Quotecorboy 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 o
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

She was one of the founders with Joseph Goldstein and Jack Kornfield and others of the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachussetts. The IMS teaches a Westernized/secular form of Theravadin Buddhism. As far as I am aware , neither she or IMS have been involved in any scandals or accusations of cultic behavior. She and they seem to be pretty legit. I don't know about Silent Journ
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotecorboyThis thread is about Ole. But Ole got his mystique from a system that, in its ancient and 'authentic' forms, is itself corrupt. What alot of sweepinbg generalizations you make, Corboy. Tibetan Buddhism is not perfect. It is certainly patriarchal but you cannot tar eveyone with the same brush. As regards the Trimondis - it's yellow journalism of the silliest kind. Redol
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Bizarrely, I find myself defending Ole here to some degree. The general attacks on tantric buddhism by the Trimondi site I think are questionable. The whole site seems an anti-Buddhist diatribe. AFAIK - and I open to correction - no-one has accused Ole of forcing himself upon them. Nor, again AFAIK, does Ole teach some special tantric sex. Indeed, he vehemently denied as much when Shamar accus
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotefivecentschangeIn one book Lama Ole sais that it is more natural for a man to cheat, it doesn't mean anything if he does it. But if a woman cheats it means that something is wrong in the relationship. So to me that sounds like women should be okay with it if the man cheats, but if the woman cheats its not really okay. That women shouldn't care if men cheats on them. All of Ole�
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotefivecentschange DWB has somehow killed my joy for buddhism, I leave feeling empty and a need to redefine myself. I left some really good friends, but I just could not take it anymore. I felt that I wasn't true to myself and the values that I have spent so many years researching and coming to conclusions about. What bothers me the most is that you are suppost to have almost blind devotio
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotedariusbWarrenz "In fact, I'd go as far as suggesting that the name of this thread be changed to "Shamarpa, Thaye Dorje, Ole Nydahl and Diamondway Buddhism". Total nonsense ,neither you or anyone else of participants of this thread knows the reasons why Shamarpa or Thaye Dorje support Ole Nydahl. It is just pure speculation. I never heard of anyone accusing Shamarpa or
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

@ScepticWatcher - your facility with numbers always adds constructively to the debate. Personally, from the point of view of its own constitution there is no reason why DWB should not channel funds to Shamar/Thaye Dorje. Every other Tibetan Buddhist group invites teachers and makes offerings on behalf of the group in addition to offerings from individual attendees. It's the way it's
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotestpauli warrenz, once again: can you provide your source of information and any facts and figures of how much Karmapa and Shamarpa receive from DWB? It’s alright if you can’t. I don’t believe you have an access to the financials of DWB Association anyway. Thus to be fair you should perhaps consider adding notes like “I assume or I believe that Karmapa, Shamarpa and other lamas receive $$xxx
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotestpauli warrenz, you sound quite convinced that Karmapa, Shamarpa and other lamas enjoy financial support from DWB. Would you mind sharing some facts and figures, as well as the source of your information? Having been active within DWB Association for quite a long time, I know that the amount of money “channeling” their way from the budgets of any DWB center world-wide or from the DWB Associ
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesuenam I remember going to dharma talks and hearing the same thing repeated over and over, regardless of the actual title of the talk, the subject matter was always repetitve. I had no idea whether the speaker had actually understood or whether they had just learnt to parrot the version fed to them. The strange thing was that when I mentioned this to others I got two reactions. Firstly, othe
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote~*~ k a t e ~*~ And why? Because Ole doesn't allow teachers from anywhere else to teach at his centres, in case it exposes that what Ole and his cronies teach is not real Buddhism but in fact his twisted cult version of it. The same way books written by those outside of this circle are not allowed within Diamond Way centres. Controlling information available is a sure sign of a cul
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotecorboy"As a gesture of courtesy lamas will always thank the host, the DWB organization and Ole as its leader, for the invite. Are you possibly mistaking being polite for a support?" That, right there, is a source of many misunderstandings. In the West, politeness is often mistakenly interpreted as support, but seen as endorsement. Especially when we Westerners are eager f
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotestpauliOma Desala, warrenz: I’m not sure guys what „support“ of tibetan lamas to Ole Nydahl you have been talking about!? A lack of criticism of his teachings or political statements is not yet a support at all. I’m positive most of tibetan lamas have never heard Oles teachings and for sure never read his books. Criticism in general isn't a part of an Asian mentality and certainly it do
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteOma Desala I hate to disappoint you, but I'm not a follower of Thaye Dorje ;) I'm neither for him nor against him. He's just simply not my teacher, because he doesn't convince me. I'm not disappointed. I'm delighted! Your post is very interesting and your views largely echo my own. I have a lot of time for Dzongsar Khyentse (although less time for the Carreo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteOma DesalaQuotewarrenzWithout Ole's supporters, as I said Thaye Dorje's monlam would be pretty tiny - 4-5 rows of monks. Note also the almost complete lack of lay Tibetans. I'm afraid, I'll have to contradict you on this one. I was at a Kagyu Monlam of the Thaye Dorje side about eight years ago, and there were only a handful of Western lay students. Maybe 30-40 peo
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

@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 Delan
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudraWarrenz, I remember you were saying the followers of Nydahl`s Karmapa are mostly Western people. I wasn´t aware of it, but on that photo you see the evidence: HH 17th Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje giving a Chenrezig or Buddha Loving Eyes empowerment in Beru Khyentse's monastery during Kagyu Monlam in Bodhgaya, India Not that I would care of the nice guys network
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotecorboy(Glum) This resembles how, in medieval Europe, Popes and Holy Roman Emperors made it to their respective thrones. Whoever had the most followers and could buy the most support won the crown or tiara. Not very edifying. With the Kagyus it seems little different, except for the costumes. It resembles how any large religious organization medieval or modern elects its leaders real
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteRudiUpon request of Karmapa Thaye Dorje, Lama Ole Nydahl joined the Kagyu Monlam this year in Bodhgaya, India. There are photos showing him together with high-ranking Kagyu-Lamas: What is the purpose of the Karmapa's invitation? Is it part of his endeavour to lead Nydahl and his organisation on the right path? I am curious if something is going to change for the better finally ...
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I too agree that Phowa is not off-topic in this thread. Ole's supposed prowess as a Phowa practitioner attracts the gullible who think he has some sort of paranormal powers. It is complete and utter nonsense. As a dedicated Phowa practitioner myself for many years, I never seen the physical opening on the top of the head either on myself or anyone else. If it exists as a phenomenon it is a m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quote~*~ k a t e ~*~Thanks for bringing us back on topic, Corboy. Any ideas as to what is to be done about the cult's new London centre, granted by naive local government officials who clearly didn't do their research about DW and just saw the word Buddhism and thought 'great!' What I 'd really like to see is an undercover investigation of the kind that I think has
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotejamgon Beru is not really a "supporter" of TD - he accepts both candidates I don't think that many of Ugyen Trinley's support would agree. Despite what he says his actions - in particular allowing his son to be recognized by Shamarpa as the mind incarnation of Jamgon Kongtrul in direct competition to the tulku previously recognized by Ugyen Trinley and the Jamgon Kongtr
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSteveLpoolHi Jamgon. My experience was different. Discussion of Urgyen Trinley Dorje was forbidden! I had bought a commentary on the Jewel Ornament of Liberation. I finished reading it and wanted to donate it to the Sangha library so others could also benefit from it but, because it had a picture of Urgyen Trinley Dorje on the inside cover and was a commentary by one of his supporters I w
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteExodusI was in Dublin when the diamond way started. It was years ago but I want to share some observations which will hopefully contribute to this blog. Ningma versus Kagyu I remember that every diamond way teacher who would come at that time would start with something of that kind: "Ningmapas are very strong in Ireland". Hi Exodus, Many years ago I visited a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesuenam A cynical view may well see Nydahl as using the threat of Islam to manipulate these variables in order to establish a strong group identity, however the fact that he actually mentions certain points - such as the Buddhist ideals of self-reliance, openness to experience, etc., and the fact that he himself seems to rely more on claims to legitimate authority rather than being able to th
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

It appears that all of the mirrors of the video posted by Kartik have been removed by Youtube prompted by Ole's groups in the US. That didn't take long. I wonder what they are afraid of? (No, not really)
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

@SteveLpool While of course radical Islam is abhorrent, we should not let these fanatics color our view of all Muslims. Nydahl is not raising awareness of something we do not know about already. He is expressing his own bias and knee-jerk reaction. I can think of no other Buddhist teacher who would reply to the question - What do I do with difficult and aggressive people - with the answer
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotesuenam I guess it depends upon your perspective, but the implications seem quite profound for someone in Nydahl's position. Scherer juxtaposes Hannah's understanding (in footnote 43) with Ole's "essentialism" - from my perspective this implies that Hannah understood the doctrine of emptiness, in contrast to Ole. I don't think you have to deconstruct Ole&#
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotesuenamA 2011 article by Burkhard Scherer (a student of Nydahl) called, "Macho Buddhism: Gender and Sexualities in the Diamond Way" Well it would appear that Scherer is not above a little mild criticism of Ole when it touches an issue close to his own heart. Frankly, as an academic myself (in an entirely different field), I don't like it when people use their own perso
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"