Quiet Retreat Teachings
Book IV: Ripples of Light
Between March 3, 2000 and June 6, 2003, Geshe Michael Roach engaged in a 3 year silent meditation retreat in the desert wilderness of southeastern Arizona. Throughout the entire retreat, he had no news from or communication with the outside world, and was entirely immersed in his meditation and yoga practices. However in order to fulfill a promise he had made to his students before he left, he came blindfolded to the edge of the retreat boundary twice a year to teach for a few days. These books are transcripts of those teachings, with very little editing, in order to preserve the freshness of his language and the several layers of meaning they sometimes convey.
Geshe Michael Roach is the first American to pass the rigorous training and exam for the title of Geshe, or Master of Buddhism, after twenty years of study at Sera Mey Tibetan Monastery. He is an honors graduate of Princeton University and received the Presidential Scholar Medal at the White House. Geshe Michael has translated more than 10,000 pages of ancient Tibetan and Sanskrit texts, and is the author of numerous books, including the international best sellers, The Diamond Cutter and How Yoga Works. Apart from the three-year retreat during which these teachings were given, he has been teaching continuously since 1993, and has thousands of students all over the world.