Diamond Mountain University: A History of Programs and Controversies

Diamond Mountain University (DMU) offers a space for deep spiritual practice, a refuge from the stress and agitation of modern life. Located in the remote and pristine mountains of Southern Arizona, Diamond Mountain Retreat Center offers a space designed to support individuals on their journey of self-discovery. Retreaters are supported by knowledgeable, experienced meditators. Diamond Mountain retreat houses are available for solo retreat or group rentals. These 27 private retreat houses, spread over 1,000 acres, offer comfort and a joyful connection to the rhythms of nature around you. DMU believes in the potential of every person to transform his or her life through the practices of compassion, wisdom, and meditation. By getting in touch with our own inner wisdom, people can find everything they need to bring more love, understanding, and clarity into our world. This fulfillment can’t come from anything external, but at Diamond Mountain, it is seen as the mission to provide the best possible conditions for supporting guests on their journey of self-discovery.

Founding and Early Vision

In 2002, a group of pioneers came to Diamond Mountain in search of inner treasures: a clear, disciplined mind and an open heart. Their dream was to give anyone who sought a balanced, meaningful life the opportunity to explore their possibilities in the ideal setting, with all the guidance they need. After 15 years the initial vision has actualized. Over the years thousands of people have transformed their lives at Diamond Mountain. During the 20th Anniversary in 2024, there was a beautiful story time hour with many people sharing their stories of the last 20 years.

Core Values

Diamond Mountain is a place for everyone. It welcomes committed spiritual seekers, whether they want to practice Buddhist meditation, yoga, or Christian prayer, they are welcome as guests or volunteers. If someone wants to go hiking or write a book there, that’s also welcome. Meditation and a conducive retreat space are vital to spiritual progress. At Diamond Mountain, the conditions for retreat in a modern world are created. As meditators and yogis, the commitment to exploring deeper truth is valued, and the staff are a treasure house of knowledge and experience. The facilities of the retreat center were designed according to permaculture principles of sustainable living. DMU makes every effort to make a positive impact on the local ecosystem as well as the larger world. Built from natural materials with eco-smart design, the retreat houses are equipped with solar electricity, compost toilets, and greywater irrigation.

The Asian Classics Institute (ACI) and its Role

The Asian Classics Institute (ACI) pursued multiple projects to foster the learning and preservation of Tibetan Buddhism and meditation. These projects include organizations such as the Asian Legacy Library (ALL) and the Diamond Cutter Classics organization, and platforms like “The Knowledge Base” which offer free courses in a variety of subjects in multiple languages. The Asian Legacy Library alone has digitized over 16 million pages, according to Roach.

Curriculum and Programs

At Diamond Mountain, they put into action what they learn in Buddhist scriptures. In order to see transformations towards peace and happiness, they work to clear collective past harmful actions and get beyond the obstacles they created. After almost three years in meditation, the retreatants at Diamond Mountain University are possibly as deep as any large group of meditators in the history of the United States. You’ll also hear from classmates of the retreatants who have spent the three years out helping the world with the 7 years of study they completed at Diamond Mountain. Diamond Mountain offers a space for deep spiritual practice, a refuge from the stress and agitation of modern life. Located in the remote and pristine mountains of Southern Arizona, Diamond Mountain Retreat Center offers a space designed to support you on your journey of self-discovery. Retreaters are supported by knowledgeable, experienced meditators.

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Notable Figures

Geshe Michael Roach (born December 17, 1952) is the first American to have been awarded the degree of Geshe, or Master of Buddhism, after more than 20 years of study in Tibetan monasteries. He has used this training to become a prominent international teacher, businessman, philanthropist, author, educator, public speaker, textual scholar, and musician. Geshe Michael graduated with honors from Princeton University and has received the Presidential Scholar Medal from the President of the United States at the White House. He is the founder of the Asian Classics Institute, Diamond Mountain University, the Asian Classics Input Project, Worldview, the Yoga Studies Institute, Star in the East, Global Family Refugee Aid, Three Jewels Community Outreach Centers, and the Diamond Cutter Institute. In 1981 he helped found Andin International Diamond Corporation and bring it to annual sales of over $100 million, donating his profits to international aid projects. His book about achieving business and personal success through generosity, The Diamond Cutter, has become a global bestseller in 20 languages.

Ven. Jigme Palmo has been a Buddhist nun for 20 years, and has been a student of Geshe Michael since he started teaching the ACI courses. Lady Ruth Lauer has spent many years in India as a direct disciple of the founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri Pattabhi Jois; and who has helped build the Jivamukti Yoga organization. She is a beloved teacher and supporter of the Diamond Mountain community; a very popular yoga master, artist and poet; and has recently published An Offering of Leaves, an inspiring book of spiritual poetry. Scott Vacek is an executive with the Diamond Cutter Institute, and has been running seminars on ethical business from Russia to Taiwan, for companies with up to 40,000 employees. Nicole Davis is the DMU Board of Directors Vice-President.

Controversies

Roach has fielded critiques of cult like behavior after his many controversies. Roach has been uninvited to teach at FPMT centers across the globe in addition to being publicly rebuked by the office of the Dalai Lama. In an interview with NBC News, Robert Thurman, Columbia University Professor of Buddhism, says Roach's organizations have "a lot of good learning in it".

Relationship with Christie McNally

In 1996, Christie McNally became Roach's student and they began a "spiritual partnership", a Buddhist practice that encourages both partners to reach extraordinary goals. The experiment included vowing to never be more than 15 feet (roughly 4.5 meters) apart, eating from the same plate, reading the same books together. They were married in a Christian ceremony in Rhode Island in 1998. The marriage was kept secret.

Ian Thorson's Death

In 2012, Ian Thorson was found dead in a cave in Arizona. He and his wife had been kicked out of a silent Buddhist retreat that was supposed to last three years, but they decided to finish out the time alone in the desert - and that extreme quest for spiritual enlightenment eventually killed him. Scott Carney tells that story in his new book, A Death on Diamond Mountain. Carney tells NPR's Rachel Martin that he was drawn to Ian Thorson's story because it felt eerily familiar. Back in 2006, he was leading a program for American students in India. They learned about Buddhism, practiced meditation, and one day, they undertook a particularly dark exercise: It involved imagining themselves as decaying corpses. Afterwards, one of his brightest students told him it was the most profound experience of her life. That night, she described herself in her journal as a "bodhisattva," just before jumping to her death from the roof of the retreat center.

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Carney says he was drawn to the story of Ian Thorson because he wanted to know why someone would want to do a three-year-long retreat in the first place. He also wondered why Westerners, and Americans in particular, sometimes have such problems when practicing Eastern religions. Carney believes that when Americans start getting interested in other religions, they come to table with a lot of preconceptions. It's very easy to listen to a Buddhist teaching and substitute the idea of "Nirvana" for "Heaven" or "Bodhisattva" for "Angel." In fact, it's natural to fill in the gaps of your knowledge with your previous understanding. While good teachers can head off some of this confusion, many Americans go abroad looking for answers in exotic knowledge, and that can often be a dangerous proposition.

Carney believes that Ian Thorson had a spiritual sickness. He thinks many people on this quest can get deluded by that desire to know absolutely. And he believes that very intensive meditiation might be able to accentuate some of these underlying proclivities in us, and push us over the edge. It's a problem that we know about in the traditions and yet you don't really talk about it in the community at large, because I think a lot of people feel that if you mention that there's this dark side to meditation, that you're undercutting the very credibility of the techniques in the first place.

Land and Indigenous People

The Apache are southern Athabaskan-speaking peoples who migrated more than 100 centuries ago from the subarctic to the southwestern region of what would become the United States and Mexico. The People settled in southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and northern Sonora and Chihuahua. They seasonally migrated across millions of acres of open deserts, through mountain ranges and valleys. The land on which Diamond Mountain resides embraces one of very few water sources in the entire region, and the Apache People would travel here for water to sustain them in the desert environment. The military operations orchestrated for 32 years from next door to Diamond Mountain at Fort Bowie were heavily manned and armed, committing genocide against a small group of families running for their very lives. Knowledgeable in how to live in the desert, a few survived the slaughter while led by an Apache man whose family had been murdered; he later became known as Geronimo. The remaining Apaches were moved by train from the town of Bowie and on to Oklahoma and Florida, where the families were separated and put into Prisoner of War Camps called reservations. At Diamond Mountain we have on-going Four-Step Plans to correct the harm done to the Indigenous People and to the Land by generations before us. When you visit Diamond Mountain, please speak a prayer of gratitude to the Apache People upon whose land we are guests.

Publications by Geshe Michael Roach

The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Managing Your Business and Your Life, Three Leaves, 2000.
The Essential Yoga Sutra: Ancient Wisdom for Your Yoga, with Christie McNally, Three Leaves, 2005.
The Garden: A Parable, Image, 2000.
How Yoga Works: Healing Yourself and Others With The Yoga Sutra, with Christie McNally. Diamond Cutter Press, 2005.
The Tibetan Book of Yoga: Ancient Buddhist Teachings on the Philosophy and Practice of Yoga, Doubleday, 2004.
China Love You: The Death of Global Competition, Diamond Cutter Press, 2017.
Karmic Management: What Goes Around Comes Around in Your Business and Your Life, Doubleday Publishing, 2009.
The Karma of Love: 100 Answers for Your Relationship, Diamond Cutter Press, 2013.
The 5 Books of the Diamond Cutter Institute Teacher Training Course, Diamond Cutter Institute, 2017.
The 9 Books of the Diamond Cutter Institute Management Training Course, Diamond Cutter Institute, 2010-2016.
The Garden: A Parable, Doubleday Publishing, 2000 / 210 pages.
The Eastern Path to Heaven: A Guide to Happiness from the Teachings of Jesus in Tibet, Seabury Books, 2008.
The Logic & Debate Tradition of India, Tibet, & Mongolia (co-translator), MSTP Press, 1979 / 281 pages.
King of the Dharma: The Illustrated Life of Je Tsongkapa (1357-1419), Diamond Cutter Press, 2008.
King Udrayana & The Wheel of Life (co-translator), MSTP Press, 1985.
The Principal Teachings of Buddhism, by Je Tsongkapa (1357-1419) (co-translator), Classics of Middle Asia Series, MSTP Press, 1989.
The 18 Books of the Foundation Course in Buddhism (translator), Asian Classics Institute; 1993-1999.
Preparing for Tantra: The Mountain of Blessings, by Je Tsongkapa (1357-1419) (co-translator), Classics of Middle Asia Series, MSTP Press, 1995.
The 18 Books of the Advanced Course in Buddhism (translator), Asian Classics Institute & Diamond Mountain Retreat Center; 2003-2010.

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