Editors' Pick
The Real Problem
A community that doesn't learn from the past, leaves its members to the mercy of abusers.
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‘Not The Tibetan Way’: The Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik Concerning Abusive Teachers
Is the Dalai Lama personally accountable for his enabling behavior towards the abusive Tibetan Buddhist lamas and violent spiritual teachers he is being warned about? Does he take ownership of ignoring the plight of victims and survivors who follow his advice and “out” abusive teachers at great personal risk? ...
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Knave or Fool? The Dalai Lama and Shōkō Asahara Affair Revisited
These days, the fourteenth Dalai Lama loses no time in telling spiritual devotees of inveterate and deliberate offenders that they must make their abuses and crimes public. Likewise, he routinely declares that the media should investigate and expose such matters diligently. However, the Dalai Lama himself rarely if ever ...
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Latest Stories on Open Buddhism
Questioning even a single abusive teacher or community might trigger Buddhist lineages' collapse like a house of cards. The apparent unwillingness of the Buddhist Union of the Netherlands (BUN) to face the enabling conduct within its own ranks is a good case in point.
It is imperative to recognise that the interpretation of the qualities of fully enlightened Buddhas by true believing Tibetan Buddhists must be taken literally: Buddhas can do no harm, full stop.
The Dutch Buddhist Union's non-binding stance on sexual abuse is not new, for it has been its go-to approach since the early 1990s. For decades, its members' indifference to abuse and aversion to what they call 'moralism' has led to an entrenched focus on optics that must hide their tolerance…
The Dutch networks NOS and Omroep Brabant and Open Buddhism investigated a long-standing conflict over the governance of the Buddharama temple in Waalwijk, the Netherlands. This complex dispute directly involves the Royal Thai Embassy in The Hague and a board member of the Dutch Buddhist Union (BUN).
The German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk once described 'power' as the ability to frighten off facts. The Buddha, on the other hand, showed how liberating it is to see facts as they are. However, converts who choose Buddhism, should do better not to turn away from the philosophical legacy of their…
Investigations
The online investigative platform Open Buddhism has maintained a high-profile presence in the Netherlands since 2012, reporting all manner of abuses in the the Dutch Buddhist community. It is now re-launched as an international medium for English-speaking readers interested in the reception of Buddhism in the West—in all of its guises, warts and all. Through original reports and critical analyses of contributing writers Open Buddhism seeks to educate and challenge the reader. Thus, it aims to contribute to open-minded, public debates across the Buddhist world. To this end, Open Buddhism invites contributions by freethinking spirits who develop tough, probing questions and dare speak truth to power. Today, the online investigative platform Open Buddhism introduces itself to an English-speaking audience with a paper by long-term Ch'an/Zen practitioner Stuart Lachs: 'Tibetan Buddhism Enters the 21st Century: Trouble in Shangri-la.' With this long-read, his first excursion outside Ch'an/Zen and into Tibetan Buddhism, Lachs…
In 2020, I was privy to the way the chairman of the Dutch Buddhist Union and an Associate Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam operated in the build-up to a symposium about sexually abusive Buddhists. Part one of a three-parts series.
In 2020, I was privy to the way the chairman of the Dutch Buddhist Union and an Associate Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam operated in the build-up to a symposium about sexually abusive Buddhists. Part two of a three-parts series.
In 2020, I was privy to the way the chairman of the Dutch Buddhist Union and an Associate Professor at the Free University in Amsterdam operated in the build-up to a symposium about sexually abusive Buddhists. Part three of a three-parts series.
The Charity Commission for England and Wales chastises the Rigpa Fellowship in the United Kingdom 'for putting students at risk of harm.' It finds that former trustees Patrick Gaffney and Susan Burrow failed to recognize the seriousness of the allegations against their Tibetan teacher Sogyal Lakar (previously known as Sogyal Rinpoche). An official inquiry has found misconduct and mismanagement at the London-based Buddhist charity, where students were put at risk of harm as a result of serious safeguarding failures. Today’s report heavily criticises institutional failings to provide a safe culture and environment. The Charity Commission already disqualified Gaffney and removed Burrows in 2019. 1 However, Patrick Gaffney's standing among the remaining members of the international Rigpa community is undiminished and he…
Mary Finnigan is a journalist and the co-author of Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (Jorvik Press, 2019). She co-founded Sogyal Lakar's first centre in London in the mid-1970s, but distanced herself soon after she discovered that he was a a sexually abusive and violent charlatan. Mary first published about Sogyal's decades-long abuse in The Guardian in 1995. In 2011, she contributed to the Canadian documentary 'In the Name of Enlightenment' and published her much-read online essay 'Behind the Thangkas.' In 2014, Mary began to collaborate with Dutch journalist and academic researcher Rob Hogendoorn. Their investigation into Sogyal's past and his organisation Rigpa's history resulted in the exposé Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche. The first edition appeared in 2019, shortly before Sogyal's death in hiding in Thailand. In 2021, Jorvik Press published a revised and updated…
On May 6, 2009, the fourteenth Dalai Lama (b. 1935) was the keynote speaker during a conference of the Ethical Foundations Consortium in Albany, NY. The event was sponsored by Nxivm, a homegrown American sex cult founded by Keith Raniere (b. 1960). A few weeks previous to this, critical media reports and direct warnings had led the Dalai Lama to cancel his scheduled appearance at the conference in Albany. Keith Raniere, his Nxivm co-founder Nancy Salzman, and their wealthy backer Sara Bronfman hastened to his residence in India. Somehow or other, they persuaded the Dalai Lama to reschedule the lecture. He finally did appear at Albany’s Palace Theater, paying public respect to Raniere and his leading devotees. Also, the Dalai Lama wrote the foreword to The Sphinx and Thelxiepeia (2009), which was co-authored by Raniere. Wealthy Sisters This long-read makes use of numeric endnotes that open on hover and take…
On November 17, 2023 three female plaintiffs filed a complaint and demand for a trial by jury against Palpung Thubten Chöling in Wappinger Falls, New York. The complaint alleges, among other things, that several board members knowingly enabled Lama Norlha's "sexual predation."
Attorneys of McAllister Olivarius requested that the Southern District Court shall allow three plaintiffs to litigate against Palpung Thubten Chöling and its board anonymously.
Today, the Times Union reports on the lawsuit that is being brought against Palpung Thubten Chöling and its board members. Three unnamed women accuse them of enabling, arranging, and hiding the abuse.
Library
The educational fraud by an Italian 'phantom university' is a clear reminder of patterns of deception that are all too common in Buddhist communities in the West.
In an interview by Damchö Diane Finnegan, American lawyer Carole Merchasin explains how civil and criminal law contribute towards holding Buddhist organisations and their leaders accountable for the sexual abuse taking place under their banner.
'Buddshit,' self-serving, specifically Buddhist bullshit, comes in many shapes and forms.
In 2023, once again, the fourteenth Dalai Lama repeated his orthodox proscription of some very common sexual practices among heterosexuals and homosexuals alike. This time, his doctrinal pronouncements were qualified by the compiler and editor of his text.
If Ole Nydahl does indeed suffer from Alzheimer's Disease, his case provides food for thought to aging Tibetan Buddhists who turn life into a drill for death.
On October 3, 2022, the Dutch current affairs programme Een Vandaag on NPO 1 aired a report by Sander 't Sas: 'The Dalai Lama still doesn't address the abuse: As a matter of fact, he didn't keep his promise.'
In a brief video in English, the French filmmakers Élodie Emery and Wandrille Lanos introduce their documentary 'Abuse in Buddhism: The Law of Silence' (Arte, 2022). It can be watched here.
To mark the launch of the revised and updated second edition of Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (Jorvik Press, 2021), British writer Mick Brown (Daily Telegraph, Telegraph Magazine) interviewed its authors, Mary Finnigan and Rob Hogendoorn.
June 2021, attorney Ann Olivarius of the American law firm McAllister Olivarius announced that she represented Vikki Han in a 'live rape case' against Ogyen Thinley Dorje, the seventeenth Karmapa. At that time, the law firm published a case video on its website, which was archived by Archive.org on June 19, 2021.
Third Party Videos & Podcasts
Videos and podcasts from across the web that are must-watch content to understand the depth and complexity of the ongoing abuses inside different forms of Buddhism.
Playlist
4 Videos
Archive of the conference mentioned and briefly introduced in the ARTE Documentary, Buddhism the Law of Silence
WBTC
8 Videos
A selection of podcasts from across the web related to abuses in different religions and cults, particularly inside Buddhism.