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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

"Mysterious Buddhist Retreat in the Desert Ends in a Grisly Death."

NYT reports on a couple who were expelled had been "had been expelled from a nearby Buddhist retreat in which dozens of adherents, living in rustic conditions, had pledged to meditate silently for three years, three months and three days." In a cave in the Arizona desert, Christie McNally was near death from thirst, and her husband, Ian Thorson, was already dead. Their "spiritual leader was a charismatic Princeton-educated monk whom some have accused of running the retreat as a cult." You think?!
The retreat — in which adherents communicate only with pen and paper — was designed to allow participants to employ yoga and deep meditation to try to answer some of life’s most profound questions....

The monk who ran the retreat, Michael Roach... had described Ms. McNally for a time as his “spiritual partner,” living with him in platonic contemplation. What the other participants did not know is that before she married Mr. Thorson, Ms. McNally had been secretly married to Mr. Roach, in stark violation of the Buddhist tradition to which he belongs.

Even the manner in which Ms. McNally and Mr. Thorson left the retreat adds a fresh turn to an already twisty tale. It came days after she made a startling revelation during one of her lectures: she said that Mr. Thorson had been violent toward her, and that she had stabbed him, using a knife they had received as a wedding gift.

The authorities do not suspect foul play in Mr. Thorson’s death....
Oh, no. Why would you?

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