Diamond Cutter Classics is an organization dedicated to preserving and translating the world’s most important Asian philosophical texts. In this video, Geshe Michael Roach and Nick Lashaw share their personal journeys with the translation work, the challenges they’ve faced, and their vision for supporting this work over the next hundred generations.
Geshe Michael introduces the mission: to acquire a small storage business near their college in Sedona, Arizona, which could fund the translation work for centuries. The project spans generations—he identifies himself as Generation 100, Nick as 101, and little Maitreya, present in the video, as Generation 102. Their dream is to lay the foundation for 100 more generations to continue this sacred work.
Geshe Michael shares his own experience beginning translation in a time when ancient texts were nearly impossible to find. He learned to read upside-down from a teacher’s desk due to the lack of available books. Through effort and luck, he and his team recovered lost scriptures, including the Mind-Only texts and foundational works of Je Tsongkapa, printing many for the first time outside Tibet.
Some of these early translations formed the basis of the ACI Courses, now taught worldwide. Others include commentaries on Vajrayogini, logic, and clear thinking—many printed thanks to John Brady’s input center and the systems his team invented. These innovations revolutionized digital printing for Tibetan texts globally.
Nick Lashaw, director of the Mixed Nuts translation team, recounts his own path. Initially drawn to philosophy by life’s big questions, he encountered Geshe Michael’s teachings and found answers. He began learning Tibetan language and translation in Sedona, later attending a “Sacred Classics” course where he fell in love with the process.
To stay close to the work, Nick helped Geshe Michael’s mother with gardening. Eventually, Geshe Michael invited him to co-translate a complex lineage poster—work that continues to this day. Together with others, they founded the Mixed Nuts translation group, officially the Diamond Cutter Classics Translation Team.
Their mission is clear: to translate these profound teachings in a way that is correct, practical, and understandable for the modern world. They now have 11 translators studying and working together to cover different philosophical schools. But translating even one book takes thousands of hours—each page up to 10 hours of labor.
The team’s current fundraising goal is to buy a nearby storage facility whose revenue will fund the work sustainably. Geshe Michael stresses that they do not live lavishly—the funds are essential for the work to continue. Without support, they won’t be able to finish the enormous body of texts left to translate.
To support this intergenerational effort, you can visit diamondcutterclassics.com or contribute directly to the Castle Rock Fund.
