BRINGING WISDOM TO LIFE

with Earle Birney

What is the nature of happiness? Is it a goal to be pursued or a trap to be avoided? In this talk, we will discuss two different ideas of happiness and end with a practice to harvest the joy that surrounds us.

Geshe Michael’s teacher, Khen Rinpoche, once said:

"The very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. Whether one believes in religion or not, Whether one believes in that religion or this religion, We are all seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is toward happiness."

—Khen Rinpoche

Contrast this with the famous words of Albert Einstein, who expressed his disdain for making the pursuit of happiness one’s goal in life:

"Well-being and happiness never appeared to me as an absolute aim. I am even inclined to compare such moral aims to the ambitions of a pig."

—Albert Einstein

Who is right? And if we are all trying to find happiness, why does it feel so elusive? 

with Timothy Lowenhaupt

In life, the greatest gift we can offer our loved ones is care, understanding, and compassion. When they pass, this responsibility deepens as we help them transition peacefully. In the Buddhist tradition, this sacred duty is more than a final farewell; it is an opportunity to ensure their journey beyond is filled with grace and serenity. This unique class, Helping Those Who Have Died, is part of the “Bringing Wisdom to Life” series, taught by Timothy Lowenhaupt, Executive Director of the Asian Classics Institute.

This deeply transformative class offers an ancient, compassionate roadmap to care for those nearing death and those who have already passed. You’ll learn how to support a peaceful death, treat the physical body after passing, and respectfully care for their spirit. Through Buddhist teachings, you’ll learn, step-by-step, how to guide loved ones toward their next life as they transition onwards.

Preparing for a Peaceful Death

Death, in the Buddhist tradition, is not an end but a transition into the next phase of existence. The way we live and die has profound effects on this journey. Preparing loved ones to approach their final moments peacefully is key to a smoother transition. In this class, we’ll learn time-honored practices to help loved ones embrace the natural cycle of life and death. Drawing on Buddhist meditative techniques and philosophical teachings, we’ll discover how to create an environment that fosters peace and serenity, to purify their heart and soul of any regrets and wrongdoings in this life. This guidance helps our loved ones let go with grace, increasing the likelihood of a favorable rebirth or deeper spiritual transformation.

Caring for the Soul’s Journey

Buddhism teaches that the person continues their journey after death. Helping our loved ones on this path is one of the most profound ways to show our love and care. In this class, you will learn essential practices such as prayer, rejoicing and remembrance, and meditative visualization techniques to aid in their safe crossing. We’ll gain insights into how to guide them through the bardo—the intermediate state between death and rebirth—offering them clarity and support during this uncertain, confusing period. Through dedicated practice, you can assist in reducing our loved one’s confusion and fear, steering them towards the next stages of their journey.

Bringing Timeless Wisdom into Practice

Guided by Timothy Lowenhaupt, this class combines the depth of Buddhist wisdom with practical tools you can apply when a loved one passes. As the Executive Director of the Asian Classics Institute, Tim brings decades of experience in helping individuals understand and practice these sacred teachings.

Helping Those Who Have Died offers more than just knowledge—it’s a profound opportunity to transform how we care for loved ones at the end of life and beyond. Whether your goal is to bring peace, ease their rebirth, or help them engage in new spiritual growth, this class will provide you with the tools and understanding to make their final journey one of grace, love, and embraced with purpose. Join us to learn how to help those who have passed in the most meaningful way possible.

with Janice Sanders

What if there was a way to plant a fresh start to redevelop your creativity and awaken your imagination; would you be interested in learning the tools to do so? If so, this class will give you an introduction to developing your creativity and exploring your intuition. The best news is that the method to do so is easy and it’s fun.

As we explore our creativity we can discover how intuition and creativity are related. With a creative mindset and an evolving intuition, it is possible to swiftly consider what is the next best thing for ourselves and others to do.

In this class we will introduce methods for growing our creativity and intuition, with real-life examples of how others have grown their imagination and used it to follow their passion for art, literature, business, and finding the job they love.

Janice is a successful business owner and teaches both for the Asian Classics Institute and the Diamond Cutter Institute. Her life goal is to teach as many people as possible the art of planting seeds so they can attain the lives of their dreams.

with Aldo Arzapalo

Taught by ACI certified teacher Aldo Arzapalo, our topic will be Meditation on Death and the End of Death.

Our tradition brings us surprising good news--death can be ended in our lifetime.

We’ll discuss death and its importance, not as a sad and depressing topic, but as something helpful for our practice. We’ll talk about how this can boost our good qualities and help us set priorities in life.

Join Aldo as he guides us through a death meditation to take us deeper into how to use this practice to reach our higher goals.

with Alix Rowland

Everyday sharing: The Perfectionizer of Giving in Daily Life will be an interactive discussion about the first of the six perfections. We all want to live in a world where our needs and the needs of others are easily met. It is frustrating to see people pour their hearts into their work or projects only to encounter financial difficulties. Our own financial problems may make it hard to face each day with joy.

In this session we will investigate how to incorporate four different aspects of giving (material things, protection, dharma, and love) into everyday life. When done with intention, sharing in these four powerful ways will transform you and your world quickly. Learn how to use giving as a catalyst to trigger all the other perfectionizers to reach your highest potential.

with Silvia Engelhardt & Alix Rowland

Join us for an engaging exploration of the intersection between ancient wisdom and modern science as we delve into the profound teachings of the six perfections. We will embark on a conversational journey akin to chatting with a friend, where we'll not only investigate the essence of each perfection but also uncover how scientific discoveries can enhance and deepen our spiritual practice. Bringing Wisdom to Life is always free and open to everyone.

Senior ACI teacher Silvia Engelhardt, semi-retired from her job as an editor at a major German news magazine, has been teaching the 18 Asian Classics Institute Foundation Courses since 2010. As the founder and managing director of the German publishing house Edition Blumenau, Silvia has published Geshe Michael’s works in Europe. In 2022 she co-founded the Meditation Studies Program, an international Worldview organization focusing on meditation. She lives in Germany.

Alix Rowland is a yoga teacher who began studying the 18 Asian Classics Institute Foundation Courses in 2013. She is a co-founder of Seeds of True Success, a training company; an assistant SCIM professor; and a founding member of Team North Star, a Colorado real estate team. Alix has taught the seed system and yoga at international ACI events in Thailand and Indonesia and is currently writing a book about profit-sharing in real estate. She lives in Colorado.

with Connie O'Brien

Join senior Asian Classics Institute teacher Connie O'Brien as she leads us through some thoughts, tips and techniques on ways to use Buddhist thinking to make your life flow more smoothly, easily, and joyfully.

"There is a secret," Connie tells us. "I'll give you a hint: it has to do with one of the six perfections. Can you guess which one?"

Buddhism is famous for making our lives happier. Often senior practitioners will give off a vibe of being happy in all situations, able to bring peace and harmony to strife, serene and unruffled even if things go wrong. They have an uncanny knack for solving problems we may be having and giving insightful advice at just the right moment. How do we get to be like this? Sometimes life just seems to be too rough and filled with misery and problems. During the course of our days, maybe a few things go right, but too much goes wrong, causing stress, unhappiness, and sadness. Sometimes it seems like things will never change for the better.

Connie helps us get new ideas for raising ourselves above problems and unhappiness, getting past persistent obstacles, and changing our lives for the better in the near future. Learn how to walk through life with ease!

About Connie O'Brien

Besides being one of Asian Classics Institute's most experienced senior teachers, Connie is the executive directive of Yoga Studies Institute, and a staff member at the Diamond Cutter Institute teaching Diamond Cutter principles at the Sedona College of International Management.

After completing degrees in psychology, environmental studies, and nursing in 2001, Connie undertook an intensive course of study in the supporting philosophy of the Diamond Cutter system. In 2014 she completed a 3-year, 3-month, 3-day silent retreat at Diamond Mountain Retreat Center. She's a certified yoga teacher and was owner and chef of an award-winning restaurant on Vancouver Island for six years.

She lives in Sedona, Arizona, USA with her husband, ACI Senior Teacher John Brady. Connie and John have taught timeless wisdom at all levels all over the world since emerging from retreat in 2014.

with Eva Balzer

The daily fight with food can be exhausting and terribly frustrating. Being addicted to food and using it as a compensation is different from other physical addictions as you cannot stop it altogether. You have to find a sustainable peace with food and a balance in your eating behaviors.

Buddhist wisdom can help us change our habits and feel happy in our bodies which will also make us more happy in our minds.

You can free huge resources when you free yourself from your craving for food and the shameful thoughts of feeling fat, ugly, and a failure. Eva is looking forward to sharing her experience of achieving a happy body and happy mind.

About Eva Balzer

Eva Balzer, a freelance qualitative market researcher for 20 years, began studying the 18 ACI Foundation Courses in 2013 and completed them in 2020. She feels she is the happiest of people due to the deep knowledge that she gained from this study.

She has translated many ACI courses into German and is the editor for the German translation of the Diamond Cutter Classics series. Eva has completed several four-week silent retreats at Diamond Mountain. She has deep experience with DCI, ACI, and works with Geshe Michael Roach on events in Europe. As a teacher, Eva helps many people apply the timeless wisdom that ACI teaches in personal crises and difficult times.

Her daughter Emma (born in 2007) is also studying the ACI courses and they happily live, learn and practice together in Frankfurt, Germany.

with Ven. Sumati

What are the three spheres? Are they an academic concept we talk about on the debate ground or do they permeate our life with every movement of our minds? "I contend that they are the core of our practice," says Ven. Sumati. Join the discussion as we go looking for examples of the Three Spheres in everyday life and the power they bring to our practice.

Why does Ven. Sumati say that? In our tradition, emptiness is all-important. The idea of the Three Spheres ties the idea of emptiness to daily life in an intriguing, graphic way that is thought-provoking. It can help us understand emptiness, which is not always easy. It helps bring the idea of emptiness into our daily life.

The Three Spheres takes the idea of emptiness--the understanding that nothing has any nature of its own--to another level. It proposes a fresh way of looking at emptiness. It invites us to look at some action we may take in daily life, such as the gift of a toy to a child. Consider that there is no difference, says the idea of the Three Spheres, among the giver, the recipient, and the act of giving. They are identical!

If this feels strange, or uncomfortable, or even outrageous to you, please join us for the next Bringing Wisdom to Life talk with Ven. Sumati. He will help us get to the bottom of this intriguing proposition.

Living with the Three Spheres, the next installment of the Asian Classics Institute's Bringing Wisdom to Life series, will take place on January 28. Register today.

with Eva Balzer

In Buddhism, we aim at developing love for all living beings–and that includes ourselves. However, sometimes it feels that being kind to yourself is the most difficult thing. We lack self-confidence, find it hard to be happy, and struggle with our joyful effort (Perfection #4). In this class, Eva gives tips on how to develop a good relationship with yourself, which is important to get enlightened quickly and help all living beings.

Have you had the feeling of hearing a voice in your head, telling you that you are not good enough? We all have an inner critic who in different degrees says negative and unpleasant things to us and stops us from loving ourselves. The ancient scriptures of Buddhism can explain where this voice is coming from–and more important–how we can shut it up! Just imagine how much lighter and happier you would be if you always heard a supporting voice in your head that encourages and comforts you.

In this class, Eva will share with you how to use the ancient wisdom to be at peace with yourself. Only when we understand how important we are, and when we see our unlimited potential, can we be great bodhisattvas who fulfill our destiny to help others.

with Timothy Lowenhaupt

Sometimes the crisis we face in our lives is something as simple as being hopelessly bored.

Is your life boring and dull? Do you wake up every morning eager to get going, or are you apathetic? Is it hard to get up, motivate yourself to get onto the treadmill, and do the same old things in the same old grind? Is the rat race getting you down?

If your life lacks variety, interest, and joy, join us for The Mantra of Everyday Life and get some ideas for transforming your dull, normal life into a life of joy, contentment, and delight. We will explore practical ways to transform what seems normal into something truly extraordinary.

Mantra is a Sanskrit word that has a root meaning of mind protector. Typically, a mantra is a set of words that you recite multiple times. While you are reciting, your mind is protected from having negative emotions--such as boredom or apathy--because it's engaged with reciting the mantra. Join Senior Asian Classics Institute teacher Tim Lowenhaupt as he shares with us ways to change our thinking that things are normal and boring, into seeing that they are really extraordinary. Learn everyday ways to bring meaning to your life and improve it. Protect your mind from the negativity of boredom and normalcy. Quit the rat race, and join the ranks of extraordinary beings!

with Ven. Sumati (David Stumpf)

"It's all in the details," says Ven. Sumati. And he should know. Sumati did a three-year, three-month, three-day retreat at Diamond Mountain Retreat Center from 2011 to 2014. He's had numerous adventures, both internal and external, while on retreat and in a long life as a Buddhist practitioner. In 2020 he became a fully ordained Buddhist monk. Ven. Sumati has taught all of the 18 Asian Classics Institute Foundation Courses numerous times, both in the US and in many countries internationally.

Sumati's class will help us toggle between the big picture and the details. "I have found considerable joy in looking at the details of my practice, the moment-to-moment implementation of my training," Sumati tells us. He will share tips that he has used for dealing with major issues in his life, and lead a discussion about how each of us can use these tips to do so as well.

with Alix Rowland

The teachings on emptiness can seem mysterious and difficult to apply to daily situations. 

In this class we will review six ways we might misunderstand the large and small problems of our daily lives. Using practical examples and short meditations we will be prepared to recognize our misunderstandings and stop them in our daily lives.

Understanding different ideas about emptiness is not an abstract mental exercise, it is a practical recipe for a joyful life and the only way to reach our highest goals.

Come to class with specific life challenges in mind to use as your meditation objects.

with ACI Senior Teacher Rebecca Vinacour

We all want happiness but oftentimes life throws big obstacles in our way. In this class we'll be talking about how to use the 6 Flavors of Emptiness to deal with the demons that disturb our happiness. Both inner demons, like depression and heartache, and outer demons, like illness and violence.

Rebecca Vinacour has edited many of Geshe Michael Roach books, including King of the Dharma, The Karma of Love, and All Kinds of Karma, among numerous others. She has completed all ACI courses and has been teaching them since 2003.

with Eva Balzer

Eva began studying the 18 ACI Foundation Courses in 2013 and completed them in 2020. She feels she is the happiest of people due to the deep knowledge that she gained from this study.

She has translated many ACI courses into German and is the editor for the German translation of the Diamond Cutter Classics series. In 2022 she did a four-week silent retreat at Diamond Mountain.

Eva has been a freelance qualitative market researcher for 20 years. She is the founder and CEO of Diamond Management and has been organizing DCI events with Geshe Michael in the DACH region since 2017. She helps many people apply the timeless wisdom that ACI teaches in personal crises and difficult times.

Her daughter Emma (born in 2007) is also studying the ACI courses and they happily live, learn and practice together in Frankfurt, Germany.

with Ven Kading

Ven Kading (Kat Ehrhorn) is a fully ordained nun in the Diamond Mountain lineage. Prior to that and while raising two sons, she worked as an entrepreneur to build economic viability in small rural communities around the world. During her 19 years of study with Geshe Michael, she completed the series of 18 ACI Foundation Courses, 7 DCI courses, 6 YSI courses, as well as the 18 Diamond Way courses taught at Diamond Mountain University and other coursework offered by Geshe Michael.

She is one of the original founders of Diamond Mountain and worked hard for years to build it into the beautiful retreat center it has become today. After completing the Great Three-Year Retreat at Diamond Mountain in 2014, she spent four years in Sedona, supporting her aging mother while helping to work with Geshe Michael’s organizations there. Since then, she has returned to Diamond Mountain where she lives and works as a full-time spiritual caretaker.

Watch an Introductory Video on Instagram

with Silvia Engelhardt and Venerable Gyelse

We have so many tools to make our world a happier place: the 4 steps, the 4 flowers, purification and more. At the base of them all is how to lead a good life. Come join us, Silvia Engelhardt and Venerable Gyelse, on April 5th to talk about how to work with those really sticky problems you have in your life, what is a Six Times Book and how you can use it to get unstuck and watch your world change.

with Venerable Sunam

Do you have people in your life who are very skillful at pressing your buttons? It happens every time you meet them. Everything is coming from you, but not that person. We’ll be talking about how to practice when you have hardcore irritating people in your life.

with Rebecca Vinacour and Timothy Lowenhaupt

In this Valentine's Day class, Rebecca Vinacour and Timothy Lowenhaupt will chat with you about the Buddhist views on relationships, and the strengths and dangers of the stories we tell ourselves and others about our love.

We will look into ideas from Master Shantideva, Lojong masters, like Ngawang Lobsang Chunden and Geshe Chekawa, and the advices from the great Nagarjuna. In this chat, we will connect these ancient ideas to modern relationships to help us understand how to grow and nurture love in our lives, to cultivate the courage to stand in connection and intimacy, and how to address our fears and anxieties that block us from truly experiencing these deepest of desires in this human life.

with Alix Rowland and David Siegel

It’s often said that in relationships, you can only change yourself. Yet how does that work? Isn’t the whole point of a relationship to involve someone else? To understand how changing ourselves can change our relationships, we have to understand how our perceptions arise. Especially our perceptions of other people.

In this installment of the “Bringing Wisdom to Life” series, a reasoning called The Emptiness of One or Many sheds light on how perceptions form. According to this reasoning, our mind takes the parts of a person or situation and connects the dots to form a mental image. This image can be one of harmony or one of conflict. How our mind connects the dots all depends on how we’ve treated others in the past!

To take ownership of our relationships, we must own our perceptions. Alix Rowland and David Siegel share personal insights of how we’ve applied this to both romantic and professional relationships. This February, take control of your relationships. Learn how to connect the dots to see the relationships you want in your life, and in the world as well.

We've all heard a lot about the importance of finding a lama. But what are we supposed to do once we get them in our sights? How do we start to cultivate a life- long relationship with them, and how do we keep them close? In this class, we'll discuss why we need a lama in the first place, what to do once we find them, and ways to keep them close in this lifetime and the next.

with Alex Rivas and Silvia Englehardt

Meditation can be fun and easy for everyone. Alex Rivas and Silvia Englehardt will be talking about how they have managed to keep their practice going for almost 40 years between the two of them, and how meditation is accessible to everyone.

They will be sharing how Alex encouraged his kids to meditate on a regular basis, and how Silvia created a meditation for her Christian mother.

Science has already proved how meditation improves your mind, your body, and the way you interact with the world, your feelings and your whole life. And in the ACI teachings, the benefits are also much more. Join us to learn how to make meditation a lived, daily practice.