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suenam
Actually that sounds like a good idea, however - what would then become of the (claimed) 700,000 DWB members?
I think this idea may work if it is a 'bluff' to shake DWB out of their complacency, however I can't see how Shamar's hand is strong enough if Nydahl chooses to call it.
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warrenzQuote
suenam
Actually that sounds like a good idea, however - what would then become of the (claimed) 700,000 DWB members?
I think this idea may work if it is a 'bluff' to shake DWB out of their complacency, however I can't see how Shamar's hand is strong enough if Nydahl chooses to call it.
Where did you get the claimed 700,000 figure from? I have never seen a membership numbers claim before for DWB. That would mean each of DWB's supposed 600 centres has an average of 1100 members. BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
My guess is that the majority of DWB centres are in members homes and have only a handful of regulars. Actual rented or owned properties are less than 100 or maybe even less than 50 (and total centres in continual existence for more than 5 yrs more like 200-300). Only the big centres in major cities might have more than 100 members and only the biggest 2-3 might something approaching 1000. I would reckon that DWB has 10,000 members worldwide at the very most. Not even big powerful and successful Tibetan Buddhist groups like the FMPT or the NKT would claim numbers even remotely close to what DWB claim.
In Karma Guen we were in 2000 that came from all over the world. I asked about the number of course participants. In New York, 50 participants. Throughout Italy are 100 participants. Seville and Granada are 20. In France there is only one center in Paris about 20 people. In South America, the centers have an average of 10-15 people. The centers more numerous are in eastern Europe. In Hungary there is a center with 100 members.
You are right about Shamarpa and Ole, only power and glory. Really EGO.
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Personally, I think it's important to differentiate between the person of the teacher and the teaching itself. As I said in one of my earliest posts, Nydahl as an individual is not the issue here, it is the fact that he carries such influence and claims to represent true Dharma.
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suenam
My mistake, the figure was 70,000.
[www.globalbuddhism.org]
- "For example, in Germany - one of the countries with the largest number of Diamond Way followers - the German Buddhist Union (DBU) estimates that the number of regular visitors of Diamond Way centers and groups is 20,000.(9) The German Diamond Way umbrella association "Buddhistischer Dachverband Diamantweg", or BDD, estimates its (paying) memberships at 6,000.(10) As of October 2008, the Diamond Way Buddhist Network News (DWBN news) e-mail list has 10,000 subscribers.(11) A total of 4,500 participants attended the 2008 international meditation course at the newly purchased "Europe-Center."(12) Nydahl himself has stated that he has given one of his trademark special teachings, the transference of consciousness at the moment of death (Tibetan: 'pho ba), to around 70,000 people."
Even here I suspect that Nydahl's figure has counted the same people several times. Nydahl's wikipedia page suggests 15,000 to 70,000 as a conservative estimate. My experience was that only a small percentage of regular visitors were actually fully paid up members, so although your figure of 10,000 may be right for the core members, I think there are many more on the periphery.
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Alexander Nevsky
Suenam, Burkhard Scherer is one of diamondway teachers:
[diamondway.org.au]
[info-buddhismus.de]
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Sceptic Watcher
Whenever Ole says anything that may not be construed as Buddhist, he clearly points out that it is his personal opinion. For example, when he makes political comments, he says beforehand that this is his personal opinion and that Buddha could not have had an opinion on that matter.
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Sceptic Watcher
I think that despite him teaching Dharma correctly, he is a bad teacher because all those other factors don't match. It's the same as with many other gurus who claim crazy wisdom (see Chögyam Trungpa, Ösel Tendzin).