THE SHAMBHALA SANGHA ~ EXCUSING CRIME AS A BUDDHIST TEACHING

THE SHAMBHALA SANGHA ~ EXCUSING CRIME AS A BUDDHIST TEACHING

https://shambhalacrime.wordpress.com/2019/02/05/lets-fire-the-sakyong/?fbclid=IwAR1FQaPO6G3HMpz9ifOAVa8MLzJ9SqCdMPQPJOBge3y3fn1B3KgP8go8fXw

LETS FIRE THE SAKYONG!!

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Edmund Butler

I’m seeing ALOT of slightly waking worried students inside Shambhala following the latest letter from Mipham Mukpo in which he claims to have only just begun learning about power dynamics after 25 clearly lucrative years of being the Sakyong, His Eminence, His Holiness, incarnation of Mipham the Great (cost: $200,000), Earth Protector, Supreme Commander of the Vajra Guards (the paramilitary wing of Shambhala), the VIP who upstaged Queen Noor by barging in front of her as they approached the door to a Goldman Sachs event at which they shared the headline. etc. etc. The context of the letter was in essentially pulling a DARVO on his victims of his uncontrolled sexual predation who have been (very convincingly) testifying as to his various criminal acts of sexual misconduct over the years, and his total inability to show any contrition whatsover in them.

DARVO refers to a reaction perpetrators of wrong doing, particularly sexual offenders, may display in response to being held accountable for their behavior. DARVO stands for “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.”

One of the students posted something like, “Why don’t we just ask the Sakyong to go away and we’ll run the show because Shambhala is ours?” Well it is, because he really did nothing to create it beyond indulging his narcissism, and I have a solid source for that, so wait. Here’s my response, fwiw. Please discuss so we can help people over the fence, and get far away from charlatans whose former students post stuff like this (in response to the above noted letter:
[a Shastri is a senior teacher in Shambala who has pledged loyalty to the Sick One]

Somebody asked about the Shambhala constitution, whether the Sangha could rule its world etc.

The Shambhala Monarch enjoys the sole right to appoint Board members to govern Shambhala USA, Shambhala Canada and Shambhala Europe and their affiliated, smaller Centers around the world – “Shambhala”. He’s waived that privelege for now but he’ll soon resume it and change what he finds there if he wants to do so.

He has not however, waived the privelege to disband Shambhala entirely so I suspect any effort to get rid of him will help pay his lawyers’ mortgages, at the expense of the students. However, he does have that right, if people misbehave sufficiently or he gets sued, heaven forbid.

Ownership of the copyrights, name, treasures, Courts and paraphernalia reside in the Potrang which is a Charity controlled by one member, the Monarch, who appoints directors to advise him. Chief among them is Alex Halpern (of Wickwire Holm infamy), who has been Shambhala’s General Counsel since 1991. The Potrangs assets ultimately derive from the generosity of the Sangha so the fact that they are now privatised, often beyond the original intention of the donors can be confusing.

Recently, Nalanda Translation Committee’s premises were floated for sale to benefit Shambhala’s shortfall in day to day expenses. The benefit would have lasted only a few months before another asset would have been needed to be sold should that strategy have proved popular. As it happened, the person who donated the premises piped up and said she stipulated it should only be used for the NTC. So they put Marpa House on the market instead, for the potential benefit of meeting 18 months’ worth of Shambhala’s operating expenses and rehousing the Monarch’s 90 year old mother even though she doesn’t need to move at this time.

In that way the Monarch is legally ultimately responsible for all of the assets of Shambhala USA, Shambhala Canada & Shambhala Europe and their affiliated Centers in other parts of the world (“Shambhala”). Shambhala owns 29 properties here and there while the Monarch retains the juicy bits like the really expensive houses to which students may be lucky enough to occasionally be invited, or even to staff. The issue of Court Staff benefits and lifestyle has been explored in various reports over the last year, most notably on Reddit by a character named allthewholeworld in the Shambhala Buddhism thread.

All of this wealth then is maintained with the advice of some pretty smart people, besides Halpern and his various family members as it happens. Josh Silberstein’s wife for example is the granddaughter of one of the founders of Goldman Sachs and also serves as counsel for Shambhala. No doubt these New York connections helped Harvy Weinstein’s chum, Matthew Hilgitz find a role in protecting these assets recently when the switchboard lit up with the publication of Project Sunshine’s first Report, despite Silberstein’s legal threats. Hilgitz is known as a sleazy, very wealthy, very successful PR type who speaks one language only: money.

So, simply, nobody will be doing anything with an asset of Shambhala without the Monarch’s say so. This past year, despite appearances, that didn’t change at all. Unless the assets need to be sold by Court order to fund legal costs of and/or restitution to survivors of the Monarch’s royal abuses or some such, he’ll dictate precisely what happens to them thank you very much.

In that sense, Shambhala is more like a dictatorship with a veneer of morals based on mysteriously sourced texts which loosely reflect the Buddha’s teachings. These texts legitimise Shambhala, including the need to protect it from those who have not been trained and assessed by the Monarch’s appointed representatives in the study of the texts. The entire system is of course ripe for Monarchial abuse, narcissism, self-entitlement, disdain for his students (allthewholeworld discusses that aspect in particular), and a general identification with Dzongsar Khyentse’s view that vajrayana students and teachers are above the law.

It has the potential to become one helluva good party actually. At least that’s my take of the unwritten constitution of Shambhala society.

ps If anyone still thinks the above will change for the better they should read the following koolaid infused prose by an old dog who has been advising the new guard – I have that on solid authority.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/aksk19/this_has_arrived_to_my_inbox/

pps An excellent overview of Shambhala’s inner despotism can be found by scrolling through allthewholeworld’s posts here on Reddit. Start by reading those headed, Details or the like and run with it from there. You can click on each comment box and see the parent thread I think. It’s all a bit new to me… good luck!
https://www.reddit.com/user/allthewholeworld