Geshe Michael Roach
JoinedSeptember 11, 2015
Articles413
Geshe Michael Roach (born December 17, 1952) is the first American to have been awarded the degree of Geshe, or Master of Buddhism, after more than 20 years of study in Tibetan monasteries. He has used this training to become a prominent international teacher, businessman, philanthropist, author, educator, public speaker, textual scholar, and musician. Geshe Michael graduated with honors from Princeton University and has received the Presidential Scholar Medal from the President of the United States at the White House. In 1981 he helped found Andin International Diamond Corporation and bring it to annual sales of over $100 million, donating his profits to international aid projects. His book about achieving business and personal success through generosity, The Diamond Cutter, has become a global bestseller in 20 languages. He is the founder of the Asian Classics Institute, Diamond Mountain University, the Asian Classics Input Project, Worldview, the Yoga Studies Institute, Star in the East, Global Family Refugee Aid, Three Jewels Community Outreach Centers, and the Diamond Cutter Institute.

Compassion and the Inner Body: Asana as a Road to Love (2011, New York)

There is a strong relationship between our ability to love and our inner body of channels, chakras, and prana. Great yogis of ancient times mapped out this inner body, sometimes called the Rainbow Body, and found methods of using it not only for greater health, but for greater knowledge—and for a greater capacity to love.
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What is Nirvana and How Do We Get There? (2011, Bahamas)

The word “nirvana” brings up many different ideas. Is it some kind of space into which we disappear? Is it some strange place where we are happy all the time, without a care for the problems of the rest of the world? In this series of talks, we will explore what nirvana really is, and practical ways of getting there, learning both the theory of nirvana, through the study of the Perfection of Wisdom Sutras and practical meditation practices.
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Postcards from Geshela, Part Three: Seeds (2011, New York)

In the previous 2 segments in this series, Postcards from Geshe La, Geshe Michael taught us about the core idea of Buddhism, which is called Emptiness, using his favorite example of a pen. The other core idea is what is traditionally referred to as Karma. As you’ll see in the video, you can think of these two core ideas as being totally indivisible: two sides of the same coin.
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Chakras and energy channels

Great Retreat Teachings, Part 1: The Winds of Meditation (2011, Bowie)

The great meditation classics of India and Tibet describe a special type of prana, or inner wind, which we can learn to direct through our body in order to bring our mind out of this subtle wandering and return it to sharp, single-pointed focus. In these four days of teaching at Diamond Mountain Retreat Center, Geshe Michael Roach will take us on an exploration through the nature of these subtle meditation obstacles, and inner techniques to overcome them by moving the prana through our channels and chakras.
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Taking Personal Responsibility: An Introduction to the Practice of Chod, The Immolation of the Self (2011, New York

A dish in the sink, a person lying in the street, people in pain all around us; we want to do something but we hesitate. The decision to cheerfully stop and help is described in Buddhist scripture as the step before ultimate love, or bodhichitta. And aren’t those who take responsibility even when its “not their problem” the most beautiful people you know? Using a new translation of a text by the First Panchen Lama, you’ll learn how to become that extraordinary being who embraces and enjoys taking responsibility, whether for the dishes or the planet. You’ll see that the result is a life full of sheer enchantment and unsurpassed joy.
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Love and the Yoga Sutra (2011, Singapore)

Deep down we all want to love, and to be loved. And it’s two kinds of love we want. First of all, we would like someone that we can spend our life with – someone who is all the things we are looking for, who will stay with us and always continue to be a joy. At the same time we hunger for a higher kind of love. We feel almost a responsibility to love everyone around us, but sometimes we don't know how we can. And there certainly seems to us that there is a big distance between the two kinds of love. We don't see how love for our partner could take us to that higher kind of love, for everyone around us. It's a surprise to hear that the Yoga Sutra, written almost 2,000 years ago, has an answer for finding both kinds of love.
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Yoga Sutra Intensive (2011, Hong Kong, Geshe Michael Roach)

In this course, we will be studying the most important ideas of the Yoga Sutra. If we really understand these ideas, they can help us reach success in almost everything we do: our work, our health, and our relationships. These ideas were covered by Geshe Michael in three days of talks, each one with a different theme.
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A Gift of Liberation 02: Breaking Through to Highest Reality (2011, Prescott)

The ancient books of Tibet say that if a person can see ultimate truth only once, for just 20 minutes in their entire life, then they will soon be able to reach enlightenment, and help stop the pain of countless living beings in this world. They say that ultimate truth lies all around us, like an invisible wall of diamond that can only be seen by a mind which is perfectly still and quiet. The moon’s reflection can only be seen on the crystal surface of the lake of our mind if that surface is absolutely still.
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Lady Niguma’s Yoga (Lambertville, 2010)

Lady Niguma is a woman yogi from India who lived a thousand years ago. She taught a special kind of yoga which removes the stress and trouble of modern working life at the same time that it keeps us young and fit. In this workshop Geshe Michael teaches us the history of Lady Niguma through stories, and gives an in depth presentation of her yoga and how it works. This workshop includes lecture, music, and a guided asana practice.
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Lady Niguma’s Yoga (Lambertville, 2010)

Lady Niguma is a woman yogi from India who lived a thousand years ago. She taught a special kind of yoga which removes the stress and trouble of modern working life at the same time that it keeps us young and fit. In this workshop Geshe Michael teaches us the history of Lady Niguma through stories, and gives an in depth presentation of her yoga and how it works. This workshop includes lecture, music, and a guided asana practice.
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The Yoga of Relationships (Lambertville, 2010)

In these two nights of talks, Geshe Michael proposes a radically different method‘from the point of view of physical yoga practice‘of finding the partner of your dreams, of sustaining a good relationship with them over a long period of time, and eventually using that relationship as a way to help the entire world.
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