Vietnam business talks

Geshe Michael and Lama Christie with the publishers from Thai Ha Books.

The first talk was in Hanoi, consisting of up to 500 CEOs and business executives, and sponsored by Thai Ha Books and the Ha Noi Young Business Assn. Afterwards a representative of the business association got up and gave a very stirring thank-you talk:

"Vietnam friends, Vietnam people: today's seminar is very magic. It's not magic just because I bought the book, but the seminar today was very interesting because only presidents are here: CEOs and high ranking business people from Vietnam and Hanoi. And as Christie has said, we are connected together, we are all together. We are business people, we are presidents, and so we're trying to do our best to have wealth. Now we've learned how from American people, and from the Diamond Cutter Sutra. And I know that a lot of you are followers of Buddhism, so I think this is useful for you and you will very active in its practice.

"Geshe Michael shared that with us, and especially invited us to the university where people may study and improve their knowledge and practice. Fortunately there are some companies and corporations that are following Buddhism, but some companies do not understand the meaning, real meaning, of Buddhism. So I think that we could improve that way.

"A lot of people come to a monastery but they do not understand what they get from the monastery. They just come there. So we should understand the real meaning of Buddhism. And I think after that, we need more of this kind of seminar. A lot of high-ranking people have taken up the new ideas and understand very clearly. They understand about giving money to get money to be rich. When Lama Christie compared the money and emptiness, I understood about emptiness.

"I want to say to you American people, that during the war, during the war, we saw emptiness. And our president said that sometimes our bodies are inside, but our mind is outside. So our country is also a Buddhist country. Today we have our friends, plus they have protested the war, and they have come today to Vietnam to share their understanding and knowledge with our business people. I do not practice Buddhism, but I appreciate, highly appreciate, Buddhism.
I want to say thank you to the book publisher. After that, I also want to say thank you to our people, the volunteers sitting over here. It is not easy today to get a lot of presidents and high-ranking people in one hall.

"Two important things are money and knowledge. Maybe we cannot give money, but we can give each other knowledge. And then we can earn the money by using the knowledge. I can give knowledge and I can give a lot of things. I hope the companies, the corporations will benefit, and that this will be the turning point for the situation of the economy in our countries as well as in the world. We will apply the teachings in this book to our business and to our life. And once again on behalf of everyone here I want to say thank you."


Here's the recording of the business talk in Hanoi, April 22nd, 2009. *here*



Here's the recording of the talk in Ho Chi Minh City, April 24th, 2009. *here*

Vietnam

This posting isn't going to be objective; Vietnam is too charged for that. We arrived late last night in Hanoi, and haven't gone out yet but I can hear the birds outside and the faint sound of traffic. The Diamond Cutter book just came out in Vietnamese, and Geshe Michael and Lama Christie came here to promote it, and just to connect with people by teaching and meeting with them. Here's a link to the publisher: *click here*.

We were all looking forward especially to being here, since so many of us grew up hearing about Vietnam in the context of our country destroying theirs, and trying so hard to make it stop. There's a strong heart connection. When I see their faces, it flashes me to faces I used to see in the news, of prisoners, or that little girl running with napalm burns. I'm afraid I'm going to start crying at some inappropriate time.



Some of the local native American Apaches, whose ancestors lived on our land in Arizona, heard we were going, and they were moved, because many of them were sent to Vietnam as young men and came back with broken spirits. They wanted to do something to be part of it, so four of the elders came to Diamond Mountain to bless our trip. They did long prayers and songs, and gave us a feather they had blessed to carry for protection. So I feel in a way that we're here for them too. Tomorrow the lamas will teach.

I took some photos on the street: link

Tokyo, 2009: Sun and Moon Yoga Center

Geshe Michael and Lama Christie have been teaching in Tokyo the past two days, along with several of Diamond Mountain's best yoga teachers, including Yvonne Jaques, Mercedes Bahleda, and Anatole Nguyen. The venue is Sun and Moon yoga studio, a small but mighty yoga group in the middle of Tokyo's busy downtown area. Sun and Moon is the creation of Leza Lowitz, an American who has lived in Japan on and off since the early 90's, and who has studied both Buddhism and yoga for many years. The sincerity of her own practice is reflected in the serenity of the venue, as well as the enthusiasm of her students. At every class and teaching, the room was packed, and the students stayed for more, even after the end, talking and exchanging emails with Worldview staff, buying books, and happily discussing the teachings.

Here's a link to Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's classes:

Friday April 17, 2009: Yogi’s Mind, Business Mind
Handout for Friday class

Saturday April 18, 2009: How Yoga Works
Handout for Saturday class

For more about Sun and Moon yoga, check out their website here.

Report from the Bahamas Yoga Sutra teachings

We just completed the fourth and final year of a 4-year program on the yoga sutra, team-taught with Swami Swaroopananda Saraswati, one of the world's leading experts on the Samkhya Hindu interpretation of the Yoga Sutra. Over the years, the course has grown larger and larger, as people all over the world have heard about it. We had participants for example from Colombia, Israel, Serbia, Iran, Italy, England, Mexico, etc.

The Sivananda lineage actually derives from the same lineage as our own Naropa lineages — we were all one lineage at one time, and were then separated for a thousand years. Everyone at the teachings felt the deep magic of the two mature and evolved lineages rejoining to make a powerful new tradition, and there was a lovely moment on the dock as we left the island: everyone spontaneously gathered and sang holy mantras together. It was really beautiful.

The Sivananda Bahamas yoga ashram is one of the oldest yoga schools outside of India, operating for the past 35 years, and catering to many hundreds of guests every year. It is a deep and beautiful place, with the entire staff celibate yogis. We are so impressed with their operation that we have sent several Diamond Mountain students this month there to study their very successful ways of running their programs and operations.

We look forward to seeing everyone there at the Bhagavad Gita teachings given by Swami Ji May 7-17; an extraordinary opportunity to learn the most famous holy book of India, the class will be a real window into the Indian soul; can still register at the Sivananda website, by clicking *here*.