This is how Nally McScally describes herself... so let's break it down.
"Lama Christie is a professor of spiritual studies and a translator of Tibetan and Sanskrit classical monastic texts. She co-authored The Essential Yoga Sutra, How Yoga Works and The Eastern Path to Heaven. She is an accomplished practitioner who has spent six years of her life in silent deep meditation and is one of the first American women to be recognized as a lama. Lama Christie trained in India and Nepal and has received extensive instruction in all the texts required for a Geshe degree (traditionally a 20-year course of study). She is co-founder of Diamond Mountain University, a revolutionary effort to provide a classical monastic education to Westerners from all walks of life, free of charge. In 2003, she completed a traditional three-year silent meditation retreat with her spiritual partner, Geshe Michael Roach."
Let's take this line by line, because you can't just keep saying this stuff, and not be prepared to back it up.
"Lama Christie is a professor of spiritual studies"
So, turns out, she is a Professor of a University her one time partner set up by himself. So, she's basically a self-appointed Professor, not recognized by anyone but herself, her Ex and those that attend the private university. The university isn't accredited to ANYTHING.... no learning association, academy or monastery, anywhere in the world.
The Dalai Lama's office has issued a public statement denouncing Roach and his behaviour, and doesn't recognize any of the teachings that Roach conducts anywhere in the world. (This we will discuss later)
If Lama Christie McNally actually did a Phd study then let's see it. It should be a peer reviewed paper, right? This is the usual format for someone calling themselves a professor of anything, so let's read it.
"and a translator of Tibetan and Sanskrit classical monastic texts."
What texts? Where? Being able to read, write or speak Tibetan or read Sanskrit text does not make you a translator of classic text. What institution, or monastery has used and now clearly cites her as a translator? One only has to travel around Tibet, of which I've done extensively, to find a gaggle of westerners who've gone local, and often a bit whacky, who now think they're some how a medium between Tibetans and the west because they now speak the language.
By her friends she is described as speaking "fairly fluent" Tibetan and is "highly proficient" in Sanskrit. This is nice, but it doesn't make you a translator of classical monastic text.
What text from the Buddhist cannon has she translated that are used in mainstream Buddhism?
Why is this important? Well, it's really important, you can't just announce you're translating from classical text without it being peer reviewed. This goes for any subject, not just Buddhism. Otherwise, it risks personal distortion. One only needs to look at the confusion Edmund Backhouse caused on the history of China for generations of scholars, duping even the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford University with his so called translation of secret text.
Now, we can't comment on her personal attainments, however we can comment on what's written and commonly known about her retreats. None of her retreats have been carried out in accordance with any Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Especially her so-called 3 year Tantric Retreat with Michael Roach. For anyone who has even a slight knowledge of Buddhism they'll tell you that hanging out for 3 years in the desert with a member of the opposite sex is never going to qualify as a Tantric retreat. The fact that even now, after so many years of criticism, she is still trying to pass this off as a valid Buddhist retreat shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Dharma from any tradition other than her own, and challenges her "classical" understanding of Tibetan Buddhism.
Well, this is the root of the entire investigation... who exactly is recognizing Christie McNally as a lama? Certainly, Michael Roach has no authority to do so. No reputable Buddhist organization anywhere in the world is doing so. In fact Buddhist organizations bend over backwards to distance themselves from her. So, who is it?
In a later post I will discuss the intricate relationship between a teacher, their guru and their students... Nothing like this seems to be existing in this case. So, to clear this up, will the guru who recognizes McNally as a lama and his/her student, please step forward and make themselves known? no, not you Michael, a practicing Guru.
If one understands the concept of lama, then one knows that it's not a self appointed title and is dependent upon a number of factors, that all seem to be absent here. Will discuss this more later.
What a beautifully whimsical sentence this is, it's hard to know where to start, but let's try.
Where? Under who? A credible sentence would read like this.
Student X, trained under lama X, at monastery X, for X years, in India. Seems the important details have been conveniently missed off, probably because no one other than Michael Roach is willing to associate with her. But if there are reputable teachers
out there who are willing to put their name to her training then please come forward.
Again, I'm repeating myself but from who?
Plus, this sentence means what? It's complete nonsense.
I have purchased all the books written by Heston Blumenthal, watched all his shows and have recieved extensive instruction, from my mum, on cooking, but this doesn't make me a Michelin Star Chef does it?
What? So, you're implying she did a fast track Geshe Degree? With who, Diamond University? This opens up more questions than it answers.
So, how long did she take?
Who taught it?
Can anyone do it?
Is it a correspondence course?
How was it measured? Did she do like 10 classical texts a year, while a normal Tibetan would say do 1. What's the deal? Sounds like a really great thing.
Well that's handy, seeing as you awarded yourself the Phd from the very same institution. It's all starting to make sense alot more now.
How is the Diamond University providing classical monastic education? What classical monastic scholar, other than those attending or teaching at the University accept this? A University with self-appointed teachers and professors, which isn't recognized by a single independent organization could hardly be described as "classical."
Cool, well if they're giving away this free then fine, I'm not entirely sure many people would actually be willing to pay for it.
More Unsubstantiated Self Promotion
So, Here are some more statements from the McNally tradition.
This is a completely misleading statement. Since Tibetan Buddhism was first introduced to the west it has been completely open to all sexes and there are countless great women teachers all over the world teaching without fanfare or sensationalist hype. In fact Tibetan Buddhism practiced in the west is probably one of the most fairly represented religions on the planet and does not distinguish between sexes when it comes to teachers. All of the biggest organizations representing the modern-day, western lineages of Tibetan Buddhism have very high ranking female teachers. So, what she is doing is hardly revolutionary or face changing.
In Tibetan societies there maybe a case for a more fair representation of the sexes, however McNally hardly represents the interests of the average Tibetan woman or nun. Especially as there are no independent Tibetan organizations supporting the work of McNally. Note: if there are let's see hear from them. All the organizations quoted on her literature have been created by her or Roach.
Her actions are hardly "face changing" but seem typical of a modern day cult leader distorting a traditional religion for her own purpose.
This is the very essence of Buddhism and is something that really can't be boxed and packaged into a consumer-able western format in a few years by an un-guided practitioner. As McNally's Sanskrit, by all accounts, is up-to-speed, there's no reason to doubt that she hasn't read all the original text, in their original formats that a Geshe would study, but this a million miles away from actually studying them under fully realized master, of which Michael Roach, with his "Rock n Roll" Guru style antics seems to fall pretty short of by any measure.
Regarding their up-and-coming 3 year retreat in 2010, then if she truly is prepared to squirrel herself away for another three years, I'm sure the world of Tibetan Buddhism will not shed a tear and will probably breath a sigh of relief. However, I very much doubt that she has the ability to step out of the limelight now that she's busily making a little niche for herself as a "Global Lama."
Just like her self-proclaimed practice of Buddhists-partners dissipated into nothingness once it became no longer suitable for her cause, I'm sure her future 3 year retreat will be put on the back-burner, if she can achieve her goal of being the next "Rock n Roll" California- lama to the stars.
On top of this, it sounds like her spiritual partner is not making the best preparations for such a retreat anyway, hanging out in the clubs of New York with Russian models. Nice one Michael, "Rock n Roll, dude!"
Conclusion
Anyone with even a shred of Buddhist knowledge can see that this entire bio is superficial and devoid of credible content at best, and at worst deceitful and manipulative of those with little knowledge in the subject.
A Great Bio the the Bad Karma News Blog me thinks........
By her friends she is described as speaking "fairly fluent" Tibetan and is "highly proficient" in Sanskrit. This is nice, but it doesn't make you a translator of classical monastic text.
What text from the Buddhist cannon has she translated that are used in mainstream Buddhism?
Why is this important? Well, it's really important, you can't just announce you're translating from classical text without it being peer reviewed. This goes for any subject, not just Buddhism. Otherwise, it risks personal distortion. One only needs to look at the confusion Edmund Backhouse caused on the history of China for generations of scholars, duping even the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford University with his so called translation of secret text.
"She is an accomplished practitioner who has spent six years of her life in silent deep meditation"
Now, we can't comment on her personal attainments, however we can comment on what's written and commonly known about her retreats. None of her retreats have been carried out in accordance with any Tibetan Buddhist tradition. Especially her so-called 3 year Tantric Retreat with Michael Roach. For anyone who has even a slight knowledge of Buddhism they'll tell you that hanging out for 3 years in the desert with a member of the opposite sex is never going to qualify as a Tantric retreat. The fact that even now, after so many years of criticism, she is still trying to pass this off as a valid Buddhist retreat shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Dharma from any tradition other than her own, and challenges her "classical" understanding of Tibetan Buddhism.
"and is one of the first American women to be recognized as a lama."
Well, this is the root of the entire investigation... who exactly is recognizing Christie McNally as a lama? Certainly, Michael Roach has no authority to do so. No reputable Buddhist organization anywhere in the world is doing so. In fact Buddhist organizations bend over backwards to distance themselves from her. So, who is it?
In a later post I will discuss the intricate relationship between a teacher, their guru and their students... Nothing like this seems to be existing in this case. So, to clear this up, will the guru who recognizes McNally as a lama and his/her student, please step forward and make themselves known? no, not you Michael, a practicing Guru.
If one understands the concept of lama, then one knows that it's not a self appointed title and is dependent upon a number of factors, that all seem to be absent here. Will discuss this more later.
"Lama Christie trained in India and Nepal and has received extensive instruction in all the texts required for a Geshe degree (traditionally a 20-year course of study)."
What a beautifully whimsical sentence this is, it's hard to know where to start, but let's try.
"Trained in India and Nepal."
Where? Under who? A credible sentence would read like this.
Student X, trained under lama X, at monastery X, for X years, in India. Seems the important details have been conveniently missed off, probably because no one other than Michael Roach is willing to associate with her. But if there are reputable teachers
out there who are willing to put their name to her training then please come forward.
"and has received extensive instruction in all the texts required for a Geshe degree."
Again, I'm repeating myself but from who?
Plus, this sentence means what? It's complete nonsense.
I have purchased all the books written by Heston Blumenthal, watched all his shows and have recieved extensive instruction, from my mum, on cooking, but this doesn't make me a Michelin Star Chef does it?
"(traditionally a 20-year course of study)"
What? So, you're implying she did a fast track Geshe Degree? With who, Diamond University? This opens up more questions than it answers.
So, how long did she take?
Who taught it?
Can anyone do it?
Is it a correspondence course?
How was it measured? Did she do like 10 classical texts a year, while a normal Tibetan would say do 1. What's the deal? Sounds like a really great thing.
"She is co-founder of Diamond Mountain University,"
Well that's handy, seeing as you awarded yourself the Phd from the very same institution. It's all starting to make sense alot more now.
"a revolutionary effort to provide a classical monastic education to Westerners from all walks of life,"
How is the Diamond University providing classical monastic education? What classical monastic scholar, other than those attending or teaching at the University accept this? A University with self-appointed teachers and professors, which isn't recognized by a single independent organization could hardly be described as "classical."
"free of charge."
Cool, well if they're giving away this free then fine, I'm not entirely sure many people would actually be willing to pay for it.
"In 2003, she completed a traditional three-year silent meditation retreat with her spiritual partner, Geshe Michael Roach."Well, we've already covered this. The only people recognizing this as a credible three year retreat are those at Diamond University. There are no credible classical texts to back up a three year retreat, where one shares it with an actual, physical, human consort, and I challenge McNally with all her knowledge of Sanskrit to produce one.
More Unsubstantiated Self Promotion
So, Here are some more statements from the McNally tradition.
"she immersed herself in the secret teachings of Buddhism."A statement to over mystify her achievements. Any devote Buddhist with a qualified teacher has access to the so called "secret teachings" of Buddhism.
"through her efforts, she has begun to change the face of Buddhism that has historically been predominantly male."
This is a completely misleading statement. Since Tibetan Buddhism was first introduced to the west it has been completely open to all sexes and there are countless great women teachers all over the world teaching without fanfare or sensationalist hype. In fact Tibetan Buddhism practiced in the west is probably one of the most fairly represented religions on the planet and does not distinguish between sexes when it comes to teachers. All of the biggest organizations representing the modern-day, western lineages of Tibetan Buddhism have very high ranking female teachers. So, what she is doing is hardly revolutionary or face changing.
In Tibetan societies there maybe a case for a more fair representation of the sexes, however McNally hardly represents the interests of the average Tibetan woman or nun. Especially as there are no independent Tibetan organizations supporting the work of McNally. Note: if there are let's see hear from them. All the organizations quoted on her literature have been created by her or Roach.
Her actions are hardly "face changing" but seem typical of a modern day cult leader distorting a traditional religion for her own purpose.
"After translating over 10,000 pages of Buddhist text (including sutra and vajrayana teachings)"What pages? Where are they? Have they been published and independently verified? Plus, the translation of Buddhist scripts hardly surmounts to a complete study of the work. In Buddhism there's a clear distinction between reading or translating something, and receiving a full commentary and an oral transmission from a fully qualified master. This is why it takes so long to obtain a Geshe degree. It's not a matter of taking a few years out and reading (Translating) through all the text, as McNally seems to have done.
This is the very essence of Buddhism and is something that really can't be boxed and packaged into a consumer-able western format in a few years by an un-guided practitioner. As McNally's Sanskrit, by all accounts, is up-to-speed, there's no reason to doubt that she hasn't read all the original text, in their original formats that a Geshe would study, but this a million miles away from actually studying them under fully realized master, of which Michael Roach, with his "Rock n Roll" Guru style antics seems to fall pretty short of by any measure.
"and teaching 36 advanced courses to students at Diamond Mountain University, Lama Christie and Geshe Michael plan to undertake their second Three-Year Retreat starting in 10/10/10. "By McNally's and Roaches own design the students are classed as "advanced" but seeing as the Diamond Academy is not recognized by any other Tibetan Buddhist organization, either western or Tibetan it's hardly an accurate description that would lend itself very far outside the Diamond University grounds.
Regarding their up-and-coming 3 year retreat in 2010, then if she truly is prepared to squirrel herself away for another three years, I'm sure the world of Tibetan Buddhism will not shed a tear and will probably breath a sigh of relief. However, I very much doubt that she has the ability to step out of the limelight now that she's busily making a little niche for herself as a "Global Lama."
Just like her self-proclaimed practice of Buddhists-partners dissipated into nothingness once it became no longer suitable for her cause, I'm sure her future 3 year retreat will be put on the back-burner, if she can achieve her goal of being the next "Rock n Roll" California- lama to the stars.
On top of this, it sounds like her spiritual partner is not making the best preparations for such a retreat anyway, hanging out in the clubs of New York with Russian models. Nice one Michael, "Rock n Roll, dude!"
Conclusion
Anyone with even a shred of Buddhist knowledge can see that this entire bio is superficial and devoid of credible content at best, and at worst deceitful and manipulative of those with little knowledge in the subject.
A Great Bio the the Bad Karma News Blog me thinks........
