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ACI In-Depth Course 1 Teacher Training – Teachings of the Future Buddha: The Uttara Tantra of Maitreya (2003, Arizona)

In this first course of the ACI In-Depth Course Series, we will study the fifth of the five books of Maitreya, the coming Buddha. Centuries ago, the Coming Buddha, Lord Maitreya, taught his disciple Arya Asanga the secret of how to reach Enlightenment. He described to him in detail, the inner nature, which guarantees that each of us can, and will, become enlightened. Each of us carries within us a seed, a potential, a capacity to become a fully enlightened being: A Buddha.

22 Metaphors for Bodhichitta: A Special Class (2022, Arizona)

The 22 levels from earth to sky refer to the development of the Wish for Budhahood (Bodhichitta), from the initial intention in a baby Bodhisattva to the full Bodhichitta in the mind of a Buddha. This list of 22 comes from the Ornament of Realizations (Abhisamayalankara) by Arya Asanga which is one of the Five Great Books of Maitreya—The Future Buddha. They were taught by Maitreya to Arya Asanga in Maitreya’s heaven and then he brought them back to this world.

Idea Images – From Earth to Sky: 22 levels of Bodhichitta from the Abhisamayalankara (Beijing, 2016)

The 22 levels from earth to sky refer to the development of the Wish for Budhahood (Bodhichitta), from the initial intention in a baby Bodhisattva to the full Bodhichitta in the mind of a Buddha. This list of 22 comes from the Ornament of Realizations (Abhisamayalankara) by Arya Asanga which is one of the Five Great Books of Maitreya—The Future Buddha. They were taught by Maitreya to Arya Asanga in Maitreya’s heaven and then he brought them back to this world.

Meditations on Emptiness: An Explanation of the Steps For Developing an Understanding That Nothing is Itself

For this course series, Geshe Michael has chosen the following text for our study of how to meditate on emptiness....

Lower Middle Way – An Analysis of Dependence: All Things Depend on Each Other: The Buddhist Teaching of the Wheel of Life

Around 1000 AD, 1500 years after the time of the Buddha, the Tibetans undertook a monumental task: to translate thousands of pages of Buddhist literature from Sanskrit into Tibetan. It took them 700 years to complete translations of the kangyur (the word of the Buddha) and the tengyur (the Indian commentaries). Now, as Buddhism has been making a big push westward, Geshe Michael’s aim is to complete an even larger task: to translate hundreds of thousands of pages of Buddhist literature into modern languages.

Upper Middle Way – The Great Books of Wisdom Series: Making the ancient classics of Tibetan Buddhist literature accessible to the modern world

Around 1000 AD, 1500 years after the time of the Buddha, the Tibetans undertook a monumental task: to translate thousands of pages of Buddhist literature from Sanskrit into Tibetan. It took them 700 years to complete translations of the kangyur (the word of the Buddha) and the tengyur (the Indian commentaries). Now, as Buddhism has been making a big push westward, Geshe Michael’s aim is to complete an even larger task: to translate hundreds of thousands of pages of Buddhist literature into modern languages. Since the blossoming of Buddhism in Tibet, no less than 200,000 pages of brilliant commentary have been composed by masters and scholars in the Tibetan language. In this ongoing series of courses, Geshe Michael’s goal is to create and guide a team of young translators to translate these great classics.

The Lion’s Dance: A Meditation for the Wheel of Life (2017, Mexico)

This very special meditation practice is called The Dance of the Lion. It was taught by the future Buddha, Maitreya to Arya Asanga 1,700 years ago. Bodhisattva’s use it after they see emptiness directly to understand more about emptiness and The Wheel of Life.

The Realized Asanga on Higher Protection, Part One (2016, Arizona)

In this series of classes, Geshe Michael dives deeper into the subject of protection using a famous book called The Necklace of Understanding (Abhisamayalankara), which was revealed by Maitreya to Arya Asanga, in which he teaches about what it means to take refuge by covering the following three topics: 1. What it means to go for refuge, 2. Where you go for refuge (The Three Jewels), and 3. The Four Bodies of a Buddha.

Asian Classics Translator Course 1 (Arizona, 2017)

In this series of courses currently taking place at the Sedona College of International Management, Geshe Michael's goal is to create and guide a team of young translators to translate these great classics. First stage is to translate these great classics into English and from there they can be easily translated into modern Chinese, Spanish, German, Russian and many other languages.

Daily Practice Series Course 06: The Four Powers to Remove Negative Karma (1999, California)

Karmically, every instance of negativity we generate towards others will definitely come back to us as a similar unpleasant, painful experience in our lives. The good news is that it’s possible to purify and remove the past negative karma we collected, before it can ripen upon us as our own personal suffering and pain. This practice teaches how to clean up and purify our past negativity to prevent that old bad karma from ripening upon us as difficulties, problems, pain, or suffering in our life.

Locking The Door to the Lower Realms: Ultimate Protection on the Path of Preparation (Mexico, 2016)

There are five stages or paths in the spiritual evolution of a human being. The second of those five paths is called The Path of Preparation, preparation here specifically refers to gaining an increasingly deeper intellectual understanding of emptiness which gives us the necessary spiritual power to have the direct perception of emptiness on path number three. This increasingly deeper understanding of emptiness progresses through four distinct stages while traversing the second path.

Shastra on the Door to Understanding the Hundred Dharmas: Master Vasubandhu’s Treatise on Higher Abhidharma (China, 2014)

Meditations for the rest of your life? Yes, meditation can change your relationships, your career, and your life! How does this happen? Geshe Michael Roach taught this series of short, powerful meditations from Master Kamalashila at the Lincoln Center in February, 2016.

From Earth to Sky: 22 levels of Bodhichitta from the Abhisamayalankara (Beijing, 2016)

The 22 levels from earth to sky refer to the development of the Wish for Budhahood (Bodhichitta), from the initial...

Perfect Happiness: How to Practice the Perfection of Giving (Arizona, 2015)

Geshe Michael teaching from his new translation of Je Tsongkapa’s Illumination of the True Thought — one of the greatest books ever written on emptiness. The subject of these two classes is the presentation of the perfection of giving as it's found in the explanation of the first bodhisattva level, known as “Perfect Happiness”. Je Tsongkapa's Illumination of the True Thought is one of the greatest presentations of emptiness in history. This work in turn is an explanation of Entering the Middle Way, by Master Chandrakirti, who lived during the seventh century and was commenting himself upon the 3rd‐century author Arya Nagarjuna, whose Root Text on the Wisdom of the Middle Way is considered the greatest commentary of all time upon the emptiness teachings of the Buddha himself.

Entering the Middle Way (Ongoing, Arizona)

The presentations of emptiness found in these textbooks are some of the most thorough and usable ever written. Students of Buddhism who avail themselves of these texts gain incredible insight into the every detail of this most profound and important teaching.

ACI In-Depth Course 1: Teachings of the Future Buddha: The Uttara Tantra of Maitreya (2003, Arizona)

In this first course of the ACI In-Depth Course Series, we will study the fifth of the five books of Maitreya, the coming Buddha. Centuries ago, the Coming Buddha, Lord Maitreya, taught his disciple Arya Asanga the secret of how to reach Enlightenment. He described to him in detail, the inner nature, which guarantees that each of us can, and will, become enlightened. Each of us carries within us a seed, a potential, a capacity to become a fully enlightened being: A Buddha.

ACI In-Depth Course 3: Master Shantideva’s Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life, Exchanging Self and Others (2004, New York)

This third course of the ACI In-Depth Course Series presents the entire section on the practice of exchanging ourselves and others, which is a large part of the chapter on meditation (Chapter Eight) from The Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life.

ACI In-Depth Course 4: The Art of Interpretation, Part 1 (1998, Bylakuppe, Geshe Thupten Rinchen)

In this fourth course of the ACI In-Depth Course Series, we will dive deeply into the study of emptiness and learn the art of interpreting what the Buddha really meant. This is one of the most beautiful subjects, and incidentally the most difficult, of the entire Geshe study program. This teaching was given by Geshe Thubten Rinchen, who Geshe Michael considers to be the greatest living scripture teacher in India. He agreed in 1998 to give a few lectures on it to Geshe Michael and 15 of his ACI students which turned out to be these 26 classes.

ACI Course 13: The Art of Reasoning (1998, New York)

Topics include: the correct motivation for debate; debating tactics and the flow of a debate; the subject, quality, and reason of the debate; why logic is more valuable than faith; how studying logic leads to perceiving emptiness; what makes a reason correct; contradictions and relationships; relationships of identity, and relationships of cause and effect; proving the absence of something; material causes and contributing factors; valid perception; changing and unchanging things; an outline of all existing things; the concept of time according to each of the four schools of thought; and the reason why suffering has an end.

ACI Course 15: What the Buddha Really Meant (1998, New York)

Topics include: The importance of evaluating spiritual teachings, how to interpret when spiritual teachings are literal or figurative, how to evaluate apparently conflicting teachings, a summary of the teachings Lord Buddha gave in each of the three Turnings of the Wheel of the Dharma, the goal of each of the three Turnings of the Wheel, an explanation of the ideas held by each of the main schools of Buddhism, ultimate reality (emptiness) according to each of the schools, the three progressively higher understandings of emptiness, the three attributes of reality, a comparison of the Mind- Only School and the Middle- Way School explanations of emptiness and dependent origination, how to use an understanding of emptiness to stop all your suffering, and how to stop your aging and death by stopping your ignorance.