Buddhism, Dorje Shugden Controversy, New Kadampa Tradition, Religion

by tenpelOctober 10, 201411:20 am

NKT Survivor activists informing the public about the New Kadampa Tradition at the University of London

Gen Kelsang Dekyong, Spiritual Director of the NKT giving a public talk,

the title of the talk »Wake Up Smiling« – Sunday 5 October, 2pm.

The event took place at the Institute of Education, University of London.

The NKT promote themselves as »Modern Buddhism« …

a perfect opportunity for NKT to recruit new and uninformed members,

… possible future victims of exploitation, misguidance and multiple harm …(!)

But, NKT Survivor activists informed the visitors …

… and hopefully some consider it twice …

… before they join the controversial group that is considered by most of its ex members to be a harmful cult.

Our first information sharing outside an NKT talk – 200 leaflets!

The New Kadampa Tradition about the “Modern Buddhism Event“:

Wake Up Smiling

Find out how to greet each day with a smile and see new opportunities in every encounter.

In this talk we will learn how to develop an open and warm heart towards others, freeing us from anxiety and self concern and bringing a freshness and joy to each day. Join in a guided meditation using the methods explained so you can start to experience the peace and freedom of a calm, clear mind.

Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong is a Kadampa Buddhist nun and an inspiring teacher who teaches extensively and internationally to thousands of people each year with humour, kindness and wisdom exemplifying the essence of the Kadampa Buddhist way of life. We are extremely fortunate to have this opportunity to receive teachings from her.

What sounds so innocent, light and nice can turn your life into a night mare. Because for most of us ex NKT the NKT is a harmful, very destructive cult and those events are just a means to get and then to burn new members for the expansion of the group at the costs of the individual’s welfare.

Here are two videos from the protesters, Carol and Linda:

Here a video excerpt of one of Dekyong’s visits to London:

Gen Kelsang Dekyong, Spiritual Director of the NKT, at Anti Dalai Lama protests, reading aloud the hate filled manifest “21st Century Buddhist Dictator – The Dalai Lama” from the Western Shugden Society broshure “The Tibetan Situation Today” (PDF):

Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong at Colgate University (USA), April 22nd, 2008. (Details here. — Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong at Colgate University (USA), April 22nd, 2008. (Details here).

Websites

At A Glance: The Setting Of The New Kadampa Tradition

EX NKT informing the public

Social Media

YouTube: Watno Guru Channel
Facebook: New Kadampa Survivor Actvists

30Comments

Add yours

1

Khedrup on October 10, 2014 at 11:35 am
Reply

A nice, effective, polite and non-threatening way to present information.
Newcomers can be aware of both the image the NKT presents of itself, and the impressions of members who were unhappy and mistreated in the organization. Then potential recruits participating in public events can make an informed decision before deciding to get more involved- only fair really!
- 2
  
  tenpel on October 10, 2014 at 11:43 am
  Reply
  
  Really brave. I admire that they did it (though it would not be my taste). But in the UK the NKT got deeply into the most sensitive points of society: Universities, schools, NHS, meditation classes, chaplaincy etc. and it needs actions such as these and more to inform the public that NKT is like Scientology which they wouldn’t allow at such sensitive points.
3

jigmeyeshe on October 10, 2014 at 7:42 pm
Reply

There will be less and less need for survivors, or ‘surfacers’ to hide, or to feel ashamed, or fearful that they will be ‘ostracised’ in their local communities. It will become more and more socially acceptable to criticise spiritual groups, particularly Buddhist ones. I feel that criticism of spiritual and religious groups is utterly necessary within our secular culture, where ‘religion and spirituality’ are completely unregulated. We need these public debates to keep ourselves all safe.
- 4
  
  Namkhah on October 10, 2014 at 8:05 pm
  Reply
  
  Unregulated and tax-free, which amounts to a government subsidy. And who pays the income taxes, VAT, excise duties, etc.? People like us. If NKT centres style themselves as bookstores, with non-religious meditation activities as an adjunct, let them pay taxes on their profits, land transfers and sales.
  - 5
    
    tenpel on October 10, 2014 at 8:08 pm
    Reply
    
    In Germany Scientology has to pay taxes … I don’t know how it is in the UK. In the USA they are acknowledged to be a religion …
  - 6
    
    Castor on October 23, 2014 at 10:37 am
    Reply
    
    What you say is not so. They pay taxes and they have a legal form in every coutry, you can easily find it out. : )
    - 7
      
      jigmeyeshe on October 23, 2014 at 2:46 pm
      Reply
      
      Both in the UK and in the US, the NKT related businesses are classed as ‘charities’ and do not pay any taxes. Individual teachers may have to pay taxes but incoming ‘donations’ can easily be hidden or ‘gifts in kind’ accepted through centres.
      
      That is why ‘Geshe Kelsang’ himself could pay $1.75 million for the new Hollywood NKT centre. No taxes, fully dependent on volunteers with no contracts, so anyone who disagrees with anything can be asked to ‘leave’ as they are ‘not happy’.
      
      It’s the blood, sweat and tears of hundreds of workers in the UK who renovated the centres for free. Some of these have been sold, others remortgaged and ALL profits from all centres, Tharpa, the festivals, all of them go to the ‘World Peace Temples’ or ‘International development’ fund (have to look up the current title) which buys the real estate.
      
      No tax coming in to the major countries involved in supporting the NKT I am afraid. You are under an illusion if you think this is the case.
      - 8
        
        Namkhah on October 23, 2014 at 5:17 pm
        Reply
        
        Looking up real estate listings in Sag Harbour, East Hamptons, New York the sale price for the Vajravarahi “bookstore” (as NKT’s lawyer called it to get zoning permission) was $3 million.
        On the downside they dropped $1 million in New Zealand court settlement on an abortive real estate deal. Of course, NKT claimed “we did nothing wrong.”
        All in all, tax free slave labour is a capitalist’s dream!
      - 9
        
        Khedrup on October 23, 2014 at 5:21 pm
        Reply
        
        “It’s the blood, sweat and tears of hundreds of workers in the UK who renovated the centres for free. Some of these have been sold, others remortgaged and ALL profits from all centres, Tharpa, the festivals, all of them go to the ‘World Peace Temples’ or ‘International development’ fund (have to look up the current title) which buys the real estate.”
        
        There have been successful lawsuits against religious groups which took advantage of unpaid workers to spruce up old or build new properties, to sell at a profit. Successful lawsuits for wages that should have been payed. Just sayin’.
10

Dorje on October 13, 2014 at 11:15 pm
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Did anyone bother to listen to dekyoing’s talk? Does she always speak like that? I’d almost forgotten the deliberately hypnotic NKT teaching voice but I don’t think any observer could deny that dekyong was deliberately trying to elicit a more suggestible state in the audience. How come they don’t notice and call her on it?
- 11
  
  tenpel on October 13, 2014 at 11:34 pm
  Reply
  
  I listened and I posted a comment exactly about this but deleted it later again because I found it too negative.
  
  What you recognized is the classical hypnotic speech most NKT teachers apply (btw also Sogyal Rinpoche applies hypnotic speech). Also what Dekyong said was not very intelligent “research is … that you get the results you expected” (or so). I wondered for both, that nobody got aware of such a strange claim and the hypnotic speech. The hypnotic speech seems to cover a rather childish content and loads it emotionally with meaning while there is not much meaning. When she laughs about not adding salt or sugar in water then you have pure water (or so), I found this rather embarrassing, we call it “fremdschämen” in German language. Not saying something really meaningful but being carried away by the own mental construct, finding something funny after you loaded it with meaning, that is not funny at all for me but embarassing … These were my feelings and thoughts … and I wondered also about the rather strange framework of the small video snippet that loads the watcher with positive feelings for the NKT and seems to be longer than the actual content – a modern ad strategy around a shallow content: this seems to be “Modern Buddhism” for the NKT 😉
  - 12
    
    Khedrup on October 14, 2014 at 1:08 pm
    Reply
    
    “Modern Buddhism” basically means they sold themselves out. As authentic dharma teachings do not accomplish the task of getting people in the door (and numbers of bums on seats in the NKT’s rather worldly measure for success), they present inane feel good platitudes as “Buddhism”. Essentially, they are now selling a product. It is interesting how in this process it is more and more KG’s lightweight chicken soup for the soul books that are taking prominence, while more challenging volumes like “Ocean of Nectar” are slowly fading out.
    
    how does Neil’s ‘special’ TTP compare to the original TTP in terms of curriculum? I bet it is dumbed down.
    - 13
      
      Dorje on October 14, 2014 at 4:57 pm
      Reply
      
      “the task of getting people in the door (and numbers of bums on seats in the NKT’s rather worldly measure for success)”
      Back in 1997, when Kelsang gyatso took to the internet to argue with a small number of western Buddhists, he spelled out his mission. The evangelical nature of his mission is clear and he really does seem to measure his success as purely based on ‘bums on seats’. When you have close students like Neil Elliot, Steve Wass and Steve Booth you can’t really blame him for not measuring success on the progress his students are making on the path. He essentially explained that by going for expansion and growth (spreading the Dharma) he was following Lama Yeshe’s wishes.
      
      “Do you know what was Lama Yeshe’s intention in organizing Dharma Centres in the west and inviting Tibetan teachers? It seems that you do not understand this. His intention was to spread Buddhadharma throughout western countries, and with this intention he invited me to come to Manjushri Institute in England. He then requested HH Trijang Rinpoche to ask me to come to England.
      Finally, at Trijang Rinpoche’s request I accepted this invitation. I arrived in England in 1977 and since that time I have worked very hard to spread Buddhadharma and can show very good results. In this way I have fulfilled Lama Yeshe’s wishes. Your comment makes no sense, so I think you need to
      improve your understanding about Lama Yeshe’s main intention.”
      https://groups.google.com/d/msg/alt.religion.buddhism.nkt/okHS1QBupSI/Q4VMBlnithoJ
      
      It really needs to be understood that when we are reading outlandish unpleasant claims from NKT members like Rabten, Phagpa or Khyenrab, all these ideas and views (worst dictator, etc.) came directly from gyatso. His students are just doing what he has told them to do and parroting the arguments they have learned from him. If they don’t answer a particular point that may well be because they haven’t been told what to think about it.
      - 14
        
        tenpel on October 14, 2014 at 5:04 pm
        Reply
        
        I think you need to improve your understanding about Lama Yeshe’s main intention.
        
        Might be good he had applied this advice himself. Lama Yeshe’s main intention was not that he takes over Manjushri Institute 😉
        
        15
        
        Dorje on October 14, 2014 at 5:31 pm
        Reply
        
        I think in gyatso’s twisted universe, in taking over Manjushri he was still doing what Lama Yeshe wanted, ie. spreading the Dharma as taught by Lama Yeshe’s lineage. He says,
        “Lama Zopa’s decisions are none of my business, nor are they any of the Dalai Lama’s business. If you check carefully, your praise of Lama Zopa in the foregoing paragraph is actually denigrating him. My comments about Lama Zopa indicate that in reality he did not choose to break his commitments, but gave up his practice of Dorje Shugden due to pressure from the Dalai Lama. He had no choice. This is what I believe, but now you are saying that he chose to break his commitment himself, so therefore this is worse. He received life empowerment from his root Guru, which he cannot ignore. So you should think carefully, who in reality is criticising Lama Zopa? My intention is not to criticize other Lamas, but what I am saying here is the truth – in reality they all have no choice.
        […]
        I have already said that I never criticise these other Lamas. Instead of this I have great sympathy for them because they have had to stop their daily practice of Dorje Shugden, which is their commitment. They have no choice about this. Day and night I pray how wonderful it would be if these Lamas could have religious freedom. Because we all are disciples of HH Trijang Rinpoche, these Lamas are my vajra brothers, we have the same spiritual father.
        
        The main reason why I have involved myself in this debate, and why I am telling the truth about the Dalai Lama, is in the hope that his mind will change and he will give these Lamas and other practitioners the freedom to worship in the way they wish. It is my choice to help in this way.”
        
        kelsang really does think he was doing what was best for Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa; spreading the ‘pure Dharma’ because the FPMT can’t, as they are forced not to by HH Dalai Lama.
        
        16
        
        tenpel on October 14, 2014 at 8:26 pm
        
        Thank you, yes, everything makes sense to him in his twisted (and very simple) universe.
- 17
  
  jigmeyeshe on October 13, 2014 at 11:38 pm
  Reply
  
  Most of the people there were already part of the NKT and used to the voice. It’s the voice every NKT teacher uses. That was the most astonishing – going to Tibetan teachings and no ‘hypnosis’!!! But, it’s also a western style. I have heard other non-NKT western teachers do a similar ‘meditation’ voice. Is this a Christian habit? An ‘idea’ about what meditation ‘should be’ or what? I do know that what we did in the NKT comes under hypnosis, after studying a course in hypnosis soon after I left the NKT. As NKT teachers we would often discuss how to ‘bring people in’ and convince them, offering them something more, making them want something more….
  
  There is also quite clever cognitive dissonance going on – where contradictions create a feeling of uncertainty, which is then filled by an affirmation of ‘truth’ – whether the powers that be in the NKT are aware of it or not. And polarities are set up – for instance, ‘pure’ supposes something that is ‘not pure’ -Your mind then sets up a black and white implicit contrast that gets ‘filled’ in unconsciously every time you ‘see’ something. And the them/us mentality is at its ‘highest’ development in the demos against His Holiness. ‘He’ is wrong, ‘we’ are right and pure, etc… and it goes on and on.
  
  The voices are all part of this process of indoctrination in the name of ‘peaceful meditation’ and the proposed ‘life of bliss’ that awaits you quite soon if you join the group… very enticing. Hardly any hard work to do mentally, quite unlike Dharma elsewhere. Lazy Dharma or is it Dharma at all? When a motivation is mixed, then what does it become? Not much about ‘future’ lives – it’s all about having a good time now, promoting the tradition’s expansion ‘in the future’. That’s the ‘giving’. Quite oddly clever. Postponing enlightenment (retreat, study, etc – they have no idea how much Tibetan monastics study) to work for the Guru/NKT. Like a kind of ‘instant credit’ that’s promised for the future. But the future will always be the NKT. They assume.
- 18
  
  tenpel on October 13, 2014 at 11:40 pm
  Reply
  
  I wonder also what the students of the University of London and impartial observers were thinking having experienced her?
  - 19
    
    jigmeyeshe on October 14, 2014 at 12:17 am
    Reply
    
    The video you posted, just to clarify, isn’t of the talk Dekyong gave last week in London but of another a few years ago.
    - 20
      
      tenpel on October 14, 2014 at 7:24 am
      Reply
      
      Ah, thank you. This was posted at the NKT London site http://www.meditateinlondon.org.uk/modern-buddhism-event-5-oct-2014.php
    - 21
      
      tenpel on October 14, 2014 at 7:29 am
      Reply
      
      I corrected it in the post …
- 22
  
  dharmaanarchist on October 14, 2014 at 6:46 pm
  Reply
  
  To be fair, the tyical Catholic sermon is also held in a strange, wannabe hypnotic tone that is quite distinctive to how the priest is talking in normal life.
23

tenpel on October 14, 2014 at 11:59 am
Reply

New propaganda from the DS-com site:

A reply:
- 24
  
  jigmeyeshe on October 14, 2014 at 10:41 pm
  Reply
  
  We have discussed this on the Facebook group, Talk About Shugden – more than 300 comments. You can find the link here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/talkaboutshugden/permalink/592000887578061/
25

Castor on October 23, 2014 at 11:01 am
Reply

Anyone can tell me clear and simple, why is Sugden practice wrong? How it harms HH Dalai Lama or Tibetan cause? The most dificult thing for me to understand is: Teachers are sacred or holly for budists, whay HH Dalai Lama Broke with his teachers who practiced Shugden as well… This is like breaking his lineage to Buda, isn it? Please tell me where can I find an answer to this questins. Thank you very much, may all beings be happy!
- 26
  
  tenpel on October 23, 2014 at 1:26 pm
  Reply
  
  Castor, please be so kind to do some homework. The blog has done this extensively already, see the discussion with Kadam Ryan here:
  https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2014/08/19/declaration-by-new-kadampa-survivors-concerning-the-demonstrations-against-his-holiness/
  
  To give a brief summery:
  – Shugden is praised by Trijang Rinpoche and its proponents for killing those who practice non Gelug teachings (thereby it is Shugden who oppresses freedom of religion and is deeply sectarian)
  – See also Footnote 7 and the related text in the main body of the paper by Prof Mills
- 27
  
  joanneclark7 on October 23, 2014 at 4:31 pm
  Reply
  
  Not only that, Castor, but Ling Rinpoche, the Dalai Lama’s senior tutor, did not worship Shugden. Also, His Holiness never “broke” his bond with his tutor Trijang Rinpoche. He explained his difference of opinion regarding Shugden to Trijang Rinpoche respectfully and he has never criticized any other aspect of Trijang Rinpoche’s teachings. This is how Buddha and Je Tsongkhapa advise us to act if we feel our teachers are acting in ways that are in accord with the Dharma. The Dalai Lama is not breaking with Buddha– he is following Buddha’s advice. Read the 12th Jataka tale– the story of Buddha’s past life. Read Tsongkhapa’s Lamrim Chenmo.
- 28
  
  Dorje on October 23, 2014 at 7:42 pm
  Reply
  
  Castor, the practice of worshipping Dogyal is linked to sectarianism and division. The main propagator of this practice last century was Pabongkha who wrote that other traditions lead to hell,
  “the views of all Sakyas, Kagyus, Nyingmas and so on are erroneous. They are not even Svatantra or Cittamatra, let alone the view of Prasanga Madhyamaka – meditating only the nihilist view like tirthikas and Hashang. If one upholds the nihilist view, the result is nothing other than going to Avichi hell.” He said that dogyal killed Gelugpas that sought teachings from other traditions.
  “Dorje Shugden is extremely important for holding Tsongkhapa’s tradition without mixing and corrupting it with confusions due to the great violence and the speed of the force of his actions, which fall like lightning to punish violently all those beings who have wronged the Yellow Hat Tradition, whether they are high or low. Many from our own side, monks or lay people, high or low, are not content with Tsongkapa’s tradition, which is like pure gold, and have mixed and corrupted it with the mistaken views and practices from other schools, which are tenet systems that are reputed to be incredibly profound and amazingly fast but are mistakes among mistakes, faulty, dangerous and misleading paths. In regard to this situation, this protector of the doctrine, this witness, manifests his own form or a variety of unbearable manifestations of terrifying and frightening wrathful and fierce appearances. Due to that, a variety of events, some of them having happened or happening, some of which have been heard or seen, seem to have taken place: some people become unhinged and mad, some have a heart attack and suddenly die, some see through a variety of inauspicious signs their wealth, accumulated possessions and descendants disappear without leaving any trace, like a pond whose feeding river has ceased, whereas some find it difficult to achieve anything in successive lifetimes.”
  Pabongkha’s close student was Trijang Rinpoche. He also taught that dogyal killed Gelugpas that took teachings from other traditions.
  “Whether they were lords of Tibet, great lamas who held the political power of the throne, lamas and tulkus, great or small, with illustrious lines of incarnation, holy beings rich in scriptural and realized qualities, high lords of vast lands and works, those haughty with pride of family lineage, dominion and wealth, any who hypocritically claimed to be followers of Protector Manjusri Tsongkhapa’s Teachings while remaining unsatisfied with Je Lama’s precious Teachings of Sutra and Tantra which, in terms of view, meditation, and action, need not crave more from any other tradition, and, instead, mixed, polluted, or confused them with other modes of view and practice, whether lay or ordained, regardless of status, there have been many who have met with unpleasant wrathful punishments, such as being punished by authorities, litigation and legal disputes, untimely death, and so forth. Such swift, decisive signs appear to direct perception. Here praise is offered to that manifestation as a great wrathful protector who raises the Yellow Hat Teachings to the heights of the heavens.”
  
  Trijang Rinpoche was a strong supporter of dogyal as it was his monastery’s main protector. He wasHH Dalai Lama’s junior tutor, but. some of HH Dalai Lama’s other teachers like his first lama Retreng Rinpoche, Ling Rinpoche and others like Khunu Lama Tenzin Gyaltsen did not worship dogyal.
  
  HH Dalai Lama has always taught that people should be non-sectarian and value all lineages of the Buddha’s teaching. He took teachings from other traditions and encouraged others to do the same. As the practice of dogyal worship threatened Gelugpas with death if they took teachings from other traditions some of HH Dalai Lama’s teachers were not only encouraging people to disregard HH Dalai Lama’s advice, they were also threatening the life of the Dalai Lama.
  
  Ultimately, sectarianism is considered harmful because it entails holding negative views about the Dharma and negative views about the realised teachers that taught these other traditions.
29

joanneclark7 on October 23, 2014 at 4:33 pm
Reply

Sorry, I meant– “This is how Buddha and Je Tsongkhapa advise us to act if we feel our teachers are acting in ways that are NOT in accord with the Dharma.”
30

Castor on October 27, 2014 at 2:08 pm
Reply

I thank you all for your comments : )

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NKT Survivor activists informing the public about the New Kadampa Tradition at the University of London