A Must Watch: Video About the Historic Conference of Western Buddhist Teachers with H.H. the Dalai Lama

Many, many years ago, when I had the chance to escape my Buddhist “cults” – the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) and Ganden Tashi Choeling (GTC) – I had the good luck to see a video about a conference where Western Buddhist teachers met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama and three other Tibetan lamas, Drikung Chetsang Rinpoche, Panchen Otrul Rinpoche and Amchok Rinpoche. They discussed problematic issues in bringing Buddhism to the West.

The teachers were from the various Tibetan, Zen and Theravadin traditions, among them Ven. Thubten Chodron, Jetsun Tenzin Palmo, Ven. Ajahn Amaro, Jack Kornfield, Junpo Sensei, and Prof. Dr. Robert Thurman. I’ve always missed that this documentary is not available in the internet. By now, only a written summary of this historic meeting was available. However, the situation has changed now because The Meridan Trust made the documentary available:

The Western Buddhist Teachers Conference (1993, 9 videos)

I remember vividly how His Holiness was somewhat perplex after Ven. Tenzin Palmo told about the lack of structures for ordained – especially for nuns (!) – in the West, and how His Holiness started first to laugh and then to weep. (see: 0:16:0) I was amazed to see this response and subsequent compassion. (The NKT had convinced me after years of “brainwashing” that His Holiness has no compassion, is an ordinary and even bad politician – who aims to “destroy the pure Buddhadharma”, a spiritual beguiler par excellence – in short the worst person on this planet. But here, in this video, I could see the opposite. I’ve never seen Kelsang Gyatso, the founder of the NKT, who chose H.H. the Dalai Lama as his main enemy, being moved or even starting to cry when being faced with the suffering of others. This video and especially this episode was a mile stone in my re-evaluating who the Dalai Lama is and if or if he hasn’t spiritual qualities.)

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1

jigmeyeshe on October 18, 2015 at 6:34 pm
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Unfortunately, NKT followers are told that Kelsang Gyatso is in hiding as His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his followers wish to assassinate him. This neatly alienates these followers completely from His Holiness as he is then seen as responsible for the absence of their teacher, who has not been seen in public since October 2013.

The NKT followers are expected to be satisfied with various ‘hints’ during live teachings, that ‘Geshe-la recently said’, for instance. As Kelsang Gyatso had a twitch in his face and was slurring his words in the last video he was seen in, we could suppose that he is unwell. As in the NKT being ‘unwell’ means you have ‘bad karma’ then, of course any illness Kelsang Gyatso has, has to be hidden away. NKT followers have to abide in the imagined perfection of their ‘founder’ even if he is still alive somewhere.
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  tenpel on October 19, 2015 at 1:57 am
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  This idea that Kelsang Gyatso is under threat of being assassinated by the Dalai Lama is part of the NKT’s paranoia and the narcism of Kelsang Gyatso (he is so much important! Even the Dalai Lama wants to kill him, ha ha ha!). Funnily nobody asked why he wasn’t assassinated during his India visits when he visited Tibetans. The picture of an enemy Kelsang and his devotees created creates their own fears and paranoia. Luckily, we are out of this nightmare!
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    jigmeyeshe on October 19, 2015 at 9:15 pm
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    First point – for Laughing Dakini – I don’t see the western nuns in video number 6 ‘obeying’ the Guru! They are making very intense complaints to His Holiness the Dalai Lama! Both of them are well respected long term nuns who run retreat centres. Tenzin – are they doing their ‘Guru Yoga’ properly?
    
    I regard blaming the technique and process of ‘Guru Yoga’ as like blaming the car when there is an accident. You need to learn to drive and that first stage would be to know how to assess a teacher thoroughly. It’s recommended you do this for up to 12 years for tantric teachings. Only after that analysis of the teacher’s actual qualities and the slow development of mutual trust should you think about or commit yourself to them as a teacher. They also need to know you.
    
    That process of actual knowledge of the teacher and the teacher of you is completely missing in the NKT. And unfortunately many westerners seem to miss this out with other teachers as well. It takes a long time and most people are in a hurry for their spiritual path to ‘take off’…
    
    Secondly – The NKT idea that the Dalai Lama and his followers wish to kill Kelsang Gyatso is now used to incite further hatred in the NKT/ISC protesters as they blame His Holiness for the fact that Kelsang Gyatso is nowhere to be seen! In fact, the ‘paranoia’ started at about the time that Kelsang Gyatso, according to Lama Tseta, was planning to have His Holiness assassinated! We started having body and bag checks for going into teachings and Kelsang Gyatso got bodyguards. Around 1997 – coincidentally when the new first temple was being built.
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laughingdaquini on October 18, 2015 at 8:37 pm
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Sorry if this is a bit off the point of why you have posted this, but I did note that the 2nd nun to speak says something about how they are taught as Tibetan Buddhists to view the guru as a Buddha and that they are afraid question or disagree with anything they are told by the guru because they might be seen as being disrespectful, not following instructions and that it might be earning them a “one-way ticket to the vajra hell”. So despite reassurances that some people try to make to me that the NKT’s style of Guru Yoga Tibetan Buddhism is not real Tibetan Buddhism, this nun is telling me that, on this score at least, it is indeed the real thing: Tibet’s answer to the medieval Catholic idea of hellfire and brimstone for those who disobey God, to whom they are only connected through the mediumship of the priest – so in the same way, if you question the authority of the priest you will go to hell. A one-way ticket to vajra hell indeed – talk about controlling people through fear. Disagree with the guru/priest and you’ll go to hell. This doctrine is nothing but a control system for the powerful lama elite of Tibetan Buddhism. It’s claptrap. It sucks. I don’t buy it.
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  tenpel on October 19, 2015 at 1:49 am
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  The issue of the guru is told similarly to how NKT teaches it. However, the NKT and Westerners tend towards to totally understand it on a literal level. I think that’s why the nun came up with this question. There are different interpretations of how far “guru yoga” in the sense of guru obedience should go.
  
  I agree, from a pov of power this system is perfect to create slavish followers but if you look into the history of Tibet or the Dalai Lamas, this was not the case. The Dalai Lama has had students who opposed him and he also opposed his own teachers – different times(!) – but in meditation he sees them as Buddhas. As far as I can see, witnessed and according to my knowledge of Tibet’s history (including the Dalai Lamas) Tibetans don’t understand these explanations on a literal level; it are Westerners who tend to do so.
  
  Do you remember when Kelsang Gyatso wanted to win over his translator by insisting on guru devotion – (mis-)understood as blind obedience? I am sure, most Westerners had been silent in this case due to their lack of knowledge of Buddhism and because it is an alien religion to them – which means they are totally unfamiliar with its nuances and how it is lived(!). But the Tibetan translator just replied “If a disciple can not comply with the words of his lama, he can tell this politely to his teacher.” and rejected the trial of Kelsang to follow his own view of the Dalai Lama which the translator considered to be wrong. No NKT devotee would have had this stanza at hand nor would they have had the natural inclination NOT to accept what Kelsang says – you can just debate with him.
  
  So, please, I think you should discriminate how it is (mis)understood by Westerners and NKT and how it is understood and applied by Tibetans. There is a HUGE difference. First you have to understand how Tibetans apply this teaching. I remember during the Karmapa conflict, Khenchen Thrangu Rinpoche was asked what they can do if they are students of Shamar Rinpoche. He replied (on his website): just leave him.
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  tenpel on October 19, 2015 at 1:54 am
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  No sorry needed, laughingdaquini. Its good that you ask and that we discuss this!
7

Sam Hoff on October 22, 2015 at 9:04 pm
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Kelsang Gyatso died a long time ago.
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  tenpel on October 23, 2015 at 12:26 am
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  I rather guess that he is somewhat mentally sick (Alzheimer or any other disease) and the NKT want to hide him to avoid the shock to the NKT students that he might not have been the omniscient Buddha as they sold him and he happily wanted to be seen.

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