Thank you for posting, and congratulations on leaving DW! and your abusive relationship! I hope you're feeling better now, more grounded and more confident and stable. The important thing to learn from this experience, I think, is to trust your own instincts. You got a bad feeling, when you first visited the sangha. Your first reaction was the correct one. Sometimes, especially as women,
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you for posting all this, cowboy. Just a quick note with regard to Shambala's fallen leader (the latest in the series); I looked into why of the several sons of CT, THE Sakyong (whatever that means; is it a title, or is it his name?) was the one chosen to head up the empire. I was curious, because his brother, Gesar, has said he and the others are estranged from their oldest brother.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thanks for reviving and updating this thread. I couldn't make it through the wall of text at the end, but regarding a someone at Chicago Divinity School saying Nydahl has "a genuine relation with the Kagyu School", what does that mean? He took some teachings from the 16th Karmapa and Kalu Rinpoche. That does not qualify him to teach, and to call himself "lama". Years of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'll kick off this discussion with a couple of facts about life in Tibetan-related culture. Bhutan, that land of the Gross National Happiness, discovered that domestic violence is rampant. Somehow, that fact had escaped their assessment of the Gross National Happiness. They also discovered, on a later occasion, that child monks had venereal diseases. How does a child get an STD? This
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Bhutanese monks are considered the most aggressive in trying to snag Western women for sex. Women have reported rape attempts by Bhutanense monks at Bodh Gaya, and the Bhutanese "lamas" staffing Kalu Rinpoche's main center in France were fired by the young Kalu Rinpoche after he received many complaints of pressure for sex. One rape case was reported to police and the lama was jail
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Mi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Yes, I have heard of Ole Nydahl. But I don´t > think that Ole is unique in the ways of cultism, > to the tibeten buddhist community. I have > unfortunately in my search, been to other buddhist > centers. ( Read other link ) And they are just as > bad. > > Scapegoating, contradictions, non-buddhi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

budhistcke Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This is an interesting point. I once attended a > Diamond Way lecture about Mahamudra in London, > several hundred people were present (this in > itself was a surprise); after an hour or so > someone obviously versed in Mahamudra asked a > question to Lama Ole from the floor "do you hold >
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

shakti Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > Also, many of his "spiritual teachings" published > in the West are allegedly copied from other > sources, and re-packaged by Westerners who know > that bland Oprahisms will sell better to the > masses than TRUE Tibetan teachings, which are > medieval in their social outlook.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

corboy Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > > And for a peek into the lives of the serfs under > the old regime, this from historian Michael > Parenti’s Friendly Feudalism is most telling: > > > Young Tibetan boys were regularly taken from > their peasant families and brought into the > monasteries to be trained as monks
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Blue Dakini Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Many years have passed since I first posted here. > During that time I have moved on from active > engagement in forums, discussion groups and > journalism highlighting the defects, abuses and > corruption that now appear to be widespread in > diaspora Tibetan Buddhism. After receiving an > e
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you for posting such a thorough report. Here's a little more info on "Lama Jinpa" aka Asa Herschoff, a practicing homeopathic doctor: . One thing that strikes me about this story is how Tibetan Buddhism has become commercialized. It seems more and more like this or that lama, whether Asian or Western, has taken an aspect of Buddhist practice, developed it into a pr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotecorboyA couple of comments from the Guardian article "Lama Sex Abuse Claims Call Buddhist Taboos into Question" Quote · There were some Tibetan lamas that first came here to the west, that taught the authentic dharma, not Lamaism. They took off the robes and got off those thrones and taught us face to face, but that was long ago. And it didn't last long. I&#
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudra And of course by this way Nydahl created his own cult we are criticising here. But the reason is, that TB is a cult, not Nydahl´s bad character and his alleged wrong interpretation of TB. I think it's both. I think TB has all the elements in place for someone to use it as a cult if they want. Some teachers do, some don't. Some teachers promote guru devotion even in th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesuenamif the issue of mind control is so widespread as to include advertising and politics in liberal western democracies, then what motivates you to draw an line around Tibetan Buddhism to single it out from these other forms of mind control Most importantly, what does this have to do with Nydahl? Corboy explained approx 60 pages ago how the ngondro devotional exercises set followers
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotesuenamAs you said yourself, this is "taken from the Shaivite phallus worship", so possibly the reason it isn't in tantric literature is because it isn't part of Vajrayana. Your logic looks like this; satan is mentioned in the Bible, satanists have orgies, therefore the Bible promotes orgies! - clearly you have made a connection based upon a generalisation that doesn'
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotemark jon When it was publicly revealed what Kalu Rinpoche had been up to with sexual tantra the women who spoke out publicly made it sound very much like she was being used by him in order to achieve some kind of 'spiritual' advantage. The question I have, and perhaps you or others can answer, is concerning how this is sold to the woman. In other words, is she generally told that s
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here is an article that updates the information about Kalu Rinpoche, and also discusses the sense of abandonment that another young tulku, Gomo Tulku, felt when his mother left him in a monastery in Europe. Gomo Tulku has given back his robes to become a rapper. In one of his compositions, he speaks movingly about his longing for his mother and the life he knew prior to being taken to the monaste
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

If we chalk young Kalu Rinpoche's abuse up to the transgressions of his predecessor, and accept it as his "karma", then how do we explain the systemic sexual abuse of children in Tibetan monasteries? And Sri Lankan and Taiwan Buddhist monasteries? To blithely ascribe it to karma is letting an awful lot of people off the hook--an entire institutional system, in fact. If we put the
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudra He was one of the most important teacher of Nydahl, he and Tenga gave him introduction into the Tantras. They intuitivly saw how he can be made addict to TB. By the sexual promises of the Tantras. That is the core of his connection to them. How is someone recognised as liberated in TB? Only by an also liberated person (what you and me are saying does not count, not for Sharma
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudraAnd, Suanam, he is a Vajra-Buddhist and even liberated as far someone in Vajra-Buddhism can be, if you like it or not. The old so called Kalu Ringpoche attested him that state of mind. With all due respect to Karam-Mudra--and I mean that; I have the utmost respect for her for having the courage to speak out publicly, and to attempt to prosecute Nydahl, and to persevere in that pr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteshamelaQuestion the very concept of reincarnation! Perhaps more to the point, question the motives of high lamas appointing certain children as Tulkus. Gedun Chopel, in the early part of the 20th Century, gave back his robes as a tulku, saying he'd been "living a lie". He went on to write the Tibetan version of the Kama Sutra, and joined an organization of revolutionary Tibet
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here's an article journalist Mary Finnigan published recently about Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche's revelation of sexual abuse and a murder attempt he suffered as a child in the monastic environment:
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteBlue DakiniI too think Yangsi Kalu is very good news. At the moment he is sowing wild oats. I think he needs to do that after his grotesque experiences in the monastery but I hope it does not continue for too long. He certainly earned considerable respect for sorting out the French dharma centres. He has a huge following worldwide -- so much responsibility and so much expectation rests on hi
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

A little more inforation on young Kalu Rinpoche has been forthcoming. Apparently Tai Situ Rinpoche has invited him to visit and talk three times, and K.R. has declined. K.R. had been living with his family in Bhutan until his father died. Then his mentor, Bokar Rinpoche, offered him the option of staying with his family, or moving to Bokar Rinpoche's monastery. Kalu R. was 9 at the time.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

The problem is that many gurus tell their students that the guru is an enlightened master, i.e. a demi-god. Students need to know that the master is an ordinary person, and is not to be revered. Respected, yes, if he proves himself worthy of respect. I think there needs to be a major adjustment in how some teachers (or the tradition) present themselves, and in the expectations or projections stud
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Good points, Stoic. In her book, Campbell says the parents of the girl were told she died of a heart attack. You're implying she may have disappeared simply because Kalu set her away, then created a fiction around June that the teen had died, in order to scare her? It's possible, but we'll never know without getting more info from June. I don't recall any other details about
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Corboy, could you explain why you posted about June Campbell's experience? How does that tie in with Sogyal? The circumstances under which Kalu Rinpoche took "consorts" (he was a senior lama, if not the head or abbot of a monastery, plus I think he was outwardly celibate, I'm not 100% sure about that), which was in a highly secretive way, and those in which Sogyal exploits wo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteBlue Dakini I am investigating reactions from the Kagyu hierachy -- I suspect they are very worried. According to one post on Kalu Rinpoche's Facebook page, he got support from Tai Situ, one of the top Kagyu authorities, to remove the lamas from his main center in France, and to bring in a new crew, who, he says, disciples can feel safe studying with. The fact that he has at least Ta
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Here is a post on one of Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche's blog sites that details his plans to revamp the monastic education to better prepare students for the real world should they opt out of the monastic system upon reaching their majority, and to provide a safe environment for novices. This sounds like an effort worth supporting. He may catch a lot of flack when the entrenched power structur
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yangsi Kalu Rinpoche's confessional video is starting to make its way around the internet already. It's remarkable how many people still cling to their fairy-tale view of monastic life, in spite of this insider's frank portrayal. I consider this video to be a major breakthrough. Maybe it will inspire others to speak out, or a journalistic expose of some sort.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"