Hi superscot, Your cynicism says that Kadampa Buddhism is not for you - fair enough, I hope you find a spiritual path that does suit you. So you want to study the Pali Canon and so forth - great! That doesn't mean that Tantra is not a valid spiritual path just because you have no faith in it. No one put a gun against your head and made you attend an empowerment. If you perceive peer
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi 'Lineageholder' I've a good notion of who you are. I am living proof that people are introduced to Tantra unnecessarily. i never practised it at all till I was socially coerced into it on meeting the NKT. For 30 years beforehand I attended other Tibetan traditions' centres and nowhere was it expected of me. In the NKT it was an expectation, connected with the 'group
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteMisstyk Is NKT a sex cult in thin disguise? No, because Highest Yoga Tantra is not about sex. This is a common misunderstanding about Tantra. Monks and nuns who are celibate practise Tantra because it's not about sex - it's a special quick path to enlightenment that is the very essence of Buddha's teachings. Anyone with who has true compassion will want to practise Tan
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Ps: Forgot to mention all the superstition around the NKT. You hear people explaining events in their recent life as having been influenced by Geshe la...'Geshela put that obstacle there for me so that I'd have to exercise patience' , 'Geshela knows what's in your heart' etc etc... Just a couple of things that were said to me during my brief sojourn there, leavin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It's just my opinion, but I think the NKT just put HYT out there every 2 years at the summer festival in Manjushri centre to draw crowds and make money...the sex is a side effect, but the main issue there is mass conversion and empire building. People collect these 'initiations' like Pokemon cards! Maybe they have a chip about being isolated from mainstream Tibetan society? It&
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I haven't seen this issue raised, but maybe I missed something in all these 19 pages. I've come across several people in Buddhist forums who were in their teens, and were already practicing the Highest Yoga Tantra practices in NKT, the sexual practices. One gushed enthusiastically about how he'd only been in NKT for a year, was still a newbie, but was already doing these highest p
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

True. Never met such a set up yet though...
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Having said that, lets get back to NKT. Have said once and will say again, a good way to assess any group whether it be a sangha, a company or a political party's behavior is this: How are those who are sick, who occupy a vulnerable and marginal place in society treated? Is there favoritism/exploitation directed toward those who are attractive, with youthful energy, wealthy, well fu
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Trungpa was as clever as Napoleon when it came to assessing terrain and making long term plans. He married a girl young enough to be malleable and just old enough to be rebellious and eager to run away from home. And he didnt pick someone working at a tea shop or in a factory; he found someone from a 'U' family. If one is seeing all things from Buddha Nature, U and Non-U shou
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Yes, Corboy, I decided to burn them rather than be the cause of some other person being sucked in....they really burnt well! So, they were good for something, (everything is good for something). I know an elderly and disabled couple who paid £1600 (roughly $2400) for 2 weeks at Manjushri last summer...plus, there were people who live in that cottage the rest of the year paying rent...and they
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Not all can afford to do this...when I discovered that some books in my possession had been written by gurus who had grievously exploited their subjects, I chose to tear the books to shreds. I didnt want any book from my collection playing any part in some sincere person being led into a trap. The two authors whose works I rent asunder were Chogyam Trungpa and Muktananda--both of whom turn
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Superstitious bunkum 'lineage holder'...NKT is full of that. I heard it said recently that it took the Tibetans 1200 years to make a mess of Buddhism, and the west 40 years to do likewise. Never has this been more evident. Try reading the Pali Canon...oops! you're not supposed to! haha! In retrospect, I can burn them, the charity shop I work for won't take 'relig
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesuperscot It's hard to find the Eightfold path and Noble truths among all the 'worship your teacher' messages in Geshela's books... Anyone know where i can sell them? I think your books must be different to mine - this just goes to show how the mind does create the world! In my books, the path to liberation and enlightenment is very clear on each page. If you
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

pps: Spot on Corboy!
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you Corboy and Tenzin Peljor for your replies to the post I made earlier. I've no need to defend the post I made earlier - my experience is as valid as anyone else's, and no one at NKT is making me believe anything. Moreover, I made it quite clear that I did not doubt other people's negative experiences of the organisation, I just disagree that we're talking about
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

PS: I had an email recently asking for £6 I owe for an FP class...it's really a 'building fund' which exists, much like a pyramid system, to draw money for 'projects' and keep the 'organisation' going...there are no charitable deeds done for the wider population, just an ongoing expansion as the ideal.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I agree entirely Tenzin - la, Geshe-la's books are indeed shallow and work by drawing you in by use of all that romantic 'loved up' language, but on closer inspection they have little resemblance to the root texts. It's okay for people who want a social club and to feel part of a 'family', but in the long run, practising in this way leads only to 'guru worsh
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you. I would like to pick up some thoughts of you: "But this is not to say that Geshe-la is wrong in advising us to respect all religious traditions and practice only one of them purely, without picking and mixing." I think it is wrong. Why? This concept is based on grasping for inherent existent purity and leads to attachment towards one's own school and either host
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Corboy, I’ve no need to defend my opinion but I will just say this to you. Buddhism is all about accepting responsibility for one’s own actions and state of mind. I soon spotted copies of A Great Deception: The Ruling Lamas' Policies by the Western Shugden Society on sale at my local NKT centre. Realising that something was amiss, I spent many hours searching the internet and reading all
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Find out their attitude toward those who have left. Find out too how they support older members who have given their health and best years of their lives to the organization. Find out if there is a difference between what is told to new members such as yourself and what the older members discuss. There should be no difference at all, and no with holding of information based on 'Dont
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Having read all the posts on this thread I feel moved to share my own experience of NKT. Two years have passed since I first walked into my local NKT centre. Had I been aware of the NKT's alleged cult-like tactics and the disagreements with HH Dalai Lama I would probably have stayed well clear. But I wasn't and I didn't. I'm still attending the General Programme (GP) of
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm in the process of sorting myself out after years of experience with self-help and new age gurus. The last few days I've been camping out on the RR site doing research because I believe that knowledge is power. (A pity I didn't know about this site years ago and that I was naive and trusting for so long, but thankfully I now know better.) During my time on this site I've
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteBlue DakiniHi Shimon, In pre-Chinese Tibet it was widely accepted that one should be ultra cautious in one's committment to a spiritual master. In many cases one was advised to observe a possible guru for 12 years before making the profound, life-changing step of entrusting your whole being to another person. In turn, the lama was careful about who s/he took on as a student. Accepting
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hey, guess what? I'm not the only one to have quit Kadampa early! Another nun who ordained with me has been told she is 'insuitable to teach basic medtiation classes' because she joined a chaplaincy project and runs a soup kitchen. Today I got the same email...tactfully worded 'having considered the position of lunchtime classes across the area, we think it appropriate th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Regarding Amnesty International's position, or lack thereof, on the Shugden matter, I'd like to point out that AI's mission is to investigate instances of violence perpetrated by governments against citizens. The only exception to this rule they've ever made is with regards to the Shining Path insurgency movement in Peru. The Central Tibetan Administration probably doesn
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

q
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi Sile, You pose an interesting question. I guess for me it depends on the flaws in question. at some point they become hypocrisy. I just can't respect another human being who is asking me to see them as a buddha - a teacher, yes, but a buddha, no.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Despite Trungpa Rinpoche's more infamous qualities, his advice remains some of the most profound I have heard. Cutting through spiritual materialism--what a concept. I feel it's entirely possible that if I had met Trungpa Rinpoche, I might have been turned off by the other stuff and not been able to appreciate his advice. So in a way, it was a blessing to have it in book form, an
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Well, you know the 2 famous quotes... If God didn't exist it would be necessary to invent him and man is born free yet everywhere he is in chains Hope i got the wording right....
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Dear Stoic, you nailed it. And, here is a morsel from Professor Dodds. On page 242 he wrote of the process of assigning divine status to rulers, even to athletes and writes Quote: So far as they have religious meaning for the individual, ruler-cult and its analogues, ancient or modern are primarily, I take it, expressions of helpless dependence; he who treats another human being as divin
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"