I don’t know if you realized that NKT has a new way of promoting itself by giving itself a new identity. While in the past they reached out to the masses as the inheritor of the ancient pure Kadampa school stressing claimed authenticity, tradition, and being deeply rooted in “pure Dharma” (free from mundane ambitions), the NKT is now giving itself a modern outlook, using the label “Modern Buddhism” and riding on the wave of peoples’ interest in meditation. For the latter purpose they have bought a lot of domains starting with “www.meditatein[town].xxx”.
In UK the NKT has successfully established itself in the National Health System (NHS), Chaplaincy work and schools. For me and former damaged followers of the group it feels like observing Scientology to get access to the most sensitive points of a society. You cannot really be happy watching it because you consider the new recruits who are highly likely going to be damaged by the destructive, cultish group structure …
NKT continue to expand this obvious successful strategy for expansion by offering now classes to reduce
- stress from your life at your working place
- stress from your life at home
- stress from being on the road
- stress by following a healthy way of life
The NKT places this new advertisement strategy on a book called “Modern Buddhism” (I assume a copy and paste version from other books) by Kelsang Gyatso, that has its own promotional website. For some new NKT followers, like Kelsang Jangdom – who is one of the two directors of the Norway company International Shugden Community and a New Kadampa Tradition teacher at the Nordic Kadampa Meditation Centre in Oslo –, “Modern Buddhism” and the Anti-Dalai Lama book “The false Dalai Lama” seem to have become the intellectual essence of the spiritual life in the NKT.
The NKT’s Nordic Kadampa Meditation Center rides on the same wave of attracting new people into the group by offering low key stress reducing classes.
Recently I received an email by a concerned woman from the UK who reported that the NHS also sends people with alcohol addiction or disabled people to NKT’s meditation classes. I wonder how mindless the British NHS is … nobody (except Scientology) would consider it as good if the NHS would send people to Scientology classes …
Tibetan Buddhism – Struggling With Diffi·Cult Issues 