Abuse and Buddhism: Behind the Smiling Façade

By Anna Sawerthal

Buddhism in the West is in a crisis. For years, it had benefited from a reputation too good to be true. Only now are victims of sexual abuse¹, corruption and cultic behaviour finally beginning to speak out.

Children who grew up there in the 1980’s were punished by being forced to perform 108 prostrations in the snow, or circumambulate the sacred stone barefoot 108 times. If Ben fell asleep during chanting, he would be beaten by the teacher. The children had to do housework seven days a week, and were trained to visualise the guru on top of their heads, in their hearts, in their minds. When Ben was thirteen, he was brought to Portugal, where for four years the youths were trained to be elites, completely shut off from the rest of the world.

虐待与佛教：微笑的背后
安娜·索维塔尔
西方的佛教正处于危机之中。 多年来，它一直受益于好得令人难以置信的声誉。 直到现在，性虐待¹、腐败和邪教行为的受害者才终于开始发声。

本花了很多年才杀死一只蚊子。 如果半夜被嗡嗡声吵醒，他会自己从床上爬起来，找个玻璃杯，把虫子活捉后放窗外。 同时，他可能念了一个真言，例如被认为是大悲佛的真言：嗡嘛呢吧美吽。 “真正的快乐只能通过为他人而不是为自己寻求幸福来找到”，“像对待自己的母亲一样对待每一个众生——即使是最小的昆虫”：这些话只是本系统的一部分，因为他从小就被抚养长大 “佛系”——在法国南部的尼玛宗。 尼玛宗是藏语，意思是太阳城堡。 然而，这就是关于西藏的影响。 镇上发生的其他事情一点也不是佛教徒的。

1980 年代在那里长大的孩子被罚在雪地里顶礼 108 次，或赤脚绕圣石 108 圈。 如果本念经时睡着了，他就会被老师打。 孩子们每周必须做 7 天家务，并接受训练，将上师观想在他们的头顶、心中、脑海中。 本十三岁时，他被带到了葡萄牙，在那里，年轻人被训练成为精英，与世隔绝了四年。

The reason was that their guru wanted to prepare the next generation for the coming apocalypse. The daily training regiment in Portugal included karate and 10k runs. The children were forbidden from reading the newspaper; whatever they learned came solely from a couple of teachers. “We built the guru’s house with our own hands”, recalls Ben.

He laughs uncomfortably when he thinks back to the moments when the girls were called into the guru’s new house. “At the time, our only thought was: what do we have to do to get invited in by the guru as well?” Today, Ben knows that he built the house in which his female childhood friends were allegedly abused.

Lama Ogyen Kunzang Dorje (Robert S.)

At the time, almost all the kids’ parents were in Brussels, where they worked for free in restaurants that belonged to the OKC. Their guru was a Belgian man named Robert S., who dressed in Tibetan monk’s robes and took up a new name in 1972: Lama Ogyen Kunzang Dorje. This led to the name of the Buddhist group, whose headquarters were in Brussels: Ogyen Kunzang Choling (OKC).

The search for meaning

In the 1970s, thousands of Europeans embarked on a spiritual journey aimed at breaking free from the demands of the old world. They were searching for new ways of living. In Asia and in Europe, they met exotic gurus who gave them new perspectives on life. Unfortunately, some of these gurus were not what they claimed to be. The spiritual seekers turned out to be easy prey for abuse, and only realized it too late – if at all.

Livia was fourteen years old when Robert S. appointed her the sole temple caretaker in Nyima Dzong. She was told that it was a special honour to be able to perform that role. Livia was given a room beside the temple, near Robert S.’s room. She spent her days lighting oil lamps, or shining the golden altar bowls. And at night, she was abused by Robert S.. When the guru took her away over long weekends, none of the adults asked any questions.

In Nyima Dzong, people were indoctrinated to see everything in a positive light. Negative thoughts were said to be signs of a clouded mind. Only Robert S. allegedly had access to ‘true reality’. He quoted Tibetan teachers with whom he had supposedly studied in India. And various Tibetan teachers made him seem legitimate by visiting the OKC over the years, for example the Dalai Lama in 1990. By that time, many instances of sexual abuse had apparently already occurred.

Livia tried to deal with the abuse by meditating. She imagined that her mind was a broad, empty field, “though at the side I pictured a huge rock.” When she was in the field, she was only allowed to think good things about Robert S. and the group. But when she hid behind the rock, she was allowed to think whatever she wanted. Nobody would ever know, and thus she would not generate any bad karma for herself or others. “I know it sounds crazy, but for me it worked,” she says.

Not an isolated case

One might think that allegations surrounding OKC constitute a horrible exception, a monument to the failure of entire institutions: family, friends, or the justice system. However, the OKC is unfortunately only an extreme example of a larger problem that has gone essentially unnoticed: abuse in the name of Buddhism. Just off the top of his head, Tenzin Peljor can name nine recent cases in Europe. Born in Germany as Michael Jäckel, Peljor became a Tibetan Buddhist monk in 1998. He says that he initially ended up in a Buddhist cult himself. After a four-year struggle to get out, he has since dedicated himself to promoting an open discussion about similar problems in other Buddhist communities. Three of the groups he can point to are in Germany.

Rob Hogendoorn, a Dutch publicist and long-time Buddhist, is currently following some twenty cases in which Buddhist teachers in the Netherlands have been accused of sexually abusing their students. The country has 39 recognised Buddhist organisations; he claims to have received complaints about almost half of them.

The dam broke in July

Up until now, almost nobody had been talking about these “isolated cases.” Buddhism had too good a reputation, and it would have been too embarrassing to admit that, in this regard at least, the situation was not much rosier than in Christianity. The fact that a discussion is now finally taking place is mainly due to a scandal featuring one of the most famous Tibetan teachers in the West: Sogyal Lakar. Lakar’s book “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying”, published in 1992, won over the hearts of millions of readers, thus providing him and his international organisation Rigpa with tremendous wealth and power.

原因是他们的导师想要让下一代为即将到来的世界末日做好准备。 葡萄牙的日常训练团包括空手道和 10k 跑步。 孩子们被禁止看报纸； 他们所学的一切都完全来自几位老师。 “我们亲手建造了大师的房子”，本回忆道。

当他回想起女孩们被叫进古鲁新房子的那一刻时，他不自在地笑了起来。 “当时，我们唯一的想法是：我们必须怎么做才能被上师邀请进来？” 今天，本知道他建造的房子就是他儿时的女性朋友据称受到虐待的地方。

喇嘛乌金昆桑多杰（Robert S.）
喇嘛乌金昆桑多杰（Robert S.）

当时，几乎所有孩子的父母都在布鲁塞尔，他们在属于 OKC 的餐馆免费工作。 他们的上师是一位名叫罗伯特·S. 的比利时人，他身着西藏僧袍，并于 1972 年取了一个新名字：喇嘛乌金昆桑多杰。 这导致了总部位于布鲁塞尔的佛教团体的名称：Ogyen Kunzang Choling (OKC)。

寻找意义
在 20 世纪 70 年代，成千上万的欧洲人踏上了旨在摆脱旧世界要求的精神之旅。 他们正在寻找新的生活方式。 在亚洲和欧洲，他们遇到了异国的大师，他们给了他们对生活的新视角。 不幸的是，其中一些大师并不是他们所声称的那样。 结果发现，精神追求者很容易成为虐待的猎物，而且即使意识到也为时已晚。

当罗伯特·S. 任命她为尼玛宗唯一的寺庙看守时，莉维亚十四岁。 她被告知能够扮演这个角色是一种特殊的荣誉。 莉维亚在寺庙旁边得到了一个房间，靠近罗伯特 S. 的房间。 她整天都在点油灯，或照亮金色的祭坛碗。 晚上，她被罗伯特·S. 虐待。当大师带她去度过漫长的周末时，没有一个大人问任何问题。

在尼玛宗，人们被灌输以积极的眼光看待一切。 消极的想法被认为是头脑混乱的迹象。 据称只有罗伯特 S. 可以接触到“真实的现实”。 他引用了据说他曾在印度学习过的藏族老师的话。 多年来，各种西藏教师通过访问 OKC 使他看起来合法，例如 1990 年的达赖喇嘛。到那时，显然已经发生了许多性虐待事件。

利维亚试图通过冥想来应对虐待。 她想象自己的头脑是一片广阔、空旷的田野，“虽然我在旁边想象了一块巨大的岩石。” 当她在外地时，只允许她对罗伯特 S. 和团队抱有好感。 但当她躲在岩石后面时，她可以随心所欲地想。 没有人会知道，因此她不会为自己或他人产生任何恶业。 “我知道这听起来很疯狂，但对我来说它奏效了，”她说。

并非孤例
有人可能会认为围绕 OKC 的指控是一个可怕的例外，是整个机构失败的纪念碑：家人、朋友或司法系统。 然而，不幸的是，俄克拉荷马城只是一个基本上没有引起注意的更大问题的一个极端例子：以佛教的名义滥用职权。 丹增培勒 (Tenzin Peljor) 的脑海中浮现出九个最近在欧洲发生的案例。 Peljor 出生于德国，原名 Michael Jäckel，于 1998 年成为藏传佛教僧侣。他说，他最初自己也加入了一个佛教邪教。 经过四年的脱身斗争，他致力于推动其他佛教团体就类似问题展开公开讨论。 他可以指出的三个团体在德国。

Rob Hogendoorn 是一名荷兰公关人员，长期信奉佛教徒，目前正在跟踪大约 20 起荷兰佛教教师被指控对学生进行性虐待的案件。 该国有 39 个公认的佛教组织； 他声称收到了几乎一半的投诉。

大坝在七月决堤
到目前为止，几乎没有人在谈论这些“孤立的案例”。 佛教的名声太大了，如果承认至少在这方面的情况并不比基督教好多少，那就太尴尬了。 现在终于要进行讨论的事实主要是由于西方最著名的西藏老师之一：索甲拉卡的丑闻。 拉卡1992年出版的《西藏生死书》一书赢得了数百万读者的青睐，从而为他和他的国际组织本觉派提供了巨大的财富和权力。

In July, a letter from eight of Sogyal’s closest disciples was leaked, in which they accused him of severe abuse. “Our wish is to break this veil of secrecy, deception, and deceit,” the former students wrote. They detailed instances of severe physical and psychological violence, and of sexual abuse of women. The letter itself was an act of forceful resistance – after more than twenty years of subjugation for some. The letter claims that Sogyal justified his violence as “wrathful compassion” or “skilful means”, and it repeats several times that the students “no longer believe this to be so.” Since the letter was leaked, blog forums and Facebook groups have come alive with discussions about Buddhism in the West and the relationship between students and teachers.

Oane Bijlsma, a former Rigpa disciple with access to the innermost circle around Sogyal, recalls how the ‘master’ held meetings with his students while sitting on the toilet and defecating. “He does it with the bathroom door open; sitting there stinking and constipated.” He would regularly beat his students, also to unconsciousness, since even though a hug was considered a blessing, being hit was allegedly an even bigger one. “Sogyal really believes this shit,” Oane says. “He really thinks he’s some omnipotent being.”

She got to know the young, beautiful women in Sogyal’s inner circle – who were available to him around the clock – because she almost became one of them herself. She knows that he forced women to strip for him while his male assistant watched. Oane sums up the Rigpa’s inner circle with a bitter comparison: “It is like a dysfunctional, incestuous family with grave sado-masochistic tendencies, but without a safeword.”

Some observers consider Tibetan Buddhism to be particularly susceptible to abuse, because it uses secret practices that are performed in confidence between a teacher and his students. Yet the cases named by Tenzin Peljor and Rob Hogendoorn show that there are similar accusations in all types of Buddhism. For example, in July, a court in Augsburg sentenced the Zen teacher Genpo D. to eight years in prison, after he admitted to having sexually abused seven boys. D. has appealed the conviction for reasons of too high of a sentence.

Overcoming the ego

Buddhism basically identifies the ego as the source of all human suffering: in order to reach enlightenment, we have to overcome our egos. This does not mean, however, that we have to switch off our powers of reasoning. On the contrary, we are supposed to apply our minds to see through to the true nature of all things. In Vajrayana, also known as Tantric Buddhism and mainly practiced in Tibet, there is also another possibility, which allows the student to reach enlightenment particularly quickly using unconventional means. Since these esoteric practices can only be transmitted directly to students, they have to be practiced under the guidance of a teacher. And this is where novice students risk getting pulled completely astray.

The practices used in Tantric Buddhism are strictly ritualised, and may only be taught by teachers who have been specifically authorised beforehand. Ideally, the students themselves must have already undergone many years of in-depth training, in order to be able to put the Vajrayana teachings in their proper context within the Buddhist path.

When a student agrees to work with a guru, she or he is implicitly acknowledging that the guru sees reality as it actually is, whereas she herself only has a false view: such assumptions are in fact asserted as vows. The teacher may use various methods to help the student along her spiritual path. And unless the guru has taken a vow of celibacy, these methods may include sexual practices.

Sex as a means to enlightenment: tantra and dakinis

Sogyal bases himself on his interpretation of Tibetan legends featuring “mad yogis”, who used unconventional tantric methods to reach enlightenment in only one lifetime, and who taught them to others. Livia pleaded with Robert S. numerous times to stop the sexual activity. But he persisted, saying that it was important for her enlightenment, and that otherwise she had no chance of becoming enlightened in this lifetime. When she continued to resist, he began to threaten her. She was made to copy by hand a book about Yeshe Tsogyal – the legendary “consort” of the Tibetan religious figure Padamsambhava. And, according to Tenzin Peljor, in 1995 Sogyal told a woman that having sex with him would help her father, who had recently died, to reach enlightenment.

Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood) – Founder of Triratna (formerly known as FWBO)
© Tathaataa | CC BY 3.0

Such claims portray sexual activity as a kind of spiritual test. Students who resist are thus made to feel like they are evidently on the wrong path to enlightenment. Mark Dunlop, a long-time Triratna student, claims in a blog post that his teacher Sangharakshita explained to him the path to enlightenment as follows: “If I was to make spiritual progress, I needed to break through this unconscious anti-homosexual conditioning.” And the way to do that? By having sex with his teacher.

Such teachers often invoke the concept of the “dakini”: angelic beings who supposedly appear as visions to the master, and are allegedly very effective in inspiring men. Sogyal referred to his women as dakinis, and Mark Dunlop was called a “daka”, i.e. a male dakini.

The path of self-denial

“You are really special”, Sogyal once whispered into Oane’s ear. Nowadays she cringes when she thinks about it, but at the time she didn’t know how to respond. She was in a period of personal crisis, and looking for something to cling to. The situation never progressed to the physical with Oane, but for many women it did. According to Tenzin Peljor, “there is a lot of pressure on emotionally needy students, who are looking for healing through care and attention. That leads to their powers of discernment getting slowly whittled away. Step by step, their boundaries are continually breached, until one day the guru says: ‘get undressed’.”

“The voice inside your head screams ‘No! No!’, but at the same time you think: this is a test. If I fail the test, then I won’t be able to get enlightened. Everyone has always told you that you needed it in order to reach enlightenment, and you don’t want to fail. And that pushes you to the point where you accept the abuse.”

Livia told nobody about the abuse. Not only out of shame and demands of secrecy, she says, but also out of fear that she would drop the bomb and nothing would happen. Looking back today, the only way that she can explain the adults’ behaviour was that they were hypnotised. Ben recalls that a girl in Nyima Dzong once talked about having being abused. Yet the adults claimed that her story was just the “visions of an impure mind.” The pressure to comply didn’t only come from above, says Ben: “The real pressure comes from the sides.” Ethnologist Marion Dapsance wrote her doctoral thesis about Rigpa’s fraudulent ways. When she once expressed skepticism about Sogyal’s teachings in a Rigpa discussion group, she was accused of not having a “connection” to him.

“Idealising the perpetrator gives him power. People become willing to do whatever he says”, explains Fatma Altzinger, psychotherapist and contact for sexual violence at the ombudsman’s office of the Austrian Buddhist Union (ÖBR). “The student gives up her sense of self. In group psychology, the phenomenon is explained by strong identification with the leader. Everything that he thinks and does is good. At that point, it becomes impossible to resist him.”

Buddhist fundamentalism: the desire for a leader

After Ben managed to leave OKC, he began working for democratic causes in Brussels. “The OKC is made up of people who give up the control over their lives to serial abusers.” Ben sees the rise of cults and gurus as a sign of the general erosion of democracy. “Everybody slips into this craziness, simply because they stop thinking critically!”

According to ethnologist Dapsance, religion becomes problematic when its myths are applied to reality. Whether it be dakinis, legends, or the ‘apocalypse’: religions portray myths as accepted facts, in order to call ethical principles into question, and sometimes even to break the law. Oane calls this the ‘Harry Potter Syndrome’: our deep desire to believe in unscientific magic. She counts fake news and conspiracy theories into the same category. “I was looking for wisdom, but I found myself faced with this ridiculous man who was acting a lot like Trump. He praises, criticises and insults people in the same way.”

Too good a reputation

Tenzin Peljor says that, unlike Islam for example, Buddhism has a problem not with hate speech, but rather with prejudices that are too positive. He says that Europeans still cling to the myth of a heavenly ‘roof over the world’, populated by enlightened beings presiding over the wisdom of a thousand years. 

And people like Sogyal or Robert S. exploit Westerners’ lack of knowledge and fascination with Buddhism, in order to satisfy their own base needs. People who contact Hogendoorn often recount horrific stories and then ask, “Is this normal? Is Buddhism really like that?” He claims that the Buddhist institutions, even those who otherwise do very good work, are not particularly interested in dealing with such cases. “They are scared of having people think that all Buddhists are abusers.” So who ends up being responsible? The guru? The student? The group? The media?

Who is to blame?

In legal terms, the sexual abuse of minors can be easily defined. The situation with adults, on the other hand, is more complicated, since the consent to the sex is “voluntary”. Psychologist Altzinger says: “In the meantime, it has become obvious that we cannot assume that children can give informed consent. But there is a large grey zone for adults.” According to Altzinger, the court decision always comes down to the particular judge, and to how credible the woman’s testimony is.

Tenzin Peljor also points out the legal grey area with regard to homeopathic medicine: “A certified psychotherapist is subject to very clear regulations. He is not allowed to have sex with his patients. In alternative medicine, however, certain things may be considered immoral, but they are not punishable under the law.”

Reactions from Buddhist leaders: the Dalai Lama and Co.

For many students, Buddhist leaders and organisations have been too slow in reacting to Sogyal’s behaviour, if they reacted at all. And some of the reactions have even made the situation worse. Highly regarded Tibetan teachers such as Dzongsar Khyentse or Orgyen Topgyal, for example, have cited ancient legends in order to mitigate the accusations against Sogyal, or even to blame the students for having broken their vows. Though many other teachers have clearly criticised Sogyal’s behaviour.

There is no overarching institution in Buddhism, no “Buddhist pope”. Nevertheless, many people pay particular attention to the Dalai Lama, whose long-time silence on the issue had been considered very problematic. The first accusations against Sogyal were already being made in 1981. In 1994, one female student threatened to sue him, but the case was settled out of court. Despite the many rumours, the Dalai Lama’s foreword continued to be printed in Sogyal’s book for many years. However, in September of this year, HHDL finally stopped mincing words and referred to Sogyal as “disgraced”. “The name of religion has been used as an instrument of exploitation,” he said. And then in late September, he stated that Sogyal had abused his students and that there had been similar cases in Taiwan and Tibet as well.

What happens to the gurus?

After the letter was leaked, Sogyal stepped down as Rigpa’s spiritual director and announced that he was going “on retreat”, i.e. to take some time to meditate intensely. He was most recently seen in Thailand. None of the victims has yet to file legal proceedings against him.

Litigation has been pending against Robert S. in Belgium since Livia and others filed suit in 1997. However, the wheels of the Belgian court system grind slowly, and the group of accusers have been almost helpless against Robert S.’s team of lawyers. Though new accusations have been added to the file over the years, the proceedings only began to really move again in 2015, when Ben took over the reins and began mobilising the various participants. The file contains accusations of over 170 crimes, including kidnapping of children, torture, sexual abuse, fraud, falsification of documents, money laundering, and tax evasion.

In September 2016, Robert S. was convicted in abstentia by a Brussels court in the first instance, and given a four-year suspended sentence. Now 76 years old, he did not appear in court, citing health reasons. He stayed in his villa in Spain and sent eight lawyers in his place, recalls Ben. The accusers were able to pay their lawyer twelve thousand euros thanks to a crowdfunding campaign. Despite the meagre sentence, Robert S. appealed. Almost twenty years have passed since the first claims were filed, and no end is in sight. There is still no news as to when the appeal will be heard.

Ben has had to undergo a long and painful process. He had to break out of the mental prison that he grew up in, and had no opportunities, no money, no social insurance and no basic education. Many former members are in the same position. Any money that they had was donated to the OKC, leaving them with no savings.

Psychotherapist Altzinger states that those harmed can often free themselves by creating a relative context, with the help of other relationships. The victims have to win back a sense of their own boundaries. Oane went into therapy after leaving Rigpa. Livia says that, for her, it was important to have looked Robert S. in the eye in court in 1997. That experience helped her to reinterpret her traumatic childhood experiences, in which Robert S. controlled every aspect of her life. The court litigation since 2016 has changed a lot for Ben, too: “Today, if a mosquito is disturbing my child’s sleep, I’ll kill it. I think to myself: that guy abused hundreds of people. I’m not going to hell for killing a mosquito.”  ■

7 月，索甲最亲近的八名弟子的一封信被泄露，他们在信中指责他严重虐待。 “我们的愿望是打破这种保密、欺骗和欺骗的面纱，”前学生写道。 他们详细描述了严重的身体和心理暴力以及对妇女的性虐待事件。 这封信本身就是一种强有力的反抗行为——在对某些人进行了二十多年的压制之后。 信中声称，索甲以“忿怒慈悲”或“善巧方便”来辩解他的暴力行为，并多次重申学生“不再相信如此”。 自这封信泄露后，博客论坛和 Facebook 群组就活跃起来，讨论西方的佛教和师生关系。

Oane Bijlsma 是一位前本觉派弟子，可以进入索甲周围最核心的圈子，他回忆起这位“大师”是如何一边坐在马桶上大便一边与他的学生开会的。 “他是在浴室门开着的情况下做的； 坐在那里又臭又便秘。” 他经常打他的学生，打得他们不省人事，因为尽管拥抱被认为是一种祝福，但据称被打是一种更大的祝福。 “Sogyal 真的相信这些狗屎，”Oane 说。 “他真的认为自己是无所不能的存在。”

她结识了索甲核心圈子里年轻漂亮的女性——她们随时待命——因为她自己几乎成了她们中的一员。 她知道他强迫女人为他脱衣，而他的男助手在一旁看着。 奥恩用一个尖锐的对比来总结本觉派的核心圈子：“这就像一个功能失调、乱伦的家庭，具有严重的施虐受虐倾向，但没有安全词。”

一些观察家认为藏传佛教特别容易受到滥用，因为它使用师徒之间秘密进行的秘密修行。 然而，丹增培勒和罗布霍根多恩列举的案例表明，在所有类型的佛教中都有类似的指控。 例如，7 月，奥格斯堡的一家法院判处禅师 Genpo D. 八年徒刑，此前他承认性侵过七名男孩。 D. 以量刑过重为由对定罪提出上诉。

克服自我
佛教基本上将自我认定为所有人类痛苦的根源：为了达到开悟，我们必须克服自我。 然而，这并不意味着我们必须关闭我们的推理能力。 相反，我们应该用我们的心去洞察一切事物的本质。 在金刚乘中，也被称为密宗佛教，主要在西藏修行，还有另一种可能性，它允许学生使用非常规的方式特别迅速地达到证悟。 由于这些密法只能直接传授给弟子，所以必须在老师的指导下修炼。 这就是新手学生可能会完全误入歧途的地方。

密宗的修持是严格仪式化的，只能由事先获得特别授权的老师教授。 理想情况下，学生们自己必须已经接受了多年的深入训练，以便能够将金刚乘教义置于佛教道路的适当背景下。

当学生同意与上师一起工作时，她或他含蓄地承认上师看到的是现实，而她自己只有一个错误的看法：这样的假设实际上被断言为誓言。 老师可以使用各种方法来帮助学生走上她的精神之路。 除非上师发誓要独身，否则这些方法可能包括性行为。

性作为开悟的手段：密宗和空行母
索甲基于他对以“疯狂瑜伽士”为主角的西藏传说的解释，他们使用非传统的密宗方法仅在一生中达到开悟，并将其传授给其他人。 Livia 多次恳求 Robert S. 停止性行为。 但他坚持说，这对她开悟很重要，否则她今生没有机会开悟。 当她继续反抗时，他开始威胁她。 她被要求手抄一本关于 Yeshe Tsogyal 的书——西藏宗教人物 Padamsambhava 的传奇“配偶”。 而且，根据丹增培勒 (Tenzin Peljor) 的说法，索甲 (Sogyal) 在 1995 年告诉一位女士，与他发生性关系将帮助她最近去世的父亲获得开悟。

Sangharakshita, Dennis Lingwood, Triratna 创始人 - FWBO
Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood) – Triratna 的创始人（前身为 FWBO）
© 塔塔塔 | 抄送 3.0

这些说法将性活动描绘成一种精神考验。 因此，抵制的学生会觉得他们显然走上了错误的启蒙之路。 Mark Dunlop 是 Triratna 的长期学生，他在一篇博客文章中声称，他的老师 Sangharakshita 解释了

为他开悟的道路如下：“如果我要在精神上取得进步，我需要突破这种无意识的反同性恋制约。” 以及如何做到这一点？ 通过与他的老师发生性关系。

这些老师经常引用“空行母”的概念：据称以幻象出现在大师面前的天使存在，据称在鼓舞人心方面非常有效。 索甲称他的女性为空行母，而马克邓洛普被称为“daka”，即男性空行母。

自我否定的道路
“你真的很特别”，索甲曾在奥恩耳边低声说。 现在她想起来就畏缩，但当时她不知道该如何回应。 她正处于个人危机时期，正在寻找可以依附的东西。 这种情况从未发展到 Oane 的身体上，但对许多女性来说确实如此。 Tenzin Peljor 说：“有情感需求的学生压力很大，他们希望通过关怀和关注寻求治愈。 这导致他们的辨别力逐渐减弱。 一步一步，他们的界限不断被打破，直到有一天上师说：‘脱掉衣服’。”

“你脑海中的声音尖叫着‘不！ 不！”，但同时你想：这是一个测试。 如果我没有通过测试，那么我将无法开悟。 每个人都一直告诉你，你需要它才能证悟，你不想失败。 这会把你推到接受虐待的地步。”

利维亚没有告诉任何人关于虐待的事情。 她说，这不仅是出于羞耻和保密要求，也是出于害怕她会扔下炸弹而什么也不会发生的恐惧。 今天回过头来看，她唯一能解释大人们行为的方式就是他们被催眠了。 Ben 回忆说，Nyima Dzong 的一个女孩曾经谈到自己被虐待的经历。 然而，大人们却声称她的故事只是“不纯思想的幻象”。 遵守的压力不仅来自上面，本说：“真正的压力来自侧面。” 民族学家 Marion Dapsance 撰写了关于本觉派欺诈方式的博士论文。 当她曾经在一个本觉论小组中对索甲的教法表示怀疑时，她被指责与他没有“联系”。【應該翻譯成沒有緣】

“将肇事者理想化给了他力量。 人们变得愿意按照他说的去做”，奥地利佛教联盟 (ÖBR) 监察员办公室的心理治疗师和性暴力联系人 Fatma Altzinger 解释说。 “学生放弃了她的自我意识。 在群体心理学中，这种现象可以用对领导者的强烈认同来解释。 他所思所行的一切都是好的。 到那个时候，就无法抗拒他了。”

佛教原教旨主义：对领袖的渴望
本设法离开俄克拉荷马城后，开始在布鲁塞尔为民主事业工作。 “OKC 由将自己生活的控制权交给连环虐待者的人组成。” 本将邪教和大师的兴起视为民主普遍受到侵蚀的标志。 “每个人都会陷入这种疯狂，仅仅是因为他们停止了批判性思考！”

根据民族学家 Dapsance 的说法，当宗教神话被应用到现实中时，宗教就会出现问题。 无论是空行母、传说还是“天启”：宗教将神话描述为公认的事实，以质疑伦理原则，有时甚至触犯法律。 Oane 将此称为“哈利波特综合症”：我们深切渴望相信不科学的魔法。 她将假新闻和阴谋论归为一类。 “我一直在寻找智慧，但我发现自己面对的是这个行为举止很像特朗普的荒唐人。 他以同样的方式赞美、批评和侮辱人。”

名声太好了
Tenzin Peljor 说，与伊斯兰教不同，佛教的问题不是仇恨言论，而是过于积极的偏见。 他说，欧洲人仍然坚持天堂“世界屋脊”的神话，那里居住着开明的人，掌管着一千年的智慧。

像索甲或罗伯特这样的人利用西方人缺乏知识和对佛教的迷恋，来满足他们自己的基本需求。 联系 Hogendoorn 的人经常讲述可怕的故事，然后问：“这正常吗？ 佛教真的是这样吗？” 他声称佛教机构，即使是那些在其他方面做得很好的机构，对处理此类案件也不是特别感兴趣。 “他们害怕人们认为所有佛教徒都是虐待狂。” 那么最终谁来负责呢？ 大师？ 学生？ 群组？ 媒体？

谁是罪魁祸首？
用法律术语来说，对未成年人的性虐待很容易界定。 另一方面，成年人的情况更为复杂，因为对性行为的同意是“自愿的”。 心理学家 Altzinger 说：“与此同时，很明显，我们不能假设儿童可以给予知情同意。 但对于成年人来说，有一个很大的灰色地带。” 雅高

对 Altzinger 而言，法院的决定总是取决于特定的法官，以及该妇女证词的可信度。

Tenzin Peljor 还指出了顺势疗法药物的法律灰色地带：“经过认证的心理治疗师必须遵守非常明确的规定。 他不被允许与病人发生性关系。 然而，在替代医学中，某些事情可能被认为是不道德的，但它们不受法律惩罚。”

佛教领袖的反应：达赖喇嘛及其同伙。
对于许多学生来说，佛教领袖和组织对索甲的行为反应太慢，如果他们有反应的话。 一些反应甚至使情况变得更糟。 例如，备受推崇的西藏上师，如宗萨钦哲或乌金托嘉，引用古代传说来减轻对索甲的指责，甚至指责学生违背誓言。 尽管许多其他老师明确批评了索甲的行为。

佛教中没有包罗万象的机构，也没有“佛教教宗”。 尽管如此，许多人特别关注达赖喇嘛，他在这个问题上的长期沉默被认为是非常有问题的。 对索甲的第一次指控早在 1981 年就已提出。1994 年，一名女学生威胁要起诉他，但此案在庭外和解。 尽管流言四起，达赖喇嘛的序言仍继续印在索甲的书中多年。 然而，今年9月，HHDL终于不再拐弯抹角，称索甲“丢脸”。 “宗教的名义被用作剥削的工具，”他说。 然后在9月下旬，他说索甲虐待他的学生，台湾和西藏也有类似的案例。

大师们会怎样？
信件泄露后，索甲辞去了本觉精神导师的职务，并宣布他将“闭关”，即花一些时间进行深入的冥想。 他最近一次出现在泰国。 目前还没有受害者对他提起法律诉讼。

自1997年利维亚等人提起诉讼以来，比利时对罗伯特·S的诉讼就一直悬而未决。然而，比利时法院系统的车轮运转缓慢，控告团对罗伯特·S·的律师团队几乎束手无策。 尽管这些年来不断有新的指控被添加到档案中，但直到 2015 年本接管并开始动员各方参与者时，诉讼程序才真正开始重新开始。 该文件包含对 170 多项罪行的指控，包括绑架儿童、酷刑、性虐待、欺诈、伪造文件、洗钱和逃税。

2016 年 9 月，布鲁塞尔法院一审判决罗伯特·S. 缺席认罪，判处 4 年缓刑。 现年 76 岁的他以健康为由没有出庭。 他留在西班牙的别墅里，并派了八名律师代替他，本回忆道。 由于众筹活动，原告能够支付给他们的律师 12000 欧元。 尽管判刑很轻，罗伯特·S. 还是提出了上诉。 自第一次提出索赔以来已经过去了将近二十年，看不到尽头。 目前还没有关于何时审理上诉的消息。

本不得不经历一个漫长而痛苦的过程。 没有机会，没有钱，没有社保，没有基础教育，他不得不冲出从小长大的精神牢笼。 许多前成员处于相同的位置。 他们所有的钱都捐给了 OKC，使他们没有积蓄。

心理治疗师 Altzinger 指出，那些受到伤害的人通常可以通过在其他关系的帮助下创造一个相对的环境来释放自己。 受害者必须重新找回自己的界限感。 Oane 在离开 Rigpa 后开始接受治疗。 Livia 说，对她来说，1997 年在法庭上直视 Robert S. 很重要。那次经历帮助她重新诠释了童年的创伤经历，在这些经历中，Robert S. 控制着她生活的方方面面。 2016 年以来的法庭诉讼对 Ben 来说也发生了很大变化：“今天，如果蚊子打扰了我孩子的睡眠，我会杀死它。 我心里想：那家伙虐待了数百人。 我不会因为杀死一只蚊子而下地狱。” ■

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