Wednesday, April 28, 2021

Tarthang Tulku cult financial abuse of laborers (typical of lamas' abuses in Tibet of the serfs)


http://alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan.narkive.com/zfDNoJlQ/odiyan-a-forgotten-scandal 

and

https://web.archive.org/web/20180919065929/http://alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan.narkive.com/zfDNoJlQ/odiyan-a-forgotten-scandal


Odiyan: A Forgotten Scandal?
(too old to reply)
5***@gmail.com
4 years ago
Permalink
Raw Message
This group is a cult. When I came from the EAST COAST to stay with them I realized that there was something very fishy about the publishing company. They were situated in a secret building in Berkeley. NO STRAIGHT FORWARD BUDDHIST GROUP would use SECRECY in this way UNLESS they have something to HIDE. I know what they are hiding, but I am not going to reveal it here, because it is basically sad and pathetic. When you find secrecy, deception and bizarre behaviors in any group---RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN to get away from it. BIZARRE CULTS exist in many religions. But Buddhism is particularly open to this because of the lack of central authority. Publishing books is good. Running an organization like the CIA is the work of paranoid and disturbed individuals.
5***@gmail.com
4 years ago
Permalink
Raw Message
This group is a sad and pathetic cult group. There is no transparency, and their press is a mismanaged mess of a company. Working there is bizarre-there is no clear management and no clear purpose to a lot of what they are doing. They did produce an incredible run of the Tanjur/Kanjur in 108 beautiful volumes. What actually happened with this production is unclear. If this was a legitimate group, they would openly publish their activities and financials and have a board of directors to oversee their work. Moving the press into the country is bizarre and not what a real Buddhist organization with sensitivity to the environment would do. ANY GROUP THAT DISPLAYS GREAT SECRECY AND PARANOIA IS ONE THAT ANY SENSIBLE PERSON SHOULD AVOID. EXCESSIVE PARANOIA IS A SIGN OF MENTAL DISEASE AND IS NOT BUDDHIST.

On Saturday, January 29, 2000 12:00:00 AM UTC-8, RickFinney wrote:
> Back in 1991, as work on Tarthang Tulku's Northern California
> retreat center Odiyan was entering its final stages, I became aware
> of stories that a group of Tibetans had "escaped" from there. The
> group, which apparently included at least one tulku and some other
> religious figures, had been kept there--according to the stories--
> in very poor conditions and had been made to work long hours on
> construction and other tasks. Finally, they climbed the fence at
> Odiyan, wandered on to one of the California highways, and made
> their way to the Oregon center of Gyatrul Rinpoche and to several
> other places where they were looked after.
>
> I forgot all about this story until just recently, when I spoke to a
> friend in Canada who told me that she had met and spoken to one of
> these Tibetans, who had told her: "Getting away from Odiyan was
> like escaping from the Chinese all over again!"
>
> I have no idea what the truth of this story really is. Does anyone
> know any details? Is anyone sure of what happened there?
>
> - Rick Finney
a***@gmail.com
4 years ago
Permalink
Raw Message
On Saturday, January 29, 2000 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-8, RickFinney wrote:
> Back in 1991, as work on Tarthang Tulku's Northern California
> retreat center Odiyan was entering its final stages, I became aware
> of stories that a group of Tibetans had "escaped" from there. The
> group, which apparently included at least one tulku and some other
> religious figures, had been kept there--according to the stories--
> in very poor conditions and had been made to work long hours on
> construction and other tasks. Finally, they climbed the fence at
> Odiyan, wandered on to one of the California highways, and made
> their way to the Oregon center of Gyatrul Rinpoche and to several
> other places where they were looked after.
>
> I forgot all about this story until just recently, when I spoke to a
> friend in Canada who told me that she had met and spoken to one of
> these Tibetans, who had told her: "Getting away from Odiyan was
> like escaping from the Chinese all over again!"
>
> I have no idea what the truth of this story really is. Does anyone
> know any details? Is anyone sure of what happened there?
>
> - Rick Finn

8' razor wire topped electrical fences and Buddhism seem contradictory to me

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