpretations, and ultimately are entirely projected from us due to how we have treated others in the past. 

This podcast is taken from a retreat held over Thanksgiving weekend, 2006, in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Everything is Coming From Me, Not At Me: The Emptiness of Self-Existence

While the Buddha taught all the other of the lower worldviews we’ve reviewed in the past five podcasts, it is only the sixth and highest version of emptiness that is fully correct. The sixth “flavour” of emptiness is the contention that nothing is coming from “out there.” Everything is a projection or imputation coming from our minds, forced on us by how we have treated others in the past. And it is only this understanding of emptiness is that explains why our own Buddhahood and the transformation of our world into a paradise is really possible.

This podcast is taken from a retreat held over Thanksgiving weekend, 2006, in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Turning Problems into Opportunities: The Emptiness of Things Coming from Their Own Side

The fifth of the six flavours of emptiness argues that things are coming half from the object and half from the subject or perceiver. Lama Marut explains the benefits of cultivating this worldview in order to transform apparent problems into opportunities.

This podcast is taken from a retreat held over Thanksgiving weekend, 2006, in South Lake Tahoe, California.

Different Strokes for Different Folks: The Emptiness of Judgments.

Lama Marut’s teachings on the mahamudra emptiness meditation continue with “worldview four” – things are empty of having the qualities we attribute to them from their own side. The judgments we make about things and people are coming from us, then projected onto those things and people, and then mistaken for qualities they inherently have. While this does not mean we shouldn’t judge others’ actions, we cannot legitimately go on to judge persons. Since we can never really know who another person is, we always have two unconfirmable possibilities: he or she is just an ordinary being, or that person is an enlightened angel sent to teach us. Which of these two possibilities would be more useful?

This podcast is taken from a retreat held over Thanksgiving weekend, 2006, in South Lake Tahoe, California.