Thank you Blue Dakini for your reply. I don't think it really helps your argument to immediately accuse anyone who disagrees of being a 'naive newbie' and a 'Rigpa creation'. I think also it doesn't seem very sensible to say that someone who has studied under three very prominent teachers since 1986 is a newbie. May I ask how many years you studied with Rinpoche yourself? It amuses me that you call him 'Soggy', since I've been calling him that for 25 years and have often been told off about it, not only by Rigpa people. And it may well be that we inhabit a parallel reality: Lamas are very careful about how they behave in Australia. Especially if the security intelligence agencies are (presumably and secretly) there at the teachings, keeping an eye on Prime Minister's wives!
You are dubious of my motives. It's not that I'm dubious of yours as such, but I'd like to see more evidence. You mention a documentary, and give a channel, but not the name of the documentary. I'd have liked to have seen better journalism, as it appears you are a journalist? (I'm also a little bit sceptical about anyone that would use the name dakini as a handle). The documentary you mention, I've found is called "In The Name Of Enlightenment' , Episode 3 of the 4-part cable TV series 'Sex Scandals In Religion'. It does exist and was aired on 23 May 2011 on Vision TV, a Christian-run but interfaith cable small-audience channel in Canada, and in 2011 on Earthbook TV, a cable channel in Ireland which has the same owner. It appears not to have been picked up by any other channel anywhere. However, it has been praised as an objective, high-quality documentary series, and the other episodes cover abuse within Judaism in New York and Islam in Iran. It appears not to have covered sex scandals within mainstream Christianity, which owns the station.
You've made some really quite extreme claims about Sogyal Rinpoche, saying (from memory) that a team of older students scouted for girls for him and accusing him of group and scatological sex (I hope I'm quoting you correctly). There are a few things on the internet criticising Sogyal Rinpoche, but it's very far from a deluge. Most seem to come from the same source and they don't seem very reliable. For example a story on the documentary at [
wisdomquarterly.blogspot.com]
has attracted only one reply, from someone who says that the Rigpa students can 'read minds', 'see you everywhere' and ' employ satellite brain weapons which are used by secret services'. This person does not appear to me to be very mentally stable.
In one thread, you give a reader some information that you say can be used to identify you. You use a handle on this site (but that is only wise on the internet). You also give a link to a Guardian article, and to posts on a site called Dialogue Ireland, which identifies itself as a Christian site. Most of these articles and much of the other information on the web seems to come from a woman called Mary Finnegan. I found one of these articles saddened me. It criticises things that Sogyal Rinpoche does and from my experience, I think it is probably completely true: [
dialogueireland.wordpress.com]-…/
I have seen Sogyal Rinpoche behave in these ways myself . I've criticised him publicly for it and I've told him I don't think it's good. It's one reason I basically don't see him much.
OK you ask me about myself, this is right and proper. I have been a Buddhist since 1971 and was closely involved in the development of Buddhism in Australia and New Zealand. In NZ I helped Singhalese immigrants and Vietnamese refugees start their first temples. In about 1983, I was a founder member of the Buddhist Council of Sydney. This was the first and biggest peak Buddhist body in Australia with over 140 Buddhist groups represented, so I knew an awful lot of Buddhist Sangha (and tried to study at least a bit with all of them) and leaders! So, by the time that I came into contact with Tibetan groups, I had already had many, many years of Theravada teaching under Ven Chao Khun Suviraya and others, had studied most of of the Pali canon, some in the original Pali since I studied Pali for four years, and had been an Anagarika in a monastery in Sri Lanka (the Bikkhu Training Centre, Maharagama) under the direction of Ven. Pannasiha Mahathero. I became concerned that the viewpoints of the Tibetan groups were not represented on the Buddhist Council of Sydney, so I got permission from them all (FPMT, Doenak Choeling Kargyu etc) to represent them. I am NOT repeat NOT a Buddhist leader or teacher of any kind. From 1986-1998, I attended almost every teaching given by Sogyal Rinpoche, Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche, Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche, and many others. Since 1998, I have ceased to play any active role in Buddhist affairs but study privately with lamas of the Shechen tradition. I visit Namkhai Norbu's group and Rigpa maybe three times a year to do puja with them. I do not hold nor have I ever held any position within or working for Rigpa. (I would have thought that if Rigpa really has such an active publicity department they would have removed the corruption allegations from Wikipedia). I am a journalist and I work for the most prominent Muslim politician in Australia. That's easily enough information for anybody to identify me if they dig around a little. You could also read what I've written on other threads in this forum.
I'll tell you the things in Rigpa that I have seen that I do not like. I think Sogyal Rinpoche is often offhand and sometimes bullying with students. I don't like the way he gets people to fetch and carry for him (though in Australia, at least, he is not 'surrounded by beautiful women'). I think he is perhaps not the brightest lamp in the basket. There are a few people who were high up in his organisation that I did not respect, like or trust. These have I believe left. There were a lot of really good people, too. The new people do not know me, apart from one or two old-timers, one of whom still is highly placed. She's a wonderful woman. I think the organisation is a bit cultlike and a bit closed and secretive, I don't like that. I don't like the way that newcomers are asked to go through a series of four stages and pay for them. It can be argued that it's acceptable, but I still don't like it much. Rigpa centres in Australia do not invite visiting high Nyingmapa lamas to teach, I regard that as wrong and unusual. However, I must say also that on several occasions I rented Rigpa centres (they gave me a very good discount) to use for talks by visiting teachers (eg Drikung Gyalsey Rinpoche in 2001). They asked Sogyal Rinpoche if that was Ok, and he replied that it was and they displayed leaflets and posters advertising these talks in the Sydney and Canberra centres and did not discourage the Rigpa students from coming and in fact quite a few did. However some great teachers (eg Urgyen Topgyal Rimpoche) have recently visited and taught at Rigpa overseas. I've found Sogyal Rinpoche's teaching very useful and inspiring and he's been spoken of well by unimpeachable great lamas. You should remember, however, that since 1998 I haven't been very active, so if the organisation has changed radically within that time, I might not know that.
I believe and accept what Corboy says about H H Dudjom Rinpoche telling Soggy to come back to India and him seceding and staying in London. As far as the allegations of sexual abuse, I'm open. I'd really like to see more evidence. If Sogyal Rinpoche really is abusing students, they must be encouraged to speak out. If there is evidence against Sogyal Rinpoche, it must be aired. I encourage Blue Dakini to keep working to expose this corruption and abuse, but to increase her own credibility and the seriousness with which she is taken by holding to higher standards of evidence and journalistic ethics than those she has so far displayed.