I made a summery page which summerizes the key points of the controversy surrounding the New Kadampa Tradition, and where there are links for further information:

At A Glance: The Setting of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) / Kadampa Buddhism, Dorje Shugden, and Western Shugden Society

Happy New Year!

Dear TP,

It should be noted that your 'summary' is biased against the NKT and Dorje Shugden practitioners generally.

1. It contains an old version of a Wikipedia article that contained selective quotes from David Kay's Tibetan and Zen Buddhism in Britain: Transplantation, Development and Adaptation, a report that is many years old now and whose conclusions are dated to say that least.

2. The section in lurid red about Dorje Shugden is opinion, not fact. From which academic source did you derive this information? You say:

Quote

"Current followers of the New Kadampa Tradition and their political wing, the Western Shugden Society, portray themselves as “Modern Buddhists”, and the Dalai Lama and mainstream Tibetan Buddhists as “backward traditionalists”...

Firstly, the Western Shugden Society is not related to the NKT and it actually consists of both Tibetan and Western practitioners of Dorje Shugden. It is not the political wing of the NKT. Also, nowhere in Geshe Kelsang's books does he refer to Tibetan Buddhists as backward traditionalists, this is a complete fabrication of your own particular bias. In fact, in Modern Buddhism he says that all traditions of Buddhism are equally precious.

Incredibly, you say:

Quote

Then and now, Shugden practitioners see themselves as superior to other Tibetan Buddhist schools and as the sole representatives of the purest of the Buddha’s teachings. Even though these facts are well known to Indo-Tibetan Buddhist experts, they are rarely reported online.

There's not the slightest grain of truth in this statement, which might even qualify as 'hate speech'. These are not 'facts' but sectarian opinions.

3. The 'Unholy Row' BBC documentary you've included is not the BBC's finest hour and is at best biased, and at times, extremely misleading in content, for example, the part where monks and nuns are shown prostrating to Geshe Kelsang while the 'Guru Founder' prayer is playing in the background. As you know, this is a praise to Buddha Shakyamuni and is never recited while prostrating to Geshe Kelsang, leading to the mistaken conclusion that Geshe Kelsang is worshipped in NKT which is not true. There are many other inaccuracies as well. Given recent events regarding the Jimmy Savile debacle, we know that the BBC is capable of making mistakes: such is the case with this documentary.

I could go on to point out the inaccuracies in the rest of this summary, suffice to say this small sample should encourage the reader to examine it with care and a sceptical mind.

@Lineageholder

You seem to imlpy that the NKT is without fault. I remember back in the mid-90s that several leading NKT members created an astroturfing (i.e. fake grass roots) "human rights group" called the Freedom Foundation with which to pillory the Dalai Lama with spurious human rights abuse claims. They produced fake "independent" reports by a certain "Frank Delaney" (a well-known Irish journalist/broadcaster). When the real Frank Delaney found out he threaten legal action and the whole thing collapsed very quickly. Seems the NKT can do its own dodgy reporting too.

hi..........................................................................

Anyone have info on Geshe Kelsang Gyatso or on the New Kadampa Tradition?

I recently started attending meditation classes given by one of his followers and after a brief google search I'm having doubts about this group.

Thanks.

Quote
johan946
hi..........................................................................

Anyone have info on Geshe Kelsang Gyatso or on the New Kadampa Tradition?

I recently started attending meditation classes given by one of his followers and after a brief google search I'm having doubts about this group.

Thanks.

There are 23 pages about NKT and the Geshe, right here. Help yourself.

oh je, 'lineageholder" its always the same:
everything which doesn't agree with NKT pov is necessarily biased ;-)
What to do? The NKT holds the truth, everybody else must be wrong.

Quote
Lineageholder
Firstly, the Western Shugden Society is not related to the NKT

ha ha ha....good one...as if...

Here are some of the facts which prove this assertion is utter rubbish: (quoted from [www.nktworld.org])

WSS Press Speaker: Kelsang Pema - personal assistant to Gyatso for more than 8 years

Front man at 'WSS protests': Khyenrab - Deputy Spiritual Director of the NKT and Gyatso's heir to take control late summer 2009 (see photo above of Khyenrab posing with NKT's bible, WSS's The Tibetan Situation Today (created at Tharpa, NKT's publisher)

Front woman at 'WSS' protests: Dekyong - National Spiritual Director of NKT USA

Front man at 'WSS' protest: Ananda - National Spiritual Director of NKT Germany

Front man at 'WSS' protest:: Rabten - National Spiritual Director of NKT Australia

FApril 2008 Gyatso email: "as the representative of the Western Shugden Society, I personally will organise demonstrations against the Dalai Lama directly. I requested Kelsang Pema and Kelsang Thubchen to do this job for me and they have accepted."

Gyatso pressure for NKT resident teachers to send students to protest. For example, when Lucy James failed to send any students from Florida to the 'WSS' protest in New York and questioned the propriety of the protests, Gyatso fired her.

**********************

Who the heck does this "Lineageholder" think they are anyway? Lineage holder indeed! Adopting such a proud user name says it all! Claiming a full complete direct realisation of the teachings? Pah! Arrogantpridepersonified would be a far more apt name.

He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool - shun him.

Thank you.

I cannot take "lineage holder" seriously, that's why I tend to ignore what the person writes in the details. Recently someone from the New Kadampa Survivors found out more lies and the facts:

[www.duedil.com]

The Western Shugden Society was set up on 26 Jun 2008 as a ‘Private Limited’ by guarantee with assets, it was registered to a specific address (Studio 177 56 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9RG, United Kingdom.)

Publicly available information lists two NKT centres as “Related Companies” to the Western Shugden Society: The New Kadampa Tradition’s Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre (MMBC) and Tharpaland Kadampa Meditation Centre (TKMC). The same information makes it clear that Susan Mary Jenkins, who is currently a director of the Western Shugden Society, has also been a director of TKMC, while Helen Gradwell has been an officer and director of both ‘companies’, the WSS and MMBC. A number of other WSS directors are also listed, all of whom coincidentally, are relatively senior NKT personnel.

However, Kelsang Pema, the press speaker and the WSS claimed they would have "no leader nor registered office”. What a bunch of lies …
The current book value of the company is: 25,372 GBP.

You find more details with the respective links here:
[info-buddhism.com]

PS:

BTW the NKT has removed the realated companies entry at [www.duedil.com]
What has been deleted is the following information:

Quote
Related Companies

Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre
Susan Mary Jenkins has been an officer of both
companies.

Tharpaland Kadampa Meditation Centre
Helen Gradwell has been an officer of both
companies.

As expected this type of manipulation I made a PDF copy [info-buddhism.com]

HERE IS A LIST OF WSS DIRECTORS-ALL NKT


SHOWING ALL DIRECTORSHIPS
NAME & FUNCTION STATUS PORTFOLIO

Ms Susan Mary Jenkins (born 56 years ago)
Director
26 Jun 2008 — Present (4 years, 7 months, 12 days)
Open
Open1
Retired1
Closed0

Ms Deirdre Gail Lofters (born 58 years ago)
Director, Teacher
01 Dec 2010 — Present (2 years, 2 months, 7 days)
Open
Open1
Retired0
Closed0

Ms Lisa Mcgovern
Company Secretary
01 Dec 2010 — Present (2 years, 2 months, 7 days)
Open
Open1
Retired0
Closed0

Mr John Alexander Berrie (born 51 years ago)
Director, Hotel Worker
01 Dec 2009 — 30 Nov 2010 (11 months, 29 days)
Retired
Open0
Retired1
Closed0

Ms Helen Gradwell (born 40 years ago)
Company Secretary
18 Apr 2009 — 10 Jun 2010 (1 year, 1 month, 22 days)
Retired
Open0
Retired3
Closed0

Ms Rosemary Elizabeth Mcdaniel (born 36 years ago)
Director, Manager
17 Apr 2009 — 30 Nov 2009 (7 months, 13 days)
Retired
Open0
Retired2
Closed0

Ms Helen Gradwell (born 40 years ago)
Director, Development Director
26 Jun 2008 — 17 Apr 2009 (9 months, 21 days)
Retired
Open0
Retired3
Closed0
1 to 7 of 7



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 02/17/2013 06:43PM by Tenzin Peljor.

Quote
Tenzin Peljor
Thank you.

I cannot take "lineage holder" seriously, that's why I tend to ignore what the person writes in the details.

Thank you Tenzin. Good for you. Yet you manage to shun these fools so politely. Well done and well said every time!
I have enjoyed reading your well-informed, measured responses to these wilfully blind, fanatical NKT idiots. You are a paragon of patience :-) Unlike myself - my inclination is always to go for the jugular, which is probably not very smart. LOL

Quote
Tenzin Peljor
Kelsang Pema, the press speaker and the WSS claimed they would have "no leader nor registered office”. What a bunch of lies …

...indeed. Yet these hypocritical liars have the sheer effrontery to call NKT whistle-blowers and detractors liars! Such hypocrisy! And they even have the quite unbelievable effrontery to call the Dalai Lama a liar and hypocrite too, when this is exactly what they are. Pot, kettle, black. It's so obvious to anyone with half a brain too.

Speaking of people with half a brain, I was watching a video of the conflict in New York in 2008 and when the camera panned to the faces of the KG "monks" demonstrating, most of them looked half-embarrassed and half-lobotimized. At that moment I actually felt compassion (and not just fury) for those poor brain-washed souls who found themselves on the front line of that truly shameful picket. Some who have since come to their senses and escaped the brainwashed fog that they were trapped in, have expressed their shame and embarrassment at having been so duped and foolish to take part in the protests too. Good for them. I pray that the rest of them will soon acquire enough strength to realise and admit their folly, return to a path of true dharma and escape the clutches of the degenerate apostate Kelsang Gyatso.

The amount of crazyness is quite beyond common sense. NKT managed to get even researcher involved in their business, and a comment is made about the honesty of the subjects as they, ‘have all taken vows for life to abstain from lying and only speak the truth’. Uhh.

for details see:
NKT monks beat retreat over wind farm – from Tharpaland to Schloss Sommerswalde