In 1994 the Tibetan *lama*, family name Lakar, known os Sogyal Rinpoche, was sued by an American woman known as Janice Doe for sexual harrassment, coercion and physical abuse. The lawsuit was sttled out of court, with an undisclosed sum paid to the plaintiff.
During the 14 years since this happened, Sogyal has built himself a money-spinning global empire. He certainly has charisma and chutzpah. but apart from that very little in the way of authentic training as a Tibetan Buddhist lama.
He is a sexual predator on a grand scale. He cultivates a personality cult which goes way out of whack from the Tibetan Buddhist principle of guru devotion. Various cultish pressures are applied to members of his organsiation, Rigpa, including threats of dire psychic consquences if they speak out of school or offend the boss. Largely this seems to have worked -- until now. The link below will take you to a thread on a blog which is in French except for contributions from me. If you can read it, it will update you on Sogyal's ongoing sexual and financial exploitation and abuse.
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troismondes.canalblog.com]
There are now several women willing to testify against Sogyal and it seems that the momentum to put a stop to his activities is gathering pace. If this happens, the ensuing scandal will refelct very badly on Tibetan Buddhism as a whole and the Dalai Lama in particular. I have profound respect for HHDL, but I question his judgement in relation to Sogyal. For the past 2 visits of HHDL to the UK, Sogyal was a guest speaker at the Kalachakra ceremonies. HHDL visited Sogyal's centre in France, Lerab Ling, on two previous occasions and this year opened the Lerab Ling temple -- another of Sogyal's grandiose projects -- in the company of Carla Bruni Sarkozy and the French Foriegn Minister Bernard Kouchnar. HHDL and his advisors are probably naive, but I can't help wondering if Sogyal (a personal multi-millionnaire from the sales of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying) has bought himself into favour.