Steven Sashen is listed as handling Byron Katie seminar/appearance inquires in Boulder/Denver Colorado at the Westin Westminster, it seems in 2004?

[archive.boulderweekly.com]

There will be an interview with Katie at 8:30 a.m., Wednesday, April 14, on KGNU 88.5 FM. She will speak at 7 p.m., Friday, April 16, at the Westin Westminster...A weekend intensive course will be held at 9 a.m., Saturday and Sunday, April 17-18, at the Westin...

For more information, call Stephen Sashen at 303-###-####, e-mail thework@sashen.###



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2009 05:31AM by The Anticult.

Wow, Steven Sashen no longer lists "The Work" or Byron Katie on his website!

[[url=http://sashen.com/iam.html]Steven Sashen - Transformation without a Problem[/url]]

For the former "Curriculum Director" of Byron Katie's school, that's a pretty big item on his resume to omit.

I went to Sashen's website because I remembered that he spoke of being a teacher in a "Zen archery lineage" and wanted to check on that. Don't see that on the website anymore either.

But he still has a pic of himself up aiming a bow and arrow.

Sashen's Amazon.com profile still says, "He's a teacher in a 400-year-old Zen Archery lineage."

What lineage might that be? I don't ever remember him mentioning that. Hmmm...

Could this be it? I found two websites for a group called "Zenko".

[[url=http://www.zenko.org/]Zenko International Kyudo[/url]]

[[url=http://www.zenkokyudojo.org/]Zenko Kyudojo[/url]]

Steven is located in Boulder, CO, as is the headquarters for Zenko.

Am reading about Zenko now...

How very interesting... this archery "lineage" is connected with the controversial Chogyam Trungpa!

"In 1980, by the invitation of The Venerable Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, a Tibetan meditation master, and founder of Shambhala International and Naropa University, Kanjuro Shibata XX came to the United States from Japan to teach Kyudo and together with Trungpa, founded Ryuko Kyudojo (Dragon-Tiger Kyudo Practice Hall) in Boulder, Colorado."

Also on the "About Zenko" page:

"Zenko International is an independent, non-profit organization of Kyudo practice groups founded by Kanjuro Shibata XX. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado USA, it includes over 25 Kyudo groups in the United States, Canada and Europe."



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2009 07:17AM by helpme2times.

Perspectives on Trungpa and NHis Organization

Seems a bit of a mix to claim both Kyudo and Tibetan Buddhism. Kyudo is Japanese archery and thats a totally different culture than Tibetan Buddhism.

If anyone wants the dope on chogyam trungpa, get and read The Double Mirror by Stephen Butterfield.

He makes a very convincing case that Trunpa especially, ran his organization in such a way that it massaged ego by inflaming ambition while constantly debunking ego.

Butterfield calls that 'the double message'--others would call it crazy making.

Quote

Neverheless, the Vajradhatu version of Mahayana (Trungpa's version)may be at risk of converting the "great vehicle" into a self serving mechanism for supporting Vajradhatu,' Butterfield writes. Such risk is inherant in meditation itself, and in the anture of organizations, but it is aggravated by the guru principle.' (which was central to the tradition in which Chogyam Trunpa and his successors taught--and teach Corboy)

Buttefield again: "Political engagement, for the most part is left up to the individual (Buddhist practitioner). At times it has been overtly discouraged. Even on the pressing iBuddhist issue of opposing the Chinese destruction of Tibet, the Vajradhatu press was late to speak out or take a position, although its coverage of Budhists in Asian countries improved in the late 1980s. Ozel Tendzin (Chogyam Trungpas successor, chosen by Trunpa himself)was scornful of the "liberal conscience" of American Buddhists who opposed teh corrupt, shortsighted policies of the Reagan Administration in Central America. And Trungpa in his Seminary talks from the 1970s, often referred perjoratively to political demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience, using them as examples of a false, aggressive heroism whose purpose was more to affirm the ego of the demonstrator than to do anything constructive abou tthe problem.

Speaking of Trungpa, Butterfield continues: 'While he may have been right in some cases, his views always reflected his dislike of democracy' Butterfield noted. 'Proposals for membership control of his own organization were squashed; he once referred to them as "democratic farts" and walked out of a meeting in disgust when a student suggested that the audience vote on how late he could keep them up."

Butterfield, page 77.

Butterfield made it clear in this book that he loved Buddhist practice and that a severe lung problem he had actually improved when he dedicated himself to meditation practice. But the power abuses he observed within Vajradatu troubled him, and he bitterly regretted how he himself had failed to speak up on crucial issues.

Butterfield has a detailed descripton of the meditation practices used not only by beginning students but the more advanced practicds used to prepare oneself to receive and then practice the higher level tantric teachings. He gives precise descriptions of how these affect the mind and how organizational features of Vajradhatu made it hard to take an adult autonomous stance. People who persisted in this tended to leave or were forced out.

And though Trunpa had the nerve and gall to express contempt for democracy, he was quite willing to exploit Americas generous immigration policies, of which his own sorry ass was a beneficiary. He also benefitted from US laws giving tax exemption to religious projects.

And though Trungpa criticised ego when it took the form of protesting unjust US policies in Central America, he set matters up at Vajradhatu so that ego was stimulated to climb the ladder and win his favor.

Quote

'The curriculum is presented through a hierarchy of forms that intensifies the mixed message behind seeking what you already have: enlighenment credentials are meaningless, said Trungpa, but you should definitely respect mine and here is a graded process for acquiring them. Although he deflated and his students scorned, the ego's desire for a higher, more spiritual more transcendental life, the whole Tibetan style lured me on with a promise of a higher more spiritual, more transcendental life.

'The system of the three yanas has an inherently elitist appeal. It triggers our desire to join the big shots, do the secret rituals, and find out what the masters really know. In my first contact with him, Trunpa undercut this elitism, he presented enlightenment as something anyone can have, right now. His message was too simple for intellectual analysis, you can do it, dont be a coward, cheer up.

Any sensible country school girl could have said the same thing.

'Yet he wore expensive suits and jewels, rode in a chauffered Mercedes, had servants, designed and awarded pins to symbolize levels of attainment in his programs, and was known to offer secret tantric instruction to selected disciples.

'Since he was telling me the truth about my own motives, I believed that if he did offer something transcendental, it would be real thing, not a plastic manipulation.

'But the ego, which supposedly did not exist, was both deflated and fully engaged. Teh impetus behind the journey came as much from the desire to earn one of his pins and hold a title in his organization as from a genuine longing to wake up, or an altruistic wish to benefit sentient beings.'

The Double Mirror, Stephen Butterfield, page 43

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2009 11:13PM by corboy.

Boulder not only is a hot bed for chogyam trungpa's stuff, but Ken Wilber is active there, too. Good place for entrepreneurial activity.

Quote
helpme2times
Wow, Steven Sashen no longer lists "The Work" or Byron Katie on his website!

And there we have yet another dichotomy: Surprising, but not surprising at all. He's already been mentioned to be a very schooled internet marketer and salesperson, so I could see him thinking it was prudent to cut ties with those who could cost him business. (formula: business=dollars) Perhaps it's a savvy move, for an Internet entrepreneur, such as he seems to be. I'll bet he's been reading this thread. Is it possible that he is slowly moving toward making an honest living?

qd
(the impossible dreamer)

p.s. people he's connected with, like Yanik Silver, got some of that "self betterment" money of mine years ago. I just found out about these connections from a recent post, and experienced a resurgence of anger at the loss of those dollars. These assholes really fleeced me; all of 'em. I'm simultaneously chagrined and disgusted.

regarding Steven Sashen..the info was taken down in the last few days, as its still in the cache.(below)
What happened?

maybe he was UNvoluntarily told by BKI to take down his advertisements about selling his own Byron Katie coachings and gatherings?
Maybe some "certified" BKI facilitator reported him to the BK mothership, as he was scooping clients in Colorado, with his bi-weekly BK Work gatherings?

After all, he claimed to be a former "Curriculum Director" for Byron Katie. But if you search the internet for "Byron Katie" "Curriculum Director", the only things that come up are links put there by Steven Sashen.
Byron Katie's School doesn't have a curriculum director listed. Byron Katie directs the "curriculum".
and of course, his name is not found on any BK website.

He says he discovered BK and The Work in 1998, and 2 years later he claims to have "taught WITH her"?
QUOTE: "Steven is a former curriculum director for Katie's School for The Work (2000-2001) and he taught with her at the school."

Momma BK ain't gonna like that sentence! It makes it sound like he was a co-teacher with Byron Katie. After 2 years? Not a chance. Was he just one of those unpaid "Staff" people, who pay to work at the seminar? What exactly did he do?

This is a typical tactic with these so-called anti-guru's who in fact, deliberately use vague language and weasel words, in order to self-promote and shape perceptions.
Like saying you "retired" in 2000, in order to self-promote your Quantum Wealth program.
Weasel words.

Janaki wrote about how Byron Katie got a roach in her bonnet about Janaki's website, and wrote her emails about changing it?

We'll have to see if Steven Sashen makes any comments about why he took the Byron Katie promotions off his website. Is he going to tell the truth, or say anything?

But its typical, unfortunately, of various Byron Katie promoters. There were some in this thread. They run around promoting Byron Katie for a few years, then it blows up in their face, and they just vanish. Meanwhile, what happened is probably along the lines of what has been mentioned in this thread.
If they spent years promoting Byron Katie, and then it goes down the toilet, its their ethical responsibility to explain what REALLY happened, as Karma for the fact they convinced so many people to go into the BK system. Then others can learn from their mistakes, and hopefully not make the same ones.



(from the cache)
_______________________
14 Apr 2009
QUOTE:
"Last but certainly not least are "The Work" and "Integrated Kabbalistic Healing." Of all the transformative things I've done that affected my life, these are the only two that demonstrably changed it. That is, after encountering these two technologies, my experience of my self and the world (and the relationship between the two) shifted in ways I never expected, and in ways for which I am continually grateful.

I do private sessions of The Work and Integrated Kabbalistic Healing by appointment. And I host a gathering for those interested in The Work on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of each month. Email me at ####### to find out more about private sessions or the gatherings."
_________________________



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2009 02:17AM by The Anticult.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2009 02:47AM by The Anticult.

by the way, if you want to see the way RandomStu really thinks, when he is not bluffing and play-acting deaf, dumb, and blind...
have a look at his Poker gambling postings.
Yeah...life is just a big highstake poker game of bluffing...and there's nothing sweeter than a table full of patsies.

(poker thread) Always raising on button heads-up 20 Mar 2009 by RandomStu
[www.recgroups.com]

Quote

another thing about RandomStu Stuart Resnick.
And these other so-called "Zen" people along these same lines.

Their pattern is to try to use their methods of Dharma Combat on people.
The problem is, its not done with intellectual integrity, as mentioned by many people.

Its literally being poisoned from the Poker-Chess concepts being used. Even RandomStu's speech on YouTube starts with a poker metaphor.

What is chess?
Chess is a complex game of technical strategy, who's goal is the CHECKMATE defeat of your opponent. (Byron Katie says The Work is a checkmate).
In chess, you can't really cheat, unless you can find a way to DISRUPT a player's concentration, maybe by sucking your teeth, mumbling, or some such sleazy tactic of DISTRACTION.


What is poker?
Poker is only partly a game of technical card strategy, and betting strategy.
At least half of the game of poker, is based on BLUFFING, deceit, lies, and acting ability.
Poker is at least 50% a mindgame, except with experienced players.
The more inexperienced the other players, the easier they are to deceive with bluffs, lies, and cheap tricks. Anything goes.
In fact, a good way to win at poker, is to pretend you are a naive chump at first, or acting drunk, when in fact your are experienced and sober.
In poker, if they are able to DUPE a naive player into losing the entire pot on a BLUFF...do they feel remorse that they duped them into losing everything?
Do two experienced crooked players in cahoots with eachother, feel remorse for secretly working together, and walking away with all the money on the table?
Of course not!! They celebrate how wonderful it was to be able to easily dupe those naive suckers.
Its all about winning the money.


The reality is this is very much the same game these guys try to play in the real world.
Except they do it with their so-called "Zen".
They know that playing with experienced players is too risky, as they will get their asses-kicked, so they choose the easiest "marks" they can find.
And they feel no remorse when they win the entire poker pot, win all the money, on a bluff and a lie.
They don't feel remorse when they can con people into handing their businesses countless thousands of dollars, or even millions.

They won the poker jackpot!!
They feel FANTASTIC, and celebrate and party, and count the money.

a bit of a followup on RandomStu Stuart Resnick [forum.culteducation.com]
which is essential due to RandomStu deliberately inserting himself in the middle of the Byron Katie internet distraction machine...and feigning innocence in a transparent bluff tactic. [forum.culteducation.com]
RandomStu also links to Carol Skolnick's blog (Byron Katie facilitator) [stuart-randomthoughts.blogspot.com]

And contrary to what RandomStu has said about Seung Sahn's sexual abuses of his students, its NOT ok if they are adults. The Guru/Student dynamic is not an equal power dynamic. Its not ok for a Guru or Zen Teacher to have sex with his students. And if the Guru is supposed to be a celibate monk, but instead is lying for years about having sex with numerous students, that is a terrible abuse of power and dishonesty.
That means that Zen Guru was a fraud.


concerning RandomStu and even Carol Skolnick, from back in the Usenet files on SYDA alt.support.ex-cult.siddha-yoga there are posts about brainwashing, hypnosis, and cult methods, breaking people down, etc.

for example, there is an old thread from 1998, about the lack of protein being used by SYDA in their brainwashing system.
Byron Katie does the exact same thing in her seminars.

specific brainwashing examples at SYDA (1998) [groups.google.com]#

and there are other posts, where some person was coming forward about stories about Muktananda and sexual abuse during "meditation", and then this person was being pounced on and attacked, and having their identity exposed? There is a lot of abusive behavior going back many years.

It would take time to research, but there are some serious questions going back into the SYDA years and the various abuses, including the SYDA sexual abuses in the ashrams, who knew what when, and how that was covered up.
There was enormous whitewashing, secrecy, lies, and damage control, and even some SYDA "Staff" were involved.

AN OPEN LETTER ABOUT SIDDHA YOGA
[www.culthelp.info]
"Some women sought help from swamis, staff or from Gurumayi herself. They were told that they had brought their mistreatment upon themselves and to be silent and tell no one. Thus, when ashram staff and swamis are not officially denying that such things ever happened, they switch stories and claim that Muktananda's sexual activities had a divine purpose. With Afif, they simply blame his victims. We emphatically reject this denial. And we reject the justification, on the basis of tantric scripture or on any other basis, of this grotesque abuse of power which exploits and degrades women".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2009 04:15AM by The Anticult.

I have been re-reading some of the earlier posts on Byron Katie... found one in another thread I particularly "vibed" with.

[[url=http://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?4,9147,53168#msg-53168]http://forum.culteducation.com/read.php?4,9147,53168#msg-53168[/url]]

Quoting vlinden...

After reading about Byron Katie on this board, I was interested to see her in action. Here is a link showing a session with an Israeli woman who tells Katie that she's afraid of war.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwerzf5gIH0

I've never seen anything so insane in my life, outside of a mental institution. I've watched other videos and read parts of her writing, and now I am just stunned, once again, at what people will pay money to believe.

Katie's reasoning is more deranged than anything put forth by Landmark Education, though there are basic parallels. She incorporates Landmark's extreme existential you-create-everything and blame-the-victim philosophy, but then she essentially attempts to turn reality completely on its head with her reversal questions. "My father abused me" becomes "I abused my father." This doesn't even begin to make rational sense, it's like insisting you can wear your hat on your feet and walk just as easily, if not better.

My friends and I have been watching these videos with our jaws on the floor.

In this one, Katie is dealing with an Israeli woman essentially suffering from PTSD, who needs some basic therapy and human support and understanding. She's afraid of war. Of course she's afraid of war. This is perfectly normal and sane, given where she lives.

But according to the New Age Self-Help snake-oil soul "savers," no one need or should ever be afraid, ever be upset, ever be angry or feel guilt or shame or anything "negative." By promoting this patently ridiculous concept, they create the illusion that people actually could walk around in a state of bliss all the time -- and this they call a state of "grace" -- by simply disconnecting from their egos, their rational selves, and their critical minds.

If they just did back-room lobotomies it would be so much easier -- but they'd sell less books.

Landmark and other LGATs of course trade in this counterfeit psycho-babble, at the expense of people's lost minds and souls, but Byron Katie seems to take it to a new level perhaps because she was, for many years, actually barking mad.

So we have a barking mad woman now telling people to just "reverse" their thinking until they can convince themselves maybe nothing is what they believed, maybe everything is ass-backward, maybe everything is just FINE if they only stop thinking rationally . . . and people are calling her a guru and "the real deal."

She actually tells this poor woman that she shouldn't worry about war, because the FLOWERS ON THE TABLE are not worrying about war.

That's right. The flowers. They're not worried. They have no brain. Be like the flowers.

What a sick, sorry situation we're finding ourselves in today, people. We are devolving. We need to be rational in order to survive. It's our critical minds and rational thinking and respect for pain, fear and danger that allowed us to rise up out of the primordial swamps, harness fire, build cities, create laws, art and our greatest ideas. These New Age lunatics will have us drooling like the mental patients they once were, incapable of correct action because we no longer trust our most important faculties.

What the fuck is going on in this world???

There are consumer protections for objects, for baby car seats and tires and medications -- but what about this faulty New Age psychology, these damaging mind viruses delivered in respectable hard-cover packages and CD sets? We don't feel they can be regulated because people are "free" to believe what they want, but at the least they should come with some kind of warning!

WARNING: The enclosed material may be hazardous to your mental and psychological health!

WARNING: The enclosed material may have been fabricated by a former mental patient or sociopath and has not been tested for accuracy or validity!

WARNING: The enclosed material may be at the very least a waste of your money, and at the worst may confuse you to the point of psychosis!

WARNING: You may fall into deep depression after viewing the enclosed material, realizing you have just financially contributed to the growing New Age Empire of Mass Derangement and you've been taken for a complete fool

Byron Katie was once locked up and she should be again, IMHO.