arnaud maitland and sexual harassment at Tarthang Tilku's cult

 https://pgdharmageek.wordpress.com/

arnaud maitland and sexual harassment

It has been a year since this blog was last updated, and it feels important to publish it again and reiterate some of the messages.

It is important that people know the kind things that Mr Maitland has done in the past, so that they can make an informed decision about whether to study with him, short or long-term. 

This and other posts about Mr Maitland’s harassment have received many comments of appreciation that this information is available. One person in particular said that she had a funny feeling about him, and she was glad to find this information; it validated that feeling for her. The FBI has said that one of the reasons that women wind up being victims of attacks is that they do not trust their instincts. (See this post for some suggestions about how to protect yourself, should you decide to interact with Mr Maitland.) t would be great if we all trusted our instincts more in this area, and shared what we know with others. It is in that spirit that this information is available.

Note there is a comment from a long-time member of the community which acknowledges what has been happening:

…I just want to acknowledge what you said as true. As a long term member of the organization I was and am truly shamed with this situation. A classical denial reaction is not what I would expect from us, or from any Buddhist practitioner, not for that extended period of time anyhow. I am truly sorry for your pain

I am not in pain. I am deeply disappointed that any organization, and particularly a Buddhist organization would allow this to happen and then, knowing about it, would allow it to continue. There is no way that this type of behavior and response should be a model for how the Dharma comes to the West. This is not Dharma, and this is not how Dharma should come to the West. By allowing Mr Maitland to continue his activities, the organization condones his behavior and implicitly says – “this is OK in a Dharma context.” And it is not.

—————-

This is an updated version of the post that used to be called ‘being good at life, part 2.’

Between Sept 2012 and May 2013, I was sexually harassed by Arnaud Maitland while I was volunteering at Dharma Publishing. It started off as persistent pursuit and evolved into a six month period of subtle and vicious retaliation. I reported this to senior members of the TNMC community, and they did nothing until May of 2013. At that time, in May 2013, Jack Petranker, Vice President of Dharma Publishing and a senior member said “We’ve had problems like this with him before, and this time, we think we should take it seriously.” After a series of meetings, I was asked to leave, and Mr Maitland was allowed to continue with his activities.

About a year afterward, I was watching TV with my mother and saw an episode of Law and Order during which a woman kills herself after being subjected to much of the same retaliatory behavior that I experienced. It was the first time I really understood both the intensity of what I had endured, and the depth of my resilience.

I believe that the reason I was able to be resilient is that, despite the fact that my teacher violated almost all the tenets of the Dharma and his own teacher’s teachings, I believed in the Dharma. That belief and faith in the Dharma helped me to deal with the  repeated shocks to my system that I was experiencing with each incident of harassment. Each time he did something – picking an argument; singling me out for punishment for a made-up transgression; inventing fault with minute aspects of my work; saying one thing and then taking it back and saying the opposite; making an agreement to do something and then doing something completely different; assigning me trivial and time consuming tasks that utilized none of my skills and contributed nothing the success of the organization; allowing others to take ownership of ideas I had put forward; deliberately sabotaging projects that I was working on – I would feel a huge shock to my system.

Maybe you’ve felt this kind of thing before. Maybe it is the feeling you get when your parent criticizes you again, even though you are an adult and have done everything you can to please them much of your adult life. Perhaps you get the feeling when you’re standing up and speaking in front of a room full of people and someone asks you a nasty question Or when your boss calls you stupid, lazy, or incompetent in front of your colleagues and peers. I don’t know a better word for it than shock, the kind that really takes your breath away.  The sensation made my whole body feel short circuited, like none of it would work properly again.

I experienced those sensations over and over again. In the beginning, there were lulls, when I foolishly believed that perhaps the attacks were over. After the first few months, they just kept coming. Sometimes I had barely recovered from one when the next one came in. It was a very deliberate and well executed campaign. I wound up off balance, out of sorts, confused, and depressed. Finally, I woke up one day and had decided to leave. When asked why, I mentioned again the harassment of Arnaud Maitland. Although the organization said they were going to take it seriously, I was asked to leave the community, and Mr Maitland was able to continue to teach and interact with students much as he had before.

Mr Maitland does not teach an authentic version of Kum Nye. If after doing and teaching Kum Nye for 35 years, he was capable of the type of behavior he exhibited with me and others, something is definitely not right. In the Buddhist teachings, it says that a good teacher should embody the teachings. There is no way that Mr Maitland’s behavior is an embodiment of the Dharma or of Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche’s teachings. Read this blog for more about that.

For those of you who are already studying with or otherwise interacting with Mr Maitland, it may be helpful to know his tactics.

He sends e-mails in which he refers to you as ‘dear’. He will share seemingly intimate details about his work, travel, or personal life. He responds quickly, almost immediately to your e-mails for a while, and you have the feeling you can actually sense when he reads them. He has given you glib reasons for why you should be in a relationship with him – you’re the first student he’s ever fallen in love with, or things are not going well between him and his wife, for example. He approached at least one woman during a retreat and told her that he wanted to have ‘a special Nyingma relationship’ with her; she is not the first one he has said that to. One woman came to a retreat as a result of Mr Maitland’s seduction and spent over $1,000 in addition to the retreat fees. After she left, Mr Maitland never contacted her again.

I do not know what the situation is at Dharma Publishing and TNMC now. They told me that they were going to do sexual harassment training, and make the community safer – he was not the only one who thought it was OK to approach students in that way. I hope that is the case. But people who interact with Mr Maitland should know he has this history, and should ask him about it. It is always possible for people to change. But it is not guaranteed, and Mr Maitland had a long history of this kind of behavior, which was kept secret from people who interacted with him. As a result, he caused much suffering. Hopefully, this will prevent additional suffering of that kind.

Dzongsar - re child abuse, anti tulku :We also suffered regular verbal and physical abuse, which went as far as making us bleed from the head and whipping us with nettles

 

https://www.tilogaard.dk/Dzongsar_Khyentse_om_den_4_Jamgong_Kongtruls_abdikation.pdf

Dzongsar re just a little of the trauma he survived as a child and fake tulkus, re the lamas' materialism, before he became an overt monster himself:

In my time we went through a lot of hardship, eating nothing but rice and potatoes for up to a year, travelling on India’s cheapest public transportation, sleeping on railway platforms, having no more than 10 rupees in our pockets for six or seven months, getting by with one pencil for a year, and even having to share our study with 18 other students.

As a child I had just two handmade toys that I made myself.

Worse, my tutor confined me to one room not just for a few weeks or months but for a whole year, so that even going to the toilet became a long awaited excursion. We also suffered regular verbal and physical abuse, which went as far as making us bleed from the head and whipping us with nettles.

In fact, it’s worth noting that these tulkus are often not genuine reincarnations at all, but are given the “tulku” label as a child, with the aspiration that it will benefit them and others.

Forced to be a prisoner in a 'monastery' Ogyen Thinley Dorje (Jamgon Kongrul) refused to be a 'tulku'

 https://www.tilogaard.dk/english/Two_Jamgon_Kongtruls.pdf

Two Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoches a paper by Lama Tendar Olaf Hoeyer First about the flight of the alternative fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Chögyi Nyima (Appointed by the alternative Karmapa Ogyen Thinley Dorje) The alternative 17th Karmapa Ogyen Thinley Dorje (not to be mistaken for the classical 17th Karmapa Thinley Taye Dorje, who is the ‘protector’ of Tilogaard) appointed the new alternative fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Chögyi Nyima Rinpoche back in the nineties. At the same time, this appointment was recognised by the previous Jamgon Rinpoche’s labrang or administration, who is established in Pulahari Monastery near Kathmandu in Nepal. 

The new Jamgon Rinpoche had a very hard childhood and youth in his own monastery with his predecessors administrators as his guardians. The boy perceived the situation as being imprisoned and dreamed only of escape. Finally this spring, when he became 20 years of age, he took off and ran away from everything. 

He announced it on Facebook to his devotees, that it was over, about his guardians excesses and that he was now free. He abandoned his wows of a monk and only wants to be an ordinary person. He aims to become a doctor – something he has aspired to for a long time. He also announced, that the best thing people could do for him, would be to leave him alone. He had for too long a time done, what was asked of him, even though it was not in accordance with his feeling. His announcement was made public on Facebook, and on the various links below you will find several Facebook addresses, where allegedly you can read the message. As it happens, none of these work for the moment, so apparently it is Jamgon Rinpoche’s organisation, that control these addresses and has removed the message. We must assume, that Jamgon Rinpoche himself would want us to be able to read his important message, since he placed it on Facebook. Otherwise, he would post another message. There has been a new post, but only with thanks to his followers support and a protest against his labrang’s censure of his friends in and around the monastery. Some of his friends have allegedly been assaulted with violence, because they were in agreement with with Jamgon Rinpoche’s exit. Since then, all messages have been removed – there are no new messages. Apparently, something sinister has happened, that is not all right. We must therefore ask, how exactly Rinpoche’s exit actually happened. There is no immediate answer to the question, that I can find anywhere. There are no detailed information about it on the internet. It is maybe something very painful, that has happened. Why else stay silent? But we do not know, what exactly has passed. There must have Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 1 been both a prelude and a chain of events. Both the Tulku and the organisation let us guess about it, which I find somewhat bizarre. Why do they not just tell us, what has happened? They probably both have a different story to tell. The organisation is in a very strange situation without their Tulku or Rinpoche. What is their reason of existence hereafter? In Denmark, an organisation is dissolved, when its purpose no longer can be served, but it should not be so in this case. All of this happened earlier this year (2016), so it is already an old news story, but I am not so quick and first discovered this event at the end of September. Jamgon Rinpoche’s labrang or organisation has reacted by announcing (on Facebook), that they are sorry about his decision and from now on, they will wait for his eventual return or his next incarnation (read the proclamation on Tilogaard’s website). So, presumably this is the reason, that they do not dissolve the institution. Anyway, in this way they avoid, that they lose their jobs. In order not to throw away all credibility and perspective, they have obtained the alternative Karmapa Ogyen Thinley Dorje’s support of their decision. We might think and assume, that Lodrö Chögyi Nyima wants to say, that he does not feel as a Jamgon Kongtrul Tulku, and therefore does not believe so himself, but actually this is not the message. He does not say, that he is not a genuine reincarnation of the previous Jamgon Rinpoche. Probably because he does not know anything about it himself. It is Ogyen Thinley, that has appointed him, and according to theory, Ogyen Thinley should be able to know this. Of course, you may reserve some doubt about this, because Ogyen Thinley himself might be one of the Tulkus of ‘convenience’. You can read about the doubts concerning the authenticity of Ogyen Thinley as a genuine Karmapa Tulku in the paper: Two Karmapas’ controversy, on Tilogaard’s website. This doubt has lingered with Ogyen Thinley ever since he was found in 1992. The alternative fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche All Jamgon Rinpoche is saying is, that he would rather be a doctor and that he does not want to associate with the former Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche’s institutions. He is not the only Tulku with such thoughts and emotions. In this connection is is probably completely unimportant, whether he is a genuine Tulku or not. His actions are a complete denial of the institutions, that surrounded him and were his guardians, while other people of the same age had a normal childhood and youth. Bad for him and shame to the guardians. On the face of it, it seems quite strange, that Jamgon Rinpoche’s organisation does not follow him. They ought to support his education as a layman and doctor. There should be no problem here. Rinpoche is not a monk any more. That should not be a problem either. Why does Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 2 Jamgon Rinpoche not want to work with his own organisation, and why does his organisation not want to support him? It is just as strange, that Jamgon Rinpoche has not just replaced his administrators, when apparently he does not like them. Since he is now 20 years old, he should be of age and in a position to take charge of his own organisation. Why did he not do that? It could be though, that he just wanted to leave and he could not delay. Apparently it is Jamgon Rinpoche’s organisation, that owns the Tulku institution. They certainly still govern the organisation, and Rinpoche has just left his work, and peace be with that, they seem to think. Maybe he will return, when he discover, how difficult it is to survive on the ‘outside’. Why do they not instantly ask for forgiveness for, what they have done to him? And what it is actually, that they have done to harm him? The humble person here is obviously the runaway Tulku. All kinds of respect for him, and may he become a good doctor. Both Vasubandhu and the 11th Shamarpa were doctors. What would the world have been like without them? Apparently Jamgon Rinpoche was a prisoner – or he felt like one – involuntarily forced into his role by circumstances. This story has of course caused several reactions. Most remarkably is Dzongsar Jamjang Khyentse’s paper about the Tulku children's loneliness, erroneous upbringing, insufficient education and the alienating religious social class divisions. The shadow and disease of Tibetan religious culture. (Link to his paper below.) Dzongsar Jamjang Khyentse Rinpoche Most Tulkus sit involuntarily on their thrones and do not like to be treated as princes and gods. Neither is it healthy for them. They will lack the experience of being an ordinary person. They are always separated from others by belonging to a higher social class. Neither do they have any recollection of their former lives. Only a very few know about that. Dzongsar Khyentse also lament, that we today have more Tulkus than ever before in the history of the Tibetans. The title of Tulku ought to be a protected title – a concept that the Tibetans cannot conceive. They have appointed all too many ‘political tulkus’ for too long a time. Now they have difficulty to distinguish between ‘tulkus of convenience’ and the real kind. Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 3 It is of course nothing new, that there are politically appointed Tulkus. They are normally appointed to preserve an institution, that had lost their Tulku because he died, but they were unable to find the genuine reincarnation. Then they have done, what they considered second best and appointed a ‘suitable’ candidate. There is of course something inflationary about such a seductive and misleading attitude, if not to say a lie, and it is of course not acceptable for modern people with a deep respect for the centuries old Karma Kagyü tradition. This tradition is all about Mahamudra and not about Tulkus, even the Tulkus in the course of history mostly have been worthy heirs. You could call it a Tibetan coincidence, that it became the Tulkus, who mastered the transmission of Mahamudra for over 800 years. In the previous 1600 years the transmission took place completely without any Tulku institutions. Maybe the Tulku institution was a good idea 800 years ago. Now the blessing is a bit mixed, and young Tulkus like Jamgon Kongtrul Lodrö Chögyi Nyima have become involuntary victims of the prejudice and incompetence of their guardians. This is a completely different subject than questions about Tulkus being genuine. In is on the mind of everybody to provide the best life and development possible for children. It is not decent to place children in such a self-contradicting situation, where they are supposed to be like – or in any case to appear like – saints, and it is not decent to let them be brought up to engage in the role as a saintBodhisattva, whether they are like that from their birth or not. Links to this event: www.tilogaard.dk/english/Jamgon_Kongtruls_exit_messages_on_Fac ebook_august_2016.pdf. Some news media: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/monk-announces-renunciation-onfacebook/1/738911.html & www.telegraphindia.com/1160812/jsp/frontpage/story_102067.jsp Dzongsar Jamjang Khyentse’s letter: www.tilogaard.dk/Dzongsar_Khyentse_om_den_4_Jamgong_Kongtru ls_abdikation.pdf Ken McLeod reflections on Dzongsar Khyentse’s letter: http://tricycle.org/trikedaily/reflections-on-dzongsar-khyentses-howwe-raise-tulkus. Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 4 Here is then a completely different story about the fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Karma Mingyur Dragpa Senge (recognised by the classical Karmapa Thinley Taye Dorje) Beru Khyentse Rinpoche’s son was recognised by the classical Karmapa Thinley Taye Dorje, who is the ‘protector’ of Tilogaard, when they met first time in Bodhgaya. In contrast to the alternative incarnation, the story of whom is told above, Karma Mingyur Dragpa Senge has grown up in a normal family setting, though the family is not quite ordinary. His father, Beru Khyentse Rinpoche is very soft and renowned for his great mindfulness. So the son has not suffered manipulation nor alienation. Beru Khyentse Rinpoche has had his own ‘scandal’ (in the eyes of some Tibetans) by giving up his monk wows, marry and start a family, when he was young himself. Maybe this is the reason that Jamgon Rinpoche appears so healthy, fresh and unencumbered. The fourth Jamgon Kongtrul Karma Mingyur Dragpa Senge He has also come of age and have been travelling in Europe last year as a Dharmateacher. He is in the process of acquiring the whole Karma Kagyü transmission and does not seem to seek alternative occupation like his brother-in-name with the undeserved Dharma-blues and unhappy childhood and youth. Link: www.khyenkong-tharjay.org/jkrp3.htm. Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 5 Children as monks are an unethical cultural habit This story about the two Jamgon Kongtrul Tulkus is possibly a major important event. It invites us to question all Tulkus, if their childhood and youth was all right or not. It also invites us to ask into the situation for all underage Tulkus. Are their conditions all right? Have the parents been manipulated in an unrighteous way to let go of their children and deliver legal custody to some monks without understanding of children and some worldly foundation caretakers? Are the rights of these children violated? In many Tulku stories, this seems to be the case. Why should small children be taken from their parents to begin with? Why should it be necessary for the children to live in a monastery in order to bring them up and educate them? What is wrong with a normal home with father, mother and siblings? Would you give up your child to a monastery, that you probably do not even know? Would you? I guess not. The line of thought belongs to the Middle Ages, when children had no rights. It is simply unnatural and manipulating, and there ought to be a law against it. Besides we may ask, if the guardians of the Tulkus posses the right qualifications? Which guidelines should be applied, when they anyway will continue to do, what they do? (I do not think, that they will stop, just because a Danish Lama in the faraway West writes something on the internet.) Who will keep an eye on it? The parents lose most of their influence, once the child has left home. The Tibetan religious cultural convention makes it almost impossible for the parents to remove the child from the monastery, if things go wrong and disturb the development of the kid. It can only be in very special cases, that it is in order to send children to boarding schools. The monastery schools should be closed, and the money spent on study grants instead. There is no reason to continue a Middle Age custom, for which time has run out. My own retreat-master Gendune Rinpoche was an unusual child. He wanted absolutely to become a monk, even when he was just a little boy, and he was no Tulku. He was just a child with a strong interest in Dharma. Having accomplished the usual monastery training, he spent 30 years in closed retreat, first in a cave above the monastery in Tibet, and later he continued in Kalimpong, India. So we cannot make a rule, that there should be no children in a monastery. It is the monastery schools and the traditional Tulku education and upbringing, that is problematic. In our time, you get a much better education in ordinary schools with the ordinary subjects. I suppose, that a Dharma education may take place in a parallel way, and it is not necessary to confine it within the antique frames of a monastery. A life in a monastery ought to be the volunteer choice of persons, who already have come of age, and it is only something for children in very rare cases. What should we then do in our own part of the Dharma world – in our own religious samsara? This complex of problems belongs naturally Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 6 to the Tibetans, first of all. They are just as modern and contemporary as us in the West, when all comes to all, but the rest of us also share some responsibility by participation in the tradition, even we do not directly send our own children to monastery schools. The least, we can do, is to let it be known, what we think about this and to ask our Lamas and Dharma-teachers about their opinion. With time, hopefully these deplorable and inadmissible conditions for children and youngsters may change for the better. No one should be appointed to a life, that excludes the experience of being just an ordinary human being. It is an obsolete cultural convention, that it should be like that. In the Tibetan Middle Age, that just ended in 1959, this convention may have made some sense. It is really a shame, that it is like this in our modern and informed time. Besides, no one should be able to receive the wows for monks, before they come of age. It is and remains unfitting to ordain children. A possible solution: Karmapa's new boarding school in Kalimpong Karmapa Center of Education (KCE). Karmapa Thinley Taye Dordje is of course aware of this problem. His new boarding school project illustrates that. In stead of abandoning the monastery schools, he has developed a vision for modern education of children and youngsters, that traditionally was reserved for the monasteries. The boarding school has been formed as an independent institution without any direct link to any particular monastery. In stead, the emphasis is on the location of the school in the vicinity of both Karmapa’s residence as well as the Shedra, the institute for higher studies in the Dharma, both in Kalimpong. The curriculum of the school covers both traditional Buddhist knowledge and ritual, ‘normal’ school subjects of study as well as, what Karmapa calls ‘holistic’ subjects. The vision of this school is, that it may become a prototype for many other boarding schools in the whole region of Himalaya. It is for poor children, so education, clothes, books, board and lodging is free of charge – paid for by foundations. In this way, the vision of Karmapa address the role, that monastery schools traditionally have played, which is a free boarding school for poor children. The new form is, that the school has moved out of the monastery and has incorporated a ‘normal’ curriculum, creative crafts and practical skills. In our time and in that place, such initiatives are maybe the right way to solve the problems of the monastery schools. Read more about this on the following link: http://karmapaeducation.org/education.html. Lama Tendar Olaf Hoeyer, the 10th of October 2016. Tilogaard’s website: Two Jamgon Kongtruls www.tilogaard.dk/english 7

Sex with the Lama is not always a good idea neither for Lama nor partner pdf by Lama Tendar Olaf Hoeyer, August 2017.

https://www.tilogaard.dk/Sex_with_the_Lama.pdf

Sex with the Lama is not always a good idea neither for Lama nor partner Lama Tendar Olaf Hoeyer, August 2017. The picture shows the Zen master Bodhidharma with his ear in the hands of a courtesan... (from John Steven’s book: Lust for Enlightenment) Ethics is not always a simple matter, when eroticism is involved. Erotic frustration and naked desire may destroy an otherwise beneficial relationship between student and Dharma-teacher. Since erotic Tantra does exist (karma mudra) as a legitimate form of practise (sadhana), where the students traditionally engage in a special erotic union with the Lama – or with his wife – as initiation, Sanskrit: abhisheka. Later, the yogi will find suitable partners for his or hers sadhana. It is of course not for monks nor nuns. Never the less, some people think, that it is also OK for the ordained, because the Tantra wows surpass Vinaya rules for monks and nuns. This opinion is not held in the lager monasteries. The learned Pandits have never been able to agree about this. It is a difficult path for anyone, to use the area of eroticism to also become the solution for all such problems of letting go of attachment and identification with sex in order to gain insight, liberation and enlightenment. If eroticism is obsessive to someone, karma mudra may be applied. Because both the problem and the solution manifest simultaneously in the same mind at the same place, there are also erotic Tantra as a method. It is there naturally so to speak. This erotic union has to happen in a state of samadhi, that is meditative absorption. This method is therefore almost impossible to execute correctly. In other words: you have to try many times, before you succeed. Within Tantra there is a hierarchic difference between Lama and student. So the Lama may easily misuse the student, if the master does not really hold mastership, but is unskilfully a victim of delusion, Sanskrit: ahamkara and moha. To the poor unenlightened village Lama, it may not appear clear, what is liberating karma mudra, and what is sexual exploitation and self satisfaction. To several known ‘masters’ it also appear difficult to distinguish. The most notorious is the Nyingma Lama Sogyal Tilogaard’s website: Lama Norlha sex scandal www.tilogaard.dk/english 1 Rinpoche, otherwise mostly reputed for his book ‘The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying’. Sogyal Rinpoche has collected a series of accusations against him about sexual exploitation of several of his students. A 10 million $ lawsuit from 1994 was closed with a settlement, so we do not know the juicy details nor the size of the compensation. (Read about this via these links: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/jul/01/lama-sexabuse-sogyal-rinpoche-buddhist & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sogyal_Rinpoche.) The criticism of Sogyal Rinpoche has in August 2017 lead to his resignation from the leadership of his organisation ‘Rigpa’. Read about this development here: 1) Sogyal Rinpoche's resignation: www.tilogaard.dk/english/Sogyal_Rinpoche_resignation_letter_1_sr_l etter_august_2017_eng-1.pdf. 2) The leadership of Rigpa's reaction: www.tilogaard.dk/english/Sogyal_Rinpoche_resignation_Rigpa_board _reaction_letter_2_rigpa_letter_aug_2017_eng-1.pdf. 3) Press release from Rigpa: www.tilogaard.dk/english/Sogyal_Rinpoche_resignation_Rigpa-pressstatement-final-2017_08_11.pdf. 4) Read here Sogyal Rinpoche’s students open letter of complaining: www.tilogaard.dk/english/Sogyal_Rinpoche_students_complain_Lette r_to_Sogyal_Lakar_14_06_2017.pdf. Now also the Kagyu Lama Norlha in the USA have been accused of sexual exploitation of his female students for decades. This inspired his organisation to arrange a conference about sex and correct relationship between Dharma-teachers and their students: http://kagyu.com/introduction/ethics-policy (– please not that this Dharma centre is part of the ’alternative’ 17th Karmapa Ogyen Dordje’s network. Lama Norlha is not in any relationship with the ‘classical’ 17th Karmapa Thrinle Taye Dordje, Tilogaard’s ‘protector’ nor with his network.) Lama Norlha was born in Kham (Eastern part of the ethnic Tibet) in 1935. 8 years of age, he entered a monastery. He escaped from Tibet in 1961. Lama Norlha was then 7 years in Kalu Rinpoche’s monastery in Sonada in India. In 1976 he went to the USA and became the leader of the Dharma centre Kagyu Thubten Choling. He also visited Denmark. Allegedly, Lama Norlha has had many sexual relationships, since he arrived in the USA. Now, he is officially deposed and retired. It is a bit strange to hear about, but not so surprising for people, who know Tibetan culture. These stories about sexually potent Tibetan Lamas with great erotic appetite, that appear to lack ability to let go of attachment and identification with passionate feelings (kleshas), pop up al the time. So, Tilogaard’s website: Lama Norlha sex scandal www.tilogaard.dk/english 2 this looks like a typical problem, that occur periodically. There is good reason to consider this problem and to take care. It is not always all right. The problem in this kind of cases is of course, that we as bystanders cannot look through whether the case is sexual abuse or correct erotic Tantra. It is always the students that complain and feel abused. Some times such students experience regret long time after the whole thing took place. We might presume, that they did not learn anything and they were unable to conduct Tantra correctly. Possibly, the Lama have tried to show them a special way to emancipation and enlightenment in a professional manner. We do not know. On the other hand, the Lama might misuse the hierarchical power situation to relate erotically to the student with an intent of personal gratification and orgasm, disregarding the students situation and keeping Bodhicitta out of it. In that case, there is no samaya or Tantra wow. We do not know, but the complaining students suffer much evil, because they have been caught up in a game, that they could not evaluate nor avoid, when it all happened. Later it appear to them, that they could have backed out. All in all, they are left with a feeling of shame. So even if the Lama did try to teach the students karma mudra, then apparently there was no success, and the students cannot help it, but experience abuse and regard the Lama as a sophisticated violator. The Dharma community, that they are part of, then also suffers and people leave. It is not obvious, what is real or true. Such cases are difficult to unravel. It is typical though, that the abused students feel outrage, and that the Lama does not say much if anything at all, maybe because of samaya – or because it is simply all too stupid. This is the reason, that erotic Tantra is rare indeed and difficult to accomplish. Also, it is not the ‘highest’ path. That of course is Mahamudra, where you will not engage with an erotic partner – where there is no erotic Tantra. The wise Lama and Dharma-teacher will abstain from erotic relations with the students. As a principal rule it is unprofessional and may only be applied in very special cases, for instance if the Lama is married with the karma mudra, whereby the hierarchy to some extend is equalised. In ancient India erotic Tantra was a tradition between the homeless wandering sadhus or ‘holy men’ and yogis. In their native environment the tradition worked well, because there was not much of private property, private life, family honour nor lasting relationships for such yogis. On the other hand, karma mudra have never worked well within organised religion in general nor in the monasteries in particular. The first Karmapa Dysum Khyenpa was in this way expelled from his Lama Gampopa’s monastery, because he conducted erotic Tantra within the monastery walls 900 years ago. It was not the first time nor the last that such expulsions happened. Tilogaard’s website: Lama Norlha sex scandal www.tilogaard.dk/english 3 What is ethically correct in connection with Tantra, may be utterly incorrect in a civil samsara connection. When someone cultivate eroticism, almost automatically also the strong passion of envy is invited and not only desire. Right in the heels of both follow naturally pride and anger. Also confusion will arise. But just as easily great sensitivity and openness may appear, so Bodhicitta is definitely a possibility, if you really go for it. Even erotic Tantra is designed to handle and overcome the invitation of eroticism to attachment and identification, then this art will just as easily lead to more of the same kind. Eroticism is seduction, so erotic Tantra may become completely seductive and be misused. The picture shows Lama Norlha, that many Americans now hold in contempt. Lama Norlha though, is not necessarily a pig. He may have had a perception, that he was aiding his erotic partners to accomplish Bodhicitta. But we do not know. Just like the case with Lama Yeshe from Kundreul Ling (Le Bost) in France several years ago, this looks like a simple and extensive practise between a higher ranking person, that misuse a lower ranking person sexually. In the Tibet of Old, people would not have protested against such treatment, because you never know – maybe the Lama is a Buddha. Lama Norlha may have presumed, that the Americans think likewise. It is also possible, that Lama Norlha was sexually frustrated, because he was a badly motivated monk – anyway his conduct was bad no matter what he thought. I presume though, that he did nothing criminally. The case is about lack of morality and bad ethics. The case is also a warning to everybody, that it is not only the Lama who carry a responsibility in relation to the students – the students also carry responsibility. They should not allow manipulation and seduction in the name of a religion. The students must secure that their integrity is respected. They also must secure that the Lama is qualified. Who else should do that? It is in itself an art to verify the reputation and qualifications of the Lama. The World is full of unenlightened people, and the Lamas are not always Buddhas. The good news are, that the misuse was discovered, the Lama dismissed and everybody hopefully got wiser… The bad news are, that we do nor know whether Lama Norlha is innocent – or at least erring in his perception of the Americans. Maybe he was just too optimistic about the students engagement and ability. Maybe people of the West are too prudish. Maybe no one got any wiser… On Tilogaard you cannot learn erotic Tantra. Actually, it is quite difficult to find a Dharma-teacher on this subject, if you are interested. The Magazine Tricycle has written about Lama Norlha: Tilogaard’s website: Lama Norlha sex scandal www.tilogaard.dk/english 4 https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/kagyu-thubten-choling-monasteryworking-sex-impropriety/. Read also: https://tricycle.org/magazine/sex-sangha-again/. Read further: www.lionsroar.com/kagyu-thubten-choling-addressessangha-about-lama-norhla-rinpoches-sexual-misconduct-withstudents/ Read also: www.lionsroar.com/confronting-abuse-power/. This last link express a useful approach to this kind of problems. The typical ‘sexual predator’ – who is beyond dialogue – is also discussed. Also Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche has commented on the issue of Sogyal Rinpoche by writing a rather lengthy paper: www.tilogaard.dk/english/ Dzongsar_Khyentse_on_sex_with_the_Lam a_August_2017.pdf. This paper is very important for any student of Buddhadharma. Some people never learn On the various website of the organisations directly connected to Lama Norlha and Sogyal Rinpoche there is no mention of sex scandals, even these two Lamas have made their formal exit from these organisations explicit and made excuses for their behaviour. It may seem that they did not leave at all. Quite strange – as if they are also in denial... The same strange kind of attitude is also seen with the ‘alternative’ Jamgon Kongtrul Lhabrang. When you visit their websites, it is as if the Tulku has not left them, though he indeed did so more than a year ago in April 2016, stating that he did not feel like an incarnation of the previous Jamgon Kongtrul, and he would rather live his life without this organisation. Read about that here: www.tilogaard.dk/english/Two_Jamgon_Kongtruls.pdf. (Please notice, that the ‘classical’ incarnated Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche, the son of Beru Khyentse Rinpoche both feels like his previous incarnation, behaves as such and has no problem of being that incarnation. I call his incarnation ‘classical’ because he was appointed by the ‘classical’ Karmapa Thrinley Taye Dorje. The 17th Karmapa Thrinley Taye Dorje was called ‘classical’ by Shamar Rinpoche.) Postscript: Lama Norlha died the 19th of February 2018, 79 years old. Read also Alex Berzin’s essay on misuse by religious teachers: https://studybuddhism.com/en/tibetan-buddhism/about-buddhism/misconceptionsabout-buddhism/dealing-with-abusive-behavior-by-spiritual-teachers Books: 'Tibetan Arts of Love' of Gendün Chöpel, translated and commented by professor Jeffrey Hopkins; Snow Lion Publications, 1992. ISBN: 0-937938-97-1. 'Lust for Enlightenment - Buddhism and Sex' of John Stevens; Shambhala Publications, 1990. ISBN: 0-87773-416-X. Tilogaard’s website: Lama Norlha sex scandal www.tilogaard.dk/english 5

Lama Norlha Rinpoche’s sexual misconduct with students

 https://www.lionsroar.com/kagyu-thubten-choling-addresses-sangha-about-lama-norhla-rinpoches-sexual-misconduct-with-students/

Kagyu Thubten Choling addresses sangha about Lama Norlha Rinpoche’s sexual misconduct with students

BY TYNETTE DEVEAUX| JULY 15, 2017

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Photo via Kagyu Thubten Choling on Facebook.

On April 12, 2017, Kagyu Thubten Choling, the Wappinger Falls, New York-based monastery and retreat center in the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism, hosted a Sangha-wide Disclosure Meeting to inform their community that the founder and principal abbot of their monastery, Lama Norlha Rinpoche, had been involved sexually with a number of female students over the last three decades.

Approximately 160 people were present, including two female students, who read aloud statements relating their experiences with Lama Norlha. Zen teacher Jan Chozen Bays acted as a representative for three other female survivors who were not present, reading their statements aloud. After the statements were read, a sixth woman came forward saying that she too had been involved in a sexual relationship with Lama Norlha. Most of the women reported they felt the relationship to be detrimental to their psychological and personal wellbeing.

The Disclosure Meeting included a taped apology from Lama Norlha Rinpoche, who did not attend.

The disclosure process was initially set in motion by the coming forward of two former female residents of the monastery, who disclosed their sexual relationships with Lama Norlha to a group of senior officials at KTC in December 2016. In response, KTC secured the services of An Olive Branch, a non-profit organization that facilitates restoration of organizational health to a variety of clients, especially around issues of clergy misconduct.

Lama Norlha has since been removed from the teaching seat. The KTC website describes his status as “retired.”

I reached out to KTC for an official statement about these events and received the following:

We appreciate your interest in events that have taken place at our monastery involving teacher-student sexual relationships and how we as a community have responded. Our goal is to acknowledge what happened, adopt ethical standards of behavior to prevent reoccurrence and to heal our community.

Our board of trustees hired external consultants to prepare for and lead a disclosure meeting to our community. During that meeting we invited input from the sangha about how best to move forward, and we have distilled those suggestions into a strategic plan that emphasizes more communal decision-making, better communication, and increased transparency in our organization.

KTC has established a new ethics policy that specifically prohibits sexual relationships between students and teachers, and a clear grievance procedure for resolving complaints and concerns through our Ethics Council. We are also working with therapists with a dharma background to plan workshops for our entire community regarding boundaries in teacher-student relationships. Our aim is to go beyond rules to explore the purpose of our relationship to the guru, what devotion does and does not mean, and the crucial importance of personal agency as we practice the path that leads to the truth of selflessness.

Since the disclosure meeting, we have been offering regular healing circles led by a licensed psychotherapist who is a dharma practitioner to allow people to share experiences to process what this has meant for them personally, and to discuss how we individually and communally can use this situation to evolve in the dharma. —The Officers and Trustees of Kagyu Thubten Chöling Monastery

KTC’s ethics policy can be read here.

From 1951 Secretly, the Dalai Lama's family was very involved with the CIA

 https://www.umsl.edu/~thomaskp/dalai.htm

The Dalai Lama's escape from Tibet will be the subject of two new Hollywood movies and an upcoming article in GEORGE magazine, but Steamshovel Press bets that all will miss one of the most interesting angles of that escapade: its connection to the yeti expeditions of the time. Author Loren Coleman has written a lot about this, in his book, Tom Slick and the Search for the Yeti, and in this excerpt from Popular Alienation, the Steamshovel Press anthology.

The Dalai Lama, Slick Denials and the CIA

by Loren Coleman

from Popular Alienation: A Steamshovel Press Reader

available from IllumiNet

While a great deal of information has surfaced over the years about the Central Intelligence Agency's worldwide covert operations activities, little is known about how deeply the CIA was involved in Tibet in the 1950s and 1960s. "It is impossible at this writing," John Prados noted in his 1986 book, Presidents' Secret Wars, "to give a detailed analysis of the Washington decision making for Tibet. The appropriate records remain security classified. If not for the courts, in fact, the entire discussion of Tibet in the Marchetti and Marks book, The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence, would have been deleted by Agency censors."

We are forced to read accounts of the conflict in Tibet closely to get some insights into how involved some of the yeti searchers may have been. Let's start with one critical incident, the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet. There are denials, for example, of the rumors circulating that Tom Slick and Peter Byrne were responsible, in some fashion, for the safe passage of the Dalai Lama from Lhasa. Since the time of Tom Slick's first official yeti reconnaissance of eastern Nepal in 1957, in which he was actually a member of the trek, the rumors of his expeditions' involvement in spying have been rampant. The New York Times even saw fit to publish an article reporting on the Russians' promotion of this story in an item entitled: "Soviet Sees Espionage in U. S. Snowman Hunt." The April 27,1957 piece claimed Slick was behind an effort to subvert the Chinese, and free Tibet.

What can we find in the record about the Dalai Lama's rescue? Who was behind the exit or with the Dalai Lama? Fletcher Prouty, an Air Force colonel who supervised secret air missions for the Office of Special Operations, has written: "This fantastic escape and its major significance have been buried in the lore of the CIA as one of those successes that are not talked about. The Dalai Lama would have never been saved without the CIA" (Prouty, 1973). On March 17, 1959, all three groups, the Dalai Lama, his immediate family and senior advisors escaped from Lhasa. Tenzin Gyatso the Dalai Lama] was disguised as a common soldier of the guard.... The best information [about the fleeing Dalai Lama] came from the CIA.... The CIA was so well informed because it had furnished an American radio operator, who traveled with the Dalai Lama's party...There may have been other CIA agents with the party as well" (Prados, 1986). Who were these individuals?

George Patterson might know. Remember, he is the guy who had the mysterious meeting with an American tourist" during 1955 in which parts of the CIA's war in Tibet were mapped out. Patterson, who used the cover of being a missionary (but drank, smoked and chased women with the best of the guys) was part of a unique foray into Tibet in 1964. Setting out secretly with Adrian Cowell, a British filmmaker, Patterson took off from Nepal to coordinate and film an attack on a Chinese convoy by Tibetan Khamba commandos. Patterson and Cowell were successful, but upon their return they were briefly jailed in India, and their film was suppressed and not shown for two years.

Now here's the interesting part: Who helped them get into Tibet? None other than Peter Byrne, Tom Slick's man in Nepal.

And who has written the most concerning the Patterson incident without saying too much in depth about it? None other than Michel Peissel. In his book, The Secret War in Tibet (1973), Peissel mysteriously kept his references to the CIA to only four small mentions in this 258-page book. Peissel discussed a good deal about the secret war in Tibet but strangely never mentioned some amazing points now well-known (due to recent CIA limited releases of information), such as the fact that the small kingdom of Mustang was the CIA-run base of Tibetan guerrilla operations. Peissel revealed that he first went to the area in the spring of 1959 with aa letter of recommendation from Thubtan Norbu, the brother of the Dalai Lama, to the Prime Minister of Bhutan.... I was off to meet Jigme Dorji, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, in the small border town of Kalimpong" (Peissel, 1966). We, of course, understand a little bit more about the importance of Kalimpong in the espionage game, as was mentioned above.

Also, we now have some facts about Thubtan Norbu. The eldest brother of the Dalai Lama was connected to the "American Society for a Free Asia," a CIA-funded organization that sponsored a series of visits to and lectures in the United States by Norbu, beginning in 1956 (Prados, 1986). Secretly, the Dalai Lama's family was very involved with the CIA in fighting the Chinese. Gyalo Thondup, the Dalai Lama's second-eldest brother, based in Darjeeling, established an intelligence gathering operation with the CIA in 1951. Six years later, he upgraded it to an advanced CIA-trained guerrilla unit whose members were introduced to commando techniques on Guam for example, and then parachuted back into Tibet (Avedon 1984). What was Peissel's connection to the CIA? It's difficult to say.

Peissel was apparently able to obtain much "Tibet file" (as he called it) information from American and British intelligence contacts. He even reveals names that sound familiar- such as "Nyma Tsering," said to be one of the most trusted officers among the Tibetan guerrillas. Tibetan names in English are merely rough transliterations, often in different spellings. So we are not surprised to find the Sherpa "Nima Tenzing" on Slick's 1957 and 1958 expeditions, and the same individual "Nima Tshering" on Hillary's 1960 expedition. Was this person also the aforementioned "Nyma Tsering?" Were Peissel's connections woven into the espionage network?

This is the same Michel Peissel who wrote a yeti-debunking article for Argosy magazine in 1960 entitled "The Abominable Snow Job." Peissel mentioned that the subject of his 1966 book, Boris Lissanevitch, had been given a tranquilizer gun by the Tom Slick expedition. Peissel half-jokingly wrote that the "Indians thought Boris a Russian agent, the Russians thought him an American agent, and the Americans, a Russian agent" (Peissel, 1966). It is interesting that Peissel would show up in the Tibetan area to investigate the abominable snowman, during the critical time of the Dalai Lama's escape. Slowly, over the years, he revealed his deeper covert operations links.

Adrian Cowell, for his part, turned up in Burma in the mid-1960s filming guerrilla opium armies (McCoy, 1972) and recently has been involved in Brazilian projects. But Cowell's official biography in Contemporary Authors neglected to mention his Tibetan adventures with Patterson.

Something strange is going on here.

CIA provided the Tibetan exile movement with $1.7 million a year for operations against China, including an annual subsidy of $180,000 for the Dalai Lama

 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-sep-15-mn-22993-story.html

CIA Gave Aid to Tibetan Exiles in ‘60s, Files Show

By JIM MANN

SEP. 15, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

WASHINGTON —  

For much of the 1960s, the CIA provided the Tibetan exile movement with $1.7 million a year for operations against China, including an annual subsidy of $180,000 for the Dalai Lama, according to newly released U.S. intelligence documents.

The money for the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama was part of the CIA’s worldwide effort during the height of the Cold War to undermine Communist governments, particularly in the Soviet Union and China. In fact, the U.S. government committee that approved the Tibetan operations also authorized the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba.

The documents, published last month by the State Department, illustrate the historical background of the situation in Tibet today, in which China continues to accuse the Dalai Lama of being an agent of foreign forces seeking to separate Tibet from China.

The CIA’s program encompassed support of Tibetan guerrillas in Nepal, a covert military training site in Colorado, “Tibet Houses” established to promote Tibetan causes in New York and Geneva, education for Tibetan operatives at Cornell University and supplies for reconnaissance teams.

“The purpose of the program . . . is to keep the political concept of an autonomous Tibet alive within Tibet and among foreign nations, principally India, and to build a capability for resistance against possible political developments inside Communist China,” explains one memo written by top U.S. intelligence officials.

Relationship Was Mutually Beneficial

The declassified historical documents provide the first inside details of the CIA’s decade-long covert program to support the Tibetan independence movement. At the time of the intelligence operation, the CIA was seeking to weaken Mao Tse-tung’s hold over China. And the Tibetan exiles were looking for help to keep their movement alive after the Dalai Lama and his supporters fled Tibet following an unsuccessful 1959 revolt against Chinese rule.

Tibetan exiles and the Dalai Lama have acknowledged for many years that they once received support from U.S. intelligence. But until now, Washington has refused to release any information about the CIA’s Tibetan operations.

The U.S. intelligence support for the Tibetans ended in the early 1970s after the Nixon administration’s diplomatic opening to China, according to the Dalai Lama’s writings, former CIA officials and independent scholars.

The Dalai Lama wrote in his autobiography that the cutoff in the 1970s showed that the assistance from the Americans “had been a reflection of their anti-Communist policies rather than genuine support for the restoration of Tibetan independence.”

The newly published files show that the collaboration between U.S. intelligence and the Tibetans was less than ideal. “The Tibetans by nature did not appear to be congenitally inclined toward conspiratorial proficiency,” a top CIA official says ruefully in one memo.

The budget figures for the CIA’s Tibetan program are contained in a memo dated Jan. 9, 1964. It was evidently written to help justify continued funding for the clandestine intelligence operation.

“Support of 2,100 Tibetan guerrillas based in Nepal: $500,000,” the document says. “Subsidy to the Dalai Lama: $180,000.” After listing several other costs, it concludes: “Total: $1,735,000.” The files show that this budget request was approved soon afterward.

A later document indicates that these annual expenses continued at the same level for four more years, until 1968. At that point, the CIA scrubbed its training programs for Tibetans inside the United States and cut the budget for the entire program to just below $1.2 million a year.

In his 1990 autobiography, “Freedom in Exile,” the Dalai Lama explained that his two brothers made contact with the CIA during a trip to India in 1956. The CIA agreed to help, “not because they cared about Tibetan independence, but as part of their worldwide efforts to destabilize all Communist governments,” the Dalai Lama wrote.

“Naturally, my brothers judged it wise to keep this information from me. They knew what my reaction would have been.”

The Dalai Lama also wrote regretfully in his book that the CIA had trained and equipped Tibetan guerrillas who conducted raids into Tibet from a base camp in Nepal.

The effect of these operations “only resulted in more suffering for the people of Tibet. Worse, these activities gave the Chinese government the opportunity to blame the efforts of those seeking to regain Tibetan independence on the activities of foreign powers--whereas, of course, it was an entirely Tibetan initiative.”

Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama’s personal representative in Washington, said last week that he had no knowledge of the CIA’s $180,000-a-year subsidy or how the money was spent.

“I have no clue whatsoever,” Gyari said. Speaking more generally of the CIA’s past support for the Tibetans, Gyari acknowledged: “It is an open secret. We do not deny it.”

Agency Has Resisted Release of Details

The CIA has long resisted efforts to disclose information about its Tibetan operations.

In 1993, then-CIA Director R. James Woolsey promised to declassify and release the records of six CIA covert operations during the Cold War, involving France, Italy, Indonesia, Laos, North Korea and Tibet. But this year, CIA Director George J. Tenet said the agency did not have the money or personnel to do this for the foreseeable future.

The Tibet documents were released not by the CIA but by the State Department, which has responsibility for regularly publishing documents that show the history of U.S. foreign policy.

Warren W. Smith Jr., author of a recent book on the history of Tibet, said he believes that the newly published documents are the first to describe the CIA’s Tibetan operations.

Until now, information about the CIA plans has come from "[Tibetan] exiles and a few old CIA agents,” Smith said. “None of the agents involved would know detailed information about things like the budget.”

The CIA was not the only intelligence service to support the Tibetans. India also helped, and, according to Smith’s book, Indian intelligence officials even organized a Tibetan unit within the Indian army.

The newly published documents show, however, that Tibetan leaders sometimes complained to Washington that they weren’t getting sufficient backing from India.

The documents provide no details about the $180,000-a-year subsidy to the Dalai Lama. But they suggest that the money was used to pay for the staff and other costs of supporting his activities on behalf of the Tibetan people.

The same 1964 memo speaks of “continuing the support subsidy to the Dalai Lama’s entourage at Dharamsala,” the city in northern India that has served as the Dalai Lama’s headquarters and the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Eisenhower Team Gave Initial Approval

A brief internal history of the CIA’s Tibet operations shows that the Eisenhower administration first formally approved covert support to the Tibetan resistance in September 1958, at a time when the Tibetans were conducting guerrilla raids against Chinese army units.

The U.S. intelligence operations were overseen in Washington by the executive branch’s top-secret “303 Committee.” On May 20, 1959, only a few weeks after the unsuccessful Tibetan revolt, the 303 Committee approved the first covert support specifically for the Dalai Lama, who had just arrived in India. These covert CIA programs were re-approved several times during the 1960s.

In 1964, the CIA decided that one of the main problems facing the Tibetans was “a lack of trained officers equipped with linguistic and administrative abilities.” As a result, it decided to educate 20 Tibetans. “Cornell University has tentatively agreed to provide facilities for their education,” the CIA explains in one memo.

The Cornell program did not last long. In 1967, after Ramparts magazine disclosed that the CIA had been secretly funding the activities of the National Student Assn. in the United States, the CIA restricted its activities on U.S. university campuses.

The files show that the Tibetans were keeping close track of U.S. policy toward China. In fact, they sometimes had a better sense of what the U.S. was about to do about China than did the rest of the world.

On Dec. 6, 1968, a month after Richard Nixon was elected president but before he took office, the Dalai Lama’s brother told a senior State Department official that the Tibetan exiles were afraid “of an accommodation the United States might make with the Chinese Communists.”

Undersecretary of State Eugene V. Rostow told him not to worry. Rostow said that “we [the United States] would not make any accommodation with the Chinese Communists at the expense of Tibet.”

Over the next four years, the Nixon administration carried out its opening to China, and the CIA’s Tibetan operations were shut down.

Now, more than a quarter of a century later, the U.S. government is providing some financial support for Tibetans, but openly and through other channels.

In recent years, Congress has approved about $2 million annually in funding for Tibetan exiles in India. Congress has also urged the administration to spend another $2 million for democracy activities among the Tibetans.