THE KHYENTSE FOUNDATION’S SHODDY AND UNETHICAL TREATMENT OF A FEMALE SURVIVOR AND DHARMA TRANSLATOR

 https://dakinitranslations.com/2023/08/09/update-the-khyentse-foundations-shoddy-and-unethical-treatment-of-female-survivor-new-information-regarding-the-unethical-unfair-and-unprofessional-treatment-by-the-khyentse-foundation/

THE KHYENTSE FOUNDATION’S SHODDY AND UNETHICAL TREATMENT OF A FEMALE SURVIVOR AND DHARMA TRANSLATOR. New information sets a dangerous precedent regarding the unethical, unfair and unprofessional treatment by the Khyentse Foundation of a scholar-translator who is also a survivor and whistleblower of lama misconduct

THE KHYENTSE FOUNDATION’S SHODDY AND UNETHICAL TREATMENT OF A FEMALE SURVIVOR AND DHARMA TRANSLATOR. New information sets a dangerous precedent regarding the unethical, unfair and unprofessional treatment by the Khyentse Foundation of a scholar-translator who is also a survivor and whistleblower of lama misconduct

9th August 2023Dakini Translations

‘“Anyone who harms a translator is also injuring the teachings in general.” –Vimalamitra.

In July 2020, I wrote about how the Khyentse Foundation (KF) awarded me the Ashoka Grant for a second year running but then soon after, immediately, without checking anything with me verbally or personally, withdrew their award.

The reason for this withdrawal was due to an email that Lynn Hoberg (an administrator of the KF) told me had been sent to them by a European woman, Carina Kramer-Bleicher of the executive board of Benchen Phuntsog Ling in Belgium, falsely and/or misleadingly stating that I did not have permission to translate or publish texts authored by Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche. The email was clearly sent as a retaliation and punishment for my complaining privately to Benchen (and others) in September 2019 about Sangye Nyenpa’s sexual misconduct, harassment and dishonesty in relation to myself (and other women he met at Dharma teachings over many years). Carina never wrote to me beforehand stating this. 

I responded to Lynn Hoberg of KF to protest their unfair and unprofessional decision to withdraw the funding by sending them:

• Several voice and written Wechat messages Sangye Nyenpa sent to me clearly stating he had given me permission and one-to-one  in person transmission of these texts.
• Voice messages from Sangye Nyenpa informing me that he had contacted Lama Rinczen in Poland to tell him (and a Polish student, Tomek) that I had the requisite permission from him.
• Part of a recording I had taken of over ten hours one-to-one meetings with Sangye Nyenpa at Benchen monasteries in Nepal getting the transmission and explanation of the texts, of which there were several monastic witnesses. These recordings were done with his permission.

However, KF completely ignored this evidence and my own testimony, (and Lynn also refused to send me the email or the email address it had come from, even though it was about me). And thus based their decision to withdraw the funding on the basis of one unverified email, alleged to be from a woman managing a Benchen centre in Europe. Moreover, it sets a dangerous precedent in that anyone could write to KF claiming to be someone else and damage their reputation and funding, as KF will not (and do not) verify the authenticity of it. KF did not even check with the author of the texts to get his opinion on it. 

Also, even if the email were from Carina, she does not own the rights to Sangye Nyenpa’s texts at all and neither do Benchen Phuntsog Ling (based in Europe). KF should have also verified the contents of the email with Sangye Nyenpa himself, the author.

New information: Carina Kramer-Bleicher verbally denies having sent KF an email

Lynn Hoberg, Administration Director of the Khyentse Foundation who refused to consider any other evidence about the case, and based the withdrawal of the Ashoka Grant on one (unverified) email. Photo from Khyentse Foundation website.

This was unprofessional and unfair in itself, yet it gets worse, this week a person I know based in Europe told me  they had verbally asked Carina in person if she had written that email to KF, and also why she had not investigated the case lodged against Sangye Nyenpa. She told them that she had not written an email to KF (or could not re-collect doing so) and did not care about any allegations by women as they were doing it to ‘get attention’. Sadly, many women in the Buddha Dharma take this attitude towards their Buddhist sisters.

So, there are two further issues with this new information that need saying, either:

1. Carina is lying that she did not write to KF, or
2. Someone impersonated her in that email.

 Yesterday, I wrote again to Lynn Hoberg at the KF and informed her of this latest information and asked her if KF had ever checked that the email was authentic and had come from Carina or from Benchen.

Lynn’s response was:

“I received an email from the address bpl.management@benchen.org signed by Carina Krämer-Bleicher, Chairperson. I have no reason to believe this was from an imposter.” and

“I feel confident that the person who wrote to me about owning the rights to the work you wished to translate was legitimate. “

There was no apology or offer to check it was authentic. I can understand that people generally don’t think emails are fraudulent or impersonators, however, as my Ashoka Grant was hastily and immediately withdrawn by KF based on this single email alone, it is unprofessional, unfair and negligent that the KF did not even check its veracity and authenticity beforehand, and still refuse to do so considering the alleged author is telling others she did not write it (or cannot recollect doing so). 

Carina Kramer-Bleicher, President of Benchen Phuntsog Ling who wrote a false and misleading email to Khyentse Foundation that led them to immediately withdraw funding award (although she denied sending it when asked about it). Photo from Interview in 2022 https://brf.be/regional/1601334/

Since that time, I have never received any further funding from KF and worse, this ‘Carina/Benchen’ email caused serious damage to my name, reputation and chances of work and funding opportunities with the KF and other KF-supported organisations and individuals. For example, the Director of the Khyentse Vision project, Dolma Gunther (the white Australian sister-in-law of Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche who is not a recognised scholar or translator in the field), whom I have never met or spoken to, despite initially being very enthusiastic about my joining and raving about my website, work and despite my qualifications and prior work on Jamyang Khyentse, subsequently shunned  and blacklisted me from work as a translator on the project,  because when asked for the reason, she responded in an email, ‘You are toxic’. She explained her change of mind was something she had learnt from ‘anonymous’ advisors on the project. Hardly the Buddhist way is it? Nepotism and demonising Dharma translators one has never met or spoken to. Have to laugh or might cry!

On taking legal advice in 2020 on this case, I was told that I could sue Khyentse Foundation and Benchen centres for loss and damages caused by their defamatory, slanderous and misleading actions. With this new information, I could now add to that negligence in terms of checking the source of this Benchen originated email and information.

I have not yet taken that step because it is very costly, time-consuming and no guarantee of a positive outcome. Thus, I think it is in the public interest to expose this case here and to demand proper answers and investigations conducted by objective people in relation to the KF’s actions, and the conduct of Sangye Nyenpa himself and his enablers.

Truth is stranger than fiction. For example, is it a mere coincidence that both SN and Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche are both Bhutanese? Perhaps the haste with which KF made such a harmful decision on one unverified email, without checking anything properly, or listening to my testimony and evidence, says it all. 

Zero response from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and hostile and inappropriate response from his assistant

No response from Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche when he was reached out to regarding the withdrawal of funding and the various allegations by women against Sangye Nyenpa.

In addition, I also reached out to Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche in 2020, and was met with a barrage of hostile verbal accusations and interrogation by Tashi Colman, DJKR’s assistant, who should have just forwarded my message to DJKR without comment. Tashi also totally breached my trust by forwarding my confidential emails about the case to staff in KF without my permission. Eventually he sent my message and a small portion of evidence to DJKR but I received ZERO response, other than Tashi telling me that it had been received. Where is the love, bodhicitta and compassion in that?

Concerns about Khyentse Foundation and academic independence

Although, it is excellent that Dharma translators and scholars are funded and supported, as a result of this case (and others), there is legitimate concern about the ‘takeover’ of the independence of academia and Dharma translation by KF via extensive funding and training programmes. What if the applicant is a survivor of lama misconduct like myself? What if the applicant does not follow (or even like) DJKR? These are also questions that the Dharma community and academia need to be asking themselves. One of the reasons I think I did not get much support from fellow academics on this topic was due to their having funding and support from the KF. Although that is understandable, the issue is this, in order to keep KF funding they may feel they cannot support or be associated with survivors and people like myself, or with anyone who does not support and is critical of DJKR too. That is not a healthy situation for freedom of intellectual research and opinion. Their motto is ‘Buddha’s Wisdom For Everyone’, really? Maybe only if you are not a female survivor and whistleblower on lama misconduct and abuse.

Sangye Nyenpa and Benchen centre enablers

Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche giving the Rinchen Terdzo transmission at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim with young, male Kagyu tulkus, Bokar Rinpoche and Tenga Rinpoche present

The Sangye Nyenpa case and allegations have never been investigated by Benchen staff,  and SN has never been questioned or brought to account for his actions not just towards me but other women. Worse, I faced a nasty online campaign of bullying, slander, impersonation and intimidation by some of SN’s family members and ‘anonymous’ enablers on Facebook and via email.  The fact, that these same people act as if nothing happened publicly, and he is now giving the Rinchen Terdzo transmission at Rumtek Monastery  is not in accordance with general norms on justice, ethics and accountability in ordinary affairs, never mind that of a Buddhist teacher and Buddhist ethics.  Worse still, several young male Kagyu tulkus are taking that transmission from him with the risk that they may also pick up these sexist and misogynist attitudes from him. More on that in another post!

For now, here is the official (and they say only) letter that a letter signed by Tempa Lama of Benchen Monastery Nepal in response to my private complaint about the conduct of Sangye Nyenpa to his family members and Benchen in late 2019, and my also informing them of the withdrawal of the Ashoka Grant by KF, after Carina of Benchen Europe had (allegedly) written to KF.

In the letter, Tempa Lama falsely claims (without any objective investigation) that the allegations about SN are ‘groundless’ (tell that to all the other women too), and that I am ‘discriminating against Buddhism in general’ (have no idea what that means!), do not ‘deserve any place’ at their centres (I didn’t say I did), and have no right to any resolution or investigation.

Conclusion

To conclude, some may think all this is ‘trivial’ in the big scope of worldly things on this planet, and they would be right. However, anything unethical connected to Buddha Dharma  activities negatively affects infinite sentient beings in samsara. So, although KF do support Dharma translations activities, I hope that the KF now check the veracity of that ‘Carina email’ and issue an immediate apology and compensation if they discover that Carina did not write it. In any case, I hope that my writing and exposure of this, helps to ‘clean it up’ and ensure that others do not get harmed in similar ways.   Dedicated to all the survivors and whistleblowers. May the Earth and Buddha be my witness and may truth, compassion, love and wisdom prevail! 

Music? Keeping the heart, soul and wisdom present with Break My Soul by Beyonce, You Gotta Be by Desree,  I’m Still Standing by Elton John and Shake It Off  by Taylor Swift.

Written by Adele Tomlin, 9th August 2023.

Postscript

Even more fishy double standards, after my complaint about SN in 2019, Benchen monastery Nepal rushed through a publication of a translation of the same text I had been working for several months on with SN, by David Molk. Molk told me in email correspondence about it that he had translated the text in 2011, that Benchen had never responded to him when he sent it to them, and that he had never even met, worked with or got the oral transmission of that text from SN! So Benchen would rather publish something by a man who has no scholarly background in translation, and ZERO connection or transmission of the text with the author, than by someone who does! Anyone smell a rotten, sexist, survivor-punishing fish?

Court case filed to remove a resident ‘celibate monk’ teacher [Lama Gyaltsen] for alleged sexual misconduct and deception at a Kalu Rinpoche centre in Maui, Hawai

Court case filed to remove a resident ‘celibate monk’ teacher for alleged sexual misconduct and deception at a Kalu Rinpoche centre in Maui, Hawai

1st October 2024Dakini Translations

Today is Dharma Protector day, and on this day, I was saddened and yet sadly not surprised to hear (from a Dharma protecting ‘whistleblower’) of a new court case filed in September 2024 to remove the 56 year-old resident teacher ‘monk’ Lama Gyaltsen Tamang of the Karma Rimey Osel Ling Dharma centre in Maui, Hawai, originally set up by the 1st Kalu Rinpoche. His removal is based on what some members of the community regard as his sexual and deceptive misconduct and the subsequent attempt by Lama Gyaltsen to ‘takeover’ the Dharma centre, and force board members who called him out on his conduct, to resign or be fired. [There is also an update to this article below about the ‘counter-motion’ launched by his defenders/enablers].

Lama Gyaltsen has several allegations against him including sexual misconduct and deception

Even though most people will never have heard of this lama, his bio states that:

“He was very close disciple of Kalu Rinpoche, Lama Gyaltsen was born in 1968 in Sonada, Darjeeling, India. He entered Rinpoche’s monastery at a very early age and received a monastic education. He completed the traditional Kagyu 3-year retreat and is trained in the traditions of the Nyingma and Kagyu lineages.”

The Allegations against Lama Gyaltsen

For those who wish to read the public record provided by the court, see here  . Reading it was rather depressing, as most of these cases are. As I spoke about in my own ‘survivor’ case with a much more well-known Rinpoche in the Karma Kagyu tradition here in 2020, the denials, deception and persistent ‘refusals to answer, or even communicate’ when asked to do so were again very prevalent in these allegations.

Lama Gyaltsen Tamang admits in the court papers that [‘Church’ refers to the Dharma Centre]:

“From no later than Spring 2022, Church congregants started learning Tamang engaged in a secret fourteen-year sexual affair with then-president of the Church {Dharma centre] Board, Alida Murray, and other congregants. Tamang’s sexual relations with another Church congregant lasted six years.

Tamang ultimately confessed to his sexual relations with church congregants. Tamang admitted his sexual relations were not within the context of their religion and only about him as a person. Tamang’s deceptive portrayal as a celibate monk misled congregants. When they learned about Tamang’s sexual relations, Tamang’s deception and betrayal hurt Church congregants.  Some congregants no longer trust Tamang because of “too many secrets” and inauthentic “heart communication.” Some congregants may not return to the Church as a result.”

It was this last sentence in particular, that really breaks my heart and reminds me of my own experience and that of many other survivors. The betrayal of trust and deception from someone portraying themselves as a ‘celibate Buddhist monk’ (or even just a Dharma teacher) is so huge that people turn away from the Dharma and the seeds of devotion are burnt within them.

The Kalu Rinpoche lineage: a legacy of sexual misconduct allegations?

Several former students of the 1st Kalu Rinpoche have been accused of sexual misconduct previously.

June Campbell in NYC, 2022. Photo from Tricycle Buddhist Review: https://tricycle.org/magazine/the-emperors-tantric-robes/

Sadly, this is also not the first time those associated with Kalu Rinpoche lineage have faced sexual misconduct allegations. First, there was 1st Kalu Rinpoche himself, the most famous testimony being from Dharma translator and scholar, June Campbell in her book Traveller in Space: Gender Identity and Tibetan Buddhism  and interviews, in which she described how she was used as a ‘sex slave’ by the elderly teacher, while he portrayed himself as a celibate monk and she was a young nun/translator.

Then there was the court case for ‘decades of sexual misconduct and assault against young women’ by the recently passed away, Lama Norlha, a former student of Kalu Rinpoche and teacher at Kagyu Thubten Choling, USA.

Palpung Thubten Choling Monastery, formerly known as Kagyu Thubten Choling. From timesunion.com. Retreat centres are supposed to be havens of refuge and Dharma for people, but many women, including myself have found themselves targeted by men their for ‘sexual seduction’ and ‘use’

The current, 2nd Kalu Rinpoche does not appear to know about this new court case according to the ‘whistleblower’ source. However, as I wrote about myself in connection with the Niguma Yoga courses I attended by him in Bhutan and India, his own conduct in relation to myself, to women in general, and to his ex-wife and daughters, have left many with serious doubts about his attitude towards women in general. Combined with the fact that for the last decade or so, he is almost completely ignoring his Karma Kagyu lineage masters, who transmitted the entire Shangpa Kayu teaching to him (12th Tai Situpa and 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche) and only seems to post about and associate with the Gelugpa 14th Dalai Lama, is a sign there may be some serious broken samaya.

A younger Kalu Rinpoche with the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Bokar Rinpoche and 4th Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche at the Kagyu Monlam, Bodh Gaya, India.

A teacher’s worst ‘crime’: burning the seeds of ‘devotion’ and wish to ‘awaken’

Seeds if mishandled or damaged become destroyed or cannot grow.

The Buddha taught that one of the WORST things a Dharma teacher could do via selfish and unethical actions was to destroy that person’s budding seed of devotion and wish to attain awakening. Such a wish and interest was so rare in the billions of world realms, particularly this human realm, that for a Dharma teacher to cause a student to abandon the Dharma and lose all faith in it and Dharma teachers was one of the most karmically negative things a person could do. By doing so, they not only deny the person the possibiligy of attaining full awakening but also cause billions of sentient beings a loss by removing that potential awakened one from them too.

May truth and justice reign supreme and may the survivors who speak truth to power against religious/clergy abuse be forever protected and supported by the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas! May the precious seeds of awakening be nurtured, nourished and supported by those with the love, wisdom and compassion to do so.

Written by Adele Tomlin, 1st October 2024.

UPDATE 7th OCTOBER 2024: Since writing this article I have received several emails from one white woman connected to the Dharma centre, and a white man who made comments on the website, defending the Tibetan teacher stating that the court case is not about his sexual activities with the women but about who controls the teacher and the Dharma centre, and that a counter-motion has been filed stating that only Karma Kagyu lineage has a right to say if he can stay or not at the centre. The white woman first asked me to remove the article as being ‘false’ , which it is not, and then wanted me to update it with their counter-motion to the case, see below.

They are counter-suing that only Karma Kagyu lineage teachers can and should remove a teacher accused of misconduct and deception This is frankly strange indeed. No one is above the law, Karma Kagyu or not. In any case, we all know that such lineage teachers a) may not know about the case, b) maybe enablers too and/or  c) have no power, expertise etc. to properly and objectively investigate such a case. That would set a very dangerous legal precedent indeed for all Dharma centres if only the lineage teachers themselves can decide on such serious matters. That cannot be right.

Worse, when I did not go along with her line of counter-reasoning, these “well-meaning” white people have the audacity to accuse other white people of ‘supremacy’ (including me) simply for exposing the actions of this teacher and seeking to have him removed. Yet, how patronsing and ‘white supremacist/orientalist’ is it to say that just because the teacher is a Tibetan/person of colour he should not be held accountable in the same way any other person would be?  That is white orientalism and ‘enabling’ misconduct.

These white enablers also refuse to answer simple questions about why the teacher behaved that way and also why he refused to communicate with the Board of Directors when they discovered it. Also, where is all the money coming from for these legal actions and counter-suits? Honesty saves everyone time and money.

The root cause of any dispute was caused by the teacher’s actions, not the people who exposed it. No-one is above the law of karma, of Buddhist vows, of codes of conduct between teachers and students in an organisation, and of the laws of the country they reside in. Karma Kagyu lineage teachers (regardless of their ethnicity) do not have the requisite skill, knowledge, time or resources or lack of vested interest to conduct objective investigations of teachers who have been accused of misconduct. That has to be done by an objective organisation or tribunal. Any suggestion otherwise, makes Buddhism and Buddhist communities look like a cult in which teachers are accountable to no-one.

Sources

https://www.mauidharmacenter.org/about

Filed Summary Judgement 3361496_1_2024.09.19 [92-93] Respondent Starr et al MSJDownload

https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/ktc-monastery-buddhist-leader-rape-lawsuit-18519994.php

Lawsuit Alleges Decades of Sexual Assault at Tibetan Buddhist Monastery in New York

TANTRIC BUDDHISM, VOWS, SEX AND WOMEN – the importance of love, respect and consent and what happens when a woman speaks out about lama misconduct, by Adele Tomlin (2020)

 

Related

Kagyu Samye Dzong Ireland abuse allegations

https://dakinitranslations.com/2024/10/15/the-investigation-of-kagyu-samye-dzong-ireland-abuse-allegations/?fbclid=IwY2xjawH1F9lleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHVxowIcwHcstUTpWLd8L34kiUM8Aof2rMo0u4tSNzmaqMj-K04sYlakXUA_aem_h1g3dD8fBclQuKQKwEW1Uw

The ‘completed’ investigation of Kagyu Samye Dzong Ireland abuse allegations

15th October 2024Dakini Translations

“Incidentally it is only when the apparent absurdity of life is faced in all truth that faith really becomes possible. Otherwise, faith tends to be a kind of diversion, a spiritual amusement, in which one gathers up accepted, conventional formulas and arranges them in the approved mental patterns, without bothering to investigate their meaning, or asking if they have any practical consequences in one’s life.”- Thomas Merton, ‘Notes for a Philosophy of Solitude’ Disputed Questions. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976

Yesterday, a group called Project Sangha, who created a Change.org petition last year (June 2023) seeking support for their demand for an independent investigation of various allegations of abuse of female community members in Kagyu Samye Dzong Ireland, posted the above quote by Thomas Merton, and an update stating that the ‘investigation has been completed’ but their preferred independent investigator/mediator, An Olive Branch (AOB) (https://www.an-olive-branch.org/) , had not been authorized to lead it (no reasons are given):

“In relation to the investigation, we confirm that progress has been made. It is beyond the scope of this post, and our own capacity, to chart the events leading up to this point. However, for the sake of clarity, and with gratitude for your support, we felt it necessary to update you that the investigation has been completed following a difficult process that has been ongoing since November 2023.

An Olive Branch (AOB) was not, in the end, authorised to lead the investigation, but we cannot speak highly enough of the professionalism and kindness shown by AOB up to and after their point of departure.

It is our hope that the above will support the centre becoming a place where authentic dharma is studied, contemplated, and practised, while being grounded in the conventions and legal requirements of contemporary Ireland. We are happy to announce that our request for resident sangha at the centre has been fulfilled, and we wholeheartedly welcome that change.”

Their original petition states that they are a “core group of survivors, practitioners, and allies associated with Kagyu Samye Dzong Dublin, Ireland (KSDD).” The group Project Sangha is anonymous and so there is no way of finding out who is involved and what happened, and also any reliability of their testimonies etc. However, the allegations have come from real people (not online pseudonyms) it seems.

Drupon Khen Rinpoche of Kagyu Samye Ling with Samye Dzong centre founder, Akong Rinpoche

Kagyu Samye Dzong in Dublin was founded in 1977, and is stated to be the oldest Buddhist centre in Ireland.  It is part of the network of Dharma centres created by the founder of Kagyu Samye Ling in Scotland, Akong Rinpoche who was tragically and brutally murdered in Chengdu, China (along with his nephew and driver) in 2013. The alleged perpetrators were convicted by a Chinese court and sentenced to the death penalty. One of the men, Tudeng Gusang is said to have worked at Samye Ling, Scotland for five years making statues and believed he was owed money.

It is not clear what the abuse allegations at Kagyu Samye Dzong Ireland are but it is nonetheless, another case against a Karma Kagyu centre outside of Tibet and India. It is not clear who, if anyone, is the resident lama there either and is not stated on their website. However, photos show that Drupon Khen Rinpoche, Ringu Tulku, Clive Homes, Lama Katen and others have all taught there.

Kagyu Samye Ling/Holy Isle court case and the importance of independent investigation

I was reliably informed a couple of years ago by someone from Kagyu Samye Ling in Scotland,  that a court case had been launched against several lamas (including Drupon Khen Rinpoche, Karma Lhabu) at Kagyu Samye Ling in Scotland (and the administrators for enabling) abuse of several female retreatants on the Holy Isle three year retreat centre. Allegations included bullying and silencing, but also using tantric techniques to invade and force ‘unions’/consorts into subtle body unions that the women state they did not properly consent to and felt invaded and harmed by.

As I stated in my recent update regarding the court case against Lama Gyaltsen and his supporters at a Karma Kagyu centre in Maui, Hawaii, a woman sent me several emails defending him stating that his actions (and thus his removal by community members) could only be done by Karma Kagyu teachers themselves. However, this surely cannot be the case? How could Karma Kagyu Buddhist teachers have the necessary time, resources, objectivity, expertise  and independence to investigate whether or not a Buddhist teacher’s conduct (with whom they have little personal contact or knowledge) is ethical, compassionate and in accordance with the Buddha Dharma as well as the general rules and cultural norms of the country the teacher is living and teaching in?  No-one is above the law, and the highest law of all is karma.

So sad to see the Karma Kagyu centres are continually dogged by such abuse allegations. As a survivor myself, yet to have my allegations objectively investigated or resolved etc., one  can only help this ‘clean-up’ will clear the air and help people reconcile, forgive, move on and upwards within the Karma Kagyu community. That is certainly my wish and why I write about such cases. Let us hope that those who feel harmed gain some resolution, healing and manage to forgive those whom they think harmed them, without inflicting further harm or revenge. In addition, may any Buddhist teachers who have misused the Buddha Dharma or their name and position, to unethically abuse or exploit women, children and misuse religious devotee donations for worldly reasons, be swiftly stopped out of compassion and brought onto the virtuous and true path.

David Suppan's analysis of Chogyam Trungpa's false credentials, his not having been a matriculated student at Oxford University, his alcoholism etc

 Originally posted by David Suppan here on March 6th, 2024:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/455779734896061/posts/1798094073997947

Chogyam Trungpa Chogyam Trungpa’s excessive drinking became a type of hagiographic deception that his students didn’t really examine until many of them became alcoholic themselves. At that point, it was difficult to have a clear perspective on what was happening with so much drinking going on in the halls of Vajradhatu International. Chogyam Trungpa’s academic credentials was also a deception that was not examined or else completely ignored and even promulgated as an earned accomplishment between the years of 1963 and 1968 of a newly crowned mahasiddha from the exotic land of Tibet.

 When several people investigated whether Trungpa actually attended Oxford University, it was discovered that he neither studied nor attended St Antony College nor received a degree from Oxford. When several people recently inquired through the registrar’s office, it was confirmed that he never matriculated as a student at Oxford. Every academic institution has to take their creditability seriously because their entire existence really depends on having sterling credentials and trust and that students the learning institution has graduated, have actually received their certificates of graduation. 

 Apparently, Judith Simmer-Brown who is regarded as a distinguished professor at Naropa University that Trungpa founded in 1974, never gave a second thought to the implication of Trungpa receiving a scholarship or fellowship at Oxford or even just studying comparative religion at St Antony College. St Antony College doesn’t teach comparative religion nor ever has, but instead teaches political science. The whole episode that begins Trungpa’s career as an abusing teacher of buddhism and for whom everybody excused because they saw him as a high Tibetan lama living in exile, was somehow lost in the conflation of his pretend academic credentials at Oxford University. 

The Spalding Sponsorship that Chogyam Trungpa actually did receive was not a scholarship nor a fellowship, nor did he matriculate at St Antony College or any other college at Oxford University. By conflating the sponsorship with the idea that Trungpa went to Oxford University was attempted by sharing a few pictures of Akong Rinpoche and Trungpa with an assortment of other people from different cultures around the world. All these people in the pictures look at least 30 years old and not 21 year old graduate students attending college. There is no evidence of him attending any class, submitting any white papers that would indicate he was actually a student even if he took a course for non-credit. The Spalding Sponsorship consisted of a small amount of money given to him from a small private trust that was designed to facilitate cultural exchange for certain people who had some knowledge about their culture to offer to this particular college event. The event was apparently sponsored by a conservative group of people politically motivated to erase any vestiges of communist leanings in England’s coterie of fascist hopefuls. It is repeated often by his hagiographers that Trungpa had studied comparative religion, flower arranging and other assorted bits and pieces of western education at Oxford. It has been confirmed by Oxford that he did none of that except for maybe flower arranging, but through a teacher independent of Oxford University. He did continue his long avocation of drinking and philandering to excess that began back when he was a young tulku in Old Tibet before his escape to exile in 1959. His excessive drinking resulted in a lifelong debilitating paralysis from a driving accident on May 6,1969 when he drove drunk into a joke shop in London. His wife Diana didn’t want to admit that he may have been drunk or that he was probably drunk because he drank most of the time. In the biopic about her husband called Crazy Wisdom, Diana Mukpo left the possibility open that he may not have been drunk because it wasn’t confirmed and perhaps also to leave the impression for other investigators who may have found out that there was another woman in the car that sustained injuries in the accident. Like his assumed academic credentials, the facts of that accident was also covered up to create, protect and develop a sterling public academic image. To escape this scandal and the scandalous marriage to his new 16 year old English wife Diana, he left England 9 months later in January 1970 for a new home in the United States. For the next 17 years, Trungpa had continued to create scandal on a daily basis for the whole of his teaching career in North America. Creating scandal and the inevitable traumas from those scandals seemed to be wired in to Trungpa’s DNA. 

Chogyam Trungpa had made a point in his teachings that credentials were not to be relied upon because he thought that the ego attaches itself to them as a way to be academically authoritative and truthful. “Chogie” made sure with the help of people working in the shadows of his ascendent rise as a newly minted buddhist teacher from the exotic East, that he would be given the appearance of having earned some excellent credentials from none other than the preeminent institution of higher learning in the Western hemisphere—Oxford University. 

Some of Trungpa’s students really thought that their guru having sex with multiple students on a daily basis was an example of being open and honest about his way of life, or his way of teaching dharma. To my mind, it was more of a way for Trungpa to hide behind his own depravity. His new way of living reflected his new and scandalous way of teaching buddhism. The unethical behavior was designed to intimidate students so that they would accept and fear his dharma person as a viable buddhist teaching and teacher. The senior students who eventually found a way to be copacetic with this spiritual strongman strategy of Trungpa’s, saw the acceptance of his behavior necessary to establishing their own academic credentials and careers as buddhist teachers themselves. The ongoing shock from this successful strategy remained with many students who weren’t able to deal with the trauma for many years. By avoiding the discovery of what was wrong with the approach to Trungpa’s teaching and his view of dharma, the illusions created through the deceptions of his excessive drinking and false academic credentials created destabilizing mental health conditions among many in the sangha. There were many students in the Vajradhatu sangha who didn’t have a chance to properly examine these carefully crafted spiritual deceptions before damage to their mental health was done. Eventually, many sought recovery from these traumatizing events created by Trungpa who himself was probably still traumatized from his long journey out of Tibet in 1959 when 300 of his retinue had died in the ensuing escape. These spiritual deceptions that formed Chogyam Trungpa’s imprimatur were galvanized, supported and promulgated through his main publisher, Shambhala Publications.

Feudal Serfdom in Old Tibet

Likely some of this is propaganda but I think there is useful information as well about how life was in pre-1959 Tibet

 http://www.china.org.cn/e-white/tibet/9-4.htm

Part Two
IV. Feudal Serfdom in Old Tibet

Before the Democratic Reform of 1959 Tibet had long been a society of feudal serfdom under the despotic religion-political rule of lamas and nobles, a society which was darker and more cruel than the European serfdom of the Middle Ages. Tibet's serf-owners were principally the three major estate-holders: local administrative officials, nobles and upper-ranking lamas in monasteries. Although they accounted for less than 5 percent of Tibet's population, they owned all of Tibet's farmland, pastures, forests, mountains and rivers as well as most livestock. Statistics released in the early years of the Qing Dynasty in the 17th century indicate that Tibet then had more than 3 million ke of farmland (15 ke equal to 1 hectare), of which 30.9 percent was owned by officials, 29.6 percent by nobles, and 39.5 percent by monasteries and upper-ranking lamas. Before the 1959 Democratic Reform, Tibet had 197 hereditary noble families and 25 big noble families, with the biggest numbering seven to eight, each holding dozens of manors and tens of thousand of ke of land. Serfs made up 90 percent of old Tibet's population. They were called tralpa in Tibetan (namely people who tilled plots of land assigned to them and had to provide corvee labor for the serf-owners) and duiqoin (small households with chimneys emitting smoke). They had no land or personal freedom, and the survival of each of them depended on an estate-holder's manor. In addition, nangzan who comprised 5 percent of the population were hereditary household slaves, deprived of any means of production and personal freedom. Serf-owners literally possessed the living bodies of their serfs. Since serfs were at their disposal as their private property, they could trade and transfer them, present them as gifts, make them mortgages for a debt and exchange them. According to historical records, in 1943 the aristocrat Chengmoim Norbu Wanggyai sold 100 serfs to a monk official at Garzhol Kamsa, in Zhigoin area, at the cost of 60 liang of Tibetan silver (about four silver dollars) per serf. He also sent 400 serfs to the Gundelin Monastery as mortgage for a debt of 3,000 pin Tibetan silver (about 10,000 silver dollars). Serf-owners had a firm grip on the birth, death and marriage of serfs. Male and female serfs not belonging to the same owner had to pay "redemption fees" before they could marry. In some cases, an exchange was made with a man swapped for man and a woman for woman. In other cases, after a couple wedded, the ownership of both husband and wife remained unchanged, but their sons would belong to the husband's owner and their daughters to the wife's owner. Children of serfs were registered the moment they were born, setting their life-long fate as serfs. Serf-owners ruthlessly exploited serfs through corvee and usury. The corvee tax system of old Tibet was very cruel. Permanent corvee tax was registered and there were also temporary additional corvee taxes. Incomplete statistics indicate the existence of more than 200 categories of corvee taxes levied by the Gaxag (Tibetan local government). The corvee assigned by Gaxag and manorial lords accounted for over 50 percent of the labor of serf households, and could go as high as 70-80 percent. According to a survey conducted before the Democratic Reform, the Darongqang Manor owned by Regent Dagzhag of the 14th Dalai Lama had a total of 1,445 ke of land, and 81 able-bodied and semi-able-bodied serfs. They were assigned a total of 21,260 corvee days for the whole year, the equivalent of an entire year's labor by 67.3 people. In effect, 83 percent of the serfs had to do corvee for one full year. The serfs engaged in hard labor year in and year out and yet had no guaranteed food or clothing. Often they had to rely on money borrowed at usury to keep body and soul together. The annual interest rate for usurious loans was very high, while that for money borrowed from monasteries was 30 percent, and for grain 20 or 25 percent. Monetary loans from nobles exacted a 20 percent interest, while that for grain amounted to 20 or 25 percent. Gaxag had several money-lending institutions, and the Dalai Lama of various generations had two organizations specialized in lending money. Incomplete records in the account books of the two cash-lending bodies of the Dalai Lama in 1950 show that they had lent out about 3.0385 million liang of Tibetan silver in usurious loans. Snowballing interest of usurious loans created debts which could never be repaid by even succeeding generations and debts involving a guarantor resulted in the bankruptcy of both the debtor and the guarantor. The grandfather of a serf named Cering Goinbo of Maizhokunggar County once borrowed 50 ke of grain (1 ke equal to 14 kg) from the Sera Monastery. In 77 years the three generations had paid more than 3,000 ke of grain for the interest but the serf-owner still claimed that Cering Goinbo owed him 100,000 ke of grain. There was another serf named Dainzin in Donggar County who in 1941 borrowed one ke of qingke barley from his master. In 1951 when he was asked to repay 600 ke, he was forced to flee, his wife was driven to death and his seven-year-old son was taken away to repay the debt by labor. In order to safeguard the interests of serf-owners, Tibetan local rulers formulated a series of laws. The 13-Article Code and 16-Article Code, which were enforced for several hundred years in old Tibet, divided people into three classes and nine ranks. They clearly stipulated that people were unequal in legal status. The codes stipulated, "It is forbidden to quarrel with a worthy, sage, noble and descendant of the ruler"; "persons of the lower rank who attack those of the upper rank, and a junior official who quarrels with a senior official commit a serious crime and so should be detained"; "anyone who resists a master's control should be arrested"; "a commoner who offends an official should be arrested"; "anyone who voices grievances at the palace, behaving disgracefully, should be arrested and whipped." The standards for measuring punishment and the methods for dealing with people of different classes and ranks who violated the same criminal law were quite different. In the law concerning the penalty for murder, it was written, "As people are divided into different classes and ranks, the value of a life correspondingly differs." The lives of people of the highest rank of the upper class, such as a prince or leading Living Buddha, are calculated in gold to the same weight as the dead body. The lives of people of the lowest rank of the lower class, such as women, butchers, hunters and craftsmen, are worth a straw rope. In the law concerning compensation for injury, it was stipulated that a servant who injures his master should have his hands or feet chopped off; a master who injures a servant is only responsible for the medical treatment for the wound, with no other compensation required. Making use of written or common law, the serf-owners set up penitentiaries or private jails. Local governments had law courts and prisons, as had large monasteries. Estate-holders could build private prisons on their own manor ground. Punishments were extremely savage and cruel, and included gouging out the eyes; cutting off ears, hands and feet; pulling out tendons; and throwing people into water. In the Gandan Monastery, one of the largest in Tibet, there were many handcuffs, fetters, clubs and other cruel instruments of torture used for gouging out eyes and ripping out tendons. Many materials and photos showing limbs of serfs mutilated by serf-owners in those years are kept in the hall housing the Tibetan Social and Historical Relics Exhibition in the Beijing Cultural Palace of Nationalities. Under the centuries-long feudal serfdom, the Tibetan serfs were politically oppressed, economically exploited and frequently persecuted. A saying circulated among serfs, "All a serf can carry away is his own shadow, and all he can leave behind is his footprints." Old Tibet can be said to have been one of the world's regions witnessing the most serious violations of human rights. Despite the cruel rule of the feudal serfdom, Tibetan laboring people never ceased their resistance struggles. They strove for their personal rights by making petitions, fleeing, resisting rent and corvee and even waging armed struggle. However, they were subjected to ruthless suppression by the three big estate-holders. The law of old Tibet stated, "All civilians who rebel all commit felonies." In such incidences not only the rebel himself would be killed, but his family property would be confiscated and his wife be made a slave. The 5th Dalai Lama once issued the order, "Commoners of Lhari Ziba listen to my order: .... I have authorized Lhari Ziba to chop off your hands and feet, gouge out your eyes, and beat and kill you if you again attempt to look for freedom and comfort." This order was reiterated on many occasions by his successors in power.

TIL about Chögyam Trungpa, a Tibetan Buddhist meditation master who slept with female students, drank heavily, and spent $40,000 a year on cocaine.

https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1b1nned/til_about_ch%C3%B6gyam_trungpa_a_tibetan_buddhist/?share_id=Ti98HO3Doe5feCmFIH8p-&utm_content=1&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=ioscss&utm_source=share&utm_term=1