BDW 6, Introduction — стенограмма

Autotranscript · BDW6, Malaysia, Introduction

03.08.2026 / processed with Claude (AI) for Irra / Dharma · Malaysia · BDW6

Date: 7 July 2026 · Malacca, Malaysia · duration 1 h 11 min

Teacher: Geshe Michael Roach

Translation into Chinese: Stanley (consecutive; the Chinese translation was not captured in this recording)

Source audio: ENG/CH Arya's Diamond Way with Geshe Michael Roach - Introduction (July 7, 2026)

⚠ Warning

This is an automatic transcript of the audio recording, roughly processed with Claude on 3 August 2026 by Irra Dzhabali. It is not an authorised record of the teaching. Speech recognition and speaker attribution may contain errors. Please check against the original recording.

[]

——— Slide 1 · Preparing inside for the Arya's Diamond Way ———

[]

Host: Hello everyone, good morning and good evening everyone around the world and welcome to day one of Arya's Diamond Way. We're delighted to have you here with us joining from many different parts of the world. Whether this is your first time studying with us or you're returning for another retreat, we warmly welcome you and as we begin, please take a moment to settle in your place and make yourself comfortable and keep your microphone muted. We also good luck to know where you're joining from, so feel free to say hello in the chat below. And before we start, let's take a quiet moment to set a pure motivation for this retreat and we really hope you enjoy this journey together, stay open to the teaching and experience a truly meaningful series of sessions together.

And throughout this retreat, all of the Arya's Diamond Way teachings will be led by Geshe Michael Roach and it is our great joy and honor to begin this journey with him. Please join me in warmly welcoming Geshe Michael Roach for Arya's Diamond Way introduction. Thank you.

Sarah Blackburn (host): Hi, and welcome to our Bridge to the Diamond Way Asian Summit. My name is Sarah Blackburn and on behalf of Five Houses and Diamond Way Friends, it is my pleasure to welcome you here today. And here is Geshe Michael Roach.

  [Opening song]

Geshe Michael Roach: In the middle? Okay. All right, good morning. Okay, it looks like a big party in Malacca. Nice to see you.

Do they have to stand up? They have seats. Okay, today I just want to give a short introduction about what's happening. I think we'll just start with the projector slides. I don't know if you have any PPT.

Yeah, okay. This program is really preparation for an event that will be happening in October. Actually, can we see the next slide? Next one? Yeah.

So this is a place called Dragon's Head. It's a very sexy name, but we didn't give it the sexy name. It had the sexy name for about a hundred years. Then a long time ago, the cowboys called this area Dragon's Head. And that comes from the shape of the river.

And in Arizona, we don't have any rivers. Very, very rare. And these guys, Stanley and Xiaoping, came to me. About a year ago? Two years ago.

And they said, Grandpa, can we buy this Dragon's Head? Then I said, it's fine with me if I don't have to pay. You pay. And they are very brave. They said, okay, we will pay.

And we bought it. It's about a million square meters. And it's very, very beautiful. So we should thank these guys. Oh, okay.

And Xiaoping is online. Hi, Xiaoping. She's having special meetings with President Trump. It's called a visa meeting. So she couldn't come.

But they have offered that we could use this place. There's a beautiful classroom there. If you know about European art, there's a famous painter called Van Dyck (?). I don't know. In America, he's called Van Dyck.

And I think it's his grandson. And he bought this property and he built a big studio for himself to paint. And it's a really, really beautiful studio. It's funny, when we bought the land, the owner said, if you don't like this building, we will destroy it for you for free. Then we said, well, maybe we'll keep it.

And it's very beautiful. The whole wall is glass because he was an artist and he needs light. We will have the Arya Diamond Way Transmission, I call it there. But it only fits five deer and 130 people. And also several pigs.

Wild, wild pig. And there's a family living there. Then Tim was taking applications for the transmission in October. And I think it's almost 3,000 people. If it's possible, 30 people have to sit on each person's lap.

No, but I want to tell you our plan so you don't get nervous. So, 130 people we will choose. And then we will have branch transmissions happening around the world. And I would like to make it live around the world. So I will get up early.

The only place we don't cover is Australia. Australian people have to come to Singapore. Or if you live in Hawaii, then you have to come somewhere else. And we're working on this. Tim is planning everything.

So be happy, don't worry about it. Geshe-la, Geshe-la, who are you choosing to be the 130? With my health. So I have a kidney disease, advanced kidney disease. Probably pretty soon I will get a third kidney.

You only have two, I will have three. But I'm thinking in the next two years, I would like to focus very much on Diamond Way teaching. Together with how to see emptiness directly. And I think that's the best thing I can give to you. And they go together.

That's why Diamond Way and Diamond World, same thing. So there's a special way to teach Diamond Way. If you have touched Diamond World. And up to now, I didn't teach it much. I touched Diamond World 51 years ago.

I never met anyone else who touched it. And at my age, 53. No, 73. I cannot prove to you that I touched Diamond World. If you touched it, you will know.

But otherwise you don't know. And maybe I'm telling the truth, maybe I'm not. So my suggestion, my teacher used to say, you never know. Maybe he's telling the truth. Then better to take the teaching.

You can have it. Then if grandpa goes to another world, you got the teaching. So that's the plan. So I'm going to work really hard for two years. We might have a small interruption like three months.

And then I'll keep going. I hope. Okay. We are very lucky. Where I live, we are two hours from Phoenix.

And that's the best hospital in the world for kidney. Last summer, they finished their 2,000th kidney transplant. I think only 10 people disappeared. Okay, so it's pretty good.

——— Slide 2 · A perfect place just shows up... ———

[]

Geshe Michael Roach: And so it's easier for me if we have a small interruption if we can do the transmission at Dragon's Head. It's about 10 minutes from my house. And I never heard of this place. I lived there for 20 years. We never heard of it, right?

Yeah, and then suddenly it just appeared. Which seems to be your karma. So that's the plan for October. Geshe-la, who are you choosing to go to Dragon's Head? I feel like a farmer.

And I have a big group of seeds in my hand. And at this time in my life, I have to try to plant as many as possible. So basically, and I don't know which seeds will grow. Some groups will disappear in the next five years. Some will continue for a thousand years.

So I try to pick the people who are helping the most people. The best chance to grow after we throw the seeds. So I have two kinds of students. One helps me all day, every day. And then some other ones give me headaches every day.

And I've been teaching for 50 years. And I'm okay with everybody. It doesn't really matter to me. If the person will help more people, I will bring them to Dragon's Head. So even the ones who caused me bald and all the ones who gave me grey hair if I think they will help a lot of people, I will bring them to Dragon's Head.

That's the decision I have to make. And also, personally, I'm trying to choose different people from different countries and different languages. There's a story in the Christian and the Jewish Bible supposed to be God saw that there's going to be a big flood in the world. And He called some guy named Noah. And he said there's going to be a big flood.

It will cover the whole world. And you have to make a boat. And Noah's like, I live in the desert. It's like he lives in Rimrock. There's no water there.

There's no ocean there. But he believed in God. So he started to make a big boat in his backyard. And all the neighbors think he's crazy. Then God said, make it big enough for a lot of animals.

And Noah's like, how many animals are we talking about? God says, I want one boy and one girl of each kind of animal in the whole world. And after the flood kills all the other people and animals, your family, you Noah have to make extra babies. You have to make extra babies. Good job!

And then bring one boy and one girl like camel, turtle, dog, everything. So the animals have to be in pairs, like camels, dogs, and all kinds of animals. So Dragon's Head is similar to Noah's Ark. And I have to pick people who I think can spread the teaching and people from many different places. And I think that's the safest way to spread, to keep it alive in the world.

So if you come, be happy and come. But remember there's one person out of 30 who can come. Please don't get mad at grandpa.

——— Slide 3 · Satellites surrounding the world ———

[]

Geshe Michael Roach: That's the best I can do. And then next picture. We're going to have satellite transmissions around the world. Then wherever you live, whatever language you speak, whatever country, I encourage you to talk to Tim write to him soon. Don't write to him the day before.

And we will have a local transmission in your place. Those of you who have strong groups in other countries, my idea is mom and dad come to Dragon's Head like Ella's son in Shenzhen. He can have fun on his own in Shenzhen. In Shenzhen, did you mention? Her son.

The mom comes here, the son is playing rock and roll. I know. And we had an empowerment in last March. At Dragon's Head we did the same system. We brought 130 people and then we had a branch empowerment at the same time in Kyoto.

And it was very successful. So, we'll take care of everything. If you're from some strange Indonesian country, mom and dad have to leave the kids there and come to Dragon's Head. Things like that. So that's the plan.

Next picture. Do I have a clock?

——— Slide 4 · MIM: A place for celebration ———

[]

Geshe Michael Roach: It's a good idea to have a clock. Here we go. I have an idea after the empowerment. This is a special museum in Phoenix, Arizona. It's called Musical Instrument Museum.

I really, really like this place. Especially for my friends when they come to visit Arizona and they say, you guys don't have anything in Arizona. And it's a new building. It's a very beautiful building. And it has many, many rooms like this.

And each room has musical instruments from different countries. And you put on special instruments and a special microphone. And you walk through the museum and each time you come close to a different instrument, that instrument will play in your ear. And it's really fun to go to different countries' rooms and suddenly the music is very strange. Then you can hear Jimi Hendrix also.

So they have Jimi Hendrix's guitar. And that place has a beautiful auditorium. It fits about 300, I think, Rob. 300 people. It was built for music.

And it's the best auditorium I ever sat in. So I think you know the story like five years ago. Some company come to me. We are from Netflix. We want to do a movie about Geshe Michael.

Then will you help? And I'm like, okay, it's alright. So they came. They start filming. Then we had a meeting.

And they said, Geshe Michael, you have two choices. One film we can make. We put the fake hair on your head. Take out all the white hair. We fix everything.

You look very handsome. And you never say anything stupid. We can make a movie like that. You look like Brad Pitt. They said, or you can take the second choice.

Then I said, what's the second choice? Second choice, we will follow you around the world. And each continent, we will choose one person in the audience who never came to your teaching. And we'll see after the teaching if they become successful or not. But it's a little bit risky.

If they fail, then you also look stupid. Then I said, I'm brave. Let's do the second kind of film. So they filmed all over the world. We chose one person from each continent.

For example, we chose a guy in Peru. Then after six months, big big problem. He got in trouble with his work, he got in trouble with his wife, and he got in trouble with his finance. This is before I taught him, okay? This is before I taught him.

Then we tried one lady in Europe. She's younger, I thought she would be okay. We met her in Kyoto, I think. Then she's very bright and very healthy. Then we started.

I get a telephone. She's in Germany. She's in the hospital. She might die tomorrow. I don't know what happened.

So then the movie guy is like, okay Geshe-la, we're running out of money. Then the movie company told us, Geshe-la, we're running out of money. Can you pay for them? Then I'm like, wait a minute, you didn't tell me I have to pay for them. Then I collect money, give them money, and I think finally I called them.

I said, come to my house. I said, cancel the, what do you call that? Brad Pitt movie. Cancel the movie where I go around the world and everyone gets rich. Then let's just make a movie about dying.

Because everybody needs this movie. I will talk about my experience. Maybe we can get permission for you to come in the hospital and film the kiki. They got very excited. They got very excited about this new idea.

The movie is finished, I think. Then they said, we always have a premiere. We call it premiere. Then they show the movie for the first time. All the rich people come.

That's you guys. No, just for free. I want to do it at the Musical Instrument Museum. They didn't give permission yet. We have backup in Scottsdale, the Jewish Community Center.

We have a plan B in Scottsdale, the Jewish Community Center. But I have a dream. The day after the transmission, are you guys going to Phoenix to the airport? Then in the morning, we can all see the movie. For the first time.

I'm hoping it will be at that museum. I think that movie is important to teach people how to die. I went to Princeton. We are building a business school, DSEU (?). To get American permission to have a degree, MBA degree.

It's like 10 years of trouble. We are halfway finished. It looks very good. But we have to go to many universities and study their MBA program. I'd like to study how much wisdom are they teaching from Asia.

Very good progress in America. Princeton has like 5,000 courses. Two are about Asia. You cannot learn this wisdom in Princeton University. And you cannot learn it at Harvard.

Then I checked how many courses at Harvard and how many courses at Princeton about how to die well. The number is perfect.

Host: It means nobody.

Geshe Michael Roach: That's very strange because all of us have to die. We all have to go there. I think it's important to learn how to die. I'll tell you something and it's obvious, but I'll tell you again. In this physical universe anything that can happen once can happen twice.

Don't be stupid. If you can come here by accident once you can come here by accident twice because the odds are infinite. The dies are infinite. We should spend the whole day learning how to die and we should teach our children. It's something our world should do.

Anyway, that's something we'll do together during the transmission. Then after that some guy will be in the back with his cell phone he will steal the movie it will spread everywhere. It's okay. Next picture.

——— Slide 5 · Mayo: the good brothers, times 2,000 ———

[]

Geshe Michael Roach: This is across the street from the Musical Instrument Museum. You can walk there. This is Mayo Hospital. These are the kidney specialists of the whole world. Then I have to go there every week or every two weeks.

I spend sometimes the whole day there. And I ask the doctor if I have some good, good students and they are at the Musical Instrument Museum to see the premiere of a good movie Can they just walk across the street and watch me get my thing? And she's like, no. So anyway, we can crash it, I think. Really?

But I thought if you want to, you can go across the street and see the place. So actually this place is very connected to your transmission. It's all connected together. I like to call it nowadays transmission. I feel it's more transmission than empowerment, but sometimes I forget and I call it empowerment.

So in one way, I spent about 30 years learning Diamond Way from my teacher. He won't teach me unless I memorize the Sadhana.

Host: Like that.

——— Slide 6 · Closeness to teachers ———

[]

Geshe Michael Roach: And he requires it. We are living together for 25 years. And he taught me many times almost every day for 2-3 hours privately. And we are living in a Mongolian temple. Some of you guys have been there.

Then we have a small group of monks. I was the youngest monk. All the monks are 75 or older. So we have about 15 monks at the beginning. And about once a week, we will do all the different Sadhanas for different empowerments.

Then my teacher wouldn't help me at all. He said, you have to come. You have to recite. Then I'm like, so give me what I have to recite. He's like, you figure it out.

He didn't help me, nothing. Then they were reciting 3, 4, 5 hours. I don't know what they are doing. Then one by one, I collect all the Sadhanas. Many different lineages.

Then we have to memorize them. So by accident, I learned many other transmissions. That's how I first heard the Diamond Cutter. I was reciting with Mongolian monks. So I have transmission in this way.

For 25 years, that's not the most important transmission. When I say transmission, and what I mean when I say transmission, I want to transmit what happened to me when I touched the diamond. That's the real transmission. So they go together. There's a reason why they call it Diamond Way.

And there's a reason why diamond is important when you touch emptiness. They are very connected. So I call it Arya Diamond Way. Again, if you don't believe me, I don't really care. But if I'm you, just in case he's correct, I will learn it.

Okay? Someone told me, big big big teacher told me, you did not see kongxing. Then I'm like, why you say that?

  [Editorial note: "kongxing" — Chinese term for emptiness (Skt. shunyata)]

Geshe Michael Roach: You cannot fly. Then I'm like, there is no book in the world, there's no book out of John's 300,000 books, there's not one that says Arya has to fly. Then my whole life, I just got used to it. Because if you fight about that thing, it's very very bad karma. It's the worst karma.

So 51 years, I'm just like, yeah, okay, okay. But now, kidney problem. So I'm thinking I should pass on that knowledge while I have time. So next two years, I have a plan. Some of you heard it already.

I worked for 17 years. Translating these four books. This is the greatest teaching on emptiness ever written. In English, it's 2,000 pages. It's by Tsongkapa.

It's called Gomparabhsel (?). Illumination of the True Thought. I'm thinking about 15,000 hours. I worked on it. Finished it in January, something like that.

Then I always like to write an introduction to the book. Maybe it's the only thing people will read. Definitely the only thing they will understand. This book is completely correct. He doesn't miss one thing about emptiness.

And it's very difficult. Usually I write an introduction to make it easier for people. Then I thought 99% of people, they won't be able to read it. So the introduction, I will make something everyone can understand. I call it grandpa story.

I will tell grandpa story how to see emptiness yourself. And everybody can read it, and relax, and enjoy. It's like sitting on your grandpa's knee and grandpa tell the kid a story. And I worked really hard on that story. I had this inspiration to connect it to how the Buddha taught emptiness himself.

That's the first teaching that Buddha ever gave in this world. And we'll talk more about it. It's called the four truths. And each one has four ideas inside of it. So it's 16 ideas.

And this is how Buddha taught emptiness. It's also the first teaching that Buddha ever gave in this world. After he got enlightened, he didn't teach for seven weeks. He didn't talk to anybody. And he just stayed quiet in the forest.

And he said nobody can understand him. Then they will disrespect him. And I really did feel the same way for 50 years. But if I have to go to the next world, I will try. I will try to explain.

Then I would like to use those 16 ideas. I would like to use his outline, his structure. So my plan for the next two years is to follow Buddha's own structure. But plug in my own experiences. So that's what we'll be doing here.

We finished the first four perfections in our preparation study. We have two more left. shamatha, vipashyana, how to see emptiness. And how to reach the level of meditation you need to see emptiness. So I have some good news.

We have 31 really god damn good teachers teaching this week. I don't see 31. I feel like they are my kids. I was on the airplane. Some lady sit next to me.

I was on the airplane. Do you have any kids? Yeah, I got 31. Then she goes like this. Anyway, I'm very proud of all the teachers.

You guys are very lucky to be here and have them to teach. It's a lot of hard work. So together me and the 31 teachers we will review all of the preparation for Diamond Way. And I will finish the last two perfections. Then you'll be ready.

Okay? Mazal.

  [Editorial note: "Mazal" — Hebrew word used in the diamond trade to seal a deal]

Geshe Michael Roach: We have about 10 minutes. If anyone has a question, can I have a microphone? And a microphone, please. If you don't have a question, I'll take a grandpa nap.

Host: Okay, here's a microphone. Here. Hi, Geshe-la.

Question from the audience: The question I want to ask is that you said only 99.9% of people can understand this book. Can't understand. Then I want to ask why do you spend so many years to translate this book? And who can read this book?

Stanley (translator): Okay, so teacher, I want to ask you, when you mentioned about this book, you said only 99.9% of people will not be able to understand it. Then why do you spend so much precious time of your life to translate this book? And what kind of people do you want that they can understand this book?

Geshe Michael Roach: Yeah, that's a very good question. The way I design my own day, I'm a member of Lindsay Jilk's (?) Good Night Book Club. I go to bed at 10 o'clock every night. And Rob bangs on my door. He takes the computer.

Because I don't trust myself. He takes it. And then 6 o'clock, he gives it back to me. Then starting at 6 until about noon, so 6 hours. From 6 a.

m. to noon. I do my own practice. So, meditation, yoga. And I translate.

I translate for two reasons. One is to help other people who maybe will read it someday. But also mainly for myself. I have to struggle with, I feel like every day I'm wrestling with Tsongkapa. And I learn every day new things.

Somebody told me, Oh Geshe-la, you gave Diamond Way in 2004 or something. We can just pass on the 2004. I spent 22 years wrestling with Tsongkapa every morning. For 6 hours. Somebody can figure out the math, I don't know.

6 x 22 x 365 6 x 22 x 365 47,000 hours I wrestled with Tsongkapa. Not every day. But I changed. And the Diamond Way I'm teaching this week, it's not at all what I taught 22 years ago. And to be honest, that's why it's important to stay close to the teacher.

This teacher is moving target. He's always moving. Then honestly, the people who stay close they get new things every day. And it's a good reason to stay close. I also evolve every day.

So, what I'm teaching you this week is completely different what I taught before. Then don't go home and say Geshe-la said what he taught in 2004 was wrong. I didn't say that. First grade is correct. First grade, first class.

Eighth grade is correct. But it's good to get all eighth grades. Okay, last thing. Sure. What?

Later. Okay. Well, it's an important thought. What was that? One last thing.

So, when I finish a new book, I always write introduction. So, when I was in Xi'an, I visited Xuanzang's Tower (?). I went to Chang'an Tower (?). And I got this powerful inspiration to connect Lord Buddha's teaching of the sixteen parts of emptiness to my experience. And I finished.

And it's a small introduction. It's 125 pages. We have a bad word in English. If I use it, you don't tell my wife. It's really good shit.

And it's very powerful. And it's what I will teach for the next two years. And it will be printed inside the book. But Stanley Xiaoping, my friend, we would like to offer each of you a copy while you're here. So, that kid translated the whole thing.

So, so far, it's in English and Chinese. I'm sure they will also translate into other languages. Maybe it's a good thing for some of you to do during this week. If you can finish by the end of the week, we will pay for it.

Host: And it's free.

Geshe Michael Roach: I have a schedule. It's on my schedule. So, everyone will get a free English copy tomorrow. And Chinese. And I'm sure by the end of the week, German, Russian, Ukrainian, things like that.

Then I will teach it for two years. Then everybody will see kongxing. They asked me, what are you going to do after that, Geshe-la? Then we're all going to start a big diamond company.

Host: Warren Buffett said he'll pay for everything. Just kidding.

Geshe Michael Roach: Then I'd like to especially thank Jasmine.

Host: Thank you.

Geshe Michael Roach: If you need a big job done, just call Jasmine.

Host: Okay.

Geshe Michael Roach: I'll see you guys tomorrow. And again, thank you all the teachers.

Host: Thank you, everyone. One more round of applause for Geshe Michael Roach.

Sarah Blackburn (host): I ask you to please stay with me for a couple of moments because I have some important announcements for you. Geshe Michael shared some of his plans with us for how we can get the teachings in our minds. And I would like to share with you some of our plans so that you understand where to be so you can receive those teachings. For today, we are about to have a break for 30 minutes. We will come back at 11.

30 for an incredible introduction by Tim and Jasmine. They will share with you even more details about what we have for you over the next week. And if you want to get the most out of it, please be here five to ten minutes early so you can find your seat. We also have group leaders who will be holding up a sign for you so you can find your friends for this program. These groups over the next few days we hope will become your good, good friends.

And we want you to arrive early so that you are ready to receive those teachings. So we would like to invite you to arrive early so that you are ready for the next class. there will be many things throughout the day where you can have a moment to eat or a moment to connect. We ask that you do that in front of this space because there's a lot of movement that will happen in this room. So we might be all together in one room or we might have three spaces.

And when we change throughout the day the best way you can help us is to not stand in the middle or try and help but share your conversations outside. We also have some incredible things for you to check out in the hall here. Alright, so remember we'll be back at 11.30 but you're going to be smart. You will come 5 or 10 minutes early and find your group.

Finally, thank you for your attention. Thank you for being a part of our Bridge to the Diamond Way Asian Summit. Enjoy your break and we will see you soon.

Host: Thank you so much for inspiring introduction and for setting the foundation for our journey together and we're also thankful everyone for your presence today. I believe that we had the beautiful start moment together, right? So please rejoice yourself and we will now, I think maybe around 25 minutes break left and I would like to invite you to stress, rest and return earlier in advance and our next session is orientation led by Jasmine and Tim. So thank you everyone. We will see you in 25 minutes again and take good care.

See you soon. Thank you. Bye-bye.