If it is Diamond Mountain, run a search.

Cash flow is a good indicator of where someone's priorities are.

We can never know what (or whom) someone is spending money on, but if one notes a large amount of cash being disbursed and regularly at that, and at expense of housekeeping and agreements on budget -- you have a right to honest answers.

Especially if you are spouse or business partner.

Met a fellow who said he was shattered when he discovered his trusted long time business partner was 1) a chronic liar and 2) had been embezzling funds from their business and spending them on process addictions.

I got screwed by an acquaintance who had been a hero in the local social justice community.

Person said he was hard up for money, could I lend him $300 USD. Made it seem he was short on rent.

I could (this was twenty years ago, could not do this today)

Guy was off on the next plane to Thailand

To do him credit, he did give me my money back.

To his discredit, he ran off leaving a copy of my housekeys with his cocaine addict roomie, so I had to change my lock for security purposes.

Bloke ran a total guilt trip on me when I called him out.

No one who (thought) they knew this fellow wanted to believe he was capable of all this. When I told the facts about this, I was the one who sounded mad, when it was X who was behaving madly and badly.

Only person who did believe my tale of woe was a sneior teacher at our Zen Center who was familiar with how too many people had gone to Thailand to study Buddhism - and then went totally off the rails when they discovered any and all vices could be indulged there cheaply and seemingly w/o consequences.

Link to the Garchen Center:

[www.garchen.net]

I'm just curious as to whether somebody else is jumping on the Buddhism-money-making machine. The site is very short on substance and long on sales, so it looks pretty sketchy. I haven't found any cult associations tied to it, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Hindsight is always 20/20, isn't it? My ex and I never combined finances or bank accounts, so I was in the dark. The house was paid for, he took care of some bills, I took care of others, so it just sort of seemed a non-issue at the time.

The Dateline piece was about Diamond Mountain - sorry for the bad info earlier!

[www.google.com]

And some of the best discussions took place following articles Remski published on Elephant Journal (Google Elephant Journal and Remski and Roach)

Comments that followed Remski's articles included input from people who lived in the area near Diamond Mountain.

This is a different Buddhist related tradition than that of SGI, but illustrates the dangers when too many of us give power to a charismatic leader, and especially in the context of an authoritarian tradition that gives validation to the leader and trains students to distrust their own perceptions--which shows how a practice can be ancient, yet still be poisonous.

Once one gets some street cred in anything that calls itself yogic or Buddhist, there is no centralized quality control, no way to ID a problem and get someone defrocked.

NBC Dateline to air report Sunday on "Danger on Diamond Mountain"



www.willcoxrangenews.com/.../article_dd52e492-a56...

Arizona Range News

3 days ago - NBC Dateline's all new report, “Danger on Diamond Mountain” airs Sunday, ... a Buddhist educational facility and retreat property in the Chiricahua ... An Arizona Range News article from June 12, 2012 is repeated below:.

There is no shortage of Buddhist 'money making machines'.

This grant is imporant.

Follow the Money, Honey

[forum.culteducation.com]

The first page notes Tricycle Foundation and Magazine


Zen Master Rama (now deceased) After his death by sucide, ZMR left behind a large grant to be used for Buddhist purposes.

This funds a lot of reputable Buddhist projects.

Given that Rama died a suicide, and also tried to poison his girlfriend
and favorite dog so that all three could die with him, this makes one
wonder what consequences can be for any organization that uses money
acquired through the career of a delusional and and very ego centered
man.



Zen Master Rama (now deceased) This one is important
because at his death he left behind a large grant to be used for
Buddhist purposes. This funds a lot of reputable Buddhist projects.

Given that Rama died a suicide, and also tried to poison his girlfriend
and favorite dog so that all three could die with him, this makes one
wonder what consequences can be for any organization that uses money
acquired through the career of a delusional and and very ego centered
man.



Just punch Buddhist into the search slot on the homepage for
this website.

Aum Shinrikyo

Big Mind - Dennis Merzel (discussed on this message board)

Various Vajrayana (aka Tibetan/Himalayan Buddhist) sects

Sogyal
New Kadampa Tradition
Ole Nydahl
Chogyam Trungpa and Ozel Tenzin (now deceased)
Christopher Hansard

Here is a quote from page two of the Follow the Money Honey
thread cited above.

A correction. It was John Lennon who is credited for the song, 'Working Class Hero'.

There was the above mentioned event, Change Your Mind Day.

But..let us ask, change your mind in which direction?

Insight into both the inner tangle of personal cravings and the outer tangle of oppressive social power structures?

Or...get a sense of comfort by narrowing one's attention point to exclude examination of
areas that a citizen of a participatory democracy bears responsiblity for examinging?

Changing ones mind by putting on blinkers that narrow ones gaze, peasant like to just one's narrow patch of personal gardening, putting a peasants unquestioning trust in the
barons and brahmins who advise us to 'just focus on your own practice'...thats that revert from a hard won breadth of citizens vision to the narrow mental horizons of a dirt digging feudal or worn out factory worker, kept too tired and too underpaid to question the bigger picture.

A picture larger, that includes our practice, but also includes asking, what are the motivations and ambitions of those who tell us 'pay attention to your own practice' when we try to discuss abuses of power in the dharma world.

It really is situations like all of these that keep me on my own path now rather than affiliating with any single persuasion. I'm sure that there are Buddhist- related orgs out there who are highly reputable, but there are so many that are not. For now, I'm just focusing on getting ready for my move and getting a job . . . I'm happy enough in my own head for the time being.

Good luck w your move and let us know how things go..

Watch out for trip hazards and getting stressed. And (no joke) bring some bottles of water, TP, garbage bags/contractor bags and paper towels. Ditto for extension cords.

And have people with you to keep an eye on things until its all loaded and unloaded into your place.

And keep the important stuff like phones, valuables and laptops attached toyou or in a safe deposit box. In the chaos of a move, stuff can grow legs and vanish.