Silly Seagal, Reincarnated Mobster

The impulse to believe the absurd when presented with the unknowable is called religion. Whether this is wise or unwise is the domain of doctrine. Once you understand someone's doctrine, you understand their rationale for believing the absurd. At that point, it may no longer seem absurd. You can get to both sides of this conondrum from here.

Re: Silly Seagal, Reincarnated Mobster

Postby admin » Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:19 am

Steven Seagal Accused of Rape Following Multiple Allegations of Sexual Misconduct
by Brianne Tracy
People
January 11, 2018 08:30 PM

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-- Regina Simons


An extra who appeared in Steven Seagal’s 1994 film On Deadly Ground has accused the actor of rape after numerous women have come forward with accounts of his sexual misconduct.

Regina Simons told TheWrap that she was 18 at the time of the alleged rape, which she claims happened after Seagal, 65, invited her to a wrap party for the movie at his Beverly Hills home in 1993.

When she arrived, she said that he was the only one there and that there were no signs of a celebration.

“He took me into this room and then just closed the door and started kissing me,” she told the site. “He then took my clothes off and before I knew it he was on top of me, raping me… I wasn’t sexually active yet. People always talk about fight-or-flight. But no one talks about the freeze.”

Simons, who is now a 43-year-old mother of two, said that she was “completely caught off guard” and notes that Seagal was “three times” her size.


“I was crying when he was on top of me,” she said. “Even now, my 43-year-old mind knows how to process this and understand what a loving relationship is and what consensual sex is. And there was none of that.”

Simons also described her alleged first encounter with Seagal, which she said was during the open casting call for the movie in which they were looking to feature Native Americans (she’s part Navajo and part Sioux) and claims that he invited her and her brother into his trailer.

After mentioning she had a headache in the trailer, Simons claims that Seagal offered to give her a massage and rubbed her hand and neck before going to set.

Simons said that she contemplated coming forward but decided against it.

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-- Faviola Dadis


Dutch model Faviola Dadis told TheWrap that both she and Simons filed reports about Seagal with the LAPD in the last month, and an LAPD spokeswoman also said that the department is investigating a separate case involving Seagal from 2005.

Dadis took to Instagram in November to accuse the actor of sexually assaulting her at an audition in 2002 after being inspired by Portia de Rossi coming forward with her own accusations.

“When I was 20 I was auditioning for a movie with #StevenSeagal and was sexually assaulted by him,” she wrote. “During all our initial interactions, there was a production assistant or casting director present along with Steven. We established a relationship via text, and bonded about similar interests like Buddhism. After 2 callbacks (during the day and always with others present), I was invited for a private audition at the W Hotel late in the evening. Steven said the audition was to see my figure. I was told to wear a bikini under my clothes, and that the PA and casting director would also be there. As this is quite standard in the modeling industry, I agreed to the audition.”

Dadis continued that she was escorted to the room by Seagal’s personal assistant, but when she arrived there was no one but him and his security in the room.

“Steven asked if I would take off my clothes and walk for him in my bikini,” she said. “After doing so (he was on the couch and I was at a far enough distance to do a catwalk for him), he approached me and said he wanted to act out a romantic scene. I was hesitant and expressed this, then he started fondling my breasts and grabbing my crotch. I quickly yelled ‘This audition is over!’ and tried to run out of the room but was blocked by his security. I started making a noticeable amount of noise, and his security realized I would alert someone, and let me leave.”

In light of the allegations by #PortiadeRossi, I want to speak up about something I should have years ago. When I was around 20 I was auditioning for a movie with #StevenSeagal and was sexually assaulted by him. During all our initial interactions, there was a production assistant or casting director present along with Steven. We established a relationship via text, and bonded about similar interests like Buddhism. After 2 callbacks (during the day and always with others present), I was invited for a private audition at the W Hotel late in the evening. Steven said the audition was to see my figure. I was told to wear a bikini under my clothes, and that the PA and casting director would also be there. As this is quite standard in the modeling industry, I agreed to the audition. I was escorted to the room by Steven’s personal assistant. I assumed the PA and casting director were already in the room, but when I arrived no one was there but Steven and his security who stood blocking the door. I noted this was a bit strange, but he apologized and explained they had other obligations. Steven asked if I would take off my clothes and walk for him in my bikini. After doing so (he was on the couch and I was at a far enough distance to do a catwalk for him), he approached me and said he wanted to act out a romantic scene. I was hesitant and expressed this, then he started fondling my breasts and grabbing my crotch. I quickly yelled “This audition is over!”, and tried to run out of the room but was blocked by his security. I started making a noticeable amount of noise, and his security realized I would alert someone,and let me leave. I never reported this to anyone out of fear that someone like Steven, with such a huge amount of power, influence, and money would easily win a legal battle; and furthermore that I would damage my career. However, as others are now speaking out against Steven, I would like to do the same. This was unfortunately not the last time I experienced this type of behavior from men, and it is completely unacceptable.

-- A post shared by Faviola Dadis (@neurosciencebarbie) on Nov 9, 2017 at 2:52pm PST


Dadis also wrote that she decided not to come forward out of the fear that someone with Seagal’s amount of power, influence and money would win a legal battle.

Seagal has previously been accused of harassment and other misconduct by actresses Rossi, Julianna Margulies, Jenny McCarthy and Inside Edition correspondent Lisa Guerrero.

A spokesman for Seagal previously denied McCarthy’s claims that he asked her to strip naked during an audition for the movie Under Siege 2 to The Daily Beast.

In November, an unnamed female Hollywood executive told Page Six that Seagal lured her into his trailer for a “costume change” on the set of the 1991 movie movie Out for Justice and barged in while she was changing. She claims that Seagal then called her to invite her over to his hotel. When she said she wasn’t comfortable, she alleges that he responded, “You are not comfortable sitting on my face for an hour?”

Seagal’s lawyer at the time, Marty Singer, told The Sun, “This is totally false…It is interesting this person doesn’t give her name to give her claims legitimacy.”

PEOPLE’s attempts to reach a representative for Seagal were unsuccessful.
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Re: Silly Seagal, Reincarnated Mobster

Postby admin » Wed Jan 17, 2018 3:38 am

Seagal sued for allegedly keeping sex slaves: Former model claims actor assaulted her, kept ‘attendants’ on call
by Josh Dickey
TheWrap.com
updated 4/12/2010 10:47:24 PM
Copyright 2012 by TheWrap.com

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-- Kayden Nguyen


Steven Seagal is accused of hiring young women as personal attendants whose real job was to serve his strange and sometimes violent sexual desires, according to a civil lawsuit filed Monday in Los Angeles by a 23-year-old former model who describes her experience in harrowing detail.

The plaintiff, Kayden Nguyen, said she met the action star in February through an ad on Craigslist seeking an executive assistant and, after three interviews, was told to pack for a trip to New Orleans, where the A&E show "Steven Seagal Lawman" was taping.

When she arrived, the lawsuit says, she discovered that Seagal had been keeping two young female Russian "attendants" who were essentially on-call for sex — 24-seven.

On that first night, Nguyen was ushered to a secluded house where Seagal was staying with his wife and the two young women. He then proceeded to treat Nguyen as his "sex toy" despite her complaints, the lawsuit says.

She complained the following morning to some of the other employees, assuming that they would deliver the message to Seagal. Hours later, the lawsuit says he assaulted her again, this time forcing her to consume "illegal pills."

The following morning, when she confronted Seagal herself, he told her there had been a "misunderstanding"; but hours later, he assaulted her a third time, an attack that stopped only when she ran away, according to the lawsuit.

The ordeal carried on for several days, and it wasn't until Feb. 28 — the following Sunday — that she was able to escape the situation, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit says Nguyen told Seagal that she had to leave to meet with family members who would be suspicious if she didn't show up. Nonetheless, he told her not to leave the house and followed her with a gun equipped with a flashlight as she went out to a waiting cab, which sped away as she jumped in the front seat.


A message left by TheWrap with the action star's attorney, Stuart Rosenthal, was not immediately returned Monday. Messages left with A&E were also not immediately returned.

It was not clear why Kayden Nguyen chose to file a civil lawsuit instead of a criminal complaint. Messages left with her lawyers were not immediately returned Monday.

Nguyen's lawsuit claims that even after she got away, Seagal and his employees tried desperately to persuade her to return. When she escaped, she left behind "everything of value she owned," including car keys, her laptop, clothes, and "hundreds of dollars worth of makeup." She was told she would not get the items back until she signed an agreement stating she would not report the sexual attacks.

The lawsuit says Nguyen had accepted the job on Feb. 22, a Monday, and was sped in a limo to a waiting private jet. Her first indication that something was awry was when Seagal told her, as the plane was taking off, that his wife "wouldn't mind if we had a sexual relationship."


Nguyen's lawsuit said she could identify a "unique physiological reaction" that Seagal has to sexual arousal, which could be corroborated by the other "attendants." The suit did not specify what that reaction is.

The lawsuit alleges sexual harassment in violation of federal labor laws; illegal sex trafficking; retaliation; wrongful termination; and false representations about employment. Each of the six counts seeks in excess of $1 million in damages.
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Re: Silly Seagal, Reincarnated Mobster

Postby admin » Wed Jun 19, 2019 2:37 am

Penor Rinpoche's Terrible Tulku, Steven Seagal
by Charles Carreon
6/13/19

There is a lesson for everyone in Penor Rinpoche's recognition of Steven Seagal as "Chundrag Dorje," a Nyingma terton who discovered ritual objects, sacred pigments, and hidden teachings over a hundred years ago, and remains a revered saint in the Palyul Nyingma pantheon of which Penor Rinpoche is the head. First, it casts into doubt the validity of a holy man's "feelings" that someone has a head-start on sanctity. Penor’s statement says:

Penor: When I first met him, I felt he had the special qualities of a tulku within him. According to the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) of the Buddhist tradition, all beings have within them the potential for becoming Buddhas. With Steven Seagal I perceived this potential to be particularly strong as accords with being a tulku.


Second, it shows that someone dispensing a credential like “incarnate Bodhisattva” should not rely on the candidate’s own claims about his resume – for example, by believing Seagal’s claims that he has studied Buddhism intensively, which is the only basis on which he could be compared to a 51 year old Palyul teacher:

Penor: Kalsang Yeshe Rinpoche, a monk originally from the Palyul branch monastery of Shibo in Tibet and later at Namdroling Monastery in India, was recognized and enthroned in 1983 at the age of 51. He too had spent his life studying Buddhism and meditating before he was recognized as a tulku. Because he had cultivated his potential through many years of diligent study and meditation, he was able to become a teacher and is currently the head of our Palyul Center in Singapore.


Third, it shows how misleading it is for the lamas to embellish the credentials of tulku-candidates by referring to the virtuous acts of their alleged prior incarnations, as Penor did with respect to Seagal:

Penor: As a tertön, Chungdrag Dorje rediscovered teachings and sacred objects hidden by Padmasambhava in the eighth century. Such treasures (terma) were concealed with the intention that they would be discovered and revealed at a later date when the circumstances were such that they would be of particular benefit to sentient beings.


Fourth, it shows how a long explanation that addresses straw-man objections can provide the impression of a response to criticism, while actually simply evading it, as Penor did by addressing the gap between Chungdrag Dorje’s last incarnation and Seagal’s twentieth century provenance, implying in the process, that Seagal had spent the last 130 years in a Pure Land:

Penor: Seagal … was born centuries after the death of Chungdrag Dorje *** these gaps come about [because they are] reborn in other world systems where they continue their compassionate activities, returning only later to this world system.


Fifth, it shows how lamas can make inconvenient facts disappear by branding them “conventional details,” that “do not relate to what is real and important,” like the unreal, unimportant detail that Seagal has made a fortune teaching people that brutal violence is the best way to solve problems:

Penor: Some people think that because Steven Seagal is always acting in violent movies, how can he be a true Buddhist? Such movies are for temporary entertainment and do not relate to what is real and important. It is the view of the Great Vehicle of Buddhism that compassionate beings take rebirth in all walks of life to help others. Any life condition can be used to serve beings and thus, from this point of view, it is possible to be both a popular movie star and a tulku.


Sixth, it shows how lamas use their “compassionate intention” to gild all of their actions with the veneer of infallibility:

Penor: My concern in seeking to nurture these tulkus, khenpos, monks, as well as sincere lay people, has been to benefit all sentient beings. It is out of this intention that I have recognized tulkus in the past and will continue to recognize them in the future as appropriate.


Seventh, it shows that sacred credentials like “tulku” are reduced to meaningless status-trinkets by awarding them to people who clearly lack basic qualities of humility, decency, and kindness, by making spiritual maturity an optional characteristic:

Penor: Being recognized as a tulku is an acknowledgment of one's potential to help others. Such recognition does not mean that one is already a realized teacher. The degree to which tulkus have been able to actualize and utilize their potential depends upon how they have been able to use their past circumstances and how they currently use their present circumstances to develop their potential. Each tulku must work to develop themselves to the best of their ability.


As we now know, Seagal has been accused by many women of sexual assault and rape, using methods exactly like Henry Weinstein:

Newsweek: Upon arrival, Guerrero and Rhodes were greeted by Seagal, who answered the door clad only in a silk robe. He ushered them into a side room, where he sat in an oversized, ornate chair on a platform (“We called it ‘the throne,” says Guerrero) and asked Guerrero to read her scenes. When she finished, Seagal, who was also a producer on the film, Fire Down Below, said, “You're fantastic! Tell me about yourself.”

“I drove home feeling pretty good about the audition,” Guerrero recalls, “and that same day my manager called. ‘Steven wants to offer you the lead,' she said, ‘but you have to go back to his home for a private rehearsal tonight.'”

Guerrero declined. The lead role of Sarah Kellogg in that film went to Marg Helgenberger (of CSI fame), but Guerrero was given a small part. On the day she arrived on set, she spotted Seagal talking to male crew members. From Guerrero's perspective, it seemed like a scene out of high school. “He was looking at me and then he'd say something to them and there'd be laughter,” says Guerrero, who was listed in the film's credits as “Blonde Beauty.” “Finally he approached me and asked, ‘Would you like to go into my dressing room?'”

Once again, Guerrero declined. She has never seen Fire Down Below and as far as she knows, her scene was cut. “When I read about Harvey Weinstein, the reports of him appearing in a robe triggered me,” she says. “That's exactly what Steven Seagal did. I found out later that he was notorious for this.”

‘TAKE OFF YOUR DRESS’: HOW MEN IN HOLLYWOOD, FROM STEVEN SEAGAL TO HARVEY WEINSTEIN, TREATED WOMEN FOR DECADES


It may have been the bathrobe that triggered Ms. Guerrero, but it’s “the throne” that should trigger Buddhists. This photograph shows the celebrity rapist sitting on a throne of equal height with the presiding lama at the enthronement of the new Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche:

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And this photograph shows him sitting next to Penor Rinpoche on his own throne, receiving obeisance from devotees:

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As we know, a number of putative tulkus have been accused of using their Buddhist credentials to seduce, assault, and silence women. Steven Seagal’s “seduction” methods include using bodyguards to hold women against their will, and on at least one occasion while serving as a Deputy Sheriff in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, using a gun and his police authority to hold a woman prisoner for six days:

Washington Post: Nguyen claims she was kept against her will for six days at a secluded Louisiana home where Seagal and his family were allegedly staying. When she finally escaped, she claims Seagal chased after her with a “flashlight with a gun attached to it.”

Nguyen’s lawyer, William Waldo, told CBS News’ Crimesider that Nguyen did not call police because she believed they would listen only to Seagal.

“Mr. Seagal is the police,” he said. “She is in a remote area of Jefferson Parish. It is in the middle of nowhere and he is the police.”


Seagal's status as "the police" was the result of his ability to create a sick blend of entertainment and law enforcement in his reality show "Lawman," in which he practiced the manly art of chasing down black people accused of crimes:



The secret behind Seagal's effectiveness as a show-biz lawman? Sanctity! Dragging the Dharma in the mud by using it to legitimize police machismo? Thank Penor Rinpoche for this new spiritual low:



After Ms. Nguyen sued (click here to read original complaint), Jefferson County allowed Seagal to retire from “service” as a deputy, and didn’t open an investigation on the incident.

The list of Seagal’s female victims is extensive:

Washington Post: In fact, Seagal has been accused of similar behavior by too many women to count. He was sued for sexual harassment by another of his assistants in 2001. Multiple women have also accused him of inappropriately asking for or offering sexual massages (sound familiar?), including Blair Robinson, granddaughter of Ray Charles. Robinson was hired as Seagal’s assistant, then quit after her first day when she said it became clear that sexual favors would be part of the job. Another woman accused him of putting his hand down her pants, then refusing to remove it until she screamed. During the filming of Seagal’s movie “Out for Justice,” four female staffers quit after alleging sexual harassment, including one “sexual attack.”


After the blowup in Jefferson County resulted in the cancellation of Seagal’s reality-show “Lawman,” that featured him breaking into houses to arrest black people, Seagal moved his home-invasion activities to Phoenix, Arizona, where convicted-felon-pardoned-by-Trump ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio welcomed him to ride in a tank that crashed through the wall of a man’s house to arrest him for “cockfighting” when all he was doing was raising chickens:



Violence against women, violence against minorities, hobnobbing with fascists? It’s all in a day’s work for a Tibetan Tulku, whose international reach took him to the Phillipines in 2017, where Seagal praised murderous dictator Rodrigo Duterte, after Duterte praised his plan to make a movie in the island nation about – of course – killing drug dealers:

Duterte told Seagal that “movies are a reflection of life” and “reiterated his strong stance against illegal drugs because it enslaves people to a form of synthetic chemical.”

Duterte has been involved in a deadly drug war since taking office last June, and on Wednesday ordered that all drug operations be left to the drug enforcement agency, amid unprecedented scrutiny of police conduct in the brutal crackdown that has left thousands of Filipinos dead.

Earlier this week, Seagal said at a news conference in Manila that he didn’t think the Philippines was “a dangerous place.”
“It’s a place that’s up and coming with the new leadership,” the Philippine Star reported him as saying.


Seagal and Putin are also friends, and Seagal put their friendship on a firm footing back in 2014 by appearing onstage with violent Russian biker gang that gave him a trophy of a man with a gun.

Think Progress: Long considered an amusing, if slightly troubling, carnival sideshow to Russian politics, the Night Wolves are a motorcycle gang known for their outlandish historical reconstructions and fervent devotion to President Vladimir Putin.
https://thinkprogress.org/wtf-happened-to-steven-seagal-0d5409d080e1/




We’re familiar of course with how gurus who behave badly often escape to their home country, like the Sakyong fled to Nepal after the Buddhist Sunshine Project cast an unwelcome ray of light into his corrupt lifestyle, and Sogyal fled France for parts unknown after his key students outed him for being a gluttonous rapist with an insatiable appetite. Well, thanks to Seagal’s close friendship with Vladimir Putin, Seagal now enjoys dual citizenship in Russia.

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Seagal, like his stage persona, is a multi-faceted man. He put out a blues record with a cut entitled “Alligator Ass” (don’t ask me why – I didn’t listen past the first forty seconds), and in 2017 published a novel entitled “The Way of the Shadow Wolves: The Deep State and the Hijacking of America,” with an introduction by Joe Arpaio. The novel was ghost-written by an eighty-year old who won the mayorship of Payson, Arizona by 325 votes, so when this pair writes about world politics, you know they’re speaking from a place of authority. A review on Vulture attempts a plot summary, that involves a self-projection of Seagal as the novel’s protagonist, “John Gode,” a Native-American lawman who gets kissed by wolves, pulls guns on ghosts and runs with “the Shadow Wolves,” a federal law enforcement unit of Indian officers who track smugglers here south of Tucson, and discovers the dreaded security hole in our southern border:

Vulture: Gode discovers a different kind of “bad hombre” coming over the border: OTMs, or “other than Mexicans,” who are actually Middle Eastern people in a terrorist caravan (reminder: this was written two years ago). Gode cracks the case using his preternatural connection to the spirit world as well as just finding a shit-ton of Korans all over the desert.

Everything Wrong With Trump’s America Was in Steven Seagal’s Only Novel


Reviewer Kathryn Doyle wraps up her review with some thoughts that might have been helpful to Penor Rinpoche before he made this violence-loving, sex-obsessed, fascist-worshipping shitbag into a bogus Bodhisattva:

Kathryn Dole: It’s difficult to say for sure what really happens in this book or how it ends. It is a poorly written story from a deluded mind. *** What Seagal has done here is take the next step in the evolution of the written word, and define a new era of art in general. *** He gives us something beyond the unreliable narrator: an unreliable author. He has never asked himself, “What is real?” and doesn’t feel the need to start now. He accepts a world that doesn’t make sense and creates a fictional space by breaking rules he doesn’t even see. It’s a lovely kind of self-hypnosis: to create your own truth and believe it utterly. *** To lie to yourself without realizing it.


Let's not leave ourselves open to charges of unfairness to this putative tulku, though. We can let him have the last word. Check out his response to a BBC interviewer when she asks him about what he has to say about the allegations of sexual assault against him:



Statement by H.H. Penor Rinpoche Regarding the Recognition of Steven Seagal as a Reincarnation of the Treasure Revealer Chungdrag Dorje of Palyul Monastery
by Penor Rinpoche
1999

In February of 1997 I recognized my student, Steven Seagal, as a reincarnation (tulku) of the treasure revealer Chungdrag Dorje. Since there has been some confusion and uncertainty as to what this means, I am writing to clarify this situation.

Traditionally a tulku is considered to be a reincarnation of a Buddhist master who, out of his or her compassion for the suffering of sentient beings, has vowed to take rebirth to help all beings attain enlightenment. To fulfill this aspiration, a tulku will generally need to go through the complete process of recognition, enthronement and training.

Formal recognition generally occurs soon after a tulku has been identified, but only after other important lineage masters have been consulted. The newly identified tulku does not take on any formal responsibilities at the time of recognition.

The next step of enthronement may or may not occur for a tulku, depending on the circumstances. Enthronement formally invests the tulku with the responsibility of furthering the activities associated with their particular tulku lineage. Thus, if there are specific teachings and practice traditions associated with their lineage, and if there are perhaps monks, nuns, monasteries, retreat centers, lay communities and so forth for which the tulku traditionally takes responsibility, then the tulku is formally vested with those responsibilities at the time of enthronement. In the event that an enthronement ceremony is conducted, it may take place soon after recognition or some years later. If the tulku is too young to assume their responsibilities upon enthronement, others may be entrusted to take on those responsibilities until the tulku is ready.

Finally, a tulku needs to complete a formal course of training which includes years of study and meditation. This training reawakens the tulku's powers of insight and compassion and develops their skillful means for helping others. It is only after such training that a tulku is ready to take on the role of a teacher.

In the case of Steven Seagal, he has been formally recognized as a tulku, but has not been officially enthroned. He has also not undergone the lengthy process of study and practice necessary to fully realize what I view as his potential for helping others. When I first met him, I felt he had the special qualities of a tulku within him. According to the Great Vehicle (Mahayana) of the Buddhist tradition, all beings have within them the potential for becoming Buddhas. With Steven Seagal I perceived this potential to be particularly strong as accords with being a tulku. In the past, whenever I have met someone that I feel is a tulku, I have always consulted with other masters of the Nyingma lineage such as Dudjom Rinpoche, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and other senior lineage holders. Similarly, after my experience of meeting Steven Seagal, I consulted with another important Nyingma master and with his concurrence, recognized Steven Seagal as a tulku.

With regard to the particular circumstances of Steven Seagal's recognition, while it is generally the case that tulkus are recognized young in life, this is not always so. For example, the great master Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Lodrö remained unrecognized for many years while he was an ordained monk at Kathok Monastery. He was over 30 years old, perhaps 35, and had completed his monastic education when he was recognized and enthroned as the first reincarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Chökyi Wangpo. In his case, he had devoted his life to study and practice and was thus prepared for taking on the full responsibilities of being a tulku at the time of his recognition.

Prior to my recognition of Steven Seagal I myself recognized another tulku late in his life. Kalsang Yeshe Rinpoche, a monk originally from the Palyul branch monastery of Shibo in Tibet and later at Namdroling Monastery in India, was recognized and enthroned in 1983 at the age of 51. He too had spent his life studying Buddhism and meditating before he was recognized as a tulku. Because he had cultivated his potential through many years of diligent study and meditation, he was able to become a teacher and is currently the head of our Palyul Center in Singapore. So, in short, in the Tibetan tradition there is nothing unusual about recognizing a tulku late in their life. In fact, the recognition of a tulku who has been born in the West is especially likely to occur later in their lifetime because it will generally take much longer for all the conditions that are necessary for such a recognition to come together.

Steven Seagal has been recognized as a reincarnation of the 17th century hidden treasure revealer (tertön) Chungdrag Dorje (khyung brag rdo rje) of Palyul Monastery. Chungdrag Dorje founded a small monastery called Gegön Gompa near his native village of Phene in the Kutse area of Derge in Eastern Tibet. Though there are no monks there now, the small monastery building still exists and is well known in the area for its beautiful religious wall paintings.

As a tertön, Chungdrag Dorje rediscovered teachings and sacred objects hidden by Padmasambhava in the eighth century. Such treasures (terma) were concealed with the intention that they would be discovered and revealed at a later date when the circumstances were such that they would be of particular benefit to sentient beings. Texts of the teachings discovered by Chungdrag Dorje have apparently not survived the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Sacred objects discovered by Chungdrag Dorje include an unusually shaped bell, a phurba (ritual dagger), the syllable 'A' carved in stone and pigments used to create the sacred wall paintings in his monastery mentioned above. Several of these objects have been preserved and are still kept at Palyul Monastery today.

In the Nyingma tradition it is said that there are a hundred main treasure revealers and an even greater number of secondary treasure revealers. Among the latter it is not uncommon for the line of their teachings to eventually lapse. Though they were beneficial during the time they flourished, for various reasons some tertön teaching lineages have ceased. This would seem to be the case with Chungdrag Dorje.

Now with regard to Steven Seagal, he was born centuries after the death of Chungdrag Dorje. It is not uncommon for there to be a lengthy span of time between the death of a master and the appearance of his or her subsequent reincarnation. My own tulku lineage is an example of this. There was a 130 years hiatus between the death of the First Pema Norbu in 1757 and the birth of the Second Pema Norbu in 1887. This is common in all the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. As for how these gaps come about, while tulkus are understood to have vowed to be continually reborn to help beings, it is not necessary for them to take rebirth in a continuous sequence of lives in this world. It is believed that they can be reborn in other world systems where they continue their compassionate activities, returning only later to this world system. This is how such lapses in tulku lineages are understood in Tibet.

As for Steven Seagal's movie career, my concern is with the qualities I experienced within him which relate to his potential for benefiting others and not with the conventional details of his life which are wholly secondary. Some people think that because Steven Seagal is always acting in violent movies, how can he be a true Buddhist? Such movies are for temporary entertainment and do not relate to what is real and important. It is the view of the Great Vehicle of Buddhism that compassionate beings take rebirth in all walks of life to help others. Any life condition can be used to serve beings and thus, from this point of view, it is possible to be both a popular movie star and a tulku. There is no inherent contradiction in this possibility.

As the head of the Palyul lineage of the Nyingma School and more recently as the Head of the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, I have had the responsibility of recognizing numerous tulkus. The first time I recognized a tulku, I was ten years old. This tulku was the incarnation of the great Khenpo Ngaga. He is still living in Eastern Tibet and continues to strive, to this day, to promote the welfare of others. Since that time until now I have recognized over one hundred tulkus. In addition I have overseen the training and enthronement of over thirty khenpos (learned scholars) and I am responsible for the welfare of the many thousands of monks belonging to the Palyul tradition. My concern in seeking to nurture these tulkus, khenpos, monks, as well as sincere lay people, has been to benefit all sentient beings. It is out of this intention that I have recognized tulkus in the past and will continue to recognize them in the future as appropriate.

In the case of my student Steven Seagal, I initiated the decision to recognize him as a tulku based on my own feelings about him. Neither I nor any of my monasteries have received or sought any sort of substantial donation from him. What is important to me are the qualities I have seen in my student. For this reason I feel confident that recognizing him as a tulku will be of benefit to others as well as to the Buddha dharma.

Whenever there is a new incarnation born or recognized, I personally feel very happy because it is like you have one more brother or sister. I take delight in such occasions as they seek to further compassionate activity for others. Being recognized as a tulku is an acknowledgment of one's potential to help others. Such recognition does not mean that one is already a realized teacher. The degree to which tulkus have been able to actualize and utilize their potential depends upon how they have been able to use their past circumstances and how they currently use their present circumstances to develop their potential. Each tulku must work to develop themselves to the best of their ability. The essential point is that a tulku should strive to help others in whatever life situation they find themselves. It is out of such an aspiration to help all sentient beings that I have recognized many tulkus in my life and it is with this motivation that I recognized Steven Seagal as a tulku. If all beings seek to have this motivation, what need will there be for controversies and confusion over the motivations of others?
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Re: Silly Seagal, Reincarnated Mobster

Postby admin » Mon Aug 09, 2021 11:18 pm

This Crypto Scam Bilked Investors Out of $11 Million—and Paid Action Star Steven Seagal to Promote It
by Lukas I. Alpert
MarketWatch
Last Updated: Aug. 4, 2021 at 6:03 p.m. ET
First Published: Aug. 4, 2021 at 6:01 p.m. ET

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It was a crypto scam straight out of a Steven Seagal movie, featuring the action film star himself, a private eye, a staged kidnapping, and millions of dollars that vanished into thin air.

Prosecutors say the fraud left nearly 500 investors out more than $11 million in cash and a mix of established cryptocurrencies that they had plunked into a purported crypto-mining operation—with the promise of up to 200% gains within 60 to 90 days.

But instead of reaping huge returns, the money was funneled into accounts overseas controlled by Kristijan Krstic, an accused Serbian-Australian huckster living in the Philippines with a history of fraud allegations, federal prosecutors and investigators with the Securities and Exchange Commission say.

Last week, John DeMarr, a 55-year-old California private investigator who had served as the frontman for the scam, pleaded guilty to helping run the fraud while pocketing nearly $2 million, which he used to buy a Porsche and a BMW, pay off over $1 million in debts, and finance a lavish renovation of his Seal Beach home.

He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 4, 2022.

A broader scam

Days after the indictment against DeMarr was announced in February, federal prosecutors in Texas unsealed a broader criminal indictment against Krstic and 15 other defendants, many of them Serbian nationals, on wire-fraud and money-laundering charges. In that case, the group is accused of running as many as 20 similar cryptocurrency scams that bilked investors out of as much as $70 million.

The SEC has said it believes Krstic is in custody in Serbia, but his exact whereabouts are unknown, so when it attempted to serve him with a separate civil suit, it had to take out an ad in a Serbian newspaper. Krstic couldn’t immediately be contacted for comment.

Investigators say DeMarr was enlisted in 2017 to promote Start Options, an online investment platform that provided cryptocurrency mining, trading, and digital asset trading services. Because Krstic had been accused of running Ponzi schemes in Australia and Canada in the past, he assumed the alias of Felix Logan for the scheme, serving as Start Options’ chief financial officer, the SEC said.

DeMarr’s attorney said his client was unaware of Krstic’s real identity until more than a year after the scheme was launched.

The outfit purported that it ran giant crypto-mining farms in China and could deliver between 25% and 200% returns within two months, depending on how much money was invested. Investors were provided with false statements showing their money was growing, despite the fact it hadn’t actually hadn’t been invested in anything, prosecutors said.

When two months had passed and investors began asking for their money, they were told it was being rolled over to the initial offering of a new cryptocurrency known as Bitcoiin2Gen (or B2G), with the promise that they would receive an additional coin free for every one they had invested. While investors were told they could pull out at any time, no one was given their money back, the SEC said.

Investigators say DeMarr then hired a former lawyer who had lost his license to craft press releases and technical white papers on the launch, most of which was copied from the white papers of other, successful cryptocurrency launches. DeMarr began promising investors the new currency would deliver 8,000 times return, the SEC said.

Enter Steven Seagal

This is when Steven Seagal, star of martial arts and action films like Under Siege and Above the Law, made his appearance, surfacing in promotional materials for B2G.

“Zen Master Steven Seagal Has Become the Brand Ambassador of Bitcoiin2Gen,” read one press release, in which it was claimed he was an investor in the new currency and that he “wholeheartedly” endorsed the offering. On social media, Seagal urged his then-nearly 7 million followers on Facebook and 100,000 on Twitter to not “miss out” on the B2G opportunity.

What was left unsaid was that Seagal was being paid to be a spokesman, with the promise of $250,000 plus $750,000 in B2G coin for his time, the SEC said.

Seagal later agreed to pay more than $300,000 in fines for unlawfully touting a security by failing to disclose he had been paid for his endorsement
. At the time of the agreement, Seagal said in a statement that he backed away from the arrangement when he began having doubts about the “bona fides of the company.” He said he was only paid part of the $250,000 fee.

Seagal’s manager said in an email that the action star “was conned like everyone else,” and that it was “just bad luck and timing for Steven.”

In all, B2G raised $7.2 million for its launch, according to the civil complaint filed by the SEC.

In March 2018, when it was announced that Logan (Krstic) and Seagal were leaving the company, investors began clamoring for their money back. Soon after Krstic allegedly disappeared completely with about $7 million in the accounts he had control over, investigators said.

Bombarded by complaints from investors, DeMarr falsely announced that the company had been acquired by Russian venture funds, prosecutors said. He then told investors to redeem their B2G coins to him and that he would travel to Montenegro to sell them to the new owners and that everyone would get their money back.

Soon after, the company issued a stunning announcement that DeMarr had been assaulted in Montenegro and had disappeared and that investors should stop trying to contact him, according to court documents. In reality, DeMarr was holed up in his house in Orange County, Calif.

Last February, DeMarr was indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of New York on one count of conspiring to commit securities fraud.

Investigators say that more than $4 million from the B2G scam remains unaccounted for.
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