American monk Venerable Sumati Marut (Brian K. Smith) is ordained in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. He serves as a founding Board member of the Yoga Studies Institute, is the Spiritual Director of the Asian Classics Institutes of Cape Ann, Massachusetts, Los Angeles, California, and Reno, Nevada, and is on the faculty of Diamond Mountain University in Arizona. He holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Religion and taught for over twenty years at Columbia University and the University of California, from which institution he is now Professor Emeritus. He is the author of several scholarly books and translations based on Sanskrit materials. Venerable Marut’s personal understanding of our modern western lifestyle unites with his extensive scriptural knowledge of authentic South Asian traditions to create spiritual teachings uniquely relevant to Americans. He is distinguished and adored for his down-to-earth humour, passionate drive, and ability to make even the most esoteric elements of eastern philosophy work as tools for immediate transformation. The path to enlightenment has never been so welcoming. Ven. Marut is a student and teacher of Tibetan Mahayana Buddhism under the guidance of his spiritual teacher, Geshe Michael Roach. On February 18, 2005, Ven. Marut became an ordained monk in the Gelukpa lineage.