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A senior monk at Kagyu Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist centre near Dijon in France, has become the first ordained lama in the developed world to be imprisoned. Lama Tempa Dargye is being held in provisional detention, following allegations of rape and sexual violence by four women. One woman alleged that she was aged nine when she was raped. French police have also launched an investigation into financial irregularities at the centre.

Kagyu Ling was founded in 1976 by the late Kalu Rinpoche, in response to a surge of interest in Tibetan Buddhism among western spiritual seekers. Kalu Rinpoche died in 1989. Within the last two years his reincarnation, the present Kalu Rinpoche, has assumed responsibility for the institutions set up by his predecessor. But during Kalu's childhood the situation at Kagyu Ling allegedly deteriorated to the point where it no longer functioned as a Buddhist centre. The young Kalu sacked Lama Tempa and five other resident Bhutanese monks, replacing them with westerners and a "collegiate" system of control and responsibility.

Controversy over Kagyu Ling might then have died down – except for the fact that a woman known as Sandrine decided to tell her story of rape and sexual violence to the gendarmerie. At first she was a lone voice, but recently three more women decided to testify; Lama Tempa was arrested and the police investigation is ongoing.

The events at Kagyu Ling are currently making headlines in France, but Tibet-watchers worldwide are aware that many more scandals have surfaced since the lamas fled their homeland in the late 1950s, following the Chinese takeover of Tibet. Some examples: in America followers of the late Trungpa Rinpoche were horrified to learn that his appointed successor, the late Thomas Rich appeared to have infected several people with HIV.

In 1994 the high-profile lama Sogyal Rinpoche was sued in California for sexual assault by a woman known as Janice Doe. The suit was settled out of court with substantial damages paid to the plaintiff. Rumours about Sogyal's sexual exploits have circulated on the internet ever since. In Canberra, Australia, a respected Tibetan guru called Lama Choedak was forced to make a public apology after multiple affairs with his female students came to light.

In the UK Michael Lyons, aka Mohan Singh, is serving 10 years in prison after being convicted of rape. He posed as a Tibetan lama, but had no authentic qualifications. The followers of an American, Geshe Michael Roach, ordained as a Tibetan monk, attracted media attention when one of them died in bizarre circumstances after being ejected from a three-year retreat at a remote mountain centre in Arizona. "Michael Roach teaches an extremely exaggerated, and from a Buddhist perspective somewhat dubious, form of tantrism," says Lama Jampa Thaye, an Englishman from Manchester who has been teaching Tibetan Buddhism for more than 30 years.

The Shangri La factor is undoubtedly significant in the explosion of interest in Tibetan Buddhism around the world. The Dalai Lama's Nobel prize and his saintly reputation is another. His Holiness has an impressive track record in favour of nonviolence and as a champion of human rights – and he has warned against being seduced into Tibetan Buddhism by its exotic tantric aura, with hints of arcane sexual practices. Although he has never named and shamed any individual lama, he has recently publicly acknowledged that "some tulkus have behaved badly". He also cautions against rushing into commitment to a lama. "In Tibet", he says, "it could take 12 years before a lama-disciple relationship was established." He points out that it is a big responsibility and should not be undertaken lightly by either party.

So if you are attracted to Tibetan Buddhism, have read some books and learned some meditation techniques and now want to delve in deeper – how do you guard against being fooled by a charismatic charlatan? What criteria do you apply to your search for an authentic teacher? Lama Jampa Thaye's advice reflects a commonsense approach:

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"Although one may come across examples of authentic Buddhist masters who dress or speak unconventionally, there is no licence in Buddhism for unethical behaviour. Thus oriental or occidental masters who claim their selfish and abusive behaviour is a display of 'skilful means' or 'crazy wisdom' are to be given a wide berth – unless we want to jump over a cliff hand in hand with them."

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corboy

So if you are attracted to Tibetan Buddhism, have read some books and learned some meditation techniques and now want to delve in deeper – how do you guard against being fooled by a charismatic charlatan? What criteria do you apply to your search for an authentic teacher? Lama Jampa Thaye's advice reflects a commonsense approach:

"Although one may come across examples of authentic Buddhist masters who dress or speak unconventionally, there is no licence in Buddhism for unethical behaviour. Thus oriental or occidental masters who claim their selfish and abusive behaviour is a display of 'skilful means' or 'crazy wisdom' are to be given a wide berth – unless we want to jump over a cliff hand in hand with them."


Corboy Note- just one problem with Thaye's seemingly common sense advice.

. Look at the number of people who were told, early in their search that there was not room in Buddhism for unethical behavior. But, years later, these persons reported that after they had become socially, financialyl and emotionally invested, they were gradually trained to reframe ethical behavior more and more loosely, and eventually to treat precepts as being so elastic that precepts were twisted to justify abusive, ego driven behavior by teachers and senior students--- 'crazy wisdom' behavior.

Stephen Butterfield, in his memoir Double Mirror, told how he and many other aspirants were attracted by Trungpa's warnings about spiritual materialism, only to discover long after they had become disciples of Trungpa, that they were participating in Trungpa's own spiritual materialism--hierarchy, badges signifiying different levels of attainment, younger students doing servant work for higher ranking students, being taught to speak with british accents, because that was what Trungpa wanted.

The question to ask is "Is there any difference between the Dharma teachings given to me as a new student and what I will be told after practicing in this lineage for 10 years?"

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[www.google.com]

Lama Jampa Thaye Archives « Diamond Way Buddhism UK Blog ...Feb 2, 2013 ... This event was organised by Lama Jampa Thaye and the Dechen Community,
and Lama Ole Nydahl was invited as a special guest.
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Lama Ole Nydahl and his Journey of Bringing Buddhism to the WestLama Ole Nydahl and his wife Hannah encountered Buddhism in 1968 whilst on
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interview of Lama Jampa Thaye prior to the visit of Karmapa XVII Trinlay Thaye ... Lama Ole ...
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[www.youtube.com]


Lama Ole Nydahl, LamaOle | twtrlandLama Ole Nydahl is probably the best known western Buddhist teacher. This
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Modern Bhutanese ‘embarrassed’ by phallus art
September 11, 2011

In this picture taken on August 20, 2011 Bhutanese Tshewang Nidup poses in front of his house adorned with phallus drawings on the outskirts of Thimphu. Rare in the modernising national capital. — AFP pic THIMPHU, Bhutan, Sept 11 — In the insular Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan, the phallus is an ancient symbol commonly painted on houses to ward off evil spirits, but it is increasingly rare in the modernising national capital.

The demise of this traditional motif, still seen all over in rural areas, points to profound changes underway in a country that has gone to extraordinary lengths to shield its unique local culture from outside influence.

The first foreign tourists arrived as recently as 1974 and television was banned until 1999 out of fear of the impact of Western values on a nation that has never been colonised, despite its vulnerable position between India and China.

On the outskirts of Thimphu, Tshewang Nidup is proud to have two metre-high (three-foot) penises painted either side of the front door of his home next to a river that runs through the sleepy capital.

“The penis as a symbol became important because we believe that if you have the phallus then evil will be warned off,” explained the 46-year-old father of six, whose young family wander around oblivious to the graphic imagery.

The history of the phallus in Bhutanese culture stems from a mythical figure called Drukpa Kunley, known as the “Divine Madman”, who is said to have roamed the country seducing women and fighting evil during the 15th and 16th centuries.

The Tibetan holy man, warmly adopted as a national saint by the Bhutanese, is said to have used his member to perform all manner of tricks, including flying and spewing fire.

“He came and subjugated demonesses by using his penis,” explained Nidup, a devout Buddhist and co-author of a book on Bhutanese proverbs. “He would meditate and develop inner heat that turned his phallus into a hot iron bar that he used to burn them.”

As a result, in rural areas the male organ features as paintings or carvings on homes as a sort of tribute, as well as a guard against evil and protection from infertility.

In Thimphu, however, where a construction boom of apartments and shopping centres is transforming the steep-sided valley that cradles the city, attitudes have changed.

“I think people here feel a bit embarrassed,” explained Dasho Karma Ura, a researcher at the Centre for Bhutan Studies think-tank.

“The people in the cities are much more influenced by what would be appropriate images in the West. They don’t see these sort of things elsewhere,” he told AFP.

Preservation of the national culture is one of the four pillars of Bhutan’s famed approach to development which sees the country target “Gross National Happiness” instead of economic development measured by Gross National Product.

Citizens are required to wear national dress at government offices, meditation has been introduced in public schools and religious festivals are widely supported.

Tourism has been deliberately restricted to reduce its impact on the environment and society, with foreign visitors required to pay a minimum of US$200 (RM601) a day and travel with local guides.

....

Ura from the Centre for Bhutan Studies says the change in attitude to the phallus in Thimphu, which is luring increasing numbers of job seekers, underlines the growing divide between young and old, as well as urban and rural Bhutan.

An estimated 70 per cent of Bhutanese still live off their land in villages perched high in the valleys of the Himalayas. Many areas are still only accessible on foot.

In many of these areas, wooden phalluses are still used in “lewd and irreverent” rural festivals, while others are positioned in fields to protect animals, Ura says.

“Usually people don’t realise what they have lost. Only afterwards they do. The culture of Bhutan which is influenced by Buddhist values is something that is very valuable to be preserved,” he explains.

The public display of the male organ remains a positive influence, he argues, reminding people of the dangers of temptation and the unnecessary domination of affairs by men, as well as the commonplace existence of sexual activity.

Tshewang Nidup, looking out from his vantage point on the edge of Thimphu across pristine mountain forests and glacial meltwaters, worries that too much change is coming to Thimphu.

“Visitors should come sooner rather than later. In 10 years time, it will be ruined,” he says. — afprelaxnews.com

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Less well known even than these is a group located in our own backyard here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada: the Tengye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Temple, located in downtown Toronto, is the subject of an exposé by University of Toronto scholar and Ph.D. student, Sean Hillman, whose blog, Exposing a Cult in Toronto, has the support of the Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, with which Tengye Ling claims to be in communion. Although Tengye Ling contests Hillman’s claims, which allege criminal wrong-doing and have not yet been proved in Court, there appears to be no motive for Hillman, who was a Buddhist monk in India for 13 years, to lie. According to reports, Tengye Ling has also been the subject of a boycott by authentic Buddhist teachers since the 1990s, which raises the question of why this situation has been allowed to linger for over ten years.

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by Tenzin Kalsang, described as a Tibetan Buddhist nun and the “spiritual director” of the Tengye Ling Tibetan Buddhist Temple. The TLTBT website is a curious production, but even more curious and interesting is Tenzin Kalsang’s description of her view of Tibetan Buddhism in her statement, which amounts to 1,000 words.
It appears that Ms. Kalsang was invited to testify by the Standing Committee on Health of the Parliament of Canada.

I will not comment on the tone of the speaker of this speech to Parliament, or their self-assumption of the right to speak about matters of social ethics on behalf of all Buddhists everywhere, but we are entirely within our rights to discuss the ideology there presented as claiming to represent our point of view.

The first half dozen paragraphs impressed me as a rather standard presentation of the exoteric Buddhist worldview with nothing particularly remarkable about it, but the following paragraph caught my attention:

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I mean, in terms of operations and in terms of stem cells, we feel that if somebody has a disease or a diseased organ or what have you, this is something they have to bear to pay their debt. So of course we would not embrace that. We would bear it, see it through, perhaps die from a disease, and move on to the next life, because we believe in reincarnation.

The context that runs up to this statement concerns the ubiquity of the law of karma. They are referring of course to the negative karma that we inherit from our past.

According to the Pali Canon, karma continues even after emancipation, the karma accrued up to that point continuing to operate through a series of no more than seven lives. Thus, the Buddha appears to have encouraged the sangha to bear any tribulations that they might experience as an opportunity to get rid of still “unfruited” karmas and thus achieve emancipation. This is the content and context of the Buddha’s statements that the speaker appears to be using as a partial basis for a doctrine, not merely of stoicism, but of total resignation in the face of suffering, even unto death.
The subsequent testimony leaves no doubt that this is precisely the speaker’s intention. Although they briefly and correctly recognize that intention is the primum mobile of karmic consequence, they very quickly revert to the apparent axiom that medical intervention in any and all disease is adharmic!

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We would of course put the kibosh on these activities, because we feel that whatever the suffering, and whatever people would like to change, they need to change instead their own attitude, not material things out there. Rather, they need to change the spiritual area of life, which is their own heart, because attitude comes from the heart.

Although the speaker also alludes to the distinction between Hinayana and Mahayana as the distinction between non-harming and “benefitting,” i.e., compassion, they immediately collapse their view into a more extreme Hinayana fundamentalism than any Theravadin (I hope!) would ever advocate.

I would suggest that this worldview, which emphasizes renunciation and self-denial (of something that is essentially illusory, note) to the total exclusion of compassion in such a way violates the principle of the Buddhist middle way in its very essence.

By this logic every sort of technological intervention in health with the intention of improving human life would be prohibited.

Much better for a Siamese twin or a deformed child or a child with an organ defect to suffer and die and so expurgate their negative karma than be “interfered with” by medical science!

Perhaps we should leave accident victims to die by the side of the road. This would certainly expiate lots of karma!

If this is the representation of Buddhism that is being made to my Government on my behalf, then I encourage all Canadian Buddhists to say “nay” to this type of fanaticism, wherever and in whoever they find it. This statement does not only misrepresent, it is wrong and adharmic and the worldview of any Buddhists who hold such a point of view deserves to be condemned no less forcefully than Islamic terrorism. The axiom is devolutionary in its essence.

I understand that there was a subsequent conversation in which at one point where the speaker wished to speak, Hansard (the Parliamentary reporter)picked up the words “Oh, oh” from another witness.

So what we can learn from the foregoing as Buddhists? I think, first of all, to pursue a good Buddhist fundamentalism, referring to the actual revered sources themselves but not to rely on any one source exclusively. The middle way is the reconciliation of all extremes.

Second, to question, probe, examine, compare, research, interpret, speculate, and imagine for and by oneself in conjunction with all other points of view, and to respect all points of view as expressions of the same ultimate sentience that we all are. One’s own dreams need not negate others.

Innovation and difference are not evil.

The historical Buddha encouraged questioning and was far more liberal than his society.

Views mired in feudal and aristocratic social stages, views defended as historical religious traditions that have sole and exclusive merit, views dependent on verticality, hierarchialism, and authority, sectarianism, nihilism, all these views are corrupt and Buddhism is not the only religion that must be cleansed of their influence.

The Dharma Transmission to the West is the future of Buddhism. Buddhist cults and the extreme doctrines that they endeavour to perpetuate are the stuff of the past. Ms. Kalsang’s representations do no good for Buddhism in general or Tibetan Buddhism in particular.

They make us an object of criticism, not respect.

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[webcache.googleusercontent.com]

Further down in the Parliamentary Report there was this exchange

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The Chair: Ms. Kalsang, would you like to comment on that question? Are we going in the right direction here, considering the abuses that are already out there?

Ven. Tenzin Kalsang: That's just what I was thinking about. I come from a pretty idealistic perspective. We have a very exploitive, terrible world community, where greed and abusing others is actually an accepted way of life, but this, I feel, really gets down to the gross level.

Sexual abuses of women and children are accepted because women accept them**. Exploiting people for greed is a way of life in the world. Amassing huge amounts of money is also sanctioned, and is actually socially blessed.

**(Editorial Comment by Corboy ?????!!)

Yes, our whole way of life in the world is people being harmful towards each other—each man for himself, all's fair in love and war, and competition at every level of life. Our life is shameful.

I don't really expect you to pay too much attention to me, because I would change the world, if I could, and particularly in this area. As I said, I would put the kibosh on it.
I not sure who said this, but just because we can do something doesn't mean we should.
The Chair: It was the minister who said it.

Ven. Tenzin Kalsang: The minister? Aha.

Voices: Oh, oh.

Ven. Tenzin Kalsang: Well, I agree. Just because we can do something doesn't mean we should do it. We can do all kinds of things. We have an intelligence that, when it's divorced from the heart, can be very cruel. We need to always bring our heart into it, because when we bring our heart into it we come up with a different solution.
We know what Oppenheimer did with the H-bomb, right? We've never gotten over that, not to this day. He was a person whose head was divorced from his heart. Whenever we divorce head from heart, we have problems.

Really, I feel helpless, because I go around teaching things that people don't really want to know. Everybody wants more jewellery, more money, more cars, and I'm here saying renounce it, come in contact with your heart, and start to be nice to each other. Don't try to rip each other off.

I have an awful feeling, you see—I know for certain, really—that all of this engineering is quite heartless. I know that. It's an ego trip for parents to have children. Very rarely do parents have children because this is a sacred being. Usually parents have children because they want them to be mirrors of themselves, or they want their children to do something they didn't have the opportunity to do. They don't have altruistic intentions.
• 1305

We're all going to be harmful unless we start with altruistic intentions. If we did that, we would be less manipulative and less controlling of each other, and more controlling of ourselves. I don't think anybody has mentioned the word discipline today. Self-discipline is what we all need.

The Chair: Thanks, Ms. Kalsang. I'll be sure to tell the minister he has a new fan.

For the text of Kalsang's address, go here:


[www.parl.gc.ca]


Publications - June 7, 2001
Minutes | Evidence
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Back to committee meetings

STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
COMITÉ PERMANENT DE LA SANTÉ
EVIDENCE
[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]
Thursday, June 7, 2001
stem cell technology.

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As Professor Asheem Shukla described in a July 2010 piece in The Washington Post, the entrepreneurial Lhotsampas in southern Bhutan "flourished, gaining economic strength as small business owners, farmers and even physicians. With economic strength came political clout such that the ethnically distinct North Bhutanese grew alarmed over the challenge to their dominant orthodoxy." Feeling threatened by the presence and rising clout of the Lhotsampa minority that constituted approximately a third of the country's population, Bhutan's northern Drukpa rulers unleashed a violent campaign of marginalization, intimidation, and eventually ethnic cleansing against their own citizens.

Lhotsampas who refused to abide by a draconian policy implemented in the late 1980's known as 'One Nation, One People' were deemed 'anti-national' and forced to leave their country. This blatantly racist policy required Lhotsampas to halt the public practice of their religion, Hinduism, removed instruction in their native Nepali language from the school curriculum, and forced them to wear the alien Tibetan-style garb of the northern Drukpas. Lhotsampas were also arbitrarily dismissed from government jobs, had their schools shut down, and their property confiscated.

Due to the rising intolerance, marginalization, and outright violence perpetrated by the Drukpa majority, over 100,000 Lhotsampas – a sixth of Bhutan's population and about half of the total Lhotsampa population – were forcibly evicted from their own country and exiled to Nepal. In this process, innocent civilians were tortured and murdered, and property, citizenship documents, and money were forcibly confiscated from fleeing Lhotsampas. As Professor Shukla so chillingly describes, "A monarchy, high in the Himalayas, strayed far from its avowed Buddhist principles as it engaged in the worst kinds of ethno-religious cleansing leaving countless raped and killed in its wake." The Drukpa rulers flagrantly disregarded the tenets of their religion and basic universal human rights norms in meting out brutal treatment to the Lhotsampa minority. The government of democratic India whose territory separates Bhutan and Nepal was little better than Bhutan's absolute monarchy. It collaborated with the latter by bussing the expelled Lhotsampas to Nepal's border and dumping them there.

Over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have languished in seven camps run by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in southeastern Nepal since 1991. Repeated attempts by Nepal's ever-changing governments to engage the Royal Government of Bhutan in talks were scuttled by Bhutan's intransigence. Well aware of the political turmoil and lack of longevity of political leaders and their diplomatic representatives from Nepal, Bhutan's absolute monarchy had a competitive advantage as its diplomats were able to drag their feet and wait out the time in the offices of their Nepali counterparts. The insincerity of the Bhutanese side was best demonstrated in 2004 when their members on a joint verification team deemed that only 2.4% of the refugees to be genuine and eligible for return to their homes in Bhutan! Enraged refugees in the camps chased those officials away.

To this day, government officials and diplomats of the Royal Government of Bhutan glibly maintain that the Lhotsampas left on their own accord. These blatant untruths fly in the face of established facts on the ground. The UNHCR (as of 2006) classified 108,000 Bhutanese as refugees in Nepal. Similarly, Terry Rusch, director of refugee admissions for the U.S. Department of State commenting on the Bhutanese refugee crisis in a speech at a conference in California in June 2010 said "they (Lhotsampas) were expelled in a little-noticed but very real ethnic cleansing exercise."

I had a chance to personally witness this slick Drukpa ploy to portray Bhutan as a fabled Shangri-La as a graduate student of international relations at Tufts University in Boston a few years ago. A fellow student who was a mid-level Bhutanese diplomat nonchalantly dismissed the fact that tens of thousands of refugees from his country were languishing in camps in Nepal. He deemed the refugee crisis a farce designed to sully the image of his homeland. With complete disregard to facts, my Bhutanese colleague went on to expound on the myth of Gross National Happiness by saying that no political opposition or ethnic tensions existed in his country because of the benevolent rule of the Buddhist/Drukpa Wangchuk dynasty. To top it all off, a senior Drukpa bureaucrat visiting the United States was invited to Tufts give a talk about the uniqueness of Gross National Happiness. With such a slick and well-orchestrated international campaign to hide the ugly truths about its ethnic cleansing and the prevailing racism in Bhutan, it is of little surprise that Nepal's ever-bickering politicians have been unable to advocate forcefully for the return of the Lhotsampa refugees to their homeland.

Given the protracted nature of the refugee crisis, Bhutan's refusal to take its citizens back, and the Nepali state's inept advocacy for their return, the United States and a consortium of western European countries stepped in with a generous humanitarian offer to resettle the refugees in their countries in 2006. By the end of 2010, some 40,000 refugees had been resettled all over the United States and a further 20,000 will be flown in over the next few years.

With its record of ethnic cleansing and intolerance, it is morbidly amusing to hear propaganda that Bhutan is some sort of mythic "last Shangri-La," a land of harmony and peace. Nothing could be more removed from the truth. The charade of ushering in a constitutional monarchy in the last few years and the ascension of the charismatic 31-year-old Oxford-educated King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuk has led to a fresh burst of official Bhutanese propaganda expounding the unique nature of their happy people and of Gross National Happiness in general.

The new king is portrayed as a democratic reformer and a visionary leader. But the monarchy's commitment to democracy is strictly limited to lip service. Following the farcical March 2008 elections in which the party closest to the palace won 45 out of 47 seats, a pliable government of devoted Drukpa loyalists was installed with much fanfare and talk of democracy. The two elected opposition party members resigned in disgust claiming fraud and state support for the winning party.

Bhutan's young king's record of democratization is no better than that of Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, a supposed reformer with a PhD from the London School of Economics. Saif showed his true colors when civil war broke out in early 2011 in Libya and he stepped to the forefront to defend his father's murderous military action against civilians. Similarly, the young Wangchuk has installed a government of hard line and racist Drukpa royalists that masquerades as a democratically elected government and continues to propagate silly ideas, foremost of which is the unscientific concept of Gross National Happiness.

In the West, many well-meaning liberals of the free Tibet/Hollywood mold have swallowed the Bhutanese government propaganda of GNH hook, line, and sinker. However, they need to exercise caution and distinguish between the legitimate aspirations of the Tibetan people and the ludicrous claims of Bhutan's royal government that their population is one big, smiling, happy family. That is definitely not the case, as the tens of thousands of Lhotsampa refugees kicked out of their homeland and the thousands of Lhotsampas still living under a racist Drukpa regime in Bhutan can testify.

While the immediate refugee crisis is being solved due to the humanitarian actions of the United States and other Western countries that are resettling refugees, Bhutan's autocratic and racist regime must not be allowed to get away with the lies it has been spewing for over two decades. Bhutan to this day remains a closed society that is feudal in nature and is dominated by a xenophobic Drukpa leadership that is headed by a monarchy straight out of the Middle Ages in its values and worldview. In an age of increasing interconnectedness, the Drukpa leadership insists on shutting off its people from the outside world, going so far as to restrict access to satellite television and severely limiting the access of foreigners to the country. Bhutan is not far off from North Korea in that sense. The international community, and especially India which controls the tiny country's foreign policy, has a responsibility to monitor the ongoing human rights abuses inside Bhutan, to seek justice for the Lhotsampa refugees who were made stateless, and to commit to bringing about a secular and tolerant democracy inside Bhutan.