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pema
Its a bit like the Hippocratic Oath for doctors -- journalists never reveal their sources.
Pema

Precisely- as in, it's an accepted convention for informants to remain anonymous if they wish.

With respect Kath -- you are telling grandma how to suck eggs! Some interviewees can be quoted anonymously or with changed names, but to give an item of this nature credibility, some victims would have to be willing to use their real names. I've been through the hoops on this story already -- as previously mentioned. It was eventually rejected because no victims were willing to go on record.
Pema

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pema
With respect Kath -- you are telling grandma how to suck eggs! Some interviewees can be quoted anonymously or with changed names, but to give an item of this nature credibility, some victims would have to be willing to use their real names. I've been through the hoops on this story already -- as previously mentioned. It was eventually rejected because no victims were willing to go on record.
Pema

pema - so we see you are digging up dirt on CH so you can publish an exposé and get journalistic brownie points for doing so - that's fine, except that you have come on a "cult education forum" asking people for their stories, making claims against someone without supplying any evidence

if you want to create a groundswell of interest and indignation then you must supply some kind of evidence - we all know this is an anonymous forum, and we all know that anonymous evidence isn't admissible as legal evidence, but again, the point of this forum is not to convict anyone, it is to EDUCATE - and so far, as the originator of the thread, you are most remiss in this matter

if you supply anonymous information you are not breaking any “journalistic code” because you are not revealing “sources” – and there is a way to communicate basic facts that doesn’t reveal any particulars

There's plenty iof evidence in this thread Vaidya --why are you picking on me? Several people have given graphic accounts of their experiences with CH -- some of them positive, some chillingly negative. I started the thread in the hope that this would happen. It has -- but not in a manner which will facilitate effective media exposure. If some people are *educated* as a result of the exchanges here, that's a bonus which I welcome and endorse. It seems you have a personal axe to grind. Can I suggest that you disengage your ego and allow your heart to open?
Pema

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pema
There's plenty iof evidence in this thread Vaidya --why are you picking on me? Several people have given graphic accounts of their experiences with CH -- some of them positive, some chillingly negative. I started the thread in the hope that this would happen. It has -- but not in a manner which will facilitate effective media exposure. If some people are *educated* as a result of the exchanges here, that's a bonus which I welcome and endorse. It seems you have a personal axe to grind. Can I suggest that you disengage your ego and allow your heart to open?
Pema

as a supposed contributor you hold your cards awfully close to your chest - i am not "picking" on you and nor do i have some "axe" to grind - the reason i participate is to share and learn

its clear that you started the thread for a "proprietary" predetermined purpose, but what is confusing to me is the time you have taken to "confirm" negative contributions but either remained silent or attacked positive or at least neutral experiences

it hardly speaks to the journalistic integrity that you lay claim to

Pema,
What Vaidya says, from my perspective anyway, is about reinforcing your own credibility. Since you have offered no real information on the forum, only telling people you have all this evidence, yet stating no specifics as others have done, I , for one, have actually wondered if you really are a journalist. How would we know? You could simply be a disenchanted or bitter ex-client, out to discredit CH.

No one is "picking on you" as I see it. But Vaidya makes a valid point: information that you have gathered that is not confidential, would encourage others to contribute. I think journalists have to declare who they write for, or in some way identify themselves...but I will check with sources that know this for a fact.

If you want people to trust you, especially on a subject such as this where public trust has been sadly abused, or so it would appear, it's important to be scrupulous about your own credibility.

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HDM
Dear Moderator and Group,

Where is the private reply link? I'm afraid I don't understand how to do this.

Is it realistic to think that something can be made public that will alert those who need to be alerted? I have an email list of everyone on the courses I took, and I know most of the attendees anyway. But he isn't hosting any more courses (PLEASE tell me the courses have stopped!) and this isn't going to get on CNN. So, is it a dried up issue now? Pema, what do you see being a likelihood?

The man will move to another country and do it again.

His Tibetan chanting is not in the current Tibetan language, I know that much. I went with a Tibetan woman to a course and she recognized only names of gods in the chants. Don't have any idea what he was saying and that's eerie because chants can have power. His knowledge of Buddhism is very wrong also as her husband was a scholar of 13th C Buddhism who was having a fit at what CH was saying. He studies enough to look smart. Mind like a steel trap. He IS smart, in the scary way.

I had a huge vision in one course and darned if he didn't know everything I saw and finished my sentences and described everything when we were talking afterwards.. He can read minds, I'm sure, and somehow sees what everyone in the course is doing. It was very disappointing to realize how twisted he is because I was enjoying the shamanic dream. It is still reassuring to me to know that such siddhis are possible; I've always believed in magic and can now always say I saw some in action. And I have met other, much more principled masters since, very refreshing.

I also had an"enlightenment" shakti-blast. I fell off the chair and had a headache for a day. I had a strong increase in clairvoyance for months. Thanks for that, CH, but I need honourable teachers.

He is a shaman, I still feel sure, but one who is lost and will have a lot to account for. Deflected kundalini sounds about right. Avoid him. Powerful and unprincipled. Psychic as all hell and knows things about you that only you know. Compassionate when it suits him only. Part of the gig, too, to be compassionate and play the part. I rather suspect he believes this by now.

In the meantime, there are people who have gotten gall stones from ridiculous dietary advice, heart conditions worsened, people advised to get divorced, quit their job, sell their house (not all the same person!), take unsuitable herbs, spend money on treatments that didn't work...Yes he did help some. But he's a loose cannon. Who is NOT a doctor. His psychic abilities do not extend to medical matters. Every physical diagnosis he gave was starkly wrong.

It could make a good TV show.

A fascinating guy.

thanks for sharing your experiences HDM
very interesting indeed - it confirms a lot for me

i want to add something that i mentioned privately to someone else on the forum, FWIW

it may be unfair to judge CH against the background of western humanist-psychiatric principles - i say that if we are to judge him lets try and do it according to traditional tibetan medicine, against the tradition he lays claim to

it seems to me that CH suffers from his actions, from the lies he tells, from the people he confuses or hurts - it catches up with him, and it brings him sorrow and misery that is tangible and easily seen

his behavior then can be seen as a kind of disorder, and in tibetan medicine such disorders, if not caused by some internal factor such as the vitiation of rlung (wind) or another humor, are caused by extrinsic factors - i.e. certain spirits ("demons" / asuras) etc. (18 in total) that in essence take over the personality, making the person still human, but not quite a "person" at all

for more info see: [www.newyuthok.it]

interesting that what CH claims to be is in some respect the disorder he would be suffering from: some kind of supramundane nonperson force, in this case he says a "thunder" being, but the actual diagnosis would have to be made by an expert

i still would like to hear something of dorje's testimony, some kind of picture of the way CH used to be before he "thought" up the tibetan schtick - this would truly educate and give perspective to a missing chunk of the story - drinking wine, getting "sacked" from Philips and "losing it" just doesn't do it for me...

i would like to add that processes such as kundalini disorders can underlie mental disorders in tibetan medicine, if not in a strict sense (since "kundalini" is an indian concept) at least generally, as this energtic disruption allows for extrinsic "influences" to gain easier access to the person, - i have seen this with other people more obviously suffering and struggling with the phenomena (as the "emergence" disorder in DSMIV), but so far none were/are never strong or capable enough to control it to the same degree as CH can

also interesting that what is a reasonable recommendation for many suffering from a spiritual emergence disorder is that they shamanize...

to HDMs comments i would also like to add as an experience that his siddhis may go beyond simple temporal mind reading and emotional mirroring - he also seems to be able to see a person's energy matrix remotely, without knowing and/or actually seeing the person - of course, perhaps in some cases (which we are discussing), very little benefit to the person except making them susceptible to his influence, and hence, to harm

it goes to show why siddhis, like a drug, fascinate, but they are still maya, still part of the illusion

HDMs advice to seek mature teachers is well taken, but i am tempted to ask him/her for a frank assessment of such teachers, to see if they to have revealed such power that CH can display, and if not, at what point could s/he tell if their words aren't really just platitudes to experiences never had... herein lies the dilemma for humans with short lives

chop wood carry water, or roar like a lion...?
ethics isn't the only baseline for spiritual development

"His Tibetan chanting is not in the current Tibetan language, I know that much. I went with a Tibetan woman to a course and she recognized only names of gods in the chants. Don't have any idea what he was saying and that's eerie because chants can have power. His knowledge of Buddhism is very wrong also as her husband was a scholar of 13th C Buddhism who was having a fit at what CH was saying."

The thing about Mr. Hansard is that the language he claims to use is a mysterious shamanic language called Kapi, that only he claims to know. True to form of traditional shamans, he will probably only ever pass it on to one other person (that is, assuming it really exists). That's the problem with oral traditions isn't it. One person forgets something, or dies, or makes a mistake and it vanishes.

There is also a huge difference between pre-Bhuddist Bon, Tibetan Bhuddism and Bhuddism. The pre-Bhuddist Bon Hansard claims knowledge of is clearly Magical-Shamanic-North Asian in origin and thus can't be compared to anything Bhuddist really. Tibetan Bhuddism took some of the traditions of the indigenous Bon culture which itself was imported, and mixed it with the Bhuddism that was to eventually bring peace to the land. I think many Tibetan Bhuddists would greatly dislike Hansard in the end because he is reminiscent of those psychic warriors of the days prior to Bhuddism. Don't forget that the the favourite Tibetan story is about the eventual transformation of an evil black magician into a Bhuddist master. Regardless of whether that story is true, it is a perfect metaphor for what happened to Tibet.

Hansard's arrogance, if it continues, will do him in in the end. Being the secretive tribal shaman is a role that has reached its end in history. All secrets must be revealed. That is the nature of these times.

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pema
Hello again,
There is doubt around Hansard's qualifications in Tibetan medicine. I don't want to go into detail here, but I checked this out when I was investigating his activities several years ago. There are many strands to the Hansard scenario. Certainly the ones you mention figure prominently, but there are more.
Pema

Dear Pema,
This is my first posting on this forum.
I knew Christopher Hansard in New Zealand when I was a teenager and in my 20’s. For several years I have felt I should inform someone that Christopher’s claims regarding his background, for example, are false. I am relieved to see that he is being exposed at last, at least on this forum. I feel he has abused people’s trust and has to be stopped.

Hello Lorenzetti, and welcome to the forum. Could you say a little more about what you know of Mr. Hansard's background? Also, do you have any thoughts in respect to what might have caused him to create the particular myth about himself that he did?