Asian Classics Institute: Core Star of the Worldview Constellation
Distributing Timeless Wisdom
Around the World
The Asian Classics Institute is the guardian and the worldwide distributor of the timeless wisdom that Geshe Michael Roach has spent his life finding, translating, and teaching. We are honored and proud to be the latest link in preserving this tradition that stretches back to the Buddha, marked by a big milestone in 1357 with the birth of Je Tsongkapa.
In December 2022, ACI hosted Geshe Michael's 70th birthday party in Kyoto, Japan. Geshe Michael taught live to an audience of over a hundred attendees, and reached over 685 people online. It was an exciting and successful event. We raffled off a diamond meditation ring, and raised $85,284! We danced the night away to a Grammy-nominated band, Cimafunk, introduced our staff to a worldwide audience, thanked the amazing donors who tirelessly support us, and got a deep and somewhat shocking teaching about how far the art of sharing can take us. If you missed it, you can listen to recordings here.
ACI is the core teaching group in the constellation of organizations that make up Worldview. More than 25 years ago, Geshe Michael crystallized the content of the geshe course into the 18 ACI Foundation Courses. To this day these 18 courses are the untarnished basis for all the teachings that Worldview organizations, whether they be Diamond Cutter Institute, Yoga Studies Institute, Diamond Cutter Classics, or the Meditation Project, help spread. The ACI Foundation Courses are the source of The Four Steps, the seed system, the Lion's Dance, and many other everyday practices a lot of us are familiar with.
In 2022, ACI brought the dharma to over 3,250 people. In January of 2023 alone, we recorded 1,064 hours of class video that we are sharing with the world. And our tireless, heroic volunteers logged over 2,920 hours. We don't pay them--they selflessly volunteer their time. But imagine: if we could pay them $20 an hour, that would cost us over $700,000 a year! What a huge gift they give us every day!
At any point in the year, you are likely to find an ACI certified teacher offering one of the ACI Foundation Courses online or in person free of charge to anyone that wants it, at some place in the world (and everywhere via Zoom). ACI helps support and market these teachings; for example, they are featured on the ACI website. In 2023, we are planning to offer at least 15 ACI Foundation Courses online--maybe more. Stay tuned and let's see.
In the last several years, the ACI teacher training program has produced dozens of certified teachers. Today, we have a total of 51 certified ACI teachers, and are adding more every few months. We hope to reach 100 this year. Being certified means they have gone through a rigorous process of study, homeworks, examinations, and training by senior teachers to make sure they are well-set-up to provide the profound teachings of the Buddha in an accurate, accessible and relevant way. They reach students around the world in eleven languages--Spanish, Chinese, English, Russian, German, Romanian, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, and Japanese. They help many people and transform many lives. And we want to produce dozens--maybe hundreds--more teachers!
ACI is grateful to be able to support the spread of dharma and to radiate the refreshing moonlight of wisdom in these difficult days. Can you help?
Become an ACI volunteer today.