Part 3 of 3
One of Dzongsar’s problems here is that he and Sogyal are “Vajra brothers,” having received the same initiations from some of the same lamas. In that case, directly criticizing Sogyal would constitute a breach of samaya with both Sogyal and their mutual preceptor(s). This is one reason why Tibetan lamas have trouble critiquing other lamas: they tend to be Vajra brothers having received initiations (the Kalachakra for instance) from the Dalai Lama.117
This puts the Dalai Lama’s remark that “we Tibetans” like to let lamas “make their own mistakes” in a different light.118 However, in this scenario, there is little concern for the unknowing Westerners the lamas make their mistakes with.
The message we received from Kalu, from Dilgo Khyentse, and now Dzongsar is clear. It is that once accepted by the student, the Vajra Master is to be followed totally on faith with unquestioned devotion, no matter their actions in the world. Any critical thought regarding the master will bring a horrible future in Vajra hells. We should be thankful that Dzongsar states so clearly the Vajrayana view for us!
Everything That Can be Faced Can Be Changed
But Nothing Can Be Changed Until It is Faced119
In September of 2018 the Dalai Lama was on tour in Europe during which he was to spend four days in Holland. The Tibetan spiritual leader had agreed to meet four victims of alleged sexual abuse in the Netherlands. The meeting was facilitated by the Dutch researcher Rob Hogendoorn. This was not the Dalai Lama’s original plan but there was great pressure put on him to hear the abused’s stories as an on-line petition was signed by over 1,000 people. The group had requested the meeting to discuss abuse reportedly carried out by former or current Buddhist teachers in several countries. The three women and one man who attended the scheduled 20-minute meeting were going to deliver twelve written first-person accounts of sexual abuse by Buddhist teachers. The first-person accounts had on its cover page, #MeTooGuru: Abuse survivors’ testimonies, for the Dalai Lama’s eyes only.120
‘We found refuge in Buddhism with an open mind and heart, until we were violated in its name,’ they wrote.121
One of those present, a Dutch woman, Oane Bijlsma, told Efe [Spanish] news agency that it was ‘a very complicated meeting.’122 She said that at the beginning the Dalai Lama ‘didn’t want to hear’ about their cases, but added that after ten minutes of conversation he became ‘more receptive.’ “By the end, Ms Bijlsma said, he was closer to what we were presenting, he stopped trying to convince us that it wasn’t his fault and started to listen to what we were saying.123
The Dalai Lama stated, ‘I already did know these things, nothing new,’ he said in response on Dutch public television NOS late Saturday. ‘Twenty-five years ago… someone mentioned about a problem of sexual allegations’ at a conference for western Buddhist teachers in Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, he added.124
This short meeting in Holland with the Dalai Lama has a few elements that call for closer examining. The conference with Western Buddhist teachers he refers to took place at a time when leading Tibetan Buddhist lamas, the leaders and spokespeople for some of the most active and respected groups in the West were dealing with scandals involving sexual abuse, alcoholism, drug use, and financial misdoings lasting over a period of at least two decades. Aside from the lamas, at least in some groups, in particular Shambhala, senior lay members were also abusing their positions. At that time too, there were widely known scandals around sex and alcoholism occurring in Zen Buddhist groups in the West. Almost every major Zen group in the West had faced scandal.
I think it calls for some questioning why the Dalai Lama, not only the most public but also the moral authority of Tibetan Buddhism can only find twenty minutes to fit into a four-day visit in Holland to hear about major problems of Tibetan Buddhism in the West. But more so, it seems to be poor judgement that he spent ten of his twenty minutes of allocated time to defending himself as “not being his fault” for the sexual, psychological, and financial abuse of western students by respected Tibetan and other teachers.
What is even more disturbing, his acknowledgement that, ‘Twenty-five years ago… someone mentioned about a problem of sexual allegations at a conference for western Buddhist teachers in Dharamshala.’ Presenting abuse by Buddhist teachers in this fashion trivializes the problem. But this topic of Buddhist teachers in the West drinking excessively and having sexual relations with their students which was breaking many sanghas(group of practitioners) apart at the time was raised at a meeting in Dharamshala, India between the Dalai Lama and twenty-two western Buddhist teachers from March 16-19, 1993.125 It was a major point of concern that was raised. Besides Tibetan Buddhist groups, the Zen sect at the time was suffering the most from the scandals caused by exposing the behavior of a number of prominent Zen masters. It was one of the earlier issues directly brought up at the Dharamashala meeting.
The Dalai Lama said at that meeting in 1993 that the situation must improve. Then suggested that people speak with the offending teachers and try to get them to improve their behavior. If after a time they did not change, and if there was irrefutable evidence, the Dalai Lama suggested outing them using their name so all would know who they were and they would be shamed.
The Dalai Lama suggested a joint statement be issued between himself and the Western Buddhist teachers addressing the issue of teacher sexual abuse. He was concerned about this issue and made many suggestions for the wording of the statement. Stephen Batchelor was selected as scribe. It took weeks for the Dalai Lama’s private office to ratify the document. When the document was finally returned to the Westerners for publication, it was unchanged except for one thing: the sentence in which the Dalai Lama personally endorsed the text had been deleted. Without his endorsement the text lost much of its authority. It looked like twenty-two self appointed Westerners chose to speak for the Buddhist community. Batchelor felt “used” by the Dalai Lama because he had communicated his concern and offered a solution, but by not endorsing the text, he did not have any responsibility for what it said.126
At the 1993 meeting, the trouble explicitly mentioned was about the Zen sect and their teachers, so called Zen masters, so perhaps it was “safe” for the Dalai Lama to suggest outing wayward teachers if they refused to improve their behavior.127
However, back in 1989 John Steinbeck IV and his wife Nancy met the Dalai Lama at the lavish grounds of the Heinz ketchup heirs’ estate in Newport, California and asked him, ‘You know about the situation within Trungpa Rinpoche’s community. Our teacher died of alcoholism after abusing his power with female students. His Regent transmitted AIDS in a similar abuse of power to a young male student. Many of us have experienced extreme heartbreak and a weakening of faith and devotion. Can you address this problem so that other students may avoid these pitfalls?’128
The Dalai Lama’s reply became a blueprint for the way he and the Tibetan government in exile handled trouble with Tibetan lamas for the next twenty five years. The Dalai Lama replied: ‘I would say that if you are going to follow a teacher, you must examine his behavior very carefully…The student has to take the responsibility of examining the behavior of the teacher very carefully, over a long period. You cannot be hasty about these things.’129
While it is true that a student has a responsibility for her or his decision to become a disciple, so does the teacher, the vajra master, supposedly with superior wisdom, have a responsibility not to take students too hastily and certainly, once taking them not to abuse them for their own satisfaction. But perhaps more importantly, what about the highly respected lamas who were leaders of their given sect, who sanctified the teacher, thereby elevating their standing in the religious hierarchy, do they not have a responsibility to the students who at least partially are studying with the abusive teacher because of their blessings—their giving a sort of Federal Drug Administration guarantee of purity and authority? It seems unfitting to blame only the student for a lack of wisdom.
Steinbeck wrote, ‘”No amount of Tibetan lawyer talk (…) is going to cover up the stench of underlying corruption. He [the Dalai Lama] can blame the student all he likes, but isn’t that the same as blaming the victim in any abusive situation?” “How is their cover-up any different from the decades of secrecy in the Catholic Church regarding their priests’ sexual abuse of choirboys?”130
And:
‘Will it be a matter of time before they follow suit with the Catholics in offering apologies?’131
Why, we may ask, would the Dalai Lama feel so defensive? One reason may be, that as the public face of Tibetan Buddhism, the sheer scale and scope of the recent scandals exposing forty years of dishonesty and abuse without a word of disapproval coming from him could be seen as a cover-up from on high, as is seen with the Pope in the Catholic Church scandals. Another simple reason is that after giving the advice to western students and teachers back in 1993 to out offending teachers if they would not improve their behavior, he has never mentioned one teacher himself though he was well aware of much of what was going with Tibetan teachers.
In addition, in 1992 the Dalai Lama received a ten-page letter about Sogyal’s abuses, the very year he wrote the foreword for The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. When the Janice Doe case against Sogyal was settled out of court in Los Angeles in 1994, the Dalai Lama’s secretary said that Tibetan Buddhist leaders had been aware of these allegations for years.132 But even if for cultural and perhaps political reasons he would not mention particular people, to name names, he surely could have avoided their centers, not doing photo ops with them knowing full well that these teachers were using the photo ops as his endorsement.133
The most striking example of this was the Dalai Lama flying into southern France on a private plane for a major two day affair to inaugurate the opening of Sogyal’s temple complex, Lerab Ling in 2008.134 Besides many other dignitaries in attendance, but often close to the Dalai Lama was Carla Bruni Sarkozy, the stylish wife of the president of France. Sogyal later informed his spokespeople to reply to criticisms of his behavior with the statement, ‘the Dalai Lama endorses me.’135
Sogyal well understood that would be the end of the story!
Yet still another question raised is if for twenty-five years the Dalai Lama knew this problem, why was nothing done about it.136
Why were offending lamas allowed to take prominent and visible places at the Dalai Lama’s talks and presentations?137
Why did the Dalai Lama attend Sogyal’s temple inauguration being the center of attraction for two days of meeting dignitaries, giving talks and performing rituals while Sogyal with obvious glee danced around him? Anyone attending the inauguration or watching it on YouTube would naturally think the Dalai Lama was fully endorsing Sogyal. On the other hand, not attending the inauguration of the largest Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the West, would have certainly been understood as a show of disapproval. The words of the Dalai Lama have tremendous power. In August, 2017, at the peak of the Sogyal scandal, after the public letter signed by eight senior students, after Sogyal’s behavior spread across the internet and into print media, the Dalai Lama finally spoke publicly. He said, ‘My friend Sogyal has shamed himself.’138 A few days later, on August 11, 2017 Sogyal announced his retirement and supposedly went into retreat.
This simple remark was viewed as an overwhelming condemnation of Sogyal. This after forty years of silence and tacit endorsements. It would not have taken very much on the Dalai Lama’s part, or other high lamas to reign in abusive lamas but at the least, to warn unsuspecting students. No wonder the Dalai Lama was defensive!
One wonders as the Steinbeck’s insinuated back in 1989 when they were talking with the Dalai Lama at the Heinz ketchup estate in Newport, California, how much confusion and pain could have been avoided if the various lineage heads, including the Dalai Lama were more open about abusing lamas, insisted on consequences for errant behavior, and outed unrepentant lamas as was suggested back in 1993 for wayward Zen masters.
One also wonders, as all the Tibetan Buddhist teachers involved in the above-mentioned scandals were respected and orthodox teachers endorsed by other highly respected senior lamas and the main lineage holders of their respected traditions, what are these endorsements based on?
What does it mean if the highest lamas’ endorsements were wrong or very questionable at best? What does this say about the understanding and wisdom of these many times reincarnated lamas? Their calls for secrecy and honoring titles in the face of scandal seem more about institutional self protection than any thing else? The high lamas appear hesitant to allow for the possibility of even the smallest crack in their self-created wall of infallibility. Yet we all know nothing in human endeavors is really like that.
Like Zen Buddhism that imputed unquestioning authority and enlightenment to its masters/roshis which led to scandal after scandal for the past 50 years or so, Tibetan lamas and Rinpoches are surrounded by an imputed aura of moral perfection and enlightenment, making the case of an abusive lama, at least until recently, almost inconceivable and rarely taken seriously. Even more than is in Zen, the prevalent view is that everything the Vajrayana teacher does or says is compassionate and enlightened activity.139
Any resistance or questioning of the teacher’s authority or pronouncements are considered arrogant, defending or expressing one’s too large ego. Being accused of arrogance or of defending your ego can apply to anyone, that is, anyone except the master. In fact, not seeing the master in this self imputed perfected way is looked at as a sign of being a slow student- not getting it! This also acts as a damper on any student raising a question about the master’s behavior.
It is widely recognized that sexual abuse is to a large extent about power. That seems to be the case with the teachers discussed in this paper. Trungpa often had sex with the wives and girlfriends of students, and at the snap of a finger could have disciples forcibly stripped naked whether they agreed to it or not. A close disciple of Sogyal stated that Sogyal slept with the wives of some of his students, that is, aside from seducing other women, married or single who came to him for spiritual counseling. This is on top of the physical abuse and humiliation he dealt to his dakinis. The Sakyong we saw also seduced many young women, some involved with other men and ghosted them when he was finished with them. The Vajra Regent liked straight men who had no previous homosexual experience, in one case it was a young man less then half his age who he infected with HIV. The teenage Kalu tulku while in the monastery, was raped for roughly two years by a group of older monks, and when he returned from a three-year retreat he recognized the next young boys attacked by them. When he wanted to change tutors, the rejected tutor attempted to kill him, while dismissing him as being easily replaceable.
From these cases it is clear that imputing spiritual attainment to people, be they lamas, or Rinpoches or tulku or whatever title they carry, who almost certainly have not reached the perfected levels imputed to them, leads to much confusion, pain and suffering. This is true at the least for the students, and given some time, public scandal will tarnish the name of Buddhism. The same goes for assuming that large Tibetan Buddhist institutions and monasteries are inherently pure. It appears to be true with Buddhism just as it does with other religions, that keeping secret and covering over abuse only makes matters worse and more widespread.
Things are clearly changing. There is no more room under the rug. Tibetan Buddhism is no better at policing itself than any other institution. The power of the internet keeps powerful institutions from controlling public dialogue. The voice of students who no longer are afraid to speak out publicly has shone light on the secrecy that many Buddhist teachers have been hiding behind. Of course, the “#MeToo” movement is an empowering and driving force, knocking open the doors of secrecy. Now that the dark underbelly of Tibetan Buddhism is being exposed and hopefully faced, it can be changed for the better.
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Notes:1. Hannah Arendt, in the film Hitler’s Hollywood.
2. See a number of my papers at The Zen Site. Also, see Lachs, Stuart (2017). Modernizing American Zen Through Scandal: Is the Way Really the Way? in Havnevik, Hannaet al. (editors), Buddhist Modernities: Re-inventing Tradition in the Globalizing Modern World (pp. 282-295). New York: Routledge.
3. Modern scholarship has shown that the Zen propagated idea of an unbroken chain of enlightened masters going back to the Buddha is a myth. See, McCrae, John (2003).Seeing Through Zen: Encounter, Transformation, and Genealogy in Chinese Chan Buddhism (pp. 1-21). Berkeley: University of California Press. Many other scholars have written on this, Alan Cole, Griffith Foulk, Bernard Faure, Martin Schlutter, Robert Sharf, Albert Welter, et cetera.
4. In Tibetan Buddhism, the lineage is based on (re)incarnations or emanations of earlier great masters, who are verified by highly regarded Tibetan teachers.
5. Throughout this text, Tibetan words are italicized and transcribed according to Turrel Wylie’s (Wyl.) system published in 1959, but only on their first appearance. Wylie, Turrel (1959). A standard system of Tibetan transcription. Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 22 (pp. 261-267).
6. Estimates for the number of tulkus and tulku lineages vary greatly. ‘From the twelfth century onwards, all four of the major sects of Tibetan Buddhism followed the example of the Karmapa sect and recognized the institution of reincarnations, which led to the emergence of numerous incarnations in almost all monasteries. At the peak of this development, at the turn of the twentieth century, there were believed to be well over ten thousand such reincarnations in Tibet.’ Michael, Franz (1982). Rule By Incarnation: Tibetan Buddhism and Its Role in Society and State (p. 43). Boulder: Westview Press. The Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism states: ‘There were some three thousand lines of incarnation in Tibet.’ Buswell Jr., Robert & Lopez Jr., Donald (2014) Princeton Dictionary of Buddhism (p. 847). Princeton: Princeton University Press. The vast majority are men, though there are a small number of female tulku lineages. Also see, Author unknown (2004). Tulku. Wikipedia.org, March 8, 2004 (last accessed January 9, 2019). High profile examples of tulkus are the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and the Karmapa.
7. Ibid.
8. Lama Kunsang, Lama Pemo & Aubèle, Marie (2012). History of the Karmapas: Recognizing a Tulku. Snow Lion Catalog and Newsletter, 26 (1), number 97, Winter 2012 (p. 1, 11, 22, 23).
9. Samdup, Tsenten (1989). Tulku Conference in Sarnath December 5-8, 1988. Snow Lion Catalog and Newsletter, 4 (1), number 7, Spring 1989 (p. 2).
10. If the highest estimate of 10,000 tulkus were really living in Tibet before the Chinese occupation in 1950, at an estimated population of three million, then one in every three hundred Tibetans was a tulku. If the conservative estimate of 3,000 tulkus is more accurate, then one in every thousand Tibetans was a tulku.
11. See, Kapstein, Matthew (2014). Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction(p. 89). Oxford: Oxford University Press: ‘In tantric Buddhism, the most crucial relationship is that between guru, or lama, and disciple. The disciple pledges body, speech, and mind to the teacher who bestows consecration upon him, and ones’s oath to the teacher is inviolable.’ This oath is referred to as samayavow, which we shall see plays an extremely important role in Vajrayana Buddhism and in the scandals discussed in this paper.
12. The line is the opening to the film The Big Short, falsely attributed to Mark Twain.
13. Sogyal Rinpoche (2008). The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying (Revised and updated edition). London: Rider.
14. The first Tibetan Monastery in the West was founded in 1958 by Geshe Wangyal in New Jersey in the USA, who immigrated to serve the Kalmuck Mongolian community. In 1967 he bought land and built a new monastery in Washington, New Jersey. Jeffrey Hopkins and Robert Thurman, well known Tibetan Buddhist scholars, studied with Geshe Wangyal.
15. Perry, Andrew (2011). Bringing Chogyam Trungpa’s “Crazy Wisdom” to the screen—A conversation with filmmaker Johanna Demetrakas. Lion’s Roar, November 23, 2011 (last accessed February 3, 2019).
16. John Steinbeck IV & Nancy Steinbeck (2001).The Other Side of Eden.Amherst: Prometheus Books.
17. Stephen Butterfield (1994) The Double Mirror: A Skeptical Journey into Buddhist Tantra (p. 11). Berkeley: North Atlantic Books. Also see, Matthew Kapstein (2014). Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (p. 86). Oxford: Oxford University Press: ‘Tantric practice must be grounded in unswerving devotion to a qualified teacher, without this, only its outer form survives.’
18. Kashner, Sam (2004). When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School(p. 49). New York: Harper Collins: ‘Consulting I Ching Smoking Pot Listening to the Fugs Sing Blake.’
19. Much has been written about this. See, Clark, Tom (1979). The Great Naropa Poetry Wars (designed and printed by Graham Mackintosh), November 1979. Also see, Marin, Peter (1979). Spiritual Obedience: The transcendental game of follow the leader. Harper’s Magazine, February 1979 (last accessed July 8, 2019), for an overview of Trungpa and his followers. For a description of the “Merwin Affair,” see pp. 51-53. For another condensed version of the “Affair,” some reactions by Ginsberg, and the atmosphere around Trungpa, see Woods, Robert (pseudonym of Tom Clark), ‘“Buddha-gate”: Scandal and cover-up at Naropa revealed,’ Berkeley Barb. 28 (13), number 698, March 29 – April 11, 1979 (pp. 17-18, 21).
20. Steinbeck, p. 29
21. Steinbeck, p. 39
22. One could argue that Trungpa practiced what he preached here leaving his son Ösel Mukpo, the future Sakyong Mipham with his mother in a Tibeten refugee camp in India while he went to England and then a little later leaving him again to go to America after Ösel Mukpo was in England.
23. Steinbeck, p. 39
24. Steinbeck, p. 40.
25. Steinbeck, p. 40. Trungpa was not alone in this behavior, the author of this paper is familiar with a number of Zen teachers who also assumed the all-wise role.
26. Steinbeck, p. 40.
27. According to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, the Sanskrit word vidyadhara (in Tibetan rigdzin, Wyl., rig ‘dzin) indicates someone who constantly abides in the state of pure awareness of rigpa-knowledge that comes from recognizing one’s nature. See also, Vidyadhara, Rigpa Wiki (last accessed July 8, 2019).
28. See, Tibetan Buddhism in the West. Katy Butler’s (1990) article ‘Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America’ appeared in Common Boundary Magazine, May-June 1990 (pp. 14-22). It dealt mostly with teacher abuse and its effects in the Shambhala community but also mentioned similar troubles with Zen groups and teachers.
29. Steinbeck, p. 211. For a first person report of Trungpa’s cocaine use and child rape by one of his seven young wives trained to serve him see, Dharma Wheel (last accessed January 20, 2019). It also has come out recently that there was child sexual abuse at a number of Shambhala centers. See, Buddhist Project Sunshine (last accessed July 8, 2019).
30. Steinbeck, p. 211.
31. Steinbeck, p. 211.
32. Steinbeck, p. 211.
33. Steinbeck, p. 212-213.
34. Steinbeck, p. 32.
35. Steinbeck, p. 210.
36. Katy Butler (1990), Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America. Common Boundary Magazine, May-June 1990 (pp. 14-22).
37. Remski, Matthew (2018). Pema Chödrön on Trungpa in 2011: “I Can’t Answer the Relative Questions”. Matthewremski.com July 20, 2018 (last accessed October 26, 2018.
38. Steinbeck, p. 211.
39. Steinbeck, p. 32.
40. See, Way Back Machine (last accessed July 6, 2019). Thompson, Jesse (2000). The Dharma Brats: Growing up Buddhist in America. Nexus, May-June 2000.
41. The Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin Library and Archive (last accessed October 28, 2018).
42. See, Rigpa Wiki (last accessed July 8, 2019): Abhisheka—wang (Wyl., dbang) in Tibetan— ‘refers to the Vajrayana ritual which awakens the special capacity for primordial wisdom (Tib. yeshe) to arise in the mind of the disciple. It is called ’empowerment’ because when we receive it, we are empowered to follow a particular spiritual practice, and so come to master its realization.’
43. Trungpa seemed drawn to upper crust British ways. He had his students who served as maids and servants address him as “Your Highness” while they dressed in British style maids’ outfits. See, Kapstein, Matthew (2014). Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (p. 89). Oxford: Oxford University Press: ‘In Tibetan societies, the deference of social inferior to superior, junior to senior, mundane to sacred, spiritually immature to spiritually advanced, and so forth is very strongly marked.’ In spite of his “Crazy Wisdom,” Trungpa was bringing Tibetan social mores of deference to superiors to the United States of America.
44. Butler, Katy (1990). Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America. Common Boundary Magazine, May-June 1990 (pp. 14-22).
45. Steinbeck, p. 246.
46. Steinbeck, p. 246.
47. Butler, Katy (1990). Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America. Common Boundary Magazine, May-June 1990 (pp. 14-22).
48. Zaslowsky, Dylan (1989). Buddhists in U.S. Agonize on AIDS Issue. New York Times, February 21, 1989 (p. A14).
49. Zaslowsky, Dylan (1989). Buddhists in U.S. Agonize on AIDS Issue. New York Times, February 21, 1989 (p. A14).
50. Breaking of samaya vows can lead to all sorts of trouble, madness, and even death—some believe not only for yourself but also for family members. Samaya can support the teacher-student relationship but it can also be used unscrupulously as a threat to keep people quiet and in line.
51. For an abridged version of Kalu Rinpoche’s talk see, Facebook Dzogchen Meditation Center, December 20, 2017 (last accessed July 6, 2019). The full talk given in Los Angeles on December 22, 1988 was posted on the Chronicles of Chogyam Trungpa but was recently (March, 2019) removed. Kalu added, ‘Regarding Ösel Tendzin and his attainments, students are often unable to see the full enlightenment or the miraculous powers of their teachers.’
52. This remark is part of the full talk that has been removed from the Chronicles of Chogyam Trungpa website.
53. See, Mendelsohn, Deborah (1989). Correspondence. The Sun, July 1989, published on line at The Sun Magazine (last accessed April 12, 2019).
54. Campbell, June (1996). Traveler in Space: In Search of Female Identity in Tibetan Buddhism (p. 98). London: Athlone. This source will be quoted as Traveller in Space.
55. Traveller in Space, p. 102
56. Traveller in Space, p. 104
57. Traveller in Space, p. 98
58. Hooper, Joseph (2012). Leaving Om: Buddhism’s Lost Lamas. Details Magazine, August 1, 2012, archived by the Way Back Machine (last accessed April 12, 2019). Senge was abused, he says, as a 5-year-old by his own tutor, a man in his late twenties, at a monastery in India.
59. Ibid. The young Kalu also made a ten minute video discussing his life as a tulku, titled ‘The Confessions of Kalu Rinpoche’ (last accessed 26 December 2018). In the video he remarks, ‘Its all about money, power, controlling…’ the video has received over 200,000 hits.
60. Butler, Katy (1990). Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America. Common Boundary Magazine, May-June 1990 (pp. 14-22).
61. Steinbeck, p. 253.
62. Steinbeck, p. 254. Also see, Finnigan, Mary (2011). The Buddhist organizations that are thriving during the debt crisis. The Guardian, February 18, 2011 (last accessed November 21, 2018). For example, the seventeenth Karmapa, Orgyen Trinley Dorje visited the North America for the first time in 2008. About 2,000 people gathered at a monastery in Woodstock, New York to catch a glimpse of him. They paid $200 each—a total of $400,000. In October of 2011, 1,500 people flew to Tenerife for a three day teaching of Namkhai Norbu, a master in the Dzogchen tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The cost was 150 Euros excluding, flights, accommodation and subsistence—225,000 Euro total for the three days.
63. This is a common trope in Tibetan Buddhism, where “retreat” can mean anything from intense solitary practice to hide from view.
64. ‘Letter to the Sangha from His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche’, October 17, 1989, available on line at The Chronicles of ChogyamTrungpa Rinpoche(last accessed July 6, 2019).
65. Statement to the Sangha from His Eminence Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche. August 26, 1990, available on line at The Chronicles of ChogyamTrungpa Rinpoche (last accessed July 6, 2019).
66. Penor Rinpoche recognized the action film star Steven Seagal as a tulku of a 17th-century Buddhist master named Chungdrag Dorje. See, Sweet, Matthew (1999). Steven Seagal: Top Action Hero and Tibetan Lama’.Independent magazine, November 14, 1999 (last acccessed July 8, 2019).
67. Author unknown (no date). Sakyong Wangmo: Invoking the Mother Lineage.Shambala.com (last accessed April 11, 2019)
68. Lama Tsultrim Allione is an American woman born in Maine in 1947. She is a well-known author and teacher of the Karma Kagyü lineage. In January 1970, at the age of 22, she became the first American ordained by the 16th Karmapa. See, Author unknown (date unknown). Lama Tsultrim Allione’s Biography. Tara Mandala (last accessed July 8, 2019).
69. Andrea Winn is founder of Buddhist Project Sunshine which broke open discussions of sexual abuse in the Shambhala organization. She wrote, ‘I was first sexually abused when I was around seven, and again by multiple men during my teen years.’ Whitaker, Justin (2018). Healing a Heart and a Community: Andrea Winn and Project Sunshine. Buddhistdoor.net, March 28, 2018 (last accessed 8 July 2019). She later added that that the shocking truth is almost all the children in her group were abused by older men in the group. See, Winn, Andrea (2018). Project Sunshine: Final Report. Andreamwinn.com, February 15, 2018 (p. 7) (last accessed July 8, 2019).
70. Winn, Andrea (2018). Project Sunshine: Final Report. Andreamwinn.com, February 15, 2018 (p. 7) (last accessed July 8, 2019).
71. Winn, Andrea (2018). Critical information that the Shambhala community needs to know. Andreamwinn.com, March 24, 2018 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
72. Winn, Andrea (2018). Buddhist Project Sunshine Phase 2: Final Report. Andreamwinn.com, June 28, 2018 (p. 18) (last accessed 8 July 2019).
73. Ibid. p. 17.
74. Ibid., p. 17.
75. Ibid., p. 13.
76. The full text of this letter can be found at Author unknown (2018). Shambhala leader makes public apology. Lion’s Roar, June 25, 2018 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
77. Newman, Andy (2018). The “King” of Shambhala Buddhism is Undone By Abuse Report. New York Times, July 11, 2018 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
78. Whitaker, Justin (2018). Further abuse accusations against Sakyong Mipham, head of Shambhala Buddhism. Patheos: American Buddhist Perspectives, February 17, 2019 (last accessed July 8, 2019). The article gives a good condensed version of the 35-page letter and places it in the context of scandals in Tibetan Buddhism. It also has a link to the letter of the Kusung (last accessed July 8, 2019).
79. Morman, Craig et al. (2018) An Open Letter to the Shambhala Community from Long-Serving Kusung, p. 27.
80. Ibid. p. 27.
81. Information taken from the Kagyü Thubten Chöling website (last accessed October 10, 2018.
82. Atwood, Haleigh (2018). Lama Norlha Rinpoche, founding abbot of Kagyu Thubten Chöling dies at age 79. Lion’s Roar, February 22, 2018 (last accessed 8 July 2019).
83. Deveaux, Tynette (2017) Kagyu Thubten Choling addresses sangha about Lama Norlha Rinpoche’s sexual misconduct with students. Lion’s Roar, July 15, 2017 (last accessed 10 October 2018).
84. Ibid.
85. See, Kagyü Thubten Chöling website (last accessed April 17, 2019.
86. See, Brown, Mick, Sexual Assaults and violent rages…Inside the world of Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche. The Telegraph, 21 September, 2017 (last accessed October 15, 2018).
87. Ibid.
88. Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (p. 66). Portland: Jorvik Press.
89. The term Rigpa can be talked about in many ways—knowledge is a simple translation. See, Author unknown (2004). Rigpa. Rigpa Wiki, February 16, 2007 (last accessed July 8, 2019). See also, Whitaker, Justin (2017). Further Tibetan Buddhist thoughts on Sogyal/Rigpa. Patheos: American Buddhist Perspectives, September 7, 2017 (last accessed October 27, 2018). This article is unique in that Tibetan leaders of a branch of the Nyingma sect are openly and directly critical of Sogyal.
90. See, Author unknown (2006) Lerab Ling. Rigpa Wiki, December 20, 2006 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
91. Hogendoorn, Rob (2018). The Making of a Lama: Interrogating Sogyal Rinpoché’s Pose as a (Re)incarnate Master, a paper presented to the panel From Rape Texts to Bro Buddhism: Critical Canonical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Sexual Abuse Scandals in Western Buddhism, during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Denver, November 17-20, 2018.
92. Whitaker, Justin (2017). Further Tibetan Buddhist thoughts on Sogyal/Rigpa. Patheos: American Buddhist Perspectives. September 7, 2017 (last accessed February 17, 2019): ‘However, Sogyal Lakar is not universally accepted as an incarnation of gTértön Sogyal. Chhi’mèd Rig’dzin Rinpoche and Künzang Dorje Rinpoche both held it to be impossible. They quoted many other Lamas including Düd’jom Rinpoche, Chatral Rinpoche, and the 16th Gyalwa Karmapa as holding this view.’
93. Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (pp. 23-30). Portland: Jorvik Press.
94. Emery, Elodie (2011). “Pas si zen, ces bouddhistes…”. Marianne, 15-21 October 2011, 756 (pp. 72-77). There are five Tertön Sogyal Foundations, one in France, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. See, Terton-sogyal.org (last accessed January 12, 2019). The Rigpa Fellowship in England is under investigation by the British Charity Commission (last accessed July 8, 2019).
95. Finnigan, Mary (2011). The Buddhist organisations that are thriving during the debt crisis. The Guardian, November 18, 2011 (last accessed October 18, 2018).
96. Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche(pp. 91-92). Portland: Jorvik Press.
97. Ibid. p. 92.
98. See, Brown, Mick (2017). Sexual Assaults and violent rages…Inside the world of Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche. The Telegraph, 21 September, 2017 (last accessed October 15, 2018).
99. Ibid.
100. Standlee, Mark et al. (2017). Public letter from eight senior students of Sogyal, July 14, 2017 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
101. Standlee, Mark et al. (2017). Public letter from eight senior students of Sogyal, July 14, 2017 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
102. Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (pp. 81-82). Portland: Jorvik Press.
103. Ibid. p. 96.
104. Standlee, Mark et al. (2017). Public letter from eight senior students of Sogyal, July 14, 2017 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
105. Ibid.
106. Author unknown (2005). Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche. Wikipedia.com, August 30, 2005 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
107. Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse’s essay on Facebook was reproduced in its entirety by Lewis, Craig (2017). Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche Issues Public Statement on Recent Criticism of Sogyal Rinpoche. Buddhist Door Global, August 15, 2017 (last accessed October 21, 2018).
108. Ibid.
109. Bourdieu, Pierre (1991). Language and Symbolic Power (p. 16). Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
110. Ibid.
111. Ibid.
112. Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (pp. 81-82). Portland: Jorvik Press.
113. See, Kapstein, Matthew (2014). Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction(p. 89). Oxford: Oxford University Press. See also, Kakar, Sudhir (2010). The Uses of Ritual. in Brosius, Christiane & Huesken, Ute (editors) Ritual Matters: Dynamic Dimensions in Practice (p. 203). London: Routledge.
114. Empowerment refers to a ceremony in which a lama, on the basis of his own spiritual attainments and understanding of the proper rituals that have been handed down in an unbroken lineage for hundreds and even thousands of years, places a recipient in connection with a particular Tantric deity or deities. The result of this teaching “empowers” a recipient to visualize that deity and recite the deity’s mantra. See, Author unknown (date unknown). What are empowerments? Ewam Choden Tibetan Buddhist Center (last accessed January 10, 2019.
115. Bourdieu, Pierre (1991). Rites of Institutions. in Language and Symbolic Power (pp. 117-126).
116. Lewis, Craig (2017). Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche Issues Public Statement on Recent Criticism of Sogyal Rinpoche. Buddhist Door Global, August 15, 2017 (last accessed October 21, 2018).
117. Kapstein, Matthew (2014). Tibetan Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction (p. 89). Oxford: Oxford University Press: ‘By entering into a teacher’s circle, you become similarly bound by oath to your fellow disciples, who thus become “vajra brothers and sisters.”’
118. Steinbeck, p. 253
119. Taken from the film, James Baldwin: I Am Not Your Negro.
120. Hogendoorn, Rob (2018). The Making of a Lama: Interrogating Sogyal Rinpoché’s Pose as a (Re)incarnate Master, a paper presented to the panel From Rape Texts to Bro Buddhism: Critical Canonical and Contemporary Perspectives on the Sexual Abuse Scandals in Western Buddhism, during the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Denver, November 17-20, 2018. See also, Hogendoorn, Rob (2018). The Dalai Lama’s Clarion Call. Tibetan Review, December 6, 2018 (last accessed December 6, 2018.
121. Author unknown (2018). Dalai Lama meets alleged abuse victims. BBC News, September 14, 2018 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
122. The major multimedia news agency in the Spanish language and the world’s fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse.
123. Author unknown (2018). Dalai Lama meets alleged abuse victims. BBC News, September 14, 2018 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
124. Mees, Anna & De Vries, Bas (2018). Dalai lama over misbruik: ik weet het al sinds de jaren 90. NOS.nl, September 15, 2018 (last accessed April 12, 2019). The Dalai Lama’s remarks can be watched through this link.
125. Much of the conference can be watched on line through this link: ‘The Western Buddhist Teachers Conference with H.H. the Dalai Lama’, The Meredian Trust (last accessed July 8, 2019).
126. See, Batchelor, Stephen (2011). Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist (pp. 195-211). New York: Spiegel & Grau.
127. Tenzin Palmo and Stephen and Martine Batchelor at the meeting referred to Tibetans but only Chögyam Trungpa’s name was given. He, of course, had already passed away.
128. Steinbeck, p. 212. John Steinbeck IV and his wife Nancy were very active in the Shambhala organization. Over time and witnessing Trungpa’s drinking, drugging, and sex addiction along with Ösel Tendzin’s out of control sexual behavior became a leading critic of Shambhala. John and Nancy describe Shambhala in detail in their book, The Other Side of Eden. The Steinbecks seemed to be totally disappointed with the Dalai Lama and other lineage heads who maintained their silence about renegade lamas. Steinbeck, p. 254.
129. Steinbeck, p. 253.
130. Ibid., p. 254. See also, Sheriff’s office investigating misconduct allegations at Colorado Buddhist retreat. Fort Collins Coloradoan, December 18, 2018 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
131. Steinbeck, p. 254.
132. Hogendoorn, Rob (2018). The Dalai Lama’s Clarion Call. Tibetan Review, December 6, 2018 (last accessed December 6, 2018).
133. Tibetan social conventions include a taboo against criticizing lamas. The Dalai Lama is constrained by this and so too are the majority of other lamas teaching in the west.
134. Author unknown (2008). The Visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Lerab Ling 2008. Rigpa Video (YouTube), January 2, 2009 (last accessed July 8, 2019).
135. Sogyal Rinpoche & Rigpa: An interview with the former director of Rigpa France, Olivier Raurich, Diffi-Cult, March 9, 2016 (last accessed July 8, 2019). Also see, Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (p. 104). Portland: Jorvik Press.
136. See, Brown, Mick (1995). The Precious One. The Daily Telegraph Magazine, February 2, 1995 (pp. 20-28): ‘In a unique manifestation of his disapproval, The Dalai Lama withdrew from participation in a Living and Dying Conference scheduled by Rigpa to take place in California. The conference was canceled.’
137. Finnigan, Mary & Hogendoorn, Rob (2019). Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (p. 104). Portland: Jorvik Press: ‘When I asked why Sogyal was usually a guest speaker at events with the Dalai Lama, like the Kalachakra Initiation, Chhimed Rigdzin, an official in the Dalai Lama’s office, responded, “We don’t invite him.” I pointed out that they don’t refuse him either.’
138. See, Brown, Mick (2017). Sexual Assaults and violent rages…Inside the world of Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche. The Telegraph, 21 September, 2017 (last accessed October 15, 2018).
139. Dapsance, Marion (2014). When Fraud is Part of a Spiritual Path: A Tibetan Lama’s Play on Reality and Illusion. (last accessed July 8, 2019) in Van Eck Duymaer van Twist, Amanda (editor). Minority Religions and Fraud: In Good Faith (pp. 171-186). Farnham: Ashgate. This paper gives an in depth and disturbing presentation of Sogyal’s organization and practice instructions to his followers.