Michael Roach

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For other uses, see Michael Roach (disambiguation).
Geshe Michael Roach

Information
Birth name:  Michael Roach
Born: 1952
Place of birth: Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationality: American
School(s): Gelugpa
Title(s): Geshe
Workplace: Diamond Mountain University
Education: Princeton University
Sera Monastery
Partner(s): Christie McNally
Website
Website: diamondmtn.org

Portal:Buddhism

Michael Roach (b. 1952) is an American teacher of Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelugpa school, and was the first Westerner to qualify for the geshe degree at Sera Monastery in India.[citation needed] He received the degree after twenty-two years of (part time) training in both India and abroad. He is a scholar in Tibetan, Sanskrit, and Russian.[1][2][3][4]

He is currently spiritual director at Diamond Mountain University in Bowie, Arizona, which he founded in 2004. He has founded several other endeavors in addition, including Andin International in 1981, the Asian Classics Institute (ACI) in 1993, the Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP), the Diamond Abbey in New York, and the Enlightened Business Institute.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Roach was born in Los Angeles, California in 1952 to Episcopalian parents and grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. He was a choirboy at his local church. Roach received the Presidential Scholars Medallion following high school graduation from U.S. President Richard Nixon, then graduated from Princeton University in 1974. Shortly before his graduation, Roach lost both of his parents to cancer and then his brother to suicide. Following graduation, he moved in to a Buddhist monastery in New Jersey with his lama Sermey Khensur Geshe Lobsang Tharchin.[5][2]

[edit] Endeavors

Roach teaching children debate in 1978.
Roach teaching children debate in 1978.

Roach returned to the United States in 1981 and gave Dharma teachings on WBAI radio in New York City. He went on to found Andin International, a jewelry retailer based in New York. At Andin, he built a lucrative international business in the diamond industry, turning an initial $50,000 investment into hundreds of millions of dollars. Roach has since left the company and relinquished his holdings, setting up financial endowments to fund various projects.[6][5]

In 1983 he was ordained as a Buddhist monk and received the geshe degree in 1995.[7] Roach founded the Asian Classics Institute (ACI) in New York in 1993 which offers academic courses on Tibetan Buddhism both as classes in New York and also at no cost via internet download of mp3 lectures and Buddhist readings.[8] He also founded the Asian Classics Input Project (ACIP) which compiles important Buddhist texts on CD-ROM. The project works out of the Asian Classics Institute.[3][9] During the 1990s he hosted a television program on public-access television in Manhattan, as well as a weekly broadcast for Mongolia that garnered approximately 500,000 viewers.[5] He founded Diamond Abbey in New York (a Tibetan training center for monks and nuns) and also the Enlightened Business Institute (an institute that helps train people to make money by implementing Buddhist ethics). Roach also founded Godstow Retreat Center in Redding, Connecticut which is now Do Ngak Kunphen Ling Tibetan Buddhist Center for Universal Peace.[2][3]

[edit] Modern day

In March of 2000 Roach began a three year silent retreat in the Arizona desert which he completed in June of 2003. Accompanying him there was his spiritual partner, Christie McNally.[9][6] In the Fall of 2004, Roach established Diamond Mountain University in Arizona where he serves as director.

[edit] Controversy

Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally
Geshe Michael Roach and Christie McNally

Michael Roach's behavior has caused controversy within the Gelugpa community because he continues to call himself a Buddhist monk ordained within this tradition and wears the robes of a monk despite living with a female partner.[10] The Office of the Dalai Lama has spoken out against Michael Roach, stating that his "unconventional behavior does not accord with His Holiness’s teachings and practices".[10]

Both Roach and McNally present their relationship as a celibate one.[10] Former monk Robert Thurman and American Buddhist teacher Surya Das have stated that people find it hard to believe that the relationship is celibate,[10] and according to the New York Times, unnamed experts say that "Mr. Roach’s branch of Buddhism clearly demands that you renounce monastic vows to have a partner."[10]

[edit] Bibliography

  • The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life, Three Leaves, 2000. ISBN 0-3854-9791-1
  • The Essential Yoga Sutra: Ancient Wisdom for Your Yoga, with Christie McNally, Three Leaves, 2005. ISBN 0-3855-1536-7
  • The Garden: A Parable, Image, 2000. ISBN 0-3854-9789-X
  • How Yoga Works: Healing Yourself and Others With The Yoga Sutra, with Christie McNally. Diamond Cutter Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9765-4690-6
  • The Tibetan Book of Yoga: Ancient Buddhist Teachings on the Philosophy and Practice of Yoga, Doubleday, 2004. ISBN 0-3855-0837-9

[edit] References

  1. ^ Prebish, Charles S (1999). Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press, p. 156. ISBN 0520216970. 
  2. ^ a b c Paine, Jeffrey (2005). Adventures With The Buddha. W. W. Norton & Company, pp. 369-373. ISBN 0393059065. 
  3. ^ a b c Seager, Richard Hughes (2000). Buddhism in America. Columbia University Press, pp. 122, 160. ISBN 0231108680. 
  4. ^ Smith, Houston;, Novack, Philip (2004). Buddhism: A Concise Introduction. HarperCollins, pp. 168. ISBN 0060730676. 
  5. ^ a b c Ehlrich, Dimitri (March 2000). Mission: Possible - activists celebrated - Brief Article. findarticles.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-02.
  6. ^ a b Furber, Matt (2004-04-09). Yoga and meditation mix to improve business acumen. Idaho Mountain Express. Retrieved on 2008-01-02.
  7. ^ Geshe Michael Roach. Diamond Mountain. Retrieved on 2008-01-02.
  8. ^ Arweck, Elisabeth;, Keenan, William JF (2006). Materialising Religion: Expression, Performance and Ritual. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., p. 187. ISBN 0754650944. 
  9. ^ a b Wilson, Jeff (2000). The Buddhist Guide to New York. St. Martin's Press, pp. 85. ISBN 0312267150. 
  10. ^ a b c d e Leslie Kaufman (May 15, 2008). Making Their Own Limits in a Spiritual Partnership. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-29.

[edit] External links

[edit] Video links

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