Quote
corboy
Missyk, thanks for telling us this. I didnt know this about Harvey or about Sogyal.

Am beginning to believe that the more PR and hype surrounds a particular teacher, the greater the risks.

Well, I suppose the fame emboldens such people, and makes them feel like they can get away with anything. But it also gives them access to a lot more potential victims, who, because of the PR, let down their guard and are completely trusting. People need to know that no matter how highly recommended and how highly respected a figure in Tibetan Buddhism may be, one cannot trust them, and one should do research to see if there are any rumors about the figure before approaching for any reason. Sad world we live in, no?


But even little-known lamas also manage to set up sanghas and manipulate the women around them. There was a recent major flap in an Australian sangha over their lama, who was discovered to be having sex with several of the sangha members. They put up a website (against threats from the Sakya hierarchy in India), and a couple of Tibetans wrote comments on their blog, that their (formerly) revered teacher, in fact, had very little education in Tibetan Buddhism, was definitely not a Rinpoche, and wasn't respected in the Tibetan community in India. (Google "Sex and the Sakya Lamas") This type of problem is endemic to Tibetan Buddhism. Most of the teachers have no interest in ethics or integrity.

So the point is, that you never know who someone is. Everyone thinks Sogyal wrote a brilliant book, and many rushed to involve him in hospice activities (in the British Isles and Ireland, especially) and help him turn Rigpa into a chain of hospices and bereavement counseling centers, having no idea that he didn't even understand what was in his own book for a long time. Now, of course, he has had time to study the book and probably spews some canned lines from Buddhist texts when necessary.

Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage that Sogyal was a part of, told Sogyal that he needed to go back to India and "ripen his practice", because Dudjom disapproved of Sogyal's behavior. So Sogyal simply removed Dudjom Rinpoche's name from the Buddhist centers Sogyal was running, and continued as before. (He originally advertised his centers as Nyingma lineage, under Dudjom Rinpoche, for credibility.)

It's unbelievable that Sogyal is still going strong after all these years, and the lawsuit! Many people dismiss the lawsuit, because it ended in a settlement, so people interpret that as evidence that he didn't lose the lawsuit, he just paid the complainant some money to make her go away. But as my friend who was a party to the suit said, "people don't pay a settlement unless they have to", i.e. unless the case is unwinnable for them.

I'm heartened by the fact that the Dalai Lama has said (since the early-mid 1990's) that aggrieved students should go public with their grievances and go to the police, involve the courts if necessary. There need to be more lawsuits to give credibility to this issue. Devoted practitioners wave the "rumors" away by saying: there haven't been any legal cases, unlike in the Catholic Church, so the rumors and accusations must be false.

We need to support women in a) ignoring the threats the lamas made to silence them (some resort to magical incantations to terrify their victims into silence) and b) filing criminal charges and going to court. This can be extremely difficult for someone who is suffering from trauma as a result of their encounter with a lama. Healing needs to take place before a victim can have the strength and mental clarity to be able to endure a trial.

I hope I'm still on-topic, I've wandered a bit, but it's all relevant as to why Sogyal is STILL at-large. Imagine how many more victims there have been, who are suffering silently. The time has come to create some sort of out-reach and support group, if only online.

[www.guardian.co.uk]

Quote

Well, I suppose the fame emboldens such people, and makes them feel like they can get away with anything.

Fame could be classified as a potential intoxicant.

A friend who, through dumb luck, landed in the media eye, said a journlist told him, 'Over the years I have watched ordinary people change after some public circumstance brought them fame. If they were kept in the media limelight, a good number of them became addicted.'

'Hungry for the camera'.

Moves are underway to set up a Tibetan Buddhist Teachers Association with a precise constitution and a Code of Ethics. If participants in this forum have suggestions to make on its style and content they would be very gratefully received. Thanks.

Sogyal Rinpoche is one of my teachers. I studied with him, Namkhai Norbu and Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche from 1986 to 1992, and have also studied with Chadgud Tulku and many other Tibetan and also Theravadin teachers. I have not been closely associated with him since 1998 as I disagreed with the corporate structure that Rigpa was developing and I also found my real root teacher. Nowadays I see him every few years. I have no connection with Rigpa though I still have some friends there.

There is absolutely no doubt that Sogyal Rinpoche was recognised as as incarnation of Terton Sogyal and trained as a Buddhist teacher by first, the greatest Nyingmapa master of the twentieth century, Jamgon Khyentse Chokyi Lodro and then by His Holiness Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and His Holiness Dudjom Rinpoche, and later still by Chogyam Trungpa. I know this from many sources: my two best friends, students of Dudjom Rinpoche who have had many high lamas visit their house and give teachings, told me stories of Sogyal Rinpoche as a youngster with Dudjom Rinpoche. My main teachers are the grandson of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche and the incarnation of Jamyang Khyentse Chokyi Lodro, and they both knew Sogyal Rinpoche from an early age. Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche has said more than once in my presence that Sogyal Rinpoche is a fully qualified Dzogchen master. Geshe Dharghey, former head of the Library of Tibetan works and Archives in Dharmsala and regarded as one of the most respected, revered and knowledgeable Gelugpa lamas, told me personally that he grew up in the same village opposite Sogyal Rinpoche and had great respect for him. Friends of mine have accompanied Sogyal Rinpoche on visits to Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, Trulshik Rinpoche, and many other high lamas who treated him as a son and gave him teaching and initiations explicitly to pass on to his students. Two friends of mine studied with Chogyam Trunpa during the 'late 70-s - early '80s and remember him training Sogyal Rinpoche. I was close to Lama Trijang, one of the main heart sons of the great Chatral Rinpoche. He was so knowledgeable that whenever I came back and told him of teachings that I had got from Namkhai Norbu, he would enlarge on the teachings for me, chanting these quite rare teachings by heart, and teach me more about them, whereas other quite famous and erudite lamas could tell me nothing. He always attended Sogyal Rinpoche's retreats and had great respect and reverence for him.

With regard to the book, the foreword says that it was complied from transcripts of lectures given by Sogyal Rinpoche from 1986-1991. During those years, he would give the same teachings or lectures in France, Germany, Britain and the USA. I personally attended almost every teaching in the book in Australia. Not only that, but I transcribed many of the Australian ones and there are German and French teachings in the book that are virtually word-for-word identical. Moreover, to amuse myself I sometimes asked Rinpoche obscure questions on Buddhist doctrine and I also saw such questions asked by some people who were extremely qualified academically in Tibetan studies and had spent years in Tibetan monasteries. Rinpoche always answered them easily.

In those twelve years, I never saw Rinpoche act with the least impropriety as regards sex. He traveled tourist class, paid for his girlfriend's fare himself, and never accepted any gratuity or gift. He usually traveled with a girlfriend, one for two years, one for five. They were not drawn from his students, and they were extraordinary and gifted independent women. At one retreat, I met the wives of two of the Prime Ministers of Australia. He worked constantly and never lived high. He was sometimes brusque and even bullying with rich, powerful students, and always very kind and compassionate with poor students such as myself. During one retreat I saw him give his lunch and his dinner to a girl who was not eating (and I will point out that this was not a girl whom anyone would bed whatsoever, but a street person who, like me, Rigpa let attend retreats free).

I think that the courses Rigpa gives are expensive and I disagree with that. Nevertheless, I have at different times seen the accounts for the Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne centres, and know that the courses only just pay for the premises. Attending services and pujas is free of course, to everybody. I saw at first hand over many years the trouble that organisers took to make the annual three-week residential retreat affordable, and at about now $800 (I think) it is a fraction of the price of most four-day training, business or computing seminars.

I am not saying that there may not be valid claims. I have not seen the documentary and therefore have no evidence. But I know certainly and from my own experience that claims he is not trained or not entitled to be called Rinpoche, and claims that he did not write 'The Tibetan Book Of Living And Dying', are complete and total fiction.

Hello Thomas Kent. You and I must be inhabiting parallel universes. I suspect you are yet another creation from the Rigpa spin department. I have heard most of what you say from other sources over the years and I have to be blunt in my response -- it is almost entirely fiction extrapolated from a few isolated facts. I do not intend to reiterate the alternative POV on Mr Lakar -- all I can say is that you are sadly misled if you are by chance a genuine neophyte -- but so too are most members of Rigpa. The entire organisation is predicated on smoke and mirrors. The deception level is eye watering. Finally I can't let the suggestion that Soggy travels tourist class pass without a belly laugh. If that assertion doesn't betray your role in the deceit machine I don't know what would.

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.

ThomasKent:

Your business seems to be public relations and spin. And you appear to be here as a "spin-doctor".

Are you being paid for services, i.e. paid to post apologies here?

Eloquence and scholarship are naught when used to serve an evil cause.

Remembrance Day is a week away.

Here is a sample of rhetoric from a younger Winston Churchill to justify a bad faith stance towards Turkey during the Great War and the chain of decision making that led to up to the slaughter at Gallipoli.

[www.britishempire.co.uk]

It is ugly for young and idealistic persons to be treated as expendables, whether in service to a guru's lust or to the ambitions of statesmen.

Sogyal feature in French news magazine Marianne - English translation by Ana Pellus. Edited by Mary Finnigan. Reportage by Elodie Emery



Marianne 15-21 October 2011

Not so Zen these Buddhists...

Retreats organised by the Lerab Ling temple in The Cevennes

attract between 2 and 3 thousand disciples every year. They come to

follow teachings by Sogyal Rinpoche. A week of meditation in order

to wake up. To experience the light -- and the (very) murky.



"Sogyal Rinpoche in person, can you believe it? “I saw him once during a conference in

Amsterdam, but he was quite far away. A whole week with him --I feel so privileged".

In the luxurious Buddhist temple of Lerab Ling, nestled in the heart of the Cévennes in

Roqueronde, the excitement reaches a climax : the master’s arrival has been announced.

Siting in the Lotus position – very uncomfortable for those who don’t do yoga – the

disciples have listened patiently to the introduction speech, which precedes the eight-day

meditation retreat.They have taken note of the rules : no alcohol, no smoking,

no mobile phones and keep conversation to a minimum. The exception is the car park,

where such dissolute behaviour is allowed.

Now, action!

The retreatants want to listen to their guru, in flesh and blood. Who is then Sogyal Rinpoche?

An internationally renowned lama. Born in Tibet in 1947, he was recognised as the reincarnation of one of the masters of the 13th Dalaï-lama, a status that is greatly respected within the religious

community. From his arrival in Europe, in 1971, he started teaching the fundamentals of Tibetan Buddhism to westerners. During a period when Christianity was in decline, the hippie generation

enthusiastically adopted this form of exotic spirituality.

Modern mind, Tibetan body

Obese but energetic, this little man kept on going until he reached the point where he founded Lerab Ling. This temple, built in a natural environment in glitzy architectural style, was inaugurated with great pomp and ceremony by the Dalai Lama in 2008, in the presence of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Rama Yade and Bernard Kouchner. Today it attracts 2-3000 retreatants every year.The promotional literature says that Sogyal Rinpoche is remarkably talented at interpreting 2500 years of Buddhist wisdom and experience in an authentic manner -- accessible, and

totally appropriate for our time.

A modern mind in a Tibetan body (or the opposite): the guru has had enormous success among Europeans searching for meaning in their lives. He is also the founder of Rigpa, an organisation which includes 130 Buddhist centres in 41 countries.He is the author of “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”, which has sold more than 2 million copies throughout the world. Needless to say Sogyal Rinpoche is to lovers of spiritual nourishment what Lady Gaga is to pop music fans: a superstar. But his fame and the success of his retreats don’t seem to be enough to silence persistent

rumours about his authenticity. Rumours that say that Rinpoche is not the real author of the book which has made him a star -- and he is said to indulge in power abuse relationships with his close disciples.

However, during the last month of July, the 500 people registered for the summer retreat at Lerab Ling had other priorities. Arriving from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, England an France, they had all abandoned beaches and aperitifs, in favour of isolating themselves for 8 days in the hope of discovering the secrets of meditation.

We spot a hippie in his fifties and two Gothic teenagers, but most of the participants are ordinary people who have come on their own, with their partner or their families. United by a common purpose, they do not squabble when they notice that there are not enough cushions to go round -- essential for sitting cross-legged for several hours. Those who had discretely piled five cushions under their behinds surrender them willingly to their neighbours in need: the main thing, after all, is to be able to find a good position to see their guru.The temple architects had considered this and had installed relay screens around the room. Several interpreters have the task of translating the discourse, from Sogyal Rinpoche’s strangulated English (“Is dat clear? D’you undeustan?” ) into all the languages spoken by the retreatants.

Public humiliations

When the master finally appears on the platform on his orange robe, as he will do each day

around noon, the 500 groupies stand up at once. The most zealous do Buddhist prostrations (knees, stomach and chest on the floor) -- difficult to perform as space is quite limited, the equivalent of the size of a cushion. Sogyal Rinpoche is seen as a 1m³ of pure wisdom and is greeted with respect. “His hair seems darker than the last time, doesn’t it ?” murmurs a woman to her husband. Rinpoche, whose name in Tibetan means: “The most precious”, takes obvious care of his appearance: he prefers to dye his grey hair.

That morning, in the over-decorated temple, where a 7 metres high Buddha stands, the irritable guru points to a big portrait placed behind him. “what is this photo doing here? he asks one of his assistants, coldly. 20 minutes of explanations and bullying follow this, while several monks and disciples scurry in all directions to remove the photo. During the daily teachings these scenes will become more and more frequent: far from the calm detachment of the Dalaï Lama, the spiritual boss of Lerab Ling gets angry, he mocks his collaborators and he ticks them off. It could be due to a photo, a fallen glass or even a badly closed door. This display sometimes reaches the level of public humiliation. “Maybe I should think about investing in a suit and a haircut for him.” He said about one of his disciples -- a remark that makes the whole room burst into laughter. Some students seem perplexed: Laura, a French 31 years old woman for example:: “I can’t make a connection between The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying which impressed me so much and the person that I ‘ve met here.” The newcomers agree about one point: “Why on earth does he get in such a state with

his assistants who do everything possible to serve him? “It is true that it could shock some people,” says Jack, one of the facilitators, an American who puts up with at least 10 jokes a day from the guru. “But that is part of the teaching, if you don’t understand it means that is working! It is done to break down your concepts and your habits.” The retreatants are not discouraged and they continue getting up to be ready at 9 am in the temple in order to receive the word.

The baptism of fire testing the willingness of the disciples to break their concepts happens on the 3rd day. No doubt encouraged by the aura of compassion which permeates Lerab Ling, a Dutch man in his 40’s thinks that the moment has arrived to make a confession before his master and in front of hundreds of people also present in the temple. The man starts talking about his personal problems and the way his wife shouts at him all the time:

The guru launches into a high voltage display:

“Have you ever tried interrupting her by giving her a kiss? Or by making passionate love to her? Haven’t you? Or have you tried taking karate lessons?” His success is immediate, the retreatants laugh their heads off. “Are you Dutch? They are the worst. Maybe your wife is right to say that you don’t know how to communicate! Have you ever tried to simply say “Jawohl, jawohl, mein Führer?” The people present in the room choke with laughter at these

tips illuminated with wisdom. But the session takes an expected turn when the man starts talking about what provokes his wife’s wrath: “I have worked for 25 years with mentally handicapped children. One day, I abused my position with one of them.” The audience squirms with embarrasment. “I told my wife, and that’s why she puts terrible pressure on me, she is terrified about the possibility of me abusing our 4 year old daughter.”

In answer to this the master chooses to remain silent. He has run out of jokes.

“Once my wife had to leave for several days. I started running a bath for my daughter and .. the water was too hot and I almost fainted: I could hear and see, but I couldn’t move. It was at that moment that my daughter sucked me” The room goes completely silent. Sogyal Rinpoche speaks again: “It is very brave of you to say that in front of everyone.” There is sympathetic clapping from the audience, welcoming the admission of these pedophile crimes.

In the evening there is an announcement that “the man who made the provocative remarks” has left the retreat and that “ competent people are taking care of the situation.” The topic divides the retreatants and is on everyone’s lips. Senior students meet up with the newcomers to discuss “the moment of anger” that the episode provokes in some of them. “It is interesting to observe your extreme reaction to what happened there”, says a confirmed

disciple in her sixties, approaching a young woman in tears. “For me it is incredible to see

that it leaves you indifferent” she replies. From the following day onwards, the episode of “the Dutchman and his provocative remarks” was buried.

Silence, the guru farts!

Still 5 days to go. Everyone is focused on their objective: to tame the mind which is the source of suffering -- and to awaken our Buddha nature. There is only one way to achieve this and that is to follow the master. The retreatants soon learn that everything said or done by Sogyal Rinpoche is a teaching in itself. Everybody understands when he speaks about the basics of meditation. The delighted students start experiencing the calm state generated by the practice of “peace of mind”. This is the reason why they are there. But it is much less obvious when the guru transforms himself into the Tibetan equivalent of the French comedy star Jean-Marie Bigard and starts imitating the sound of a fart -- or he holds forth on the subject of vibrators. Or when he spends half of the session berating his team because his back scratcher is not in the right place. During lunch, the retreatants exchange their impressions. The advice given by the confirmed disciples is clear::” it is important not to enter into “resistance” with the teachings.” Only the pupil’s “devotion” can reach an authentic “connection” with Rinpoche. It is actually him who explains that better later on: “Follow the teachings, don’t think too much. I amyour boss, I am your master, your role is to follow me.” At the beginning of the week, the focus was on communication ; but from the 4th day onwards, the guru changes his mind and proposes to cancel the discussion workshops in the afternoon which, according to him, are pointless. Beginners in search of enlightenment are advised not to question much, but rather to observe the master’s face when he meditates, to listen to his voice which has got “special powers” and to pray for him when is out of sorts. Sogyal Rinpoche promises that the

technique has been proven. He tells how certain pupils have been cured of cancer or have recovered their eyesight thanks to the power of their “connection”. Motivated, most of the retreatants follow this advice. They intend to extract maximum benefit from the experience: After all, they have paid for it.

Cash machine

The youngest and the poorest (usually the same ones) have paid 500 euros. For this amount they have access to the teachings, meals (vegetables accompanied by ... vegetables) and they are allowed to pitch their tents in the forest. There are many mosquitoes and the distance which separates the last tents from the toilet block transforms night time needs into an expedition. Besides, the frequent storms and temperatures around 7º C (the centre is perched

at an altitude of 850 metres) have discouraged even the bravest. On the 6th day, a French woman throws herself across Sogyal Rinpoche’s path and implores him to be allowed to sleep in a dry place. Her desperate gesture and the dark circles under her eyes convince the master, who assigns her a private chalet for the following night -- to the chagrin of all the others campers who bitterly regret not having had the same idea... or not having a few hundred more euros in order to afford a chalet.

The retreatants must also take on a daily task on “rota”, in order to participate in the

activities of the temple. The most “advanced” on the spiritual path devote themselves to cleaning the toilets, the others prefer to lend a hand in the accounts department. 500 euros minimum for each retreat multiplied by 2000 or 3000 disciples, makes at the lowest annual income into the coffers around 1 to 1.5 million euros. Visitors can also help out in the centre shop. This shop is where we can acquire spiritual reference books as well as photos of great masters. The place offers the opportunity to appreciate the fact that we can be Buddhists and at the same time develop an acute sense of marketing: Lerab Ling mugs, meditation cushions, and T-shirts with the phrase “Dare meditation!” on them..

At the end of the retreat, each participant has probably spent 70 euros to take home a

momento from the week in which they have consecrated themselves, often with a certain

success, to taming their minds, meditating for several hours a day and listening constantly to the message of the Buddha. Or rather to the message of Sogyal Rinpoche, which could be summed up in two words: “Adulate me”. Nevertheless, for the moment, those who complain out loud are still rare....

*All names have been changed