That spirituality and material success can coexist is demonstrated by the American Buddhist monk Geshe Michael Roach in "The Diamond Cutter." In the early 1980s, he leaves the solitude of his Indian monastery and ventures into the hustle and bustle of New York's business world to build a company based on Buddhist principles. What follows is the breathtaking rise of a small, credit-financed diamond company to a market leader with an annual revenue of 100 million dollars. The key to this success, the author explains, lies in the knowledge and practical application of the teachings of karma and emptiness. Michael Roach elucidates these seemingly complex concepts in a remarkably clear and simple manner. In the first part of the book, he illustrates through his personal success story how the teachings of the Buddha can be applied.