October 4, 2009
September 26, 2009
Geshe Kicks Maha American Buddhist Butt, Again
… Families bewildered, angry, skeptical
Such talk provokes bewilderment, skepticism and even anger from the family members of many of those who will join the retreat. Hubert Dreyfus, a professor of existential philosophy at the University of California-Berkeley, worries that his son Stephane is wasting his talent for writing and filmmaking to pursue ideas he sees as irrational.
The elder Dreyfus concedes his son is happier than ever. Still, he can’t understand why anyone would leave loved ones behind to disappear into the desert — in this case, for 1,190 days. “I’m just torn,” says Dreyfus, 79. “I want grandchildren.”
Each retreat participant will need $60,000 to $75,000 to build a cabin and pay for three years of food and supplies. Some already have set aside the money. A few are searching for sponsors at yoga and meditation seminars, or relying on the generosity of others on the retreat.
Those on retreat will cook for themselves in cabins equipped with kitchens and bathrooms. Power will be supplied by solar panels or propane tanks, and members will probably have air horns to summon help if something goes wrong. Volunteer caretakers, fellow Buddhists who live nearby, will help by growing or shopping for food and dropping it off twice a week.
David Stumpf, a retired plant biochemist from the University of Arizona who is planning to join the retreat, is in charge of installing a water supply system in the valley. Stumpf has nearly finished building the 600-square-foot cabin he and his wife, Susan, will share on a small patch of earth surrounded by paddle cactus and ocotillo plants. Surveying the rolling landscape and cloud-streaked sky, the 56-year-old proclaims the setting ideal for deep meditation. “This place is stunning at sunrise,” he says. “The lighting on the hillside is just magical.” ….
Geshe (Michael Roach) is skipping the whole obstructionist pile of Tibeto-centric preliminary practices, and going straight to what benefits Americans out of the Tibetan tradition: meditation. In other words, he’s empowering these retreatants to jump right past FIFTY YEARS of uncompassionate, unconstructive, uncreative, deluded, and obstructionist crap by other lamas. Not everyone who starts this Retreat will finish, but those who do will be lamas, the real article.
Yea, Geshe-lha!!!
Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping
June 17, 2008
The Buddha Vehicle Revisited
My attempts to arrive at more relevant material by Xuecheng Fashi have been blocked. No doubt the Mahasangha needs more time to absorb what I have already translated. So I have decided to return to another unfinished translation project.
June 12, 2008
The Geshe Michael Roach “Controversy”
The Diamond Cutter on Geshe
The only reason that I know that there is such a “contoversy” is that people have been searching my site for it. And of course, they had to mention the other party. I don’t see that I have to follow their example. It smells like something that those pesky Blogisattvas could start hallucinating about.
Beloveds, let me tell you how it is. Geshe is God’s Saint in full regalia. He is to America what Guru Rinpoche was to Tibet. May flowers always spring beneath his feet. May Americans flock to him like bees on the honeysuckle vine. May his protectors be seven ranks deep, and may every single one of them pack mega-heat from the Dharmakaya, i.e., the capacity to instantaneously vaporize heretics and other obstructions. May his vow-power pervade my beautiful homeland, and may all his wishes be fulfilled. End of controversy.
Do we remember the Pope who fought St. Francis of Assissi? We do not, nor should we. He was an unremarkably vicious, pompous, and decadent fool in a primitive feudal society dominated by such men. And ditto St. Francis’ father as well. We would be decadent in our own cases to even mention the name of that Pope, if we were frivilous enough to know it in the first place, which we shouldn’t be.
So also Geshe. Geshe’s spiritual status is such that it grants spiritual advancement even to attack him. That other individual’s lineage is so dead that the only way he can advance is to attack Geshe.
Such it is, American Buddhists, Such. It. Is.
Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping
April 19, 2008
Geshe
Um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um, um!
Like I’ve been writing, lo these many years, many Hindus think that Buddhism is part of Hinduism. That the Dalai Lama may have a problem with that is nobody’s fault but his own.Diamond-Cutter on Geshe
Geshe Michael Roach, Diamond Cutter
Geshe Michael Roach is teacher of Buddhism and Yoga who is gaining popularity in the USA and other countries. He is a published author and holds the title of Geshe (doctorate in Tibetan Buddhist studies). Geshe Michael Roach’s teachings and behavior are causing controversy and concern within much of the Buddhist community, due to his relationship with female student, Christie McNally and his unconventional teachings. Recent events have rendered Geshe Michael Roach as “persona non grata” by the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama….
This entire site should be perused in detail by everyone who wants to understand American Buddhism. I have long been aware of Geshe-lha, who literally has done three times as much practice as the Dalai Lama, but when I saw this, I realized that my favorite American Vajra teacher has changed. I like Geshe-lha better than Jetusunma, because he has attained more at a younger age, and because he just Kicks. More. Butt.
Namu Amida Butsu
Xing Ping
