This article is more than 10 years old

The lamas who give Tibetan Buddhism a bad name

This article is more than 10 years old

Mary Finnigan

A senior monk at Kagyu Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist centre near Dijon in France, has become the first ordained lama in the developed world to be imprisoned. Lama Tempa Dargye is being held in provisional detention, following allegations of rape and sexual violence by four women. One woman alleged that she was aged nine when she was raped. French police have also launched an investigation into financial irregularities at the centre.

Kagyu Ling was founded in 1976 by the late Kalu Rinpoche, in response to a surge of interest in Tibetan Buddhism among western spiritual seekers. Kalu Rinpoche died in 1989. Within the last two years his reincarnation, the present Kalu Rinpoche, has assumed responsibility for the institutions set up by his predecessor. But during Kalu's childhood the situation at Kagyu Ling allegedly deteriorated to the point where it no longer functioned as a Buddhist centre. The young Kalu sacked Lama Tempa and five other resident Bhutanese monks, replacing them with westerners and a "collegiate" system of control and responsibility.

Controversy over Kagyu Ling might then 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. At first she was a lone voice, but recently three more women decided to testify; Lama Tempa was arrested and the police investigation is ongoing.

The events at Kagyu Ling are currently making headlines in France, but Tibet-watchers worldwide are aware that many more scandals have surfaced since the lamas fled their homeland in the late 1950s, following the Chinese takeover of Tibet. Some examples: in America followers of the late Trungpa Rinpoche 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 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. Rumours 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.

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, but had no authentic qualifications. The followers of an American, Geshe Michael Roach, ordained as a Tibetan monk, attracted media attention when one of them died in bizarre circumstances after being ejected from a three-year retreat at a remote mountain centre 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.

The Shangri La factor is undoubtedly significant in the explosion of interest in Tibetan Buddhism around the world. The Dalai Lama's Nobel prize and his saintly reputation is another. His Holiness has an impressive track record in favour of nonviolence and as a champion of human rights – and he has warned against being seduced into Tibetan Buddhism by its exotic tantric aura, with hints of arcane sexual practices. Although he has never named and shamed any individual lama, he has recently publicly acknowledged that "some tulkus have behaved badly". He also cautions against rushing into commitment to a lama. "In Tibet", he says, "it could take 12 years before a lama-disciple relationship was established." He points out that it is a big responsibility and should not be undertaken lightly by either party.

So if you are attracted to Tibetan Buddhism, have read some books and learned some meditation techniques and now want to delve in deeper – how do you guard against being fooled by a charismatic charlatan? What criteria do you apply to your search for an authentic teacher? Lama Jampa Thaye's advice reflects a commonsense approach:

"Although one may come across examples of authentic Buddhist masters who dress or speak unconventionally, there is no licence in Buddhism for unethical behaviour. Thus oriental or occidental masters who claim their selfish and abusive behaviour is a display of 'skilful means' or 'crazy wisdom' are to be given a wide berth – unless we want to jump over a cliff hand in hand with them."

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法国第戎附近藏传佛教中心噶举林的高僧成为发达国家第一位被监禁的出家喇嘛。 在四名妇女被指控强奸和性暴力后，喇嘛坦巴达吉被临时拘留。 一名妇女声称她被强奸时只有 9 岁。 法国警方还对该中心的财务违规行为展开了调查。

噶举林由已故的卡卢仁波切于 1976 年创立，以响应西方精神追求者对藏传佛教的兴趣激增。 卡卢仁波切于 1989 年圆寂。在过去的两年里，他的转世，即现在的卡卢仁波切，接管了他的前任设立的机构。 但据称，在卡卢 (Kalu) 的童年时期，噶举林 (Kagyu Ling) 的情况恶化到不再作为佛教中心发挥作用的地步。 年轻的卡卢解雇了喇嘛坦巴和其他五名常驻不丹僧侣，取而代之的是西方人和一个“合议”的控制和责任体系。

关于噶举林的争论可能会平息——除了一个名叫桑德琳的女人决定向宪兵队讲述她被强奸和性暴力的故事。 起初她是一个孤独的声音，但最近又有三名女性决定作证； 喇嘛坦巴已被捕，警方正在进行调查。

噶举林的事件目前成为法国的头条新闻，但世界各地的西藏观察人士都知道，自 1950 年代末中国接管西藏后喇嘛们逃离家园以来，更多的丑闻浮出水面。 一些例子：在美国，已故创巴仁波切的追随者惊恐地得知他指定的继任者，已故的托马斯里奇似乎已经感染了几个人艾滋病毒。

1994 年，备受瞩目的喇嘛索甲仁波切在加利福尼亚州被一名名叫 Janice Doe 的女性性侵犯。 该诉讼在庭外和解，并向原告支付了巨额赔偿金。 从那时起，关于索甲性剥削的谣言就在互联网上流传开来。 在澳大利亚堪培拉，一位名叫喇嘛曲达的受人尊敬的西藏上师在与女弟子的多起婚外情曝光后被迫公开道歉。

在英国，Michael Lyons，又名 Mohan Singh，因强奸罪被判入狱 10 年。 他冒充西藏喇嘛，但没有真正的资格。 美国人格西·迈克尔·罗奇 (Geshe Michael Roach) 的追随者被任命为西藏僧侣，其中一人在亚利桑那州一个偏远山区中心为期三年的闭关后被驱逐出境，在离奇的情况下死亡，这引起了媒体的关注。 “迈克尔·罗奇教授一种极其夸张的、从佛教的角度来看有点可疑的密宗形式，”来自曼彻斯特的英国人喇嘛强巴泰耶说，他教授藏传佛教已有 30 多年。

香格里拉因素无疑对全世界对藏传佛教的兴趣激增具有重要意义。 达赖喇嘛的诺贝尔奖和他的圣人声誉是另一回事。 尊者在支持非暴力和作为人权捍卫者方面有着令人印象深刻的记录——他警告说不要被藏传佛教的异国情调和神秘的性行为所吸引。 尽管他从未点名羞辱过任何一位喇嘛，但他最近公开承认“一些祖古行为不端”。 他还告诫不要急于对喇嘛作出承诺。 “在西藏，”他说，“可能需要 12 年才能建立起喇嘛与弟子的关系。” 他指出，这是一项重大责任，任何一方都不应掉以轻心。

因此，如果你被藏传佛教所吸引，读过一些书籍并学习了一些冥想技巧，现在想深入研究——你如何防止被一个有魅力的江湖骗子愚弄？ 你用什么标准来寻找真正的老师？ Lama Jampa Thaye 的建议反映了一种常识性的方法：

“虽然人们可能会遇到真正的佛教上师穿着或说话不合常规的例子，但佛教并没有允许不道德的行为。因此，声称自己的自私和虐待行为的东方或西方上师是“巧妙手段”或“疯狂”的表现 智慧’应该敬而远之——除非我们想与他们携手跳过悬崖。”

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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2012/oct/08/tibetan-lamas-buddhism