Buddhist Cult Leader Outed

[Spiral]

At last the Lerab Ling cult has been exposed for what it is, a total sham run by a little fat pervert, who for some reason has been mooned over by a long list of celebrities, from John Cleese to Clara Bruni, and of course the dalai lama himself.....

PDF >>> https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Letter-to-Sogyal-Lakar-14-06-2017-.pdf

It's a fairly classic case, the likes of which we see played over & over, the last one being the Buddhist centre in Pocklington (UK) when members finally snapped out of the madness they were all involved in !

[Clear Light]

Ah, here's what the Dalai Lama had to say recently about "Ethical Misconduct", from (as above) the "Lion's Roar" (8th August 2017) : Dalai Lama denounces ethical misconduct by Buddhist teachers (https://www.lionsroar.com/dalai-lama-denounce-ethical-misconduct-by-buddhist-teachers)


In a talk last week, the Dalai Lama addressed recent allegations of misconduct in Buddhist communities. In July, famed Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche was accused of longstanding abuse of many students. In response, Sogyal said he would be “taking a step back” from teaching. The Dalai Lama addressed Sogyal Rinpoche in his talk, saying “Sogyal Rinpoche, my very good friend. Now he is disgraced.”

His Holiness attributed ethical misconduct in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries to the influence of Tibet’s traditional feudal system. He advised Buddhists not to indiscriminately accept whatever their teacher says. “That is totally wrong.”

His Holiness advised students to investigate teachings, and, if they find the teachings to be harmful, “You shouldn’t follow the lama’s teachings. Even Dalai Lama’s teachings. If you find some contradiction, you should not follow my teachings.”

When misconduct occurs, the Dalai Lama advised, Buddhists should make the misconduct known. “These people do not follow Buddhist advice, Buddhist teachings. Only thing you can do is make public — through newspaper, through radio. Make public.” His Holiness said that where abusive teachers may not pay heed to Buddhist teachings on ethical behavior, they will likely take notice if their face appears in the media.

The Buddhist Union of France also commented on the allegations against Sogyal Rinpoche this week, saying that Sogyal’s alleged actions are unjustifiable and not in accord with Buddhist ethics. The union suspended the memberships of Sogyal’s organization Rigpa France and center Lerab Ling.


S6yzH-1si8o

And as pointed to in the article, from 1:15:10, he says a few words about examining the teachings and the teachers in deciding whether or not to "follow" him / her ...

Oh, now, for what it's worth, I found Sogyal's book "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" very helpful at the time (some years ago) and I did once attend a weekend Retreat at Rigpa London from which I found a "great sense of inspiration" to continue with the "Buddhist tradition" (around 2004 or so) ... although these days my primary spiritual interests are "Dzogchen" related and as such may or may not be considered as purely Buddhist given how there are non-Buddhist Dzogchen lineages (such as the Bon tradition) as well as some contemporary Western teachers who are attempting to present "it" as removed from any kind of overt "Religious Dogma" ... still, perhaps the days of "Crazy Wisdom" Guru's are at an end (so-to-speak) eh ?

[Foxie Loxie]

Anyone ever heard of a Blue Avian Religion?!! :Angel:

[Spiral]

Ah, here's what the Dalai Lama had to say recently about "Ethical Misconduct", from (as above) the "Lion's Roar" (8th August 2017) : Dalai Lama denounces ethical misconduct by Buddhist teachers (https://www.lionsroar.com/dalai-lama-denounce-ethical-misconduct-by-buddhist-teachers)


In a talk last week, the Dalai Lama addressed recent allegations of misconduct in Buddhist communities. In July, famed Tibetan Buddhist teacher Sogyal Rinpoche was accused of longstanding abuse of many students. In response, Sogyal said he would be “taking a step back” from teaching. The Dalai Lama addressed Sogyal Rinpoche in his talk, saying “Sogyal Rinpoche, my very good friend. Now he is disgraced.”

His Holiness attributed ethical misconduct in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries to the influence of Tibet’s traditional feudal system. He advised Buddhists not to indiscriminately accept whatever their teacher says. “That is totally wrong.”

His Holiness advised students to investigate teachings, and, if they find the teachings to be harmful, “You shouldn’t follow the lama’s teachings. Even Dalai Lama’s teachings. If you find some contradiction, you should not follow my teachings.”

When misconduct occurs, the Dalai Lama advised, Buddhists should make the misconduct known. “These people do not follow Buddhist advice, Buddhist teachings. Only thing you can do is make public — through newspaper, through radio. Make public.” His Holiness said that where abusive teachers may not pay heed to Buddhist teachings on ethical behavior, they will likely take notice if their face appears in the media.

The Buddhist Union of France also commented on the allegations against Sogyal Rinpoche this week, saying that Sogyal’s alleged actions are unjustifiable and not in accord with Buddhist ethics. The union suspended the memberships of Sogyal’s organization Rigpa France and center Lerab Ling.


S6yzH-1si8o

And as pointed to in the article, from 1:15:10, he says a few words about examining the teachings and the teachers in deciding whether or not to "follow" him / her ...

Oh, now, for what it's worth, I found Sogyal's book "The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying" very helpful at the time (some years ago) and I did once attend a weekend Retreat at Rigpa London from which I found a "great sense of inspiration" to continue with the "Buddhist tradition" (around 2004 or so) ... although these days my primary spiritual interests are "Dzogchen" related and as such may or may not be considered as purely Buddhist given how there are non-Buddhist Dzogchen lineages (such as the Bon tradition) as well as some contemporary Western teachers who are attempting to present "it" as removed from any kind of overt "Religious Dogma" ... still, perhaps the days of "Crazy Wisdom" Guru's are at an end (so-to-speak) eh ?

Sogyal didn't write that book BTW, it just has his name on it, he might be Tibetan but he never studied as a monk or anything else, people just project onto him what they want to see....

That includes the the DL

http://p5.focus.de/img/fotos/origs865129/9702436142-w721-h541-o-q75-p5/Film-Sogyal-Rinpoche-r-mit-dem-Dalai-Lama-und-der-franzoesischen-First-Lady-Carla-Bruni-Sarkozy.jpg

People are starting to ask serious questions about what's going on (very slowly) this is from OVER FIVE years ago https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2012/04/28/the-dalai-lama-and-sogyal-rinpoche-a-roaring-silence/

:facepalm:

You won't ever get to see how these organisations work from a workshop or a book, you have to be an insider ..... hence the blog the above is from (well worth a read) https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/

[Foxie Loxie]

Seems as though I've read here somewhere the DL receives one million a year from one of the letter agencies. :cash::cash:

[Nasu]

At last the Lerab Ling cult has been exposed for what it is, a total sham run by a little fat pervert, who for some reason has been mooned over by a long list of celebrities, from John Cleese to Clara Bruni, and of course the dalai lama himself.....

PDF >>> https://www.lionsroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Letter-to-Sogyal-Lakar-14-06-2017-.pdf

It's a fairly classic case, the likes of which we see played over & over, the last one being the Buddhist centre in Pocklington (UK) when members finally snapped out of the madness they were all involved in !

Thanks for posting Spiral. Goodness. As you say, a fairly classic case. Makes you wonder why as searchers our discernment filters are lowered so much, seems like an endless cycle... N

"You have offered one of your female attendants to another lama (who is well known in Rigpa) for sex. You have had for decades, and continue to have, sexual relationships with a number of your student attendants, some who are married. You have told us to lie on your behalf, to hide your sexual relationships from your other girlfriends. Publically you claim that your relationships are ordinary, consensual, and proper because you are not a monk."

[Foxie Loxie]

Endless cycle is correct....keeps happening in ANY religious group!! :facepalm:

[Guish]

People seem to forget the most basic teaching by Buddha- " If what I am saying doesn't make sense to you, don't believe in it".


I stopped in the middle of the article because it was nonsense.

[Clear Light]

Sogyal didn't write that book BTW, it just has his name on it, he might be Tibetan but he never studied as a monk or anything else, people just project onto him what they want to see....

Oh, really ? On what grounds can you make such a claim ? As far as I can see (and have read about) he certainly was "trained" for many years before leaving Tibet but perhaps you have spoken directly to some of those who were with him then eh ?


You won't ever get to see how these organisations work from a workshop or a book, you have to be an insider ..... hence the blog the above is from (well worth a read) https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/

Apparently that blog is written by "Tenzin Peljor", so are you saying that you agree with his writings ? I don't know who he is, or his background ... perhaps you'd like to say why you find his blog "worthwhile" eh ?

It's nothing personal you understand, but those are some fairly strong claims that seem to go against the prevailing Narrative notwithstanding the unfolding Scandal regarding Sogyal ... so thanks in advance for any specific references you can point to ;)

[Lifebringer]

Sounds like this guy's living the "cocaine life of sex and drugs and pimpdom. Most High is moving His hand again.

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Jim Jones comes to mind. They drank the Kool Aid on this guy and couldn't see the behavior didn't fit the office. Lot of that happening.

[Chris Gilbert]

This is why I look askance not only at hero/guru worship, but also at the concept of ultimate, 'FINAL' enlightenment. Enlightened states of awareness can certainly be a tool to for compassion and healing, but they can also provide a further layer of delusion where it seems like the ego is gone, but it really isn't. Enlightened bliss is almost like being high, where said altered state merely supresses and covers up feelings temporarily. When you have dozens or even thousands of people fawning over you and assuming you're some perfect god, the potential for self-delusion is worsened.

[Spiral]

Sogyal didn't write that book BTW, it just has his name on it, he might be Tibetan but he never studied as a monk or anything else, people just project onto him what they want to see....

Oh, really ? On what grounds can you make such a claim ? As far as I can see (and have read about) he certainly was "trained" for many years before leaving Tibet but perhaps you have spoken directly to some of those who were with him then eh ?


You won't ever get to see how these organisations work from a workshop or a book, you have to be an insider ..... hence the blog the above is from (well worth a read) https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/

Apparently that blog is written by "Tenzin Peljor", so are you saying that you agree with his writings ? I don't know who he is, or his background ... perhaps you'd like to say why you find his blog "worthwhile" eh ?

It's nothing personal you understand, but those are some fairly strong claims that seem to go against the prevailing Narrative notwithstanding the unfolding Scandal regarding Sogyal ... so thanks in advance for any specific references you can point to ;)


The blog has extensive links to everything it claims, which is the most you can ask of any such blog or news site, I know nothing of whoever is behind the site, it just has a lot of things that I'm interested in as a survivor of a buddhist based cult myself.

I can't remember where I read or heard a lot of the things I have come across about what went on at that place, some of it was word of mouth as I lived near to that place for many years & having the interests I have means I pick things up & tend to meet "unusual" types of people.

Besides the letter in the OP there was a book written by Marion Dapsence about the cult (who studied it for seven years), this is a summary of her insights (en Francais) http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/1559967-soumission-devotion-et-abus-sexuels-j-ai-enquete-sur-le-bouddhisme-en-france.html

There is an ever growing number of "spiritual" centres, retreats & courses in that area of France, most of which don't even claim to be part of anything so specific as "buddhism", yet they pepper their dialog with words & concepts clearly lifted from it, I don't know where the money comes from to fund them or quite where the people who run them parachute in from, but it was very odd watching the population dynamic shift over the years.

"Buddhism"* in the west has seen a large number of cults forming, and there has been a LOT of fall out, there are online survivors groups & all kinds of sites covering what has gone on at various places, the latest dodgy group being the NKT https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2017/05/04/easy-come-easy-go-modern-kadampa-teachers-the-new-kadampa-tradition/

* using the word lightly here as it seems it can mean anything a white bloke in a tablecloth with a daft name says it does.

[Spiral]

People seem to forget the most basic teaching by Buddha- " If what I am saying doesn't make sense to you, don't believe in it".


I stopped in the middle of the article because it was nonsense.

The article is not "nonsense", it's about abuse in a cult & you can learn a lot about the foibles of the human mind & heart from such things.

No, the guy was not following the teachings of anyone other than his own base desires.

[Clear Light]

The blog has extensive links to everything it claims, which is the most you can ask of any such blog or news site, I know nothing of whoever is behind the site, it just has a lot of things that I'm interested in as a survivor of a buddhist based cult myself.

I can't remember where I read or heard a lot of the things I have come across about what went on at that place, some of it was word of mouth as I lived near to that place for many years & having the interests I have means I pick things up & tend to meet "unusual" types of people.

Besides the letter in the OP there was a book written by Marion Dapsence about the cult (who studied it for seven years), this is a summary of her insights (en Francais) http://leplus.nouvelobs.com/contribution/1559967-soumission-devotion-et-abus-sexuels-j-ai-enquete-sur-le-bouddhisme-en-france.html

There is an ever growing number of "spiritual" centres, retreats & courses in that area of France, most of which don't even claim to be part of anything so specific as "buddhism", yet they pepper their dialog with words & concepts clearly lifted from it, I don't know where the money comes from to fund them or quite where the people who run them parachute in from, but it was very odd watching the population dynamic shift over the years.

"Buddhism"* in the west has seen a large number of cults forming, and there has been a LOT of fall out, there are online survivors groups & all kinds of sites covering what has gone on at various places, the latest dodgy group being the NKT https://buddhism-controversy-blog.com/2017/05/04/easy-come-easy-go-modern-kadampa-teachers-the-new-kadampa-tradition/

* using the word lightly here as it seems it can mean anything a white bloke in a tablecloth with a daft name says it does.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Spiral, and yes it does seem as if Buddhism is itself not entirely free of scandal as one might expect ... but then again, as Buddhism does seem to "run counter" to a lot of what "Western rationalistic thought" espouses, it seems to me that an Authentic Teacher (who is free of all ego-traps) could (can) potentially make use of any number of "methods" to (re-)introduce the "awakened state" eh ?

Although I'm not condoning anything of a sexual nature ...

[Spiral]

Although I'm not condoning anything of a sexual nature ...

Heaven forbid !

We are British after all !

:blushing:

[Foxie Loxie]

Made me laugh out loud, Spiral! :ROFL: