QuoteNyalaanaRecently there have been some speculations here why Sharmapa might speak out for or against Ole Nydal. I can not imagine the Sharmapa to speak out against Ole, if Ole does not attack TB or all the Lamas or Sharmapa directly. Why should he? He might say Ole is a genuine teacher even if he does not aggree with several standpoints of Ole, like view on Islam or his sexual behavior. He do
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotewarrenz@ seunam You may dismiss my opinion since I do not have any time for Shamar but it seems very strange that he would make veiled suggestions as you imply that people should stay away from Nydahl and then write a completely clear and forthright letter dismissing all allegations against Ole and providing unequivocal support. The article you quote dates from June 21 2009. the letter
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Some words of wisdom from Shamarpa... Good meditation teachers… will likely stay in a quiet, isolated place such as a cave or small hut in the mountains. For the most part, great meditators are not people who are known widely as highly ranked spiritual teachers. Instead, they have spent many years of their lives in retreat… Teachers who travel regularly may not be the best meditation
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotejamgonIn this case we have a piece of information (a letter supporting Lama Ole written by someone in authority) which does not fit in with the views held by some forum contributors. Because the letter is inconvenient confirmation bias kicks in: Oh, look - signature, date, style - the letter has been forged! Let's discount it as a fake and discuss last year's letters by Shamarpa in
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotejamgonThere is no need to second-guess what Shamarpa thinks about Lama Ole's teaching activity - he stated it very clearly himself. Yes, and I think SteveLpool's analysis above captures it perfectly. You may want to see it in black and white - either Shamarpa is for or against Nydahl - either the letter is authentic or forged, but as daruisb has pointed out, no one has made t
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotejamgonSuenam: Yes - I think given the quoted 2013 date, the dodgy signature, and the totally different style, I think the letter is questionable. No, it is not. Shamar Rinpoche has two signatures - one in Tibetan script and one Western - and uses them interchangeably. For an example of Shamar's "Tibetan" signature see: The linked letter was witnessed by Urgyen Tul
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudraSuanam, I have a totally different view on Nydahl due to my experiences. When he says "all boys loved to chase after girls" he says, that he is working with desire to overcome it and he wants students following that way. When I read Gendun Ringpoche he wrote about that path, it would be only for a few. Nydahl went that path more or less and he follows his experiences.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I think Steve James' comment has completely missed the point in an attempt to obfuscate the issue. I recall a lecture on Buddhism and quantum theory where Nydahl made a comment saying how all boys loved to chase after girls. This is from a person who has supposedly developed single-pointed meditative concentration and who is talking about a philosophy which aims at transcending dualist
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotewarrenzBut Ole's big thing is his devotion to the Kagyu lineage and his in fact some kind of emanation of Mahakala Dorje Bernagchen (whatever that means). If no one on either side of the Kagyu lineage wanted anything to do with him, he would at least have to do a major reinvention and would lose all credibility for his lineage claims. Or perhaps he would swear allegiance to the third Ka
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

hmm, I'm not so sure about that - just as it seems inappropriate for Nydahl to rant about Islam or "guys lusting after girls" during a Dharma talk, so too it may seem that Shamarpa is focusing on what is important in Buddhism rather than getting involved in petty squabbles. It may well be that he is hoping that at some point Nydahl will change his ways, and as you say, he does rely
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuotewarrenzQuotepuellaOther Shamar Rinpoche’s Letters with two (or three) different signatures. Is there some suggestion that Shamar's letter of approval of Nydahl is a forgery? Not sure what you are getting at here. Surely there can be no serious question that Shamar does not support Nydahl? Without Shamar's backing Ole Nydahl would not be as prominent as he is and as able to ge
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Thank you for sharing that Michaela, ...as so often happens in the paradigm "we are good/innocent/blameless - they are evil/guilty and at fault" - the perceived evil turns out to be nothing more than one's own shadow. How often has Nydahl voiced the need to protect women from the evils of religion? - this dualistic perception turns out to be nothing more than him seeing his o
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteanonymShamarpa's recent statement concerning Ole Nydahl: Indeed, the pdf link to this undated letter may be found in english - and german - Incredibly on both sites the date is given as 2013 and is nowhere to be found on Shamarpa's site. I doubt very much if Shamarpa really knows what goes on in the centres, or even Nydahl himself for that matter; I can recall a huge c
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

I'm not sure if what you are describing here is any different to any other idealogical struggle. It would seem that what makes it particularly "cultish" is the seperatist mystical element and so I would suggest the anti-virus to that would be education, awareness, and applied critical thinking which I take to be the purpose of this thread. As a result of that the "evidence&
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

What I'm saying is that even from the perspective of a system in which the compartmentalisation of the self is seen as beneficial, Nydahl's varied roles still appear as a conflict of interests. This is even more true from the perspective of a system which puts more emphasis on integration. QuoteBackAtHomeBut back to my original posting: Did you find any statements which you could c
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteBackAtHome If I see the development in these last 20 years and think into the future, i am getting the impression that we are heading towards societies of spiritually controllable people. And then I look at the circumstances in the old tibet and I see exactly that. In any given system there will be followers and leaders - the question here is one of accountablility and responsibility. Tho
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteBackAtHomesuenam, I may be wrong, but are you intentionally trying to distract from my original posting? I am not open to that. Maybe it has not become clear: I do not have a single little bit of trust towards buddhism or buddhists anymore. I explicitly forbid any buddhist leader, teacher or whatever to try to force teachings into or manipulate my life in any way. Doing so is against m
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteBackAtHomesuenam, some sources point into the direction that the body of a buddhist leader can be seen as a portal through which the conscious being which incarnated many times before and at present in this body can continue to follow its interests in this world. Accordingly, buddhist teachings contain references to periods of time which are beyond the life span of a single person. We do
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Hi BackAtHome, I think you've raised some pertinent points there, however my view is that the reasons behind that are quite different. QuoteBackAtHomeThis can happen in other philosophical or religious organisations, too? Right, and in the same way buddhism violates some of the original statements. Buddhism is not the goodness in which there was no place for such unwanted events. S
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSceptic Watcher No, the Dalai Lama may very well have invited him. He also was present at the opening of Ole's first center in Kopenhagen. Keep in mind that a) there isn't any hard proof yet that Nydahl's organization has become a cult (or always was one) - in the public perception, it is still far from organizations such as Scientology, perhaps partly due to its relative obs
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotedariusb would anyone share their thoughts on Ole's meeting with Dalai Lama. Why would Dalai Lama meet with someone who is always talked about as leader of a cult ? I think the wording with the photo is deliberately ambiguous and that it omits to say who invited him. My understanding is that DWB members invited Nydahl to join them in going to a public talk given by the 14th Dalai L
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteAlexander NevskySo Ole Nydahl’s personal right of reputation is threatened by Marthe Micaela Riepe’s blog. There is an interesting definition of “reputation” on Wikipedia which says: “Reputation is known to be an ubiquitous, spontaneous and highly efficient mechanism of social control in natural societies.” I'm not entirely sure what is meant here by "natural societies" i
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSteveLpool...were all explained away as my not “understanding” when I voiced my disgust at such “Buddhist” behaviour. True as this is, I personally found that responding "in kind" also failed to achieve equality or acceptance - in retrieving items stolen from me by another member I subsequently found myself on the receiving end of threats, abuse, and condemnation from the whole gro
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteJakim BoazHello everyone, I would like to share some of my experiences with the diamondway meditation group... Thank you for your contribution Jakim. It seems that these are common behaviours in these DWB groups - angrily blaming other people, nationalism, arrogance, and a lack of basic courtesy which doesn't even approach compassion or loving kindness. To me this looks like a
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSteveLpool Quote And finally a question much asked: what can we expect materially from the next year(s)? We all live from the fact that people want to consume and most will work to see their wishes fulfilled. Also, a majority of Westerners are educated, feel increasingly responsible towards their values, and, at least among the original citizens, the karma is so far basically good.“… at lea
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteyasminSorry; of course there is also the "dissolution" type meditation that activates yet another part of the brain. Interestingly, it seems that the studies' authors don't feel this necessarily identifies anything unique about meditating "The present single case study reports the activation of different neuronal assembles during different meditations.It did not add
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

from - Quote"Smiling” is the first form of communication with a woman which is taught in the lower tantras (the Kriya Tantra). The next tantric category which follows is the “look” (Carya Tantra), and then the “touch” (Yoga Tantra). Galland later reported in fascination what happened to her during the audience: “He got up out of his chair, came over to me as I stood up, and took me firm
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

QuoteSceptic Watcher@Ole's Brain Scans You can find the results there. It doesn't even cost anything :) As far as I can tell it suggests that the concept of self is located in the right front temporal lobe. It also suggests that Ole's dissociated state is similar to psychosis, but that he "re-identifies" with himself afterwards.
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudraWhat a deep wisdom, of course! And so hard to understand! Do you know the fairytale of H.C. Anderson: The New Clothes of the Emperor? The followers of the enlightened in tibetan buddhism seem to have the same blindness for the bareness of the devoted holy men. I do not agree Ole Nydahl is the bogeyman for all the the followers of the "real" Tibetan Buddhism. The so
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"

Quotekaram-mudra ...Stage 4 (Knowledge of arising and passing away)... I'm not sure where you got this or what these stages are, but in Buddhism nothing arises, or has ever arisen, that is the fundamental ground of the doctrine of emptiness. There is also no distinction between mental and physical phenomena (given that they are both part of the dream-illusion). Of course, then the beha
Forum: "Cults," Sects, and "New Religious Movements"