Guest Post by Joanne Clark I was distressed to read Orgyen Tobgyal Rinpoche’s (OTR) response to the recent letter by eight former, long-time Rigpa students regarding Sogyal Lakar’s abusive and unethical behaviors. This response, published on […]
Tibetan Buddhism – Struggling With Diffi·Cult Issues
Controversies: New Kadampa Tradition, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso // Dorje Shugden // Rigpa, Sogyal Rinpoche // Tsem Tulku, Kechara // Ole Nydahl, Diamond Way // Sangharakshita, Triratna // Shambala, Sakyong :: Tibet & Dalai Lama :: Dharmakaya, Zen & More
Abuse: Letter To Sogyal Rinpoche From Long Term Rigpa Students
We now see clearly the many ways that you betrayed our trust, manipulated and abused us and our Dharma brothers and sisters. On July 14, 2017 eight long term disciples and Rigpa students – with […]
Ready to Mine: Zen’s Legitimating Mythology and Cultish Behavior
Stuart Lachs, New York City[1] ICSA Paper June/July 2017 Conference Bordeaux, France I will show in this talk that the legitimating story and mythic history of Zen Buddhism lays the groundwork for an authoritarian […]
Rigpa Students in a Quandary: What to Do When Seeing Your Guru Punch a Nun in the Stomach Crosses a Line?
A week ago until today I [Tenzin Peljor] received different emails from a person who wants to change Rigpa from within. In that context, I argued about the integrity and truthfulness of a certain […]
Abuse in the Buddhist community: this victim tells her story for the first time
When those teachers—suppose they already practice the Buddhadharma—still do not behave properly, it indicates that they have a lack of shamefulness on their part. They do not care about the negative consequences for their own […]
Mark Dunlop’s involvement with the FWBO / Triratna
I, Mark Dunlop, am an only child, and I was born in N. Ireland in 1950. My father was in the Navy, and my family lived in different parts of the world, following my […]
A Letter To The College of Public Preceptors By The Aryaloka Spiritual Vitality Council
Preface by Buddhism Controversy Blog: Some weeks ago, the Aryaloka Spiritual Vitality Council sent the following letter to the Triratna Buddhist Community’s College of Public Preceptors. We would like to express our praise for these […]
Easy Come, Easy Go: Modern Kadampa Teachers – The New Kadampa Tradition
Part One. THE QUICK PATH TO BECOMING AN NKT TEACHER AND WHAT AN NKT FOLLOWER NEEDS TO RECOVER FROM This conception of ‘friendship’ with the spiritual guide is completely missing in the NKT in […]
The Doggedness of Clinging to Shugden
By Carol McQuire I was looking up the recent origin of the phrase ‘Shugden Buddhists’ when researching a commentary on the New Kadampa Tradition’s recent letters denying the valid lineage of Trijang Choktrul […]
Robert Spatz, guru of the OKC cult, gets 4 years’ suspended sentence
Dated: 15th Sept 2016 On Thursday, Brussels criminal court (“tribunal correctionnel”)¹ sentenced Robert Spatz, spiritual head of the Ogyen Kunzang Choling (OKC) Buddhist community, to a suspended sentence of 4 years in prison. The man, […]
An Open Letter from the International Shugden Buddhist Community (ISBC) / New Kadampa Tradition (NKT)
Today, on Tibetan Uprising Day (10th March 2017) the New Kadampa Tradition (aka NKT, Kadampa Buddhism, Modern Buddhism, Kadampa Meditation Center) posted a new divisive letter that has the potential to create more unnecessary disunity […]
Whitewashing, Dishonesty & Culture of Abuse in the Triratna Buddhist Order (TBO)
Guest Post The real beauty of a sexual relationship between an Order Member and a Mitra is that if the OM is sufficiently mature then the other person stands to gain considerably from the experience. […]
A Chronicle of Elliot Sperling
Tsering Woeser in remembrance of the late Elliot Sperling (1951-2017) I. On one occasion — I don’t remember when over these last few years, because Elliot has come to Beijing a few times; he couldn’t […]
A Brief Clarification About the “ExposingKultcharaA” Site & Some Mean Tsem Tulku Followers’ (Kechara) Tactics
by Tenzin Peljor There is a blog exposingkultchara.wordpress.com which deals with the cyber methods of Tsem Tulku and his followers. The blog is run anonymously. It has recently posted a post “Kultchara’s public meltdown”. Tsem Tulku followers […]
“Lock the door.” – I was devoted to a great Buddhist master, and then I quit.
by Mimi, former Dakini Sogyal Rinpoche is a Tibetan Buddhist master supported by the Dalai Lama. He is the author of the best-selling “Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.” He heads the Rigpa Association, a […]
Submission, devotion and sexual abuse: my investigation of Buddhism in France
By Marion Dapsance Anthropologist In the minds of Westerners, Buddhism is “secular spirituality”, a “science of the spirit”, in short: something perfectly rational. A few years ago, I began reading books on meditation, before wanting […]
Reflecting on my Time in Rigpa and with Sogyal Rinpoche
GUEST POST Dear friends, I too was in Rigpa for a long time and had different experiences, also difficult ones that were similar to some of the things already expressed in this blog. That was […]
FWBO / Triratna – Sangharakshita – Cases of Sexual Abuse
…ultimately, the way a group reacts to allegations of misconduct may be a better indicator of its underlying dysfunction than the content of the allegations themselves. – Christopher Hamacher The BBC reported on September 26, […]
The Dalai Lama’s Advice to Buddhists in the West
Q: Your Holiness, what advice might you give those of us who are working to develop Buddhist communities and organizations in the West? A: As I often tell my Buddhist friends, if we want to keep […]
You’re interested in going to a Buddhist center in your city for the first time. What advice can be given?
Lion’s Roar posted an entry I’m interested in going to a Buddhist center in my city for the first time. Any advice? On a rather quick reading I found it a bit incomplete recollecting my and others’ people […]
How China’s Communist Party gets its propaganda into the Australian media
According to ABC Media Watch, Fairfax media publications – including The Age and Sydney Morning Herald – are accepting money from the Chinese government to print stories, biased towards Chinese view. UK’s Daily Telegraph has […]
Esoteric Teaching of Wat Phra Dhammakaya by Mano Mettanando Laohavanich
Those interested to cultivate a deeper understanding of the Dhammakaya Movement, Wat Phra Dhammakaya (Thai: วัดพระธรรมกาย), can read the academic paper, “Esoteric Teaching of Wat Phra Dhammakaya” by Mano Mettanando Laohavanich published in the Journal of Buddhist […]
Human Rights Press Award for Reuters Investigates “The Long Arm of China” | Dalai Lama | Shugden
The English Online Grand Prize of the The Human Rights Press Awards 2015 went to David Lague, Paul Mooney, Benjamin Kang Lim, Sui-Lee Wee and Stephanie Nebehay, a cohort of China experts working at Reuters. Joyce […]
Kadampa Ordination – A Misguided Approach
Shugden won’t protect NKT monastics, NKT monastics have to study, observe and protect their vows themselves. You can find below the content of The New Ordination Handbook of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT). My claim is: With the […]
Did the Shugden group, ISC, give up protesting against the DalaiLama? Its a bit more complex …
After The Guardian and Reuters reported about the disbandment of the International Shugden Community (ISC), I expressed some reservations in a blog entry (see Some Final Remarks). Unlike many claims made online and in print – for […]
