ACI 6

The Diamond

Cutter Sutra

with Ven. Utpala

Online Course
August 27 – September 26, 2025

Join us to learn what the challenging concept of emptiness really means and how you can build a happier, healthier life using it. 

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 ACI 6: 
The Diamond
Cutter Sutra

Asian Classics Institute presents an explosive introduction to emptiness in ACI 6, The Diamond Cutter Sutra. Spoken by the Buddha 2,500 years ago, this sutra is the oldest known printed book in the world (868 CE). Why are so many people so interested in keeping this book in print? Because it shares with us the secrets of existence in a very deep and high way. ACI 6 is especially valuable to students because it explains this sometimes hard-to-understand work in detail. Taking this course will give you details about what emptiness is and how to apply it in your daily life, in modern language relevant to our times. And you will gain a community of like-minded people with whom you can discuss these amazing teachings.   
The Diamond Cutter Sutra is not a passive discussion of the many fine qualities of diamond; it is a powerful tool generously put into your hands so that you can cut through the problems and sorrows that life too often presents. Using the increasingly intimate and profound understanding of emptiness you will gain in this course, you'll be able to face and attack things that scare you, things that depress you, things that limit you, and things that are in your way. And you will understand better how to create what you do want to see in your life.    
ACI 6 brings you authentic information about emptiness from masters like Master Vasubandhu (~350 CE) and Master Kamalashila (~750 CE), two Indian geniuses who wrote brilliant commentaries on The Diamond Cutter Sutra. Find out exactly why the idea of diamond is so emphasized in Buddhism; how diamond is—or is not—connected to the bodhisattva vows that help a person achieve total enlightenment for the sake of every living being; and what nirvana really means. In the course, you will grapple with the challenges of thinking about emptiness as a negative, not a positive. Emptiness, after all, is the absence of any thing existing as it seems to exist; it is the object that is not there, although we think it is. It can be very challenging to wrap your mind around this idea, but it's important to do so, as emptiness is a core concept in Buddhism. Let your journey to master emptiness begin here with ACI 6.

ACI 6 gives you lots of specific details on how things really work. It is arguably the most important course of the 18 ACI Foundation Courses.

  • You'll discover what emptiness means and how it relates to karma and bodhichitta. 
  • We explore the four bodies of a Buddha, what they are, how they work, and what they, as well as the marks of a Buddha, have to do with emptiness. 
  • We will discuss how the teachings stay in the world, where they go in the world, and what might cause them to disappear. 
  • We get insight into how fluid the past, present, and future are; an introduction to the six perfections; and the emptiness teaching called The Three Spheres. 
  • We explore realized beings; renunciation; and the five paths. We get some great details on the direct perception of emptiness. 
  • This is the course where our powerful practice called the Four Forces is first presented.

ACI 6

Do you want to join one of the five houses of the Asian Classics Institute— Classics, Samadhi, Mountain, Staircase, or Diamond House?

ACI 6, The Diamond Cutter Sutra, is one of five ACI Foundation Courses required to join a house. In this foundational course series, you will prepare the groundwork for joining any house.

Join us for ACI 6, beginning August 27, taught by certified ACI teacher Venerable Utpala.

It's free online and open to everyone.

Venerable utpala

Ven. Utpala is an accomplished writer, editor, and teacher. She has worked in government, business, and volunteer-based organizations. She completed a three-year solitary meditation retreat at Diamond Mountain in 2014. Since 2017, she has been a member of Geshe Michael Roach's translation team, also serving as managing editor and chief archivist. Her first translation from the Tibetan into English was Emptiness Meditations; she’s working on her second translation, tentatively titled Interlude on Emptiness.
Ven. Utpala constantly works to perfect her study and practice of Buddhist philosophy, Tibetan language, and meditation. She views her work as primarily singular: serving people who are working to realize their highest dreams. She lives in Camp Verde, Arizona.

🗓️ ACI 6 SCHEDULE:

🕗 ALL CLASSES are AT 6:30–8:00 AM
(ARIZONA TIME)

Class 1 – August 27
Class 2 – August 29
Class 3 – September 3
Class 4 – September 5
Class 5 – September 10
Class 6 – September 12
Class 7 – September 17
Class 8 – September 19
Class 9 – September 24
Class 10 – September 26