Christine Sperber and Daniel Garcia's blog

"For one human being to love another is the most difficult task of all. It’s the work for which all other work is mere preparation."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

                                                    WE LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU  -  C&D

Dear Friends of Diamond Mountain,

Greetings!  As you may know, Diamond Mountain's Great Retreat of three years, three months and three days is fast approaching.  The entire community is currently hard at work preparing for this remarkable undertaking, with about 50 students planning to join Geshe Michael Roach and Lama Christie McNally in retreat starting October 10, 2010. 

One extraordinary effort about to be launched is the construction of a Peace Shrine and Garden in an area which has been designated by both a Tibetan Lama and a local Apache medicine man as the most powerful spot on the Diamond Mountain campus.  The shrine will be made of the paper adobe blocks and will offer a magical place for prayer, meditation, and personal restoration for the retreatants.  We have already broken ground on the Peace Shrine site and plan to construct the foundation in the spring of 2010.  Most recently and exciting news, Geshe Michael has announced his own plans to do his three year retreat in this proposed Peace Garden and to use the Peace Shrine to council and meet with the retreatants.   

                                                                                                Map by Dennis Moore                                                                                                  

 SACRED SITE OF THE SHRINE  

I want to share with you the powerful potential of this shrine and a little about the remarkable history of the retreat valley.  For thousands of years Diamond Mountain's desert foothills were covered with oak forests and tall grasses supporting a wide variety of wildlife.  The Chiricahua Apaches lived in this forest, following a simple way of life where man and earth sustained each other. 

In the 1800’s, increasing numbers of new settlers began pouring into the area.  The oak forests were logged to make railroad ties and to fuel steam engines, bringing in a huge influx of cattle.  Deforestation coupled with severe overgrazing quickly led to the devastation of the native landscape.

The Apaches tried to reason peacefully with the settlers, but when their conflicts could not be resolved, it lead to more than 25 years of bloodshed.  You may be familiar with the stories of Cochise and Geronimo – all of which happened in this area.  Much of the fighting was over the spring that still bubbles on what is now Diamond Mountain property, as it is one of the few water sources in the area for many miles. 

                                                             Apache Prisoners at Fort Bowie

In 1862, the US Army built Fort Bowie a half mile from our current Diamond Mountain location.  They placed a guardhouse as well as an officer's residence (the building now called the Lama House) along side the spring.  We are building the Peace Shrine in a beautiful wooded area nestled right between the guardhouse and the Lama House, just several yards from the spring.  The Peace Garden will surround this shrine, and will also create a favorable habitat for the local wildlife.

The spring made this area precious to the Army for logistical purposes, but for us it holds a spiritual significance.  Last year, Geshe Lothar, a visiting Tibetan Lama from Sera Mey Monastery, identified the site as the most powerful on the land:“the place where the Nagas live!”  Nagas are considered by the Tibetans to be snake-like beings who dwell by waterways and underground, and who are powerful protectors of the Dharma.  They are however still susceptible to the suffering created by mankind's carelessness and environmental recklessness, which is one of the main issues we would like to address in our prayers for world peace. 

Then several months ago, a local Apache medicine man, Cranston Hoffman, visited the site and confirmed its power, saying, “Here is where the Snake People live!”   We have observed other amazing similarities between the Tibetans and the Apaches, such as the deities in which they believe, their ceremonial attire, and even their physical appearance, clothing and jewelry.  Their deep beliefs and customs also have a powerful connection.    

 HONORING THE HISTORY OF THE LAND

When Diamond Mountain originally purchased the land, we offered 100 acres back to the Apaches.  Manuel Medina, another Apache medicine man, heard our proposal but graciously declined. “We Apache have always felt that no one owns the land, so no one person can give it away to another.  Land, Mother Earth, is just there.   We all need to use it together in peace.”

Manuel Medina gave us the idea to create this special Garden and Shrine near the spring, the possession of which gave rise to so much violence in the past.  The Peace Garden will celebrate the idea of peace and reconciliation between all the peoples of the world, and in particular, the Native American and Tibetan people. 

The Peace Garden and Shrine will be built as a modest, intimate adobe building (fifteen by fifteen by twelve feet) and will be a place dedicated solely to meditating and praying for peace in the world, peace for our loved ones, and peace in our own minds.

 THE ANGELS OF THE SHRINE

Inside the Shrine will be special statues of three angels.  The first is Green Tara, the Lady of Liberation, a traditional Tibetan Buddhist angel of peace and compassion (shown below).  The second angel will be Taok, the Guardian Angel of Sera Mey Monastery, our sister college in India.  The third angel (shown below) is Maksorma, which means “The Lady Who Stops War”.  She is a special Tibetan form of the ancient goddess named Kali, or Shri Devi by the Hindus, and Pelden Lhamo by the Tibetans.  Maksorma is a wild and wrathful looking goddess who uses the power of her kindness to destroy the violence in the world and in our own hearts.  She works especially hard to stop wars already plaguing our world, such as the present day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.                                                          

                                                                              Green Tara 

                                                                              Maksorma

Statues of all three Deities have already been sponsored by Diamond Mountain students and are currently being created by master carvers in Varanasi, India.  These statues are up to four and a half feet high and are being carved out of green marble, red sandstone and black granite. 

HOW WILL THE PEACE SHRINE CREATE PEACE IN THE WORLD

Diamond Mountain operates around the principle that the world in which we live is a reflection of how well we take care of others.  The Yoga Sutra, the first book of yoga, written in India about 2,000 years ago states in Verse II.35:

                                         “If you make it a way of life never to hurt others,

                                        Then in your presence all conflict comes to an end.”

 According to this and other ancient books of Tibet and India, we see violence in our outside world because we have been violent to others, even if just in small ways. These harmful actions planted karmic seeds in our mind which later break open, showing us conflicts ranging from someone yelling at us, up to a major war in the Middle East.  If we purposely try to stop even thinking thoughts of violence, or if we go into a three-year retreat and try to clean away even our slightest tendencies towards violence, then, as the Yoga Sutra puts it, “all conflict comes to an end”.

HOW YOU CAN HELP  

At Diamond Mountain we intend to follow this prescription for removing all conflict in our world.  All the work on the shrine will be done by student volunteers.  We are asking for your help with some of the building costs, as we still need to purchase materials to complete the shrine.  If you find that you can help in any way, it would be greatly appreciated.  This project has become in so many ways, a powerful offering to our world, created solely by the kindness and generosity of donations and volunteers.  There is also a youtube video on this project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm4I0H1eRno

 Here is a list of some of the things needed to build the shrine:

$4800    Adobe blocks                                            $500    Shipping door to door of Statues

$675     Solar panels for radiant floor heating          $1600    Radiant floor heating components                 

$350     Lights for deities                                       $875     Control Panel for solar radiant system

$500     Sealed adobe floor                                     $225    Site preparation and earth works

$500     Mission style mesquite door                       $400    Vigas for roof and latillas for ceiling

$200     Rock retaining wall                                    $350    Niche and pedestal to house Kali statue        

$920     Earthen plasters, interior and exterior         $350    Niche and pedestal to house Taok statue

$350     Niche and pedestal to house Tara statue     $900    Adobe roof with bond beam and sealant      

$400     Adobe circumambulation path             $500   2 windows                                                              

Total needed to complete the Peace Shrine:  $14,395.00

To donate online, please go to Diamond Mountain Website:  http://diamondmountain.org/help/, and click on Donations. Where it says Comments please put “Peace Shrine”. 

You can also donate by mail with a check to:  Diamond Mountain

                                                                     PO Box 37

                                                                     Bowie, Arizona USA 85605.

DMU is an IRS-approved, 501(c) 3 not-for-profit organization. All donations are 100% tax-deductible.  You will receive written confirmation of your contribution at the end of the year.

 Thank you for your consideration.  We invite you to email us at christinesperber@yahoo.com or garciad1111@gmail.com with any questions or suggestions.

With Love,

Christine & Daniel, Diamond Mountain

My name is Christine.  I grew up near Buffalo, New York in the small village of Elma.  My parents, Rose and Alfred, were from Germany and Lithuania.  They both moved to the United States in the 1950's and met each other in Buffalo.  When I was very little, I was raised by my grandmother and grandfather as my parents both were working.  My grandfather was a pastor in a Lutheran church in Buffalo.  As a child, I never felt religious or any draw to the church.  However I was very attracted to mysticism, rituals, magic and art from a very young age.  I always felt different from other children; out of place; and was considered by most others as strange.  Perhaps it was my German upbringing that made me stand apart from the other children in such a small town.  As an only child I lived in a fantasy world, especially through my own drawings and paintings.  Many people felt I was going to become an artist.  But as I grew up, I also felt this deep love of nature and I would spend the days by myself playing in the woods and streams around our home; playing with imaginary friends and many wild animals that became my pets.  By the time I was in high school, my magical world had disappeared and I no longer wanted to paint and be by myself in nature, but wanted to understand more the world outside of me.  So I was drawn to the sciences, especially earth and geological sciences. 

I was deeply attracted to geology and plate tectonics, so as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, I specialized in Earth Sciences and then went on to do my masters at Stanford University in Marine Geology and Geophysics.  I was fortunate to have worked with some of the leading geophysicists at the US Geological Survey in California and as a consultant for a geophysics project through the Government of Puerto Rico.  Shortly after working in these careers, I walked into a contemporary art gallery in San Francisco and again felt this powerful draw to art.  I became obsessed with the artists and their visions, finding a deep attraction to be in their energy.  So I took an internship at a gallery which led me to realize that I did not want to work in the sciences anymore, but to work more with artists.  I found a position as an art consultant at a San Francisco gallery and after 4 years I was transferred to New York City to work at a famous Russian art gallery; Eduard Nakhamkin Fine Arts.  I began traveling a lot to Hong Kong, Singapore and Indonesia organizing art exhibitions and to work with many private collectors.   After a few years I opened my own gallery on Prince Street in Soho – the Mimi Ferzt Gallery.  This became a successful gallery of contemporary Russian art, and where I worked very hard for over ten years.  I also continued to bring exhibitions to Asia, working closely with the Four Seasons Resorts in Bali, Singapore and Malaysia.  I feel a very deep connection with Asia, especially connected to Bali.  My life back then was like a dream – but with no spiritual path.  However, I felt this powerful connection with Asia which kept me coming every year; perhaps something from my past lives as I feel so comfortable in these exotic places.   

Then 9/11 happened.  I was by myself on a roof top in the East Village, watching as both towers fell.  I had never felt such a powerful jolt of pain in my heart as when I witnessed this.  My entire life shifted at this point.  The Gallery and SoHo were very close to Ground Zero, and never again did they recover to have the same energy as pre 9/11.  Also just a few months before, I was experiencing the karma's ripening of my years of selfish, superficial, overindulgent living, and was experiencing deep depressions and finally, a serious break down.  I was definitely on a downward spiral and nothing seemed to be able to help me.  I felt that there was no more reason for me to live.   Finally at my lowest, I had a “white light experience” – a spiritual awakening.  Something deep inside me shifted and in an instant, I began to see the world in a different way; from doom and gloom to magical once again.  It was a huge awakening – I felt a higher force in the Universe much greater than me, and this was the beginning of my own surrender to a higher power. 

The gallery survived, and still is doing well today, but I was changed almost overnight.  I made the decision to leave the art world and pursue a more spiritual life.  I wanted to learn about the things that I realized in that “white light experience” and that I knew now were more important than any material life and possessions that I could accumulate.  I left the gallery to find out my real purpose in life.  Why was it that nothing could keep me happy?  Why was everything beautiful ripped away from me?  Why was I so self destructive when I had so many good things going for me?  Why did I constantly create the same habituated patterns – mini-cycles – in my life – knowing that these would always end in suffering?  Why is there so much suffering in my world?  Can I change this?  Why am I here if only to suffer and die?  Is there anything I can do to stop the pain in this world? 

I have heard that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.  I was definitely heading for insanity if I had not had this shift in my perspective.  I started to question Why?  and What is my purpose? rather than just existing selfishly as if I had only one life to live.  Thank God for this low point in my life as this was when I was able to allow the angels to come into my life and help me. 

From there on my life started to show signs of again being magical – perhaps something beyond what I could ever convey now in writing.   I began meeting amazing spiritual beings, and started to read a lot on different spiritual paths, especially attending many Buddhist teachings in New York.  I followed the Dalai Lama, and had several powerful experiences in his presence.  I was obsessed with learning the philosophy of emptiness – a way of looking at my world with a new view and trying to retrain my mind to see that experiences were not coming at me, but that everything in my world was projecting from me, forced upon me by my own past deeds.  I began to realize how my outer world was being created by my inner world – and that I could change my future into a paradise if I watched my mind, kept my vows purely and worked hard to help other beings.  I realized that my first steps to happiness were taking care of others and living a pure life.  I felt I had known all this before but had just awoken from a long sleep.  Everyday I was being guided somewhere new and magical on my spiritual path.  I was on a pink cloud.  Now I see how all living beings are indeed angels – guiding me – healing me.  I didn't even know what a powerful impact all the Buddhist teachings were making on me back then, leading me on an upward spiral.  I would go to a Buddhist temple in New Jersey and sit through many long hours of teachings in Tibetan that I could not even understand.  In the beginning I was barely able to sit more than a few minutes in one place, but I would stick it out, telling myself that I wouldn't come back again, but only finding myself the next day, wanting even more teachings.  

In 2004, I met Geshe Michael and Lama Christie McNally when they came out of their three year retreat and were starting a new Buddhist school in Arizona; Diamond Mountain University.  I had this realization that I should be a part of the beginning of such a powerful spiritual vision, and I sold everything and left Manhattan for Bowie, Arizona.  A beautiful nun and one of Geshe Michael's first students, Lama Ani Pelma, was skillfully guiding me out of my misery to my future paradise.  The first semester at Diamond Mountain had just begun and I came out for a workshop on Tibetan Heart Yoga.  At this time I had taken only a few of the Asian Classics Institute (ACI) courses in New York at The Three Jewels, Geshe Michael's Dharma Center, and had also begun to realize my deep love for yoga. 

I left Manhattan thinking that I would spend a few years at Diamond Mountain University mainly to learn Buddhist philosophy and Tibetan yoga and then come back to the New York art world hopefully a better person, and to bring with me an understanding of karma and emptiness to my world.  By the third semester I was accepted into the Tantric program and have been studying now for five years.  We live in a house in Bowie, ten miles down the road from Diamond Mountain.  We call this house “The Three Jewels Bowie”, and every term around seven students live there with us.  It has been a 180 degree shift in my lifestyle since Manhattan. 

For two years I travelled with Geshe Michael and Lama Christie on their world tours and then started to teach as well, especially on the subject of Spiritual Partners, which I am very drawn to, as by this time I was totally mystified by how to keep any partnership going, seeing that so many just sifted through my fingers like sand.  Learning about the laws of karma and emptiness finally made me see how there was some sense to my life and that the habituated mini-cycles that I have created in my life could be broken.  I loved to pass on the wisdom of my Lamas and this lineage, and try to help others with their problems, especially with their relationships.  It is an amazing feeling to make a positive change in someone's life, and I feel I was able to help several friends with the knowledge that my Holy teachers passed on to me.  I knew that if only I could learn these lessons much deeper then I could benefit people even more.  I saw directly how my own life had changed dramatically and how now I feel that my life is worth living for – that I could actually help others in a much more significant way, and that if I truly embodied these teachings even more, that I could be of much more service to humanity. 

While touring with Geshe Michael and Lama Christie, I began teaching in Thailand, Japan, and China, where I again felt these deep connections to Asia.  I would truly love to continue teaching much more there in the future.  However in these last years I also began to feel that the best thing that I could really do is to become a more powerful teacher by embodying these teachings.  I began to realize that the three year retreat would be the most powerful thing I could do with my life – to help get myself into deeper states of meditation and a deeper understanding of Buddhist philosophy and yoga by studying the scriptures in more depth.  These feelings have since become stronger, and now I am confident that I must do the three year retreat – in order to truly benefit all beings.  At this time I don't feel I could make a deep enough contribution to humanity, that I truly feel I have the capacity to make. 

Geshe Michael and Lama Christie recently recommended that I not go on the world tours as of this last summer, 2009, but rather stay at Diamond Mountain and help build the 3 year retreat cabins.  Especially I am helping to build a Peace Garden and Peace Shrine where Geshe Michael will do his own three year retreat in, and where he will meet with retreatants that are going through difficult times; something which is bound to happen.  I have been concentrating on this project since last summer – such an honor to help organize the building of my Holy Lama's retreat site.  I attach a separate proposal on this blog for this Peace Shrine and Garden, and welcome you to please take a look at it and possibly help in any way you can.  We need to start building this Peace Shrine and Garden now, and although we have Diamond Mountain students volunteering to help us with the actual building, we still need to get more materials.  We plan to build the Peace Shrine out of recycled paper adobe blocks.  Please check out this video for more information on the Peace Shrine and recycled paper adobe block projects:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm4I0H1eRno 

Since my decision to do three year retreat, many different feelings have come up, especially about my parents.   They are older now and in their seventies, and will be relying on me as their only child to take care of them in the future.  My father has the onset of dementia, so it is very difficult for my mother to think that I may not be there for her when things get difficult.  But she has also been very supportive of all my decisions and trusts that I am doing the best that I can with my life.  I told my parents about three year retreat one year ago, and so we have been very open with each other about our feelings.  They know that I want to use my life to its fullest in order to help as many beings as I can, including them.  I really have very few friends any more that are not into yoga or spiritual philosophy, so they are supportive of my dream to do the three year retreat knowing it is the highest I can do.

I am writing this proposal here from a Manhattan studio in November 2009 – during Geshe Michael and Lama Christie's teachings on the Bhagavad Gita.  After these teachings, I will go back to Diamond Mountain to start working on the Peace Shrine and Garden, and continue working on plans for a cabin for Site #21.  My spiritual partner, Daniel Garcia, is working by my side all the time.  We are working to create the causes for us to do this powerful retreat together.  Much of our time now is used to help serve others in many different ways, in order to create this karma.  We also began to work on site #21 last summer, and have our architectural plans, our site cleared and the septic already put in.   Site #21 is a beautiful site next to a stream wash with many trees.  We are resuming work on the actual building of the cabin in the Spring 2010.  Below I include a few designs of our cabin plans.  Originally we wanted to build the cabin out of adobe from the Arizona desert and recycled paper, but now we are looking for a more economical way to build.  Time and funds are running short so we are working with a builder to create the most economical cabin out of wood.  The builder has some great ideas we will implement for this self sustainable cabin.

Along with going deep into meditation, yoga and our studies in this retreat, I want to perfect the spiritual partner practices that we have received from Geshe Michael and Lama Christie over the past five years.  These teachings have changed my life and many others so dramatically, and helped so many to find, to keep, to be happy and to go higher with their partners.  They are the key to success for any relation and can be found for free on:  http://www.dmes.org/index.php/SpiritualPartners .  Daniel and I are committed to embody these holy teachings in depth so that we come out of retreat and teach them perfectly. 

I also have an interest in food; eating very healthy, especially raw vegan foods, and I look forward to really practicing a healthy yogic lifestyle.  We plan to plant a garden and try to live off of this garden as much as we can and not rely too much on outer foods that are not grown in the immediate area. 

For now, Daniel and I will focus on building the Peace Shrine and Garden for Geshe Michael, and to help Lama Ani Pelma and Kat Ehrhorn with their own retreat cabins, as much as we possibly can.  So I ask you again, please take a moment to look at the proposal for the Peace Shrine and Garden on this blog, and to also help support Lama Ani Pelma and Kat Ehrhorn, by visiting their blogs, and contributing something - even the smallest thing - to their 3 year retreats.

Thank you very much for reading this proposal.  I feel that this retreat will be an opportunity for all of us to help the world in our own way.  It is a great team effort, and I look forward to doing my part in it.

Sincerely,

Christine Sperber

To My Dear Friends and Sponsors:

My name is Daniel Garcia.  I was born in the United States in El Paso, Texas.  I am a 3rd generation American citizen that was born into a Mexican American family and was raised with a Christian belief system.  My father’s name is Raul Garcia Jr. and my mother’s name is Dolores Chavez, both of them are 51 years of age and are still very healthy and living in El Paso.  I also have one older brother named Raul Garcia III.  He is 32 years old and has a son named Osiris, whom both live in El Paso.   

I am currently 26 years old and I believe the youngest person that is going into the 3 year retreat.  I have been studying at Diamond Mountain for about 4 years now, and Tibetan Buddhism for over 10 years. 

I was never a very strict Christian, so I was given the space as a young child to question things freely and around the age of 16, I became curious about the other religions of the world and started to read about Buddhism.  I was immediately attracted to the idea of being able to become an enlightened being in one lifetime.  I remember the first time I read about this, it was in a book called, “The Eight Steps to Enlightenment: Awakening the Buddha Within” by Lama Surya Das.  I decided immediately that getting enlightened in one lifetime was the only thing I wanted to do with my life and I resolved that I would do it.  I really had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I felt like I had finally found the purpose for my life. 

At that point, I was only 16 years old and still hadn’t even met a qualified teacher.  I was also dealing with the life that I was expected to live according to my parents and the society I was raised into, but somehow, I couldn’t accept the idea of just living a life of going to college, getting married, raising a family, working to pay the bills, and then just getting old and dying.  I felt in my heart that there must be something more meaningful for me to do with my life; a higher way of being able to help others.  So, when I discovered the teachings of Buddhism, something very deep inside of me awakened and I began to slowly see the possibilities that were available if I could somehow master this path. 

I was fortunate enough to find a small Tibetan Buddhist meditation center in El Paso and so I began to attend classes regularly.  It was through this group that I began to meet qualified teachers and to receive the teachings of the Gelukpa lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, the lineage of Je Tsongkapa, the Dalai Lama’s, and the lineage of my soon to be heart teacher, Geshe Michael Roach. 

It was in 2004 that I began studying the ACI courses in El Paso. Shortly after that I met Geshe Michael for the first time in 2005 at a teaching given by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama in Tucson, Arizona.   Very soon after that I traveled to Diamond Mountain to study with him and Lama Christie McNally.  I knew immediately that I had found my heart teachers.

At that time I was studying for my bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Texas at El Paso.  I made the decision to put my formal scholastic education on hold to pursue the chance to study at the feet of my teachers and spend more time in deeper service to them.  The Lama’s had just begun the second of six years of the advanced training courses at Diamond Mountain and had promised to only teach it only once.  I felt I would regret missing the chance to receive these courses directly from them and that the highest thing I could do with my life was to remain close to them.  It took a bit of convincing my parents that I was making a wise choice and actually in the final decision I had to leave without their blessings, because it was so hard for them to understand. 

Eventually though they did come to see how much I can help others with these teachings and more recently they have began to support my decision to give my life completely to my Buddhist studies. I believe it is due to my refusing to give up, continuing to teach courses, and proving through my actions that there is something to be gained through this kind of service and study.  The results are now starting to become clearer to all my friends and family.  Also, I hope one day to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk and have asked my teacher repeatedly, but he says I should wait a few more years. 

It has been through my years of personal study with Geshe Michael and Lama Christie that I have come to understand that the only way to truly help others is to see directly the ultimate truths of these teachings, which can only happen in a deep state of meditation.  It is for this reason that I am preparing to do the 3 year retreat. 

The main practice for my retreat will be to master my mind with the use of a spiritual partner.  My partner’s name is Christine Sperber.  Together we are working very hard to prepare ourselves to go into retreat.  It’s not any easy task to be with another person in retreat.  It takes a lot of love for one another, respecting the other person’s space, offering them constant peace of mind, and always believing that they are the Angel.  For me, it’s the most incredibly rewarding practice, but can also be sometimes very difficult.   It is our wish to master serving and honoring one another in retreat, and then to take this practice all over the world and teach people how to grow towards enlightenment alongside their own partner.  Many texts say that working with a partner is the fastest way to reach Enlightenment, in one lifetime. 

At Diamond Mountain we have been studying very deeply the ancient meditation and yoga texts of both India and Tibet and have been trained as well as any Tibetan monk, maybe better.  We have gone deeply into the philosophy and technical explanations of exactly what to do in deep retreat, how to do it, and also all the things we shouldn’t do.  Moreover, we have the teachings of 5 experienced retreat masters that have already completed their own 3 year retreat.  They have spent countless hours guiding us as we have undertaken our own short retreats in preparation for the ‘Great Retreat’.

As a group, the students at Diamond Mountain going into retreat are probably the highest trained retreat yogis in the West.  We have dedicated our entire lives to learning from and serving our teachers in spreading these teachings all over the world.  As a result of constant service and also finding time to do our own month long retreats, as often as possible, it has been a challenge to maintain a normal job.  So now, for all these reasons, we feel comfortable to reach out to you and ask for sponsorship for going into the ‘Great Retreat’ at Diamond Mountain University. 

I think we can all work together towards the goal of building the retreat valley at Diamond Mountain.  I have been fortunate enough to have the time to be close to the Lamas and to be able to be constantly studying in an effort to pass the lineage on to future generations.  However, we all have a role to play and even if you don’t have the time to do a Great Retreat, maybe you have the financial resources that would allow you to contribute to the building of the 3 year retreat valley.  The Buddha said that the person who sponsors a monk doing retreat gains just as much merit through their generosity as the person themselves who is doing the retreat. 

Also, since the time of Lord Buddha, more serious practitioners have always relied on the community at large for their material support in exchange for the teachings.  It is exactly this model that we are following at DMU.  All classes are free of charge and everyone is welcome to attend classes.  Also, all the cabins that are being built for the Great Retreat do not belong to any individuals and after the retreat will be available for many years to anyone who would like to do retreat, including you who are reading this letter.

I think once you see Geshe Michael and Lama Christie teaching, as well as all the students close to them, you will be able to see that something special is happening in our world.  The karma of being a part of this retreat in any way will carry us all into our Buddha paradises.  

We really need your help to pay for our food and living expenses. Please consider helping us to achieve the goal of completing the retreat.  Any small or large donation would be used as efficiently as possible.  We are building homes with recycled materials, planting gardens, using composting toilets, and all cabins will be completely off the grid.  However, we can never do it without you.  Please help us to reach our highest goals by sponsoring one of our three year retreatants.

Thank you for taking the time to read this proposal.  I hope we can see you at Diamond Mountain soon.  For any additional information please email me at garciad1111@gmail .com, I would love to get to know you personally.

Sincerely,  Daniel Garcia

What a view! - no not the shoes, the mountain - look up silly!

Isn't She lovely!  The leech field's kinda cool too.

It's our favorite chair! ; )

Working hard or harldy working...  How can you judge the mind of another?

Hopefully we get a better kitchen sink than this one... 

WE LOVE YOU ALL. THANKS FOR VISITING.  C&D