Sunday, August 29, 2021

https://shambhala-apology.com/
Apologies to survivors of Shambhala sexual misconduct

https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/

Overview of the history of generational abuse in Shambhala starting with trungpa to mipham

https://www.cbc.ca/radiointeractives/tapestry/shambhala

CBC covers Shambhala

https://youtu.be/yDY6sgMIi9s

Sexual Abuse, Whiteness and Patriarchy. A forum discussion that deeply covers problematic aspects of Shambhala.

https://www.dailycamera.com/2019/07/08/boulder-shambhala-sexual-abuse/
Sexual assaults in Shambhala

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/26/shambhala-boulder-mukpo-sakyong-abuse-buddhist-project-sunshine/

https://entropymag.org/woven-leaving-shambhala
A very brave personal account of sexual assault and lack of support in shambhala.
Weak forced apologies only after the fact.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/h8o2in/apologies_from_two_acharyas/

https://www.dailycamera.com/2020/03/04/former-boulder-shambhala-member-to-be-sentenced-to-prison-following-guilty-plea/
From the article: "Smith’s then-girlfriend also told police she heard Smith talking to several other men at a retreat where they discussed how “unfair” it was that laws prevented them from having sex with people younger than 18."
https://www.dailycamera.com/former-boulder-shambhala-member-sentenced-to-20-years-in-prison-on-child-sex-assault-case
“I heard character witnesses say they knew and didn’t do anything,” she said. “I was a child, and the adults around me failed.”

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/p977h5/first_hand_experience_of_shambhalas_toxic_culture/

Toxic culture behind the scenes at a shambhala retreat center

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/nbnail/shambhala_rhetoric_what_it_means_how_its/

Deconstructing shambhala rhetoric

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/hf1pid/open_letter_from_59_dharma_brats_to_sakyong/
A group of people who grew up as children to trungpa's original followers publish a deeply problematic submissive plea
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/hiyatq/shambhala_times_publishes_open_letter_from_dharma/
A similarly problematic "resigning" of "senior teachers" called "acharyas" publishing a letter. Important commentary from survivors in the reddit thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/hmetqx/statement_of_resignation_by_acharyas/

https://soundcloud.com/una-morera/uncoverage-episode-one

"Growing up in this community, I witnessed the birth of a secret society of dharma practitioners who, with Trungpa Rinpoche’s help, created a deadly environment of sexual predation, classism, and blind assent.

I learned the teachings of the dharma and the actions of dharma students were two very different things."

https://www.ldmletter.com/
A schism developing between "sakyong" and "Lady Diana" (trungpa's widow) developing.
Commentary on reddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/hs8k3p/letter_from_lady_diana_freeing_the_texts/

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SFE3shQTNXGcj1hj8AbYtJ05wFoimOeJ/view
Larimer Country Shambhala Investigation, Public Release - Sexual Assault
Reddit discussion of the above report:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/gdxj18/public_larimer_county_sheriff/

https://radiofreeshambhala.org/2019/04/shambhala-ownership-and-control/
Shambhala legal ownership and control structure. All roads lead to Osel Mukpo "Sakyong".

https://shambhala-process-team.org/legal-structure-of-shambhala/
Shambhala's inner circle professes "Shambhala’s articles of incorporation, which state that the purpose of the organization is to support and facilitate the teachings of the Sakyong lineage of Shambhala under the leadership of the Sakyong."
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/gkheu6/a_letter_to_students_of_sakyong_mipham_rinpoche/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/bzt7a8/former_shambhala_teacher_caroline_contillo/
Shambhala trained meditation instructor renouncing the rape culture they endured

https://youtu.be/NAyO0detH5k
Student group to Shambhala Mountain Center experience sexual harrassment and minimizing. Commentary on this report, https://www.patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2020/01/shambhala-buddhist-community-faces-new-allegations-in-chapman-student-investigation.html

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/i98v3e/whistleblowing_crosspost_discussion_in_shambhala/
Code of Conduct Process Team member lends support to man encouraging acceptance of "romantic relationships" between men and boys.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/eo7vb5/strange_negative_experiences_at_smcrequest_for/fehvkyy
First hand recollections of what it was like to grow up in Shambhala and experience Shambhala Mountain Center and other Shambhala Land Centers.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/j1izcz/survivors_of_an_international_buddhist_cult_share/g7ajkog?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

Another brave sharing of abuse growing up in Shambhala

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/the-lightness/amp/
Two women authors discuss their novel based on troubling experiences growing up in Shambhala
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/hk402t/more_than_little_dakinis_growing_up_shambhala/

http://openbuddhism.org/tibetan-buddhism-enters-the-21st-century-trouble-in-shangri-la/
In depth review of Tibetan Buddhism in the West

https://openbuddhism.org/not-the-tibetan-way-the-dalai-lamas-realpolitik-concerning-abusive-teachers/

http://www.michaelparenti.org/Tibet.html
A critical look at the history of Tibetan Buddhist theocracy in Tibet.

https://www.dailycamera.com/ci_32516473/shambhala-international-may-sell-marpa-house-citing-debt
Shambhala sold an apartment complex that was bought with community funds and evicted 40 residents to cover the losses incurred by the "sakyong's" sexual assaults loss of memberships. Though owning multiple million dollar properties, "sakyong" hasn't covered anything for the financial harm.
https://boulderbeat.news/2020/05/08/boulder-landmarks-marpa-house-over-objections-of-alleged-abuse-survivors/

https://www.dailycamera.com/2019/09/24/justin-rezzonico-shambhala-boulder-mipham

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/07/what-is-shambhala-buddhism/

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/07/shambhala-sexual-abuse/

https://www.cjr.org/the_profile/shambhala-buddhist-project-sunshine.php
Overview of Project Sunshine, an independent investigation into abuses in Shambhala

https://shambhalatimes.org/2020/01/16/letter-from-ani-pema-chodron/
Pema Chodron resigns as a Shambhala Acharya due to lack of action. Background on Pema's enabling and bystanding. https://www.facebook.com/matthew.remski/posts/10162976946810602

https://matthewremski.medium.com/the-problem-with-pema-ch%C3%B6dr%C3%B6n-25c35ed4a8e7

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/shambhala-kusung-letter
Sakyong's personal staff share the abuses they endured https://tricycle.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/An-Open-Letter-Statements-16-Feb-2019.pdf

http://www.dailycamera.com/opinion-darryl-collette-enough-of-the-lies-about-naropa-and-shambhala
Naropa university has a problematic history
https://boulderbeat.news/2020/06/12/opinion-naropa-needs-to-face-the-skeleton-in-the-closet/

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_31992200/naropa-university-removes-shambhala-international-leader-board

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/10/shambhala-mountain-center-apologizes-misconduct/

https://bbooks.info/book/the-mahasiddha-and-his-idiot-servant
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL8585128M/The_Mahasiddha_and_His_Idiot_Servant
trungpa's butler shares their experiences together. See page 60 for animal abuse https://imgur.com/a/RpxnbQi

An excerpt from trungpa's butler's book describing trungpa's drunken drug fuelled harassment on an airplane https://www.celticbuddhism.org/potowski-av

Another story where trungpa harasses a waitress to the point of being thrown out of a bar

https://www.chronicleproject.com/at-the-redneck-bar/

https://imgur.com/gallery/iwvc6s0
trungpa supports public floggings and hundred year imprisonment. Excerpt from Vajradhatu's Court Vision and Practice. Also the cutting off of thumbs, https://imgur.com/gallery/DUovWgq

https://imgur.com/gallery/vj4lebS
trungpa discusses the "Rape Principle" at the 1983 Vajrayogini Talks. More rape culture from trungpa: https://imgur.com/gallery/6BtDThe

https://amoraobscura.wordpress.com/2018/04/28/crazy-wisdom-uncomfortable-questions/
trungpa orders his willing followers to assault a couple
https://boulderbuddhistscam.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/the-party.pdf

https://lithub.com/the-night-w-s-merwin-was-stripped-naked-by-a-charismatic-buddhist-leader/

Interview with Brigit Meier describing being assaulted by trungpa at the infamous party

https://www.historycolorado.org/sites/default/files/media/document/2021/Lost%20Highways_Tuned%20in%20Dropouts_transcript_FINAL.pdf

https://vurbl.com/listen/9jHpbgQCKxm

Podcast covering trungpa and the halloween party assaults, interview with participants

http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/trungpa.html
A critical review of trungpa's history

http://american-buddha.net/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=117
trungpa's much vaunted history of being an Oxford student called into question.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/dmq0tn/wish_i_could_figure_out_how_to_post_photos_but/
trungpa describes as the sexual desire ideal as a 16 year old girl

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/dnf9wy/some_meandering_thoughts_about_ct_and_glorifying/
trunpga's teaching on drinking

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/dmhy42/be_aware_of_shambhala_vajrayana_secret_sexual/
Ex Shambhala Vajrayana students share disturbing sexual visualizations taught by abusers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Qvbm9G1HKo
A Tibetan Buddhist Nun documents sexual assaults in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries

https://dakinitranslations.com/2020/12/01/tantric-buddhism-sex-and-women-the-importance-of-love-respect-and-consent/

Adele Tomlin (an independent writer, scholar/translator, practitioner and student of Tibetan/Vajrayana Buddhism) describes how a Tibetan Buddhist "master" lied, manipulated, and misused Tantric "teachings" to assault her.

https://sleepyburrito.com/shambhala-crisis-timeline
A previous documenting of Shambhala abuses and institutional response over a timeline. Last entry as of 2019-03-19

https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2018/06/30/links-relevant-to-the-current-crisis-in-shambhala-international-regarding-sakyong-mipham-rinpoches-conduct-with-women/
Another summary of articles detailing the crisis in Shambhala

https://shambhala.report/in-the-news/
Another another summary of Shambhala International related links and news articles, maintained by a Shambhala member.

http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/i-learned-yoga-buddhism-through-an-abusive-group-now-i-teach-it-what-do-i-do/
A good discussion of how to cope with learning through an abusive spiritual group. Also contains a listing of abusive yoga and buddhist organizations.

http://viewonbuddhism.org/controversy-controversial-teacher-group-center-questionable.html

A listing of problematic buddhist teachers and groups

A blog for problematic buddhist articles

https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism
Public discussion of Shambhala International and its history

https://communitycare.shambhala.org
Contains links to download the Wickwire Holm report and three reports from An Olive Branch, and past community announcements
https://communitycare.shambhala.org/#olivebranch
https://shambhala.org/files/2019/02/2-3-19-WH-Report-Final-Package.pdf

https://sleepyburrito.com/shambhala-crisis-timeline/2019/2/5/reflections-on-the-wickwire-holm-report-a-message-from-carol-merchasin

http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/
Provides analysis of Shambhala, use Shambhala or other key words in the search

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/americanbuddhist/2019/01/anonymous-redditor-shares-troubling-experience-in-shambhala-buddhism.html

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chögyam_Trungpa
Read of trungpa's death via alcoholism and the incident of trungpa ordering his personal guard to strip naked a couple against their will.

https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/encounter-shadow-buddhist-america/
Tricycle article from 1990 centering on tom rich spreading AIDS to students and trungpa's troubled past
https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/igkbvn/regent_anniversary/
Nancy Steinbeck quotes from her book describing tom rich's, trungpa's chosen successor, rape and abuse.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/igkbvn/regent_anniversary/

Another account of tom rich's clerical sexual abuse this time with an impact towards suicide for the victim.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1lADczvoEQogpwUd1VYJtcVUgoMeLdCH2/view?usp=sharing
Independent journalist for Harper's Magazine takes a deep dive into Chogyam Trungpa's group in 1979

http://andreamwinn.com/offerings/bps-welcome-page/
Project sunshine, Carol Merchasin's review of survivor experiences is hard but essential reading

https://medium.com/@isabellemahy/this-is-a-copy-from-an-original-post-which-has-been-deleted-by-the-administrators-of-the-fb-pages-8bf8e582ea5d
Transcript of teleconference for leadership following survivor testimonials of "sakyong's" abuses. In it there are admissions of knowingly hiding the "sakyong's" abusive history and behavior from membership and students taking oaths to him.

https://thinkprogress.org/?s=shambhala&orderby=date
Think Progress's reporting on Shambhala

https://board.shambhala.org/
Interim board for Shambhala International. Contains links to previous announcements to the community.

https://shambhala-process-team.org/
Process Team tasked with creating processes for improving Shambhala Interational. Contains links to Steering Committee updates, Working Group updates and announcements to the community.

http://www.trimondi.de/SDLE/Part-1-03.htm
Trigger warning. A review of Tibetan Buddhism tantric sex practices with ages between 8 and 40.
Large tantric sexual statues inside the Shambhala Stupa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5Bq_vPm3UM

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/how-to-respond-to-sexual-abuse-within-a-yoga-or-spiritual-community
Karen Rain and Jubilee Cooke's excellent article on how organisations should respond to sexual abuse. Karen Rain discusses problematic reporting and language around sexual assualt.
https://medium.com/an-injustice/understanding-sexual-violence-in-context-2b8dc5453ded

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1YGeweth7zkG2TAe64HGYZKs7HUPwq0wx/view
An open letter on abuse in Dharma Ocean, group led by former trungpa student and Shambhala Acharya, Reggie Ray's. Analysis of Reggie Ray's manipulative "apology": http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/reggie-ray-flips-his-own-abuse-crisis-into-his-own-ultimate-dharma-teaching/
Analysis of Reggie Ray's trauma bond with trungpa:
http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/reggie-ray-spiritualizes-the-terror-of-disorganized-attachment-in-relation-to-trungpa/
A site compiling resources to support those leaving dharma ocean.
https://leavingdharmaocean.com/

https://abuseintibetanbuddhism.blogspot.com/?m=1
Links to abuses across Tibetan Buddhism

http://beyondthetemple.com/reginal-ray-transmitting-trungpas-lineage-of-abuse/

Cut the lineage here, now. No matter how wise they might sound, do not quote abusers or teachers who were once their students unless that person has made a public statement denouncing their teacher’s abuse and vowing not to continue it. To stop lineages of abuse from taking deeper root in the West, we have to stop seeing having Trungpa as a teacher as some kind of respected qualification.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rthqxj8vpsgdvow/Letter%20July%202019.pdf?dl=0
Jessica Bizub has resigned as center director of Milwaukee. She has just made public her letter to the IB from earlier this year. Jessica's betrayal in Shambhala has been woven into course material for Harvard religion course. https://pluralism.org/meditation-on-misconduct. Her story is told in these two PDFs, A Case https://drive.google.com/file/d/161gmOG_j8rdDuZRU3zZUztUrwFk6-C0w/view?usp=sharing, B Case https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mZPWZ2eGjt4-wkQ0VMk7pLY0l0EYeVPw/view?usp=sharing

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/woman-marriage-relationship-buddhist-1.6031624

shambhala attributes the Kagyu as one of its Tibetan Buddhist lineage streams. Here the current leader of the Kagyu stream is facing accusations of corruption.
https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/karmapa-lawsuit/
https://engagedharma.net/2021/05/23/the-lama-and-the-pimp/

https://engagedharma.net/2015/03/19/sociopathic-buddhism-contemporary-western-buddhism-as-a-moral-failure/
A criticism of unengaged passive individualistic privileged buddhist practice

https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/10/11/622/htm
Silencing and Oblivion of Psychological Trauma, Its Unconscious Aspects, and Their Impact on the Inflation of Vajrayāna. An Analysis of Cross-Group Dynamics and Recent Developments in Buddhist Groups Based on Qualitative Data, by Anne Iris Miriam Anders

"Sakyong"'s central non-profit tax exempt "charity", the "Sakyong Potrang".

American incorporation: https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/the-sakyong-foundation,204832237/
Canadian incorporation: https://www.charitydata.ca/charity/the-sakyong-potrang-canada/828964882RR0001/

Shambhala's own survey captures lots of significant complaints: https://shambhala-process-team.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Sense-of-Shambhala-Survey-Part-4-Qualitative-Findings-Accesible-format.pdf

https://www.reddit.com/r/ShambhalaBuddhism/comments/hsht83/shambhala_survey_results/
Some shambhala demographics, largely only appealing to the older generation, not appealing to the younger generation:

Age: The responses to this survey suggest that we are an ageing community. Over 90% of respondents are over 40; 60% of members (and 55% of all respondents) are over 60. Youth are barely represented here: hardly any respondents are under 25, and fewer than 10% are under 40. (see Table 1.3.)

Size of Shambhala membership as of 2019-05

Saturday, August 28, 2021

Abuse and Realization by Jon Norris

https://www.facebook.com/jon.norris.756/posts/2240175019344673

Abuse and Realization

Abuse and Realization

I have resisted writing this post for many years, but the time has come for me to speak of abuse and exploitation within the corridors of Buddhism. The NY Times article below lays out the current chaos in the Shambhala community fairly well, but this is just the latest in a litany of such cases. There is no need to go into all the sordid details here; there are dozens of books and websites and lawsuits where you can find those, but I would like to make a couple of personal observations. 

Although I proudly walk the spiritual path as a Buddhist, I am no fan of religion, not even Buddhism as a religious institution. This may surprise you but a lot of Tibetan lamas feel the same way. The 16th Karmapa admitted that the corruption of monasticism in Tibet contributed to its demise at the hands of the Chinese. The 17th Karmapa has also questioned the viability of the Tibetan lineages and the tulku tradition in the modern world. Clearly he is struggling with the role that has been thrust upon him. The Panchen Lama has been hijacked by the Chinese. The Dalai Lama has questioned whether he will reincarnate at all. Chogyam Trungpa saw fit to recast sectarian Vajrayana as a more secular Shambhala society. Some Theravadin teachers have gone secular as well. The simple fact is that genuine spiritual growth does not require religious institutions and it is often impeded by them. 

Every major religion on the planet is prone to corruption because a priest or a lama or a rabbi or an imam or a shaman is by definition invested with powers that their parishioners both fear and covet. In the case of Tibetan Buddhism, those powers put the ever-present temptation of coercion at a lama’s fingertips. We humans are helplessly enslaved by our sexual hormones; the Buddha reckoned our lot as the ‘Desire Realm’. We are creatures of desire. So it is no wonder that so many men and women are coerced into sexual relationships under the guise of holy orders. Just like Catholic priests, Tibetan monks are notorious for their sexual exploits despite having taken vows of celibacy. Sakyong Mipham, the subject of the article below, was conceived out of wedlock by Chogyam Trungpa and Könchok Paldrön (a Tibetan nun) while they were both under vows of celibacy! It is true that in tantra, sexuality can actually be used as a spiritual practice, but this only works if a genuine environment of honesty, compassion, and empowerment is shared between accomplished male and female adepts. In my experience, that sort of environment is rare indeed.

For these reasons, I have always tried to separate the spiritual path from sectarian religion and lineage politics. I have sought out teachers more interested in maintaining a small group of advanced students as opposed to those looking to build world-wide organizations. There is a place for both I suppose, but it only takes one guru and one student to transmit the dharma, and it seems to me that large-scale institutions introduce more obstacles to that enlightenment than they resolve. Monastic environments are rife with accounts of young monks and nuns being abused by their superiors. The larger a meditation center becomes, the more power is concentrated in its inner circle, and the rationing of access to the guru makes exploitation among the sycophants almost inevitable. This has been the standard model of power at every royal court in history, and it is rampant in Buddhist mandalas as well. 

Mahasiddhas like Saraha, Tilopa, and Milarepa saw no advantage to monastic life or temple worship at all. They say as much in their songs. They saw celibacy as unnatural and even antithetical to the tantric ideal of innate (sahaja) spontaneity. While Gampopa tried to adapt that tantric ideal to the monastic environment, his dharma brother Rechungpa refused to even try, preferring to maintain the mountain yogi lifestyle. Both traditions have persisted to this day. Nonetheless, differences between proponents of Kriyayoga, Mahayoga, Anutarayoga, and Atiyoga have led to centuries of sectarian squabbling, and this has made the personal journey to realization all the harder. It’s no wonder that most of our dharma champions have spent years in solitary retreat; the logistical, political, financial, and interpersonal demands of religious institutions are like walking through spiritual minefields! 

So, what is a western Buddhist to do? It’s a real predicament; our options in the West are limited. Anyone who has joined a western meditation center soon finds themselves immersed in a whirlpool of executive committee meetings, fund raising, book editing, faction politics, rumor mongering, scandalous behavior, intimidation, and arguments over the curriculum. The meditation hall with its neat rows of cushions is less valued as a place to sit in silent contemplation, and more as a venue for ticket-selling seminars featuring world famous celebrities. Finding a long-term meditation instructor who truly understands the nature of mind and how to take the mind as a path can be a real challenge. 

Now, what about the abuse and exploitation? What are we to make of a guru who is supposed to embody the paramitas, but exhibits the darkest vices of humanity? Here is an example from my own past. Back about 1974 I helped set up Chogyam Trungpa’s meditation center at 78 Fifth Ave in New York City. Being from the mid-west, I had carpentry expertise that not many New Yorkers had, so I helped remodel a tenth floor loft there, and then I moved in to help manage it. For months after we opened that Fifth Ave Center, we never saw Chogyam Trungpa. We waited and waited for him to visit New York, each of us longing for a chance to have a personal interview or at least attend a seminar. When he did finally come to town, I was asked to serve as his chauffeur and guard. I was thrilled at the prospect—finally—a chance to spend some quality time in the presence of the guru. I actually envisioned sitting in his residence while he discussed dharma topics or translations or provided advanced pointing-out instructions. 

When my turn came to serve, I drove a limo over to pick up Rinpoche at a swank apartment on the upper west side just off Central Park. He came down dressed to the nines in a Savile Row suit complete with a boutonnière. It was then I discovered that our curriculum for the night was to pick up a beautiful 20 year old blond model [I will call her Elsie here] who would be Rinpoche’s date for the night. Elsie was a rising star on the New York modeling scene. She was also a promising concert pianist. She had learned of Trungpa through her boyfriend, a New York dentist, who was also a student. How she ended up on a date with Trungpa I have no idea. 

So I drove Rinpoche to her apartment building and waited in the car with him while another guard went in to fetch Elsie. And while Rinpoche and I waited there in the car, I was naively hoping that he might actually take the opportunity to inquire how my practice was going. But, to my complete shock, he taunted me from the back seat like a locker-room jock lusting after a homecoming queen, “That Elsie is a stunning woman, isn’t she?” He was practically drooling. There was no hint of respect for her or me in his voice. I knew instantly what he was doing. It was the adolescent display of a massive inferiority complex. He was trying to impress on me that this short swarthy partially-paralyzed Tibetan had finagled himself a date with a Caucasian goddess. This whole evening was about enhancing his status! I blushed in embarrassment for him, but said nothing. I just turned back and looked him square in the eye. He had nothing further to say. 

I nearly got out of the car and walked away, but some morbid curiosity convinced me to remain still. I literally had an out of body experience at that point. I watched myself drive that car in third person as if I was just another crazy New York actor in a Woody Allen movie. Off we went, me and the other guard sitting in the front seat, and Elsie sitting with Rinpoche in the back. Our first stop was a fancy French restaurant where Rinpoche dined her by candlelight while we guards sat at the bar. Then it was off to Broadway to see Anthony Hopkins in the play ‘Equus’. Again we guards weren’t invited; we waited in the car outside. After the play was over, it was off to the Algonquin Hotel on 44th Street for cocktails with a few of the meditation center’s executive committee. I suppose they were absorbing the faded ambiance of the literary elite. I could only imagine how much all this was costing, and I could not for a moment understand why this money wasn’t being spent on the students who were struggling to pay their dues.

In the early hours of the morning, we all went back to Rinpoche’s apartment for more drinks and chit chat, and after a time Rinpoche took Elsie by the hand and led her reluctantly down the hallway to his bedroom. The rest of us were left to our own devices. Several people went home at that point, but we guards were expected to remain on duty, so four of us retired to the kitchen table to play poker. I think I may have been the only person there who was gobsmacked by these events. Even as I read my cards and placed my bets, I was heartbroken that Rinpoche had not the slightest inclination to spend this time giving us pointing out instructions or outlining a curriculum for our future dharmic educations. We had waited for months for him to come to New York, and now that he was here, we were playing poker!

About 4 o’clock in the morning we heard the bedroom door open, and I looked up to see Rinpoche waddling down the hallway buck naked. He marched right into the kitchen and took some saké out of the refrigerator. Then he turned to us and smiled broadly as if to declare victory, and waddled back up the hallway again. Why hadn’t he worn a robe? It was obvious. This act was calculated to impress us with his sexual prowess. Whether or not he actually had sex with Elsie I never knew, but knowing her superior strength of character, I seriously doubt it. New York models are not easily impressed. Nevertheless, for Trungpa to create the appearance of it in front of his students demonstrated truly sophomoric immaturity. He showed no respect for Elsie’s reputation at all. Did he conceive of himself as a modern day Drugpa Kunley figure? Were we guards supposed to be impressed and tell the world what we had seen? I don’t know. But from that moment on, I had no more illusions. I knew that I would have to take responsibility for my own enlightenment.
 

About an hour later the chief guard sent the rest of us home. I walked out onto a cold New York sidewalk in the early morning gloom, and found a subway station for the ride downtown. It was a stark moment—one I never forgot. My whole world had changed that night. For all the good things that Rinpoche would do in the years to come, he continued to exhibit that undercurrent of insecurity, pride, and lust. The countless women consorts, the drugs and alcohol, the jewels, the Lipizzaner stallions, the Kalapa Court with its upstairs/downstairs drama, his infatuation with robes and uniforms from Savile Row—his apologists would call these teaching tools, but I think any good psychologist would call them defense mechanisms. He too was a creature of desire. In the end, they would be his undoing; he died at the age of 48, dissipated and sick. Whatever insight he may have had into the wisdom of Maha Ati, it was not stable but peeking out in moments of brilliant clarity from an all too human psyche. Maybe it was crazy wisdom, or maybe it was just wisdom gone crazy!

Over four decades have passed since those early days in New York. Elsie went on to have a long and successful career as a cover model for Mademoiselle and Vogue. Trungpa won his place in the history books too, as a pioneer in the transmission of Vajrayana to the West. But he also left a legacy of scandal and students with broken dreams. In the wake of the Ösel Tendzin debacle, and the conversion of Vajradhatu into Shambhala International, hundreds if not thousands of former students walked away. Some turned to other teachers, and some gave up on Buddhism altogether. And now we are learning that Trungpa’s model of abuse has continued with his son at Shambhala, and more students are departing. There seems to be some karmic inheritance at work here, and in my humble opinion, if we are going to escape that inheritance we need a new model—a new mandala based on the paramitas, and grounded not in monarchy but in shamatha. That is why I now study with teachers like Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche and Alan Wallace.

So, the best advice I can offer after decades of trial and error is that each of us has to shoulder the responsibility for our own enlightenment instead of expecting a guru to do it for us. Surely we can benefit from empowerments and pointing outs, etc, etc, but by and large we have to develop shamatha and vipashyana on our own meditation cushions. No guru is going to do the sitting for us. And just being in close proximity to a guru is no substitute for doing the work of meditation. In fact, without a firm grounding in meditation, it is more likely to sweep us up in a tidal wave of emotional distress and karmic chaos. 

The Buddhist path is an internal journey. Sitting in a giant hall with thousands of lamas and monks and nuns and laymen for an empowerment or a monlam or a sadhana or any sort of ceremony may be deeply inspirational, but it is not going to enlighten anyone. The miracle of realization unfolds through the stabilization of non-dual quiescence and naked awareness even as you explore the emptiness of appearances in the privacy of your own mind. Look there… and you will see all!

I wish you all the best,
~ Tonpa Jon

Dharma Teachers: Please Retract Your Homages to Sogyal - petition by Charles Carreon

https://www.change.org/p/mindrolling-jets%C3%BCn-khandro-dharma-teachers-please-retract-your-homages-to-sogyal?signed=true

Dharma Teachers: Please Retract Your Homages to Sogyal

Charles Carreon started this petition to Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche and

To: Tsoknyi Rinpoche, Mindrolling Jetsün Khandro Rinpoche, Khenchen Namdrol Rinpoche, Khenchen Pema Sherab Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche, Khenpo Tashi Tseten, Chagdud Khadro, Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Yangsi Rinpoche, Dzigar Kongtrul Rinpoche, Khandro Tseringma, Ringu Tulku Rinpoche, H.E. Khamtrul Rinpoche

Dear Dharma Teachers:

It was with shock and dismay that we, the undersigned Dharma students, read your homages to Sogyal Lakhar published at https://sogyalrinpoche.org/paying-homage-to-sogyal-rinpoche Several of you describe his death as a "Parinirvana." You advise us that "his enlightened mind never wavers from constantly seeing all sentient beings," that his death provides "the most pithy instructions," that "his transcendent sacred intention will become clearer," and "the time has come for all his students to renew their faith in him."

We have considered you to be especially perceptive human beings, compassionate teachers of kindness, thoughtful men and women who work for the benefit of others. Thus, we are shocked when we read your eulogies of Sogyal, because your words ignore the sufferings of the many people who suffered physical and sexual assaults, financial exploitation, and emotional anguish at the hands of Sogyal Lakhar.

We are surprised that you seem unaware that Sogyal suffered from personality faults that made him unsuitable to be venerated as a spiritual teacher, a vajra guru. Eight close former students and assistants of Sogyal's revealed his "lavish, gluttonous and sybaritic lifestyle," in a detailed 12-page letter. The letter documented how his physical abuse had left "students with bloody injuries and permanent scars," and how he had used his Dharma authority to "gain access to young women, and to coerce, intimidate and manipulate them into giving [him] sexual favors." Rigpa hired a law firm to investigate the charges against Sogyal, and their report concluded that "students of Sogyal Lakar (who were part of the ‘inner circle’, as described later in this report) have been subjected to serious physical, sexual and emotional abuse by him." There have been several articles in international news outlets with titles like "Sexual assaults and violent rages ... Inside the dark world of Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche." A book has been published entitled "Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche."

With all this information available, it is disturbing that you are advising us to imagine Sogyal as our guru, sending comforting blessings to us from the bardo. Some of you project that we are suffering in his absence, but this is not what we are thinking about. Our minds are on his victims, who deserve compassion and respect. You wrote eulogies that implicitly assume that Sogyal had no victims. Your words made them disappear.

The UK Charity Commission took action to protect Rigpa students from Sogyal on April 12, 2019, by disqualifying Patrick Gaffney "with immediate effect," from serving as a Rigpa trustee, "for failing in his duty to protect those who came in contact with the charity." The Charity Commission explained, "the public expects charities to be safe places, where people are free from harm." The Charity Commission disqualified Gaffney because, "where we find charities that are failing in this essential duty, we will take action to remove those responsible." For the same reason -- because students expect Dharma centers to be safe places, where "teachers" will not prey upon them, you should not be rendering homage to Sogyal Lakhar, who injured his Dharma students under the guise of providing them with spiritual guidance.

If you affirm Sogyal Lakhar's conduct, you justify the injuries he caused, and show little respect for those he injured. Because we cannot believe this was your intention, we respectfully request that you retract your homages to Sogyal Lakhar. Your retraction will benefit his victims and the Dharma.

The Timely Rain: Travels in new Tibet Hardcover – January 1, 1965

Buyable on AbeBooks.com for an affordable price

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30738937004&searchurl=sortby%3D17%26tn%3DThe%2BTimely%2BRain%253A%2BTravels%2Bin%2Bnew%2BTibet&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title1

In the onlooker who has never visited Tibet the self-exiled priests and lords may evoke sympathy as refugees from a happy country in which the people lived under their rule, inspired by a humane religious philosophy. The truth is that this society was a harsh and cruel tyranny in which, because they share the universal instinct for survival, the people made the best of their lot. Serfs of the European Middle Ages did no less. Jews in Hitler's concentration camps did no less. …But the indomitable fortitude and optimism of oppressed human beings in Tibet or anywhere else can only be confused with contentment by those not personally involved in their lives or who profit by such subjection and exploitation.

...

Here, above the cloying stench of grease, butter and smoke, incense and old sweat, was a scene of natural beauty and unsurpassed human creation. It had been a world in which most human beings, enslaved by fear and ignorance, found life endurable only through the hope of a happier incarnation after death.

...

the Chinese have confiscated the fabulous store of jewels, gold, silver and precious objects which the successive Dalai Lamas have collected through the centuries.

...

Anna Louise Strong before them, were told about how villagers were forced to supply women for lamas and monks during their tax collection tours. They were told the same story of how one Drepung lama and his retinue had raped all the women of sixty families.

...

"All pretty serf girls were usually taken by the owner as house servants and used as he wished." They "were just slaves without rights."

Quoted in Anna Louise Strong, Tibetan Interviews, page 25.

...

The first time [the landlord's men] caught me running away, I was very small, and they only cuffed me and cursed me. The second time they beat me up. The third time I was already fifteen and they gave me fifty heavy lashes, with two men sitting on me, one on my head and one on my feet. Blood came then from my nose and mouth. The overseer said: "This is only blood from the nose; maybe you take heavier sticks and bring some blood from the brain." They beat then with heavier sticks and poured alcohol and water with caustic soda on the wounds to make more pain. I passed out for two hours.

Strong, Tibetan Interviews, page 31.

...

In addition to being under a lifetime bond to work the lord's land -- or the monastery's land -- without pay, the serfs were obliged to repair the lord's houses, transport his crops, and collect his firewood. They were also expected to provide carrying animals and transportation on demand. "It was an efficient system of economic exploitation that guaranteed to the country's religious and secular elites a permanent and secure labor force to cultivate their land holdings without burdening them either with any direct day-to-day responsibility for the serf's subsistence and without the need to compete for labor in a market context."

Melvyn C. Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet 1913-1951 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989), page 5.

..........

The common people labored under the twin burdens of the corvée (forced unpaid labor on behalf of the lord) and onerous tithes. They were taxed upon getting married, taxed for the birth of each child, and for every death in the family. They were taxed for planting a new tree in their yard, for keeping domestic or barnyard animals, for owning a flower pot, or putting a bell on an animal. There were taxes for religious festivals, for singing, dancing, drumming, and bell ringing. People were taxed for being sent to prison and upon being released. Even beggars were taxed. Those who could not find work were taxed for being unemployed, and if they traveled to another village in search of work, they paid a passage tax. When people could not pay, the monasteries lent them money at 20 to 50 percent interest. Some debts were handed down from father to son to grandson. Debtors who could not meet their obligations risked being placed into slavery for as long as the monastery demanded, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

Gelder and Gelder, The Timely Rain, 175-176; and Strong, Tibetan Interviews, 25-26.

...

Some monasteries had their own private prisons, reports Anna Louise Strong. In 1959, she visited an exhibition of torture equipment that had been used by the Tibetan overlords. There were handcuffs of all sizes, including small ones for children, and instruments for cutting off noses and ears, and breaking off hands. For gouging out eyes, there was a special stone cap with two holes in it that was pressed down over the head so that the eyes bulged out through the holes and could be more readily torn out. There were instruments for slicing off kneecaps and heels, or hamstringing legs. There were hot brands, whips, and special implements for disemboweling.

Gelder and Gelder, The Timely Rain, 113

...

The exhibition presented photographs and testimonies of victims who had been blinded or crippled or suffered amputations for thievery. There was the shepherd whose master owed him a reimbursement in yuan and wheat but refused to pay. So he took one of the master's cows; for this he had his hands severed. Another herdsman, who opposed having his wife taken from him by his lord, had his hands broken off. There were pictures of Communist activists with noses and upper lips cut off, and a woman who was raped and then had her nose sliced away.

A. Tom Grunfeld, The Making of Modern Tibet rev. ed. (Armonk, N.Y. and London: 1996), 9 and 7-33 for a general discussion of feudal Tibet; see also Felix Greene, A Curtain of Ignorance (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1961), 241-249; Goldstein, A History of Modern Tibet 1913-1951, 3-5; and Lopez, Prisoners of Shangri-La, passim.

....

The Shadow Circus: The CIA in Tibet - free YouTube video

https://youtu.be/k14ttZafgt0

The Saltmen of Tibet - film depicting the poverty and hard lives of salt collectors in Tibet

https://youtu.be/eQPIF9klVwU

https://youtu.be/wzAbru8tp9o

The Buddhist Deception By Ben Blijleven

Google book, readable free online

https://books.google.com/books?id=vnMvEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA9&lpg=PA9&dq=Felix+Greene,+A+Curtain+of+Ignorance+tibet&source=bl&ots=W8SJ7AMqnQ&sig=ACfU3U0J7jZxaSqb7xM-NfFkfUE1nwusTg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjsiLq27dTyAhVESN8KHWNXBxcQ6AF6BAgQEAM#v=onepage&q=Felix%20Greene%2C%20A%20Curtain%20of%20Ignorance%20tibet&f=false

The Buddhist Deception

By Ben Blijleven

animal abuse among Lamaists in Mongolia, depicted in the film, The Horse Thief, YouTube video

https://youtu.be/LZSjjOQUtHY?t=3412

In the 1940s, only 200 families owned 95% of all land in Tibet, and 95% of its people were illiterate

https://historicly.substack.com/p/tibet-china-and-the-violent-reaction

In the 1940s, only 200 families owned 95% of all land in Tibet, and 95% of its people were illiterate. Child labor was rampant, and malnutrition was common. The average life expectancy for serfs in Tibet was 36 years. When the serfs were "taxed," they had to provide various forms of forced labor. Some serfs owed all their daytime labor to the lords, others owed five days a week of unpaid labor, and some were at the disposal of the lord's every whim.

Oxford University: Explore 6000 photographs of Tibet

https://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/

Explore 6000 photographs of Tibet

The Tibet Album presents more than 6000 photographs spanning 30 years of Tibet's history. These extraordinary photographs are a unique record of people long gone and places changed beyond all recognition. They also document the ways that British visitors encountered Tibet and Tibetans.

Featuring photographs taken by Charles Bell, Arthur Hopkinson, Evan Nepean, Hugh Richardson, Frederick Spencer Chapman, Harry Staunton and the previously unidentified photographs of Rabden Lepcha.

Our specially designed functions (maps, zoom, album…) enable you to browse this site in many different ways. Photographs appear in a variety of formats and can be linked to the visual narratives they were originally used for.

'Tibet Past & Present', Sir Charles Bell, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1924

https://tibet.prm.ox.ac.uk/publication_Past+&+Present.html

A monk, convicted of counterfeiting currency-notes (p.203) in a type of torture punishment device, called a cang, or cangue. Locked into the wood board around his neck 24 hours a day for years, the person punished will starve to death or dehydrate unless others feed him or give him water.