The Knowledge Base

The Devil Debates an Angel, Part 6: How to Watch Your Thoughts (2013, Phoenix)

Our whole life, we've had thoughts going through our mind. They tell us if we're happy or angry, if we love somebody or we don't. The chatter is almost constant, year after year, for a whole lifetime. The ancient Tibetans said that we could learn how to watch these thoughts. And then we could learn how to make them more clear, more peaceful. And then we could improve our job, our relationships, and our happiness, day to day.

The Devil Debates an Angel, Part 5: A Simple Path to Happiness (2012, Phoenix)

Life is like this. You are driving you car down the street at dusk. Suddenly you see a kitten scurrying across the road. You slam on the brakes—it almost sends everybody through the windshield. You look out to see if you hit the kitten or not, and suddenly you realize that it wasn’t a kitten at all, just a tree leaf being blown across the street.

The Devil Debates an Angel, Part 4: Getting Your Life To Work In A World That Isn’t What It Seems (2012, Phoenix)

The ancient wisdom of Asia says that the world is an illusion—which isn’t hard to believe sometimes, when our life gets turned upside down. But maybe there’s a way to see through this illusion and make our life go the way we always wanted it to: a perfect relationship, financial security, strong health, and a world without hunger or war. One of the greatest teachers of Tibet was the First Panchen Lama, who lived over 400 years ago. He said that if we really understand the illusion we can make it work for us, to create a life full of happiness and success.

The Devil Debates an Angel, Part 3: A Weekend Party to Stop War (2011, Phoenix)

Four centuries ago there was a Tibetan master named the First Panchen Lama. He was one of the greatest meditators who ever lived. He learned the traps that can ruin our meditation, and he learned how to beat these traps. He described all this in a book called The Devil Debates an Angel, a very funny and profound argument between the Devil and an Angel, inside of one’s person’s head.

The Devil Debates an Angel, Part 2: How to Meditate and How Not to Meditate (2011, Phoenix)

Voices from Three-Year Retreat: Meditation, Three Years Later (2013, Arizona)

After almost three years in meditation, the retreatants at Diamond Mountain University are possibly as deep as any large group of meditators in the history of the United States. In their final public teaching before the celebration of their coming out of retreat they shared their experiences, and the meditation techniques that have worked best for them.

Voices from Three-Year Retreat (2013, Various, Arizona)

A unique opportunity to listen to the thoughts of the retreatants themselves after more than two years in deep retreat. In these talks, participants share their beautiful experiences and wisdom of either serving the retreat in a support role or actually being in a deep meditation retreat.

A Gift of Liberation 10: New Year Retreat (2013, Guadalajara)

During the this week-long teaching retreat Geshe Michael Roach will lead us through the section called “Learning to be Quiet,” from one of the greatest books ever written in Tibet: the Gift of Liberation by Pabongka Rinpoche. This intensive series of teachings is meant to give us all the ancient secrets for making a meditation session really successful and this intensive meditation retreat is a chance to actually put into practice these meditation secrets.

A Gift of Liberation 09: The Seven Doors to Meditation (2012, Phoenix)

For centuries, Tibetan monks have used 7 powerful steps to put themselves into a state of deep meditation. During this course we will be learning a beautiful seven-step mental exercise which is followed by Tibetan monks in order to put themselves into a state of deep meditation. You can learn to do the same, for peace of mind, and for incredible focus to make your work and relationships successful.

A Gift of Liberation 08: Learning to be Quiet (2012, Prescott)

During this week-long teaching retreat, Geshe Michael Roach will lead us through the section called “Learning to be Quiet,” from one of the greatest books ever written in Tibet: the Gift of Liberation by Pabongka Rinpoche. This intensive series of teachings is meant to give us all the ancient secrets for making a meditation session really successful and this intensive meditation retreat is a chance to actually put into practice these meditation secrets.

A Gift of Liberation 07: Learning to be Quiet (2012, Phoenix)

Turn off your laptop. Put down your iPhone. Learn to be quiet. For 10 days we’ll be learning all the tricks that it takes to have a peaceful and powerful meditation session, based on the Tibetan classic, Liberation in Your Hands. Learn to balance your inner life and your life on Facebook. Ten days of incredible teachings on how to meditate, directly from one of the greatest books ever written in Tibet. Plus awesome practice classes, beginner to advanced, to help you get started.

Great Retreat Teachings, Part 2: The Power of Samaya: Reaching Stillness on the Wings of Sacred Pledge (2012, Bowie)

Stillness is a sublime, exalted state of mediation, a single-pointed, undistracted concentration. You must reach Stillness in order to attain any of the highest spiritual realizations — Perception of Emptiness, Great Compassion, Clear Light. What is the true cause for reaching Stillness? It is keeping your sacred pledges. They become the wings that lift you into highest realms.

A Gift of Liberation 06: Passion Retreat (2012, Prescott)

In the last course in this series Lam Rim Series Course 3: Finding What We Were Always Meant to Be continuing our ten-year journey through Pabongka Rinpoche’s Gift of Liberation, an important spiritual classic from Tibet. We learned how to look deep inside ourselves to find that vein of pure gold—the one thing that we were always meant to do, and to be. And then we are no longer tired or bored with our life: we feel a sudden joy in finding our one true purpose.

A Gift of Liberation 05: Finding What We Were Always Meant to Be (2011, Arizona)

During this retreat we will learn how to identify the tendencies within ourselves to be attracted to deeper things and how to maintain the love and quest for our highest aspirations.

A Gift of Liberation 04: The Energy Retreat (2011, Prescott)

This is a special retreat focused on getting more energy in your life, work and relationships, through meditation & yoga, new ideas about food and special ancient ceremonies from the Tibetan tradition for increasing energy and overcoming fatique, along with the continuation of Pabongka Rinpoche’s famous teaching on the steps to enlightenment or lam-rim.

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.

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.

A Gift of Liberation 01: The Deepest Meditation (2010, Phoenix)

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. Really bringing our mind to silence is like learning to play a piano: it requires careful training under a qualified teacher—and lots of practice! In this 10-part training

Four Infinite Thoughts Guided Meditation (2010, Scottsdale)

A short guided meditation with Geshe Michael Roach on the Four Infinite Thoughts. Audio...

A Guided Emptiness Meditation (2000, Goa)

A guided meditation through the preliminaries and then on the six flavors of emptiness. It was led by Geshe Michael Roach in January of 2000 in Goa, India.