Lamas who give Buddhism a bad name

Mary Finnigan (The Guardian, 10/12); Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Hey, these are just allegations! - But they're proven, your Holiness. - Well, so what? Mahayana says it is sin to talk anything that makes my perpetrators religion look bad! ["The Dalai Lama has warned against being seduced into Tibetan Buddhism by its exotic tantric aura." (Phil Noble/Reuters)]

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Lamas who give Tibetan Buddhism a bad name

Don't be taken in by the "Shangri La factor." If seeking Buddhist guidance, choose your teacher and tradition with great care.

Tibetan Buddhist is like Roman Catholic

[Tibet's Potala Palace was almost exactly like Rome's Vatican, a haven of sexual abuse at the center of a large former empire that continued its rule in religious guise, Imperial Tibetan Buddhism and Imperial Roman Catholicism, respectively. The Vatican in the Holy See is infamous for homosexuality and child molestation/pederasty, whereas Tibetan Buddhists in exile from their palace in Lhasa seem to prefer the heterosexual abuse of Western seekers. Here we see some of the recent scandals from the British newspaper The Guardian.]

The Dalai Lama is backed by the CIA and USA.

In response to a surge of interest in Tibetan Buddhism among Western spiritual seekers, Kagyu Samye Ling was founded in Scotland in 1976 by the late Kalu Rinpoche, who re-died in 1989.

Within the last two years [2010-2012] his tulku, or "reincarnation," the present (reborn) Kalu Rinpoche, has assumed responsibility for the institutions set up by his predecessor (allegedly himself).

However, during the new Kalu's childhood the situation at Kagyu Samye Ling allegedly deteriorated to the point where it no longer functioned as a Buddhist center.

Good to have friends in high places, Pres. Bush

The young Kalu fired Lama Tempa Dargye and five other resident Bhutanese lamas, replacing them with Westerners and a "collegiate" system of control and responsibility.

Controversy at Kagyu Samye Ling might 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 [French military police].

At first she was a lone voice, but recently three more women decided to testify; Lama Tempa Dargye was arrested and the police investigation is ongoing.

The scandalous events at Kagyu Ling are currently making headlines in France, but Tibet-watchers worldwide are aware that many more scandals have surfaced since the Tibetan lamas fled their homeland in the late 1950s, following the violent Chinese invasion and takeover of Tibet.

My dad, Trungpa, had sex with women. Me, too.

For examples, in the USA followers of the late sexually-abusive Trungpa Chogyam Rinpoche [founder of the cultish and scandal-ridden Shambhala organization taken over by his son, Sakyan Mipham Rinpoche, who stepped down after rape and sexual abuse allegations only to recently reinstate himself with tacit board approval] 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 Tibetan 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.

Rumors 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.

OK, maybe I shouldn't have got caught.

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 without authentic qualifications.

The followers of American Geshe Michael Roach, who was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, attracted media attention when one of them died in bizarre circumstances after being ejected from a three-year retreat at a remote mountain center 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.

I can explain. It was supposed to be a secret.

The Shangri La factor is undoubtedly significant in the explosion of interest in Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) around the world.

The Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize and his saintly reputation is another. More

• Buddhism in London, England

The Dalai Lama works/worked for the CIA?

I'm Tibet's god-king, its pope and emperor.

• Dalai Lama group says it got money from CIA (NY Times, Oct. 2, 1998) Dalai Lama's administration admits it received $1.7 million a year in 1960s from CIA
• CIA gave "aid" to Tibetan exiles in '60s, files show (LA Times, Sep. 15, 1998) The money for the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama was part of the CIA's...education for Tibetan military operatives at Cornell University...
• THE DALAI LAMA: CIA FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp79r00890a001100070008-0 Approved for release 2001/08/14...
• Mainstream media finally confirm Dalai Lama is a covert CIA Asset (Dec. 19, 2016) Is the mainstream confirmation of the Dalai Lama as a CIA asset now...
• Dalai Lama's links to CIA still stir debate (Feb. 19, 2004) Followers of the 14th Dalai Lama...described the Dalai Lama and [another] CIA operative...
• How CIA helped Dalai Lama to end up in exile (RT World News, March 18, 2009) It is widely believed that the Dalai Lama fled Tibet once Chinese troops gained control over the region. Actually, these two events have nine...

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  On second thought, it makes Tibetan Buddhism look bad.

  THE CIA'S SECRET WAR IN TIBET (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 26, 1997) Yet at a time when the Dalai Lama's non-violent campaign for...a retired CIA agent identified...
• "Freeing Tibet" (Real Clear Politics, July 15, 2009) Bane was the street man for the CIA on the Tibet operation at the time, under the leadership of legendary CIA agent Desmond FitzGerald... But the CIA's operation to protect the Dalai Lama and guide Tibet's fight...
• Secret Files: Untold Story of CIA Covert Operations in Tibet (Sputnik, Dec. 13, 2016) The publication of the US' secret intelligence documents on the CIA covert... The Dalai Lama...the White House... to accuse the Dalai Lama...