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*.

Witway comes to teach Chinese culture at Diamond Mountain

This week we had a treat--the people who usually host Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's teachings in China came to Diamond Mountain to teach us about the three major philosophical systems in China.  They were Master Chen Chao, the teacher; Mr Zou Zhengran; and our old friend Mr. Huang Jin, the translator.  While they were here, they investigated every aspect of Diamond Mountain, from yoga, to debate, a dance performance, a visit with the board, even to working hard to help build the lamas' retreat cabin on the hill.  In addition to enjoying their company, everyone found the teachings very helpful in understanding Chinese culture, and in comparing it to our own beliefs and habits.

Audios:
Day 1, an overview of the three main Chinese philosophical traditions, particularly Taoism
Day 2, more about the teachings of Confucius
Day 3, schools of Chinese Buddhism, part 1
Day 4, schools of Chinese Buddhism, part 2

Student notes on the entire series

Hong Kong Yoga Conference

Most of the tour videos are posted on the Geshe Michael Roach & Lama Christie McNally website.

I'm trying to get links to the audio. For now, here is a list of the classes taught by Geshe Michael and Lama Christie, along with the readings.

3 July, 5pm - 7pm
Geshe Michael Roach & Lama Christie McNally
Tibetan Buddhist Yoga Philosophy - Light on the Yoga of the Sun and the Moon: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika Lecture Series : Asanas and Emptiness
July 3rd Reading

4 July, 2:30pm - 4:30pm
Geshe Michael Roach & Lama Christie McNally
Tibetan Buddhist Yoga Philosophy - Light on the Yoga of the Sun and the Moon: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika Lecture Series : Pranayama
July 4th Reading

5 July, 2:15pm - 4:15pm
Geshe Michael Roach & Lama Christie McNally
Tibetan Buddhist Yoga Philosophy - Light on the Yoga of the Sun and the Moon: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika Lecture Series : Chakra Doors and Sacred Sounds
July 5th Reading

6 July, 2:30pm - 4:30pm
Geshe Michael Roach & Lama Christie McNally
Tibetan Buddhist Yoga Philosophy - Light on the Yoga of the Sun and the Moon: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika Lecture Series : The End of Breath & Beyond the Mind
July 6th Reading

Shanghai

Audio
June 24th Audio--Crazy Wisdom
June 25th Audio--Relationships
June 26th Audio--Mahamudra and the Practice of Business

Readings
June 24th
June 25th
June 26th

Online Video
Video from Shanghai teachings, June 25th, 2008

Dalian China, June 2008

We arrived in Dalian after a short flight from Tokyo, and were met at the airport by members of Witway, the sponsoring organization. Everything had been planned and organized, and the teachings went off beautifully, with everyone very concerned with the needs of their "foreign friends". Dalian is a fairly new Chinese city, about 100 years old, but big, with 3 million residents and another 3 million in the suburbs. It's located at the end of a peninsula on the northern coast, so the air is fresh and clean.



The first teaching, on June 19th, was an introduction to karma and emptiness, using a pen and a 100-yuan note as props to demonstrate how you create your world. The time was too short to go into much detail about how to change your karma, so the lamas settled on teaching about the two simplest ways. Here are my notes from that teaching:

The two fastest and easiest ways to speed up karma:

1. Coffee meditation. Geshe Michael spoke of the four hour commute that he made every day for 15 years--when he got home, he was tired and wanted to relax. Instead of sitting for formal meditation, he used the principle that any time you see someone do something good and feel happy, you get 10% of the good karma. So you can just relax and rejoice, and in that way you collect positive karma in a very easy way.

2. If you do coffee meditation you can do it anywhere, because it's just being happy when other people do good things, like giving away money. But then you have to have a plan what you are going to do with the money you make. If you use it for yourself, you kill the karma. So you have to "reinvest" it. If you do a good coffee meditation the karma comes back and stops. If you give money and then get more as a result, you have to give some of it, say 25%, to someone else. Look for a poor or hungry or unhappy person. Wealthy people are often the most unhappy, so they take them to dinner and pay for it, and don't ask for anything in return. So any time money comes to you, take some and give to other people. If you're wondering if it really works, the company he helped to start is the fastest growing in the history of NYC because they shared the profit with poor people.


Readings for day one (Yoga, Business, Love): http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Dalian-19-06-08.pdf.
The audio for day one is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Dalian-19-06-08.mp3;




Day two: Spiritual Partners--How to Find Them, Keep Them, Reach Them

This was a public talk, so it was a much bigger group than yesterday, maybe about 500 people, packed into the ballroom of a beautiful new hotel. Today was also the first day that the lamas' new CD was available, and also a book that Huang Jin made of last years' partners teachings, and there was a big unruly line of people who wanted autographs during the break. Every one of the tour team had to stand together to keep it moving and under control.

The talk was about how to create the karma to have a partner, to keep them, to be happy with them, and finally how to get them to take you to heaven. It's a beautiful teaching, also very hands-on and practical.

From my notea: How to reach the partner. We said the pen is empty, by itself it's just a stick, and pen comes from our mind. A partner is the same. He or she doesn't have any nature of its own, so they are available to be anything. Right now we see them as normal, because we planted those seeds by treating them as normal. If we treated them as our holy teacher, they would become that.

At the beginning it's just pretend. But then the seeds start to shift and one day you will be sitting with them and you will hear them say something very profound, like they are reading your mind, and you will see they aren't normal. Then they switch back to a normal person, but now you know that they aren't normal.

You have to bring out the angel in your partner by treating them like an angel. Then they will start to bless your mind and guide you until one day you see a halo of light around their head. It's the same as the pen—they are empty.

How do you know your partner is an angel? There are three qualities of angels—they love us very much, like their only child; they know your mind so they know what you need; and they have power to send any form to you to help you. If they love you very much and can read your mind and can take any form they want, they must be emanating as someone right next to you, who can push you further on the path. So your partner must be a holy angel, just waiting for you to figure it out. If you honor them and ask them to come to you as a real angel, they will reveal themselves to you, and you give them power to take you to heaven and teach you to become like them—indestructible body of light, nothing but love in their heart, reaching out to help you.


Readings for day two (Spiritual Partners): http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Dalian-20-06-08.pdf.
The audio for day two is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Dalian-20-06-08.mp3.



Day three was about business--how to succeed and save the world at the same time. They said that in order to run a company you need three things: harmony among the workers and boss, creativity to come up with new ideas, and most important--profitability. All of these come from the seeds you plant in your mind. The seed for creativity comes from being happy when others get good ideas, and the seed for profit comes from giving money to those who need it. After you plant the seeds though, you need to nurture them to make them grow fast. You do that in the who, the what, the when and the how of the way you perform the actions. In the end, it all boils down to how we care for others.

Readings for day three: http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Dalian-21-06-08.pdf.
The audio for day three is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Dalian-21-06-08.mp3.

Japan: June, 2008

Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's teachings in Japan were held at YogaJaya center, located in the stylish Ebisu-Nishi area of central Tokyo, which is otherwise known for funky cafe/bar/restaurants, fashion brands, boutiques, atelliers, and music and art culture. The director, Patrick Oancia, is a very thoughtful and dedicated yogi, and he was quite obviously pleased to bring the teachings to his students in Japan.

Their first talk on Saturday, June 14, was about relationships. The lamas felt that the Japanese crowd was ready for something substantial, so instead of the introductory teaching, they delved into the heart of the matter, and taught from the Goddess Code: the tantric rules for a successful relationship. On the second day, they taught about how to have a successful life, using principals from the business teachings.

The audience was more laid back and sophisticated than the group in Mongolia, but also very interested, and seemed to appreciate the level of detail and actual content to the teachings.

Here are the links for the teachings:

Readings for day one (Goddess Code): http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Tokyo-15-06-08.pdf.
The audio for day one is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Tokyo-14-06-08.mp3

Readings for day two (Yoga, Business, and a Love Story): http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Tokyo-15-06-08.pdf
The audio for day two is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Tokyo-15-06-08.mp3

Link to Scott's Tokyo photos

Mongolia! 2008

Mongolia is a beautiful place and the people are lovely. Many of our crew felt an unexpected closeness to the land and the people who came to the talks. The first teaching was held in the big circus pavilion in the middle of Ulaan Baatar. Geshe Michael and Lama Christie gave away 500 copies of the new Mongolian translation of the Diamond Cutter, and the stage was mobbed. The publication of these translations was sponsored by Erdene Zuu Monastery, with sales to benefit the monastery, and it was translated by our old friend Batbold Baast, who also translated the teachings. The whole program, including a preliminary yoga demonstration by Ven Nyingpo and Jessica Kung, was broadcast live on Mongolian television.

Day one reading: http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Mongolia-10-06-08.pdf
The audio for day one is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Mongolia-10-06-08.mp3.

Erdene Zuu Monastery website: click here.

Second day--June 11th, report from Christine Sperber: "Tonight was the most unbelievable teaching from Geshe Michael and Lama Christie. Filmed on national Mongolian TV, we experienced a historic event - as a female Lama was introduced as the Angel, along with the highest teachings of Buddhism--how you can reach the highest in one ifetime. The response of the audience was unbelievable. So many lives were touched in the auditorium - and this was filmed for national TV. It was a teaching on Spiritual Partners again - and it was breathtaking."

Day two reading: http://www.dmes.org/pdfs/Mongolia-11-06-08.pdf
The audio for day two is available at http://www.dmes.org/audiofiles/Mongolia-11-06-08.mp3.

Follow this link to Scott's Mongolia photos.

Link to Worldview writeup of Mongolia events

Spiritual Partners: Tucson, April, 2008 Geshe Michael and Lama Christie

Spiritual partners (Crazy Wisdom / Lojong) at Tucson: April 17th and 18th, 2008



Lojong Dun Dunma: How to find your spiritual partner and how to act with them, using ancient wisdom.

Audio:

Day one audio

Reading

Day two audio

Reading

Video:

April 17th, part one

April 17th, part two

April 18th, part one

April 18th, part two

Proof of Heaven: Buddhist/Christian Dialogue

Proof of Heaven: Christian and Buddhist Roadmaps to the Same Place: A Christian and Buddhist Dialogue about Heaven, Angels, and God
with Father Brian Baker, Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally
April 12th & 13th, 2008 at Broadway Presbyterian Church, New York, NY,
in conjunction with the release of Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's book, The Eastern Path to Heaven.

Audio links:

Talk One MP3: April 12th, 2008

Reading one

Talk Two MP3: April 13th, 2008

Reading two

Father Brian's Blog about the event

Video link:

Ben Worden's video of this event

Teachings in Prague: March 25-28, 2008

Audio

Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's teachings:

On March 25, the lamas gave a great talk at Lotus Yoga center. The average age of the audience member was about twenty five, and they were really interested and enthusiastic. Geshe hla met a boy at the talks with a spinal problem and constant headaches and he asked one of our staff to work privately with him on inversions while we were there. Sometimes it's a relief to feel for a few days that you are of use in the world and maybe doing a little bit of good.

As in Israel, the team members also taught, but most weren't recorded (unfortunately). But we managed to cover a vast number of topics: meditation, Tibetan Heart Yoga, Songs of the Panchen Lama, debate, relating to a spiritual teacher, movement meditation to remove obstacles, Heart Sutra, and more yoga.

Audio for March 25: The Meaning of Yoga (Lotus Yoga Center)

March 25th Reading

For the next talk, about how to make karma work for you, Geshe Michael started out talking about where things come from, for example, the invention of fire. Perhaps an animal was hit by lightning and tasted better, and so the cavemen tried to make it happen again. But how? We are like cavemen because we don't know how to do anything—we don't know if we're going to make or lose money or if your food will make you healthy or sick, etc.

Buddhism isn't a religion, it's just a way of thinking, so you can have any religion and study Buddhism. We're teaching how to make fire—how to succeed at everything. If you understand how reality works, you can have anything—money, a healthy body, a good partner, you can reach heaven/nirvana/enlightenment. You can stop death. The principle is the same.

Audio for March 26: Yoga, Business, and a Love Story (Lotus Yoga Center)

March 26th Reading

On the 26th, the teachings were held in an old church, and the evening started out with a concert. The teachings came from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, about Raja Yoga--the highest yoga--and they started to teach how not to die, how to change the pictures in your mind that make you see yourself dying. Then, because we have to leave, they told them:

"You need to find someone who can guide you for the rest of the way. You have to have a living teacher guiding you for 15 or 20 years. So you need to find your teacher, take some time and pick them carefully, because you will end up becoming just like them. Then once you have picked your teacher, throw your whole heart into it. Don't have any doubts. Then your path will go very fast."

Audio for March 27: The Yoga of the Sun and the Moon teachings from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (at Kostel sv Jana Křtitele Na prádle)

March 27th Reading

Audio for March 27: A special concert before the talk with Mercedes Bahleda singing, with Irena and Vojta Havlovi on strings and Will Duncan on percussion.

The last talk was held at the Esoterika Festival, a happy eclectic gathering of everyone from Hare Krishnas to honey farmers, and everything in between. The lamas talked about spiritual partners, a topic that everyone is interested in.

Lama Christie said: "When you find someone who opens your heart you learn to think about someone besides yourself, and that's the only thing that will make you happy—to open your heart so that you think of their needs as more than your own. But there's another reason that has to do with what's inside of us. We have an inner body—a network of channels in our body—made of light. Inside of them runs prana or chi or lung. This is called inner wind and it runs through the channels in our body. It is a combination of male and female energies. We have both, but out of balance. If you are male you have mostly male, if you are female you have mostly female. So there is a longing to be a whole, and that is the attraction you have to a partner. The people you are attracted to are the one who have what you lack—who can make you whole. When you get enlightened you will have a balance of energies. So partner practice is about balancing the energies in you. In the last moments before enlightenment you will be with your partner. So every movie you have ever seen with a happy ending is leading you to this moment."

Audio for March 28: Spiritual Partners-How to Find Them, Keep Them and Reach Them (Esoterika Festival)

March 28th Reading

Photos of Prague teachings

View from the stage at Esoterika


It was cold in the church where the lamas were teaching.



Irena and Vojta Havlovi, who helped organize the ACI and YSI lectures in Prague.

Israel teachings: March 17-20, 2008

Israel teachings: March, 2008


March 17: Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's first teaching was held at the Wohl Center in Bahr-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. The topic was Yoga, Business, Love (from Diamond Cutter). Many of our party also taught, mostly at Myoga, a nice new place in Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv, where all morning teachings were held. Ven. Chunzom taught meditation: transforming problems; Tibetan Heart Yoga (Mercedes); Ven. Jigme: Relationship with a spiritual teacher, (using Pabongka Rinpoche's Liberation in Your Hands). Ven. Chukyi (at Wohl Center): meditations on the lama.

March 18: Geshe Michael and Lama Christie: Gesher Theater in Yafo, near the old part of town. Their teachings were about Karmic Management. Ven. Chuky taught Meditations on the Lama. Geshe Michael, Lama Christie and Lama Dvora all participated in a seminar on Management by the Principles of Karma.

March 19: Day off. Some of us went on a guided tour of Jerusalem with Ilan Yadin. It was beautiful and moving. That night there was kirtan led by Mercedes at Belt HaTsan'han Ramat Gan.

March 20: Morning teachings at Gesher Theater (same venue as the lamas used later)-Ven. Chukyi: Meditations on the Lamas; Ven. Nyingpo: Debate Class; Ven. Jigme: relationship with a spiritual teacher. Evening teachings-Geshe Michael and Lama Christie: Spiritual Partnership.


Online video
Business Talk in Tel Aviv on March 17th 2008 part 1
Business Talk in Tel Aviv on March 18th 2008 part 2

Photos of Israel tour

Audience at the business teachings


Trip to Jerusalem