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PeterLondon
I even had an angry phone call from Steve James demanding that I return her "stolen" credit card, something which I clearly knew nothing about, but I was told to take a break and not come to the centre for a while.

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~*~ k a t e ~*~
DWB trustee Steve James has denied the organisation is Islamophobic and hailed the development as a way of protecting the historic building.

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suenam
It is unsurprising that the Steve James quote, "I don’t need to promote my own importance, they are doing it for me," echoes similar samsaric preoccupations to Nydahl himself.

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suenam
i agree with the quote from Kate (from my personal experience) that there are a few power-mad leaders in the London sangha. dafydd moriss, steve james, and maya mueller stuck out to me, i'm wondering who the other two are though.

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Mark_Panama
Whether these decisions were entirely his own or was he misguided and misinformed by Steven James is not entirely clear. There is a substantial body of evidence of James’ manipulative involvement, nevertheless it is difficult to know to which extend he was a factor in Ole’s decision making process.

Ole Nydahl if you don’t come clear on the Dublin issue this will not go away. The best for you is to admit you made a mistake and to apologise. Swallow your pride. It is in your own well understood self interest.

Steven James’ story is a sad one. I used to like him as a teacher and he was among my favourites. Sadly it now became clear that he did manipulate and did alter Hannah Nydahl’s decisions relating Dublin after her death. So we need to ask ourselves a question of what position does he think he has in the diamondway and the real role he is playing. That’s very sad.

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~*~ k a t e ~*~
from DWC

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Steven James should not be a Buddhist teacher because he has done damage to people.
He is not mature person enough for that job.
He wants religious power and he can really go extra mile to hurt those who are obstacles on his way to achieve it.
Probably the Charity Commission will not do much. There is little they can do against a person who abuses power within religious communities.

I also recall a post by Dariusb about a woman who was told she had no right to come to the London centre. However I cannot find this post to quote it.


Enough is Enough.

Hi,
I am seriously thinking of writing a complaint about Steven James to Charity Commission and to Lambeth Council.
I want to describe my personal experiences with this teacher as well as include stories of other people.
I want to focus on following issues:
1.Abuse of power and his position as a buddhist teacher.
2.Exclusion of Sangha members. I want to focus on exclusions that took place in London as well as on exclusions in other cities that Steven James took part in.
3.Use of a mailing list with intention to defame and ostracise Sangha members.

Have you got any personal experiences or have you ever witnessed any such situation happening to others?

I will most appreciate if you could please share your stories with me and we can seriously start working together on building up a case. I really feel the time has come.
I will be grateful for your involvement. Please contact me on this forum via a private message and if you choose to give your real name, I guarantee you, it is going to remain private.

Are there any other regulatory bodies do you think that we can involve?

Ah yes, Nydahl's ability to create rainbows ...

This was often mentioned as validation of his enlightened/superhuman powers. I used to try and explain to people that it was just 'weather'. As with so many people who make claims for superhuman abilities one just has to perform them under controlled conditions and that will bring an end to any doubts someone might have.

If you can read someones mind then you should be able to do it upon request and achieve 100% results all the time. If you can manifest rainbows then you should be able to also produce one upon request and not wait until the right atmospheric conditions come along.

We all like a little mystery. I enjoy watching Derren Brown but he makes it clear that he uses illusion, slight of hand and psychology to perform his miracles. Nydahl's followers will not see reason on this issue. No matter how many times you tell them that his miracles are a little too hit and miss they refuse to refute the claims to his special abilities.

I've told the story before but I'll tell it again. When Nydahl was in Liverpool I performed a trick with coins. One of the girls present was convinced it was because of Nydahl's 'powerfield'. Even after I showed her how I was doing the trick she refused to believe that Nydhal's 'powerfield' had no bearing on the result. Some people are more easily led than others and I often suspected that DWB had a disproportionate number of them in it's ranks.

Steve

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~*~ k a t e ~*~
I guess if you are brainwashed enough to believe that Ole Nydahl is a Lama, a tulku, and that he can switch rainbows on in the sky (yes I've read hate mail to former members saying that!), then disregarding/ignoring/mentally blanking out police evidence is a small feat...

"Space is Information" was another favourite DWB maxim which turns the clarity of Buddhism into some new-age nonsense.

I did a search of that phrase and found this from Nydahl [www.kagyu-asia.com] which starts off with some sound Buddhist ideas...

- "The success of one’s life depends on the degree to which one manages to dissolve the superficial perception of a separation between experiencer, experience and object experienced."
- "The interaction between the ‘I’ and the ‘you’ results in the disturbing feelings that are taken to be real and lead to clumsy words and actions."

Consider Nydahl's take on Islam and we see that by his own admission his stance is "superficial" and "clumsy", but as we read further, the clear space of the non-conceptual mind seems to get increasingly obscured by "Information" until finally we end up with,

"If space as information, (truth) is compared to humidity, all-pervading but invisible, then space as spontaneous play (bliss) would be the clouds and space as meaningful action, compassion, would be the rain that makes things grow. In spite of the perceived differences they are all water. This then is like the fourth, Essential State. Together, these four states are a perfectly functioning mind."

Compare that with a similar but far clearer metaphor from Tilopa, the founder of the Kagyu lineage on the same subject of Mahamudra,

"Mists rise from the earth and vanish into space.
They go nowhere, nor do they stay.
Likewise, though thoughts arise,
Whenever you see your mind, the clouds of thinking clear."

It seems pretty clear that Nydahl's emphasis on the "clouds" of thought stands in stark contrast to Tilopa's clarity.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2012 01:13AM by suenam.

I would encourage the above about contacting the charity commission. I did this some time ago but never received a response. The diamond way cult is a money-making scheme, and the fact it has charity status is a huge disrespect to all those genuine charities. It seems as though charities are accepted unless anyone objects. However, with enough complaints, organisations can have their status revoked. The case of Edward Penney AKA Edo Shonin, who had his revoked, is a good example.

Click here to make a complaint:
[www.charitycommission.gov.uk]

Charity registration number: 1093406.
Name: "DIAMOND WAY BUDDHISM UK"



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2012 04:44AM by ~*~ k a t e ~*~.

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SteveLpool
Ah yes, Nydahl's ability to create rainbows ...

Yep, he can manifest rainbows but can’t sleep alone, sounds like a neighbour of mine's 6 year old son a few years back, but he grew out of it.

"Space as information" was one I often heard used to justify all kinds of magical thinking, but my personal favourite was, "Big dogs don’t bark" (except at Muslims).

I think the use of catchphrases is one of the reasons DWB is seen by the Buddhist community as a bit of a joke. It also happens to be a convenient way of avoiding the need for consistency, like when Nydahl sees the plight of African and Middle Eastern nations as karma but views the plight of Buddhism in what is now Pakistan as an injustice and an old score that he personally wants to settle. It looks like it’s far easier to be philosophical about things when they are happening to someone else.

Dear Everyone,

I would like to say congratulation to those people who gave me a courage to come out with my real identity. More and more people are using their own name to explain what experience they had instead of hiding.
So my name is Adrienn V. and let me tell you my story.

I joined DWB in 2007 when Karmapa was here. My really good friend help me when south centre in Herne Hill was still functioning. My friend and her boyfriend was living there with another coulpe who was Maya Muller and Steve James and her son Juri. In the beginning everything was good i had spent many weekends in the centre having great fun. The centre started to have more and more importance in London and the power game started as well.
Everyone needed to listen and put their head down in front of Maya whereas Steve's position was like a puppet who was moving how Maya was ordering it.
So arguments started, my friend needed to move out ugly accusations were heard and suddenly a new couple Jacek and Miriam moved into their place. The hierarchy was fulfilled with this move , Maya was extremely happy everybody was doing what she wanted.
Why i wrote this down? To understand really my situation. I was new i had doubts i had questions and i was a person who was still checking out if this was for me or not. People were nice but what i started to realise that everything was really one sided -we were only talking about just the buddhist group and Ole and nothing else. There was time when Ole came and he lived in the centre and we needed to clean repaint!!!! the whole centre and even redo the wooden floor as well. Question is who paid for that. I had questions - why do we need to do this, why is it so important as he will spend here just two nights here? The answer was rude looks on their face -But this is OLE!-was the answer.
When first time i went to Ole's lecture i never felt anything i found it ridicoulus other people attitude -running after him even just to get an accidental touch from him. Listening to his lectures i had no clue what was he talking about it. He made extremely complicated sentences that people would think he is so clever. Since than i listened and met with various and well respected Lama's where their speech were clear easily understandable.
His comments on Islam and muslims made me so furious but i never had a strenghts to stand up and say it out loud -shut up it is not why i came here. Within the group hate towards different cultures or different religions were blossoming.
Especially towards muslims.
The other thing is the acceptance of cheating on each other even when we are a couple. I never forget when Maya got engaged to Steve and Steve said to her -dont forget we are yogis -meaning to her it is never sure that they will stay together or being faithful to each other. She was laughing at this -for me it was shocking and more and more i felt something was really wrong.
So that was the circumstances of the south sangha.

My story ended with them when it was obvious more and more that i am not able to put my head down in front them. The last strow was when i went to Karmapa's meeting in Royal Albert Hall with my one year old daughter. The system within DWB that mothers with their child not aloud go inside the hall just watch through everything via the TV.
In this occassion the TV was not working and i paid the money so i thought i have a right to listen or see what is going on. I went in and after a while my daughter started to cry so i left the room and went outside.
The eyes of the organisers were on me, looking at me apperently already "checking up on me".

Few weeks later we went with my boyfriend who is Darius to the Holborn Centre where Daffyd Morris came to me and said you have to leave now with your child and you are never welcomed here anymore.
I was not able to defend myself everything happened that i did not understand at all. They turned to Darius and said to him he can stay he is welcomed but not me or my one year old daughter. So he participated with me and we all left closing a big chapter behind us.
The reason was -how later i found out -they were sure that i made my child to cry purposly during the Karmapa's meetings. The other things were problem as well that i was questioning many things as well.

Since than (recently) we went to Appenweier to see Karmapa and i was really surprised as children were accepted in the hall. Karmapa was not disturbed by the fact that children was running around and even sometimes balloons popped. He just had a smile on his face.

I have no any bad feelings because i left the group even more, i am glad i was able to open my eyes. Now i am still a buddhist following Sharmapa and believe in the fact that Ole is not the right person.

If someone has any questions i am happy to answer or even tell more things about what happened would be very happy to do that.

One more things. When i was part of the group i thought i had friends who i trusted -but after i was kicked out NO ONE came no one asked no one ever called. This showed and explained everything how brainwashed they are.

Thank you for reading this

Hi Adrienn,
Thanks for sharing what happened, it's good to hear that you've moved on to a better situation.

Everyone needed to listen and put their head down in front of Maya whereas Steve's position was like a puppet who was moving how Maya was ordering it.

Many people have pointed out just how easy it is for the women to manipulate the situation in the DWB dynamic. The idea that the women need protecting, as Kate pointed out, implies that they are weak and dependent, so what happens in the case of Maya and Steve when those roles are reversed? I think the word "puppet" describes it perfectly.
I'm not surprised that Maya laughed, it does sound like a joke for two of the most conformist and unimaginative people to describe themselves as "yogis". It does seem that a result of Ole's love of stereotyping the people who conform best to his stereotypes make the best progress in DWB.

My story ended with them when it was obvious more and more that i am not able to put my head down in front them.

I think this captures well the group pressure to conform which I also found to be quite oppressive. The issue was not "crazy yogi wisdom" but the opposite, with a lot of pressure to conform to a very dull vision of domestication and an acceptance of the hierarchy with no tolerance of diversity. Puritanical is the word that comes to mind.

He made extremely complicated sentences that people would think he is so clever

I found this was really noticeable in the question and answer sessions where someone would ask a very simple question to get some clarification of the Dharma and after 20 seconds of Ole's rambling, even the person asking had forgotten what the question was. It was just an exercise in self-indulgence where Ole's opinion seemed more important than his student's understanding of Dharma.

So arguments started, my friend needed to move out ugly accusations were heard and suddenly a new couple Jacek and Miriam moved into their place. The hierarchy was fulfilled with this move , Maya was extremely happy everybody was doing what she wanted.

I'm wondering what happened here and what were the reasons given. Was it because of something connected to Dharma or to DWB politics, or just because of Maya's personal preferences?

Best Wishes,
Peter.

Hi Adriennv.

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry to hear your all too familiar story.

Your story prompted me to mention a couple of other things. When Karmapa came to bless the house in Liverpool, which doubles as the centre, we were all asked to put in extra hours to make the house look amazing. This meant painting, cleaning and performing more building work on areas of the house that Karmapa wouldn't see. For me this meant stripping paint of walls and gates and repainting them, cleaning windows inside and out and gardening even though Karmapa wasn't going to see the garden, examine the windows or look at the gates. At the time I thought it was just a ploy by the leaders to get us working on their house for no payment but I went along with at as I lived in the house at the time and I would have been driven insane by the leaders complaints about how nobody helped around the centre and that he and his wife did all the work.

I had several 'friends' at the centre but when I was asked to leave only one has ever bothered to stay in touch. As a parting gift I gave all my Dharma books to one 'friend', probably over £100 worth of books, and he's never bothered to stay in contact. I suspect because he was told how 'confused' he has been convinced contact with me was a bad idea.

Nydahl rarely gives a straight answer to a question. I also commented on how every lecture was the same. They would change the title of the lectures to trick people into thinking they were going to recieve some new 'wisdom' but, when the lecture was delivered it was the same old tales of Karmapa reading his mind, him being an emanation of Mahakala, how Muslims and Africans were evil, how liberation is like putting your fingers in an electric socket, how he fought the Chinese in a past life ... and so on. If you've been to at least five of his lectures you'll know what I'm talking about. I raised the issue once when I refused to spend money on travelling and attending a lecture in London (for which I was put on a guilt trip). I told the leader that I'd heard the lecture at least 10 times so I wasn't going to 'waste' my money. He snapped back at me, "Yes, but did you understand everything?" to which I replied that it wouldn't matter how many lectures I attended I would never understand what he was talking about because it didn't make any sense!

But you are right. Keep your head down and you'll be OK but for me Buddhism is about challenging and asking questions. The leader of the Liverpool centre often regurgitated Ole's comments about "check something once or twice and after you are happy with your understanding then don't waste your energy checking things in the future". This is very cultish advice. It's basically telling you to just accept what you are told. I commented that if I start walking over a frozen lake I don't just check the first two or three steps then just wrecklessly stride across. Just because the ice's integrity was good for the first few steps doesn't mean it will remain that way for the duration of your crossing.

Anyway, I'm glad you have left DWB behind you. I might have some questions about Shamarpa for you later though if that's OK?

Steve

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adriennv
One more things. When i was part of the group i thought i had friends who i trusted -but after i was kicked out NO ONE came no one asked no one ever called. This showed and explained everything how brainwashed they are.
Thank you for reading this

Thank you Adrienn for your contributions. I hope you are well and I am glad to hear that you had such a strong support in your partner.
Those experiences are very, very bitter. They hurt psychologically and spiritually too.

I want to collect reports from people who were excluded from diamond way centers. I want to write how it happened and who did it.

I have no doubts whatsoever that Steve James was involved in every single exclusion which took place both in UK and Ireland.

Those facts have to become public. One can only wonder whether he did it single handedly or was Maya Muller a driving force behind those exclusions.

Where are these excluded people now? What happened to them and how did they handle those horrifying experiences? Where are they? What happened to their families? Have they ended up as patients of psychiatric institutions unable to handle the trauma that happened to them? Were they excluded solely by a management or did they become victims of a lynching crowd prior to their exclusions?

Everyone reading this blog, please help me to bring those facts to light. Facts of inhumane, cruel treatment of innocent people who came to diamond way centers in a genuine search and with a genuine need of spirituality.

Here is a cult member in Columbia after doing the Phowa. Where is the famous injury to the head?

[www.flickr.com]

If you click on the picture you can see it larger. The original caption is as follows:

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Lama Ole Nydahl checks the results of the Meditation on Conscious Dying (tib. Phowa) he gave during the last days.

Through the meditation on "conscious dying" you get the opportunity to work intensively with the process of your own death. Buddhist teachings contain very precise descriptions on the process of dying, death and the stages between death and rebirth. Many teachers and meditation masters have also had a lot of experience with the process of dying.

In the meditation practice one learns to transfer consciousness at the moment of death into a state of highest bliss. Lama Ole has taught more than 80,000 people Phowa, which takes place about 10 times a year worldwide and includes an explanation about death and rebirth.

So Ole... where is this 'result' of the Phowa? There's no injury to his head whatsoever.

On the left of this picture is also Ole Nydahl's mistress Caty Hartung.

Here's another picture (from Poland) of Ole and Caty checking heads again. This time from the front angle, perhaps to hide the lack of evidence?

[www.flickr.com]

I spoke to many people who had been to Phowa courses and each time asked them to show me this head wound, and each time there wasn't one. Apparently even after one day, such a head injury had healed perfectly.

On the subject of 'protecting women', for Ole to say this given his views on women is ridiculous. I remember once seeing an article on the Diamond Way Cult blog (since removed due to a legal threat by the cult itself) where Ole had sent a letter to a journalist who he felt had written an article that didn't show him in a good enough light. Unfortunately for Ole, the journalist went ahead and published his threatening letter, also. What I remember however is the phrase Ole used to attack the journalist. "She is pretty but suffers from mental illness." This now only shows that the tactic of calling detractors mentally ill comes right from the top, but perfectly illustrates Ole Nydahl's views of women. They are only good for looking pretty and having sex with, as far as he is concerned. He regards a woman's worth as being what they can offer a man in terms of eye candy and sexual pleasure.

I also wonder if these 'courses' are held in remote locations where people have to camp out in tents (although not Ole Nydahl and entourage of course!) as a way to aid the brainwashing. It takes people out of their comfort zones and out of the ordinary and may also induce a slight sleep deprivation with the sleeping in tents and the late night partying.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2012 09:06PM by ~*~ k a t e ~*~.