Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche Paperback – July 1, 2019

I've been a student of Buddhism since the early 90's. The first book I ever read on Buddhism was 'Buddha in the palm of your hand', by Osel Tendzin. I quickly became aware of the scandal surrounding him and the group associated with him and Trungpa. And yet I was still profoundly attracted to the teachings and continued to study and practice. Over the years I've connected with many groups and teachers.As years passed I was shocked to learn about the allegations brought against so many spiritual teachers and the groups surrounding them.So, this is nothing new. Technology has made it possible to shine a very bright spotlight on these types of problems. It does not take much effort to research and find many examples of cults in every religion, some of them are not even religion based but instead based on sex, money or power. I believe that it takes a whole lot of people to create a harmful culture.And yet I continue to practice and study Buddhism. There are still many wonderful teachers and students of the Dharma.I do believe the stories are true. I think people need to be aware of what is happening. It's wise to be cautious on the spiritual path. Just don't give up the path.

I think it is important for all Buddhists, particularly those practicing forms of Tibetan Buddhism, to read this book and closely consider the implications and questions raised by the content. Such as, if gurus are not all perfect, what measures are you going to apply to determine if you should follow one or not? If other Tibetan Buddhist leaders are not willing to unequivocally and specifically denounce such a clear case of abuse, what does this say about the value of Buddhist practice? I think these are important questions that practitioners need to ask themselves.The most serious omission in this book is the lack of depth in discussing the Dalai Lama's motivations providing Sogyal validation and the DL's motivations for not specifically condemning Sogyal until after after the scandal blew wide open. The same could be asked of many other gurus. It is an important discussion, because it cuts right to the heart of the matter: Is it acceptable in Tibetan Buddhism for lamas to behave like Sogyal? If not, what are the barriers to critically discussing and identifying specific instances of abuse by gurus in TB?The authors point to the Dalai Lama's statements to effect that 'abuse is bad,' but condemning "abuse" broadly really doesn't have any meaning more than saying 'bad things are bad.' If the Dalai Lama had always kept Sogyal at arms length, there wouldn't be any questions to raise. But the Dalai Lama actively participated in events that appeared to validate Sogyal as a legitimate teacher. For example, the Dalai Lama's participation in the 2008 inauguration ceremony for Lerab Ling is most easily interpreted as the Dalai Lama using his presence to show support for Sogyal and Sogyal's activities. "His Holiness" (as the authors refer to the DL) gets a generous reading throughout the book. I do not know the Dalai Lama's motivations vis-a-vis Sogyal, but a close investigation into what motivated the DL to continue to display public support for Sogyal long after one would assume the DL was aware of the relevant issues may go a long way in revealing why abusive sex and violence appear to be so prevalent in Tibetan Buddhism today.

Disturbing story

Information assembled and presented is important for many reasons. I only wish the book had been better written and edited.

I devoured this book in one afternoon. I have been involved in Tibetan Buddhism for 17 years, though fortunately not with this fake lama. I had been to his centre in Dzogchen Beara, which is stunning, but somehow I never felt any "pull" towards him. I got a strange sense of flatness coming off him. I began to hear rumours years ago, and they just piled up. The thunderclap of the letter sent by 8 former followers did not have the desired effect in his organisation but it did force him to resign. Sogyal still pulls the strings behind the scenes. Mary Finnigan and Rob Hogendoorn have done an excellent exposé of this "nasty piece of work" who preyed on vulnerable people with a combination of physical, psychological and sexual abuse, as well as some seriously repellent and disgusting details about food passed from his mouth to others and his toilet servicing. A truly vile, foul human being with zero claim to be a person of any spiritual worth, he took advantage of a perfect set of circumstances in the early 1970s to establish himself as the head of a spiritual organisation that existed, eventually, to merely cater to the bodily functions of a lazy, narcissistic sociopath who ran his little fiefdom with a tyranny that kept his inner circle in a state of perpetual fear. Why they stayed as long as they did is a question that many would find too painful to even consider answering. The brave and honest ones who left, and analysed themselves, saw how their naivety was taken advantage of, when they had expected care and compassion. The complicity of the wider Tibetan Community is covered and makes uncomfortable reading. Knowing the seedy and sleazy nature of Sogyal did not stop them from continuing to support him. It was a case of "He may be a rancid Tibetan lama, but he is OUR rancid Tibetan lama". Exiled from their homeland, it is possible to forgive them closing ranks around one of their own, but not really. They knew, and know better. Why they continued to do so puts a very human face on beings upon whom we project supernatural status. As Nietzsche would say, they are "Human, All-Too Human". The book has some minor printing errors but overall it's an excellent read and I recommend it to any practitioner of the Vajrayana or to the general public who might be dazzled by the notion that Tibet is some kind of Shangri-La of magic and enlightenment. It is not. "Errare humanum est, sed perseverare diabolicum.", ( Seneca) roughly translated as "To err is human, but to persist in error (out of pride) is diabolical." Sogyal "Rinpoche" ( he is certainly no jewel) is diabolical.

This book is a milestone — and, now that Sogyal Lakar Is dead: a tombstone sans eulogy.It makes harrowing reading and I read it out of a sense of human duty — as a committed Vajrayana Buddhist.This is a work that everyone connected with Vajrayana should read. It serves as a grave warning to exactly how far people can delude themselves. It shows exactly why people should not trust what is popular or fashionable.Lakar was fashionable with celebrities whom he seduced by simpering and smirking as he trotted out wisdom-cookie cliches designed to impress the credulous. It is frightening how credulous intelligent people can be when faced with Tibetan mystique. Lakar was a clever businessman - but not so clever as to stay within limits. This is because he was afflicted with Antisocial Personality Disorder/ Narcissistic Personality Disorder and abused people to such a horrible degree that he was finally exposed for what he is. The fact that he was a Tibetan served to obfuscate his insincerity.He was supported by a high ecclesiastical pontiff and only reluctantly disavowed.He bought the term ‘crazy wisdom’ into severe disrepute — and damaged the reputation of Vajrayana Buddhism.Those who wish to repair the damage perpetrated by Lakar would do well to read this accurate indictment of a despicable criminal. When I bought this book -- I thought nothing would come as a surprise. I have been an observer of this man since the late 1970s - but this book did contain new information, even for me. The depths of his degradation went further than I knew.

Un livre fort bien écrit, qui se lit facilement et permet de mieux comprendre le parcours incroyable et les succès d'un gourou tibétain débauché et violent jusqu'à sa chute récente et sa fuite ne Thaïlande.Ce scandale éclabousse non seulement des hauts cadres responsables de la secte, mais aussi toute une élite de lamas de hauts rang qui par leur silence complice et leur acceptation des invitations de celui dont ils ne pouvaient ignorer les "exploits" depuis des décennies, ont montré un coté bien obscur de leur façon de manifester leur compassion. Sans la lettre des 8 signataires, les abus sectaires sexuels et financiers auraient pu continuer en détruisant la vie des sincères et crédules aspirants à une sagesse au delà des concepts dualistes.Le livre évoque d'autres scandales et abus du même type dans la sphère lamaïque internationale actuelle...On en sort écœuré et plein de sympathie pour les victimes des ces agissements lamentables et dégradants.Un grand merci aux auteurs.

This is really an important book about the most famous fraud within Tibetan Buddhism. The authors meticulously follow the rise of Sogyal Lakar as a teacher of Buddhism turning more and more into a cult leader. Blinded by the celebrity status of Mr. Lakar thousands of followers were drawn into his circle of attractions where at the center was an inner circle of physical and sexual abuse. This book is eye opening and a must read for all those truly interested in Tibetan Buddhism.

I was one of those who was enormously interested in Sogyal's best seller (which he almost certainly didn't write and wasn't capabale of writing) and when I first heard about the allegations against him my reaction weas along the lines of 'Say it ain't so, Joe!'. But the evidence of his abusive behaviour is overwhelming, and this book lays it out clearly and backs it up with witness accounts. Some are still in denial, which is why it's so important that Western Buddhists, and especially those who follow Tibetan Buddhism, which because of its 'guru worship' aspect seems to be particularly prone to cultish behaviour and a refusal to acknowledge the faults of teachers or support victims, take note of revelations like this one.Not all teachers are like Sogyal and his ilk (although I've gradually realised that there are more than I would have believed) and I remain a commited Buddhist, but we should always confront bad behaviour and not write it off as 'crazy wisdom' or abandon our critical faculties.

The book covers the early years of Sogyal Lakar pretty well. I particularly enjoined the chapter about teachers like the Karmapa coming to London to teach in squats. The authors, however, seem to conclude that because Sogyal did not receive the traditional education of Tulku as a child, he was clueless about Buddhism, a charlatan, and remained so for the rest of his life. This not accurate, and does not help to provide much insight into this complex person.The book is flawed because the authors do not go into any detail about his relationships with Buddhist teachers later in life, despite these being publically documented in his book, the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. For instance, Nyoshul Ken Rinpoche was a well respected Dzogchen master who attended Rigpa retreats for a decade and taught Sogyal Dzogchen, but he is not mentioned at all. This is either very poor research or a deliberate omission. It is important because it undermines one of the central claims of the book, that Sogyal was charlatan without any training.Related to this, the authors rather bizarrely deny that Sogyal wrote the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Instead they attribute authorship to one of the editors, Andrew Harvey. This is despite the Finnigan and Hogendoorn providing a very clear quote from Andrew Harvey, who states: "Any suggestion that Sogyal did not write this book is, I think, absurd and dishouring of his genius and passion". Why Finnigan and Hogendoorn disregard this is unclear, but nonetheless they persist in stating that Andrew Harvey is the true author. This seems like desperate stuff. I suppose if Finnigan and Hogendoorn were to give any credit to Sogyal for writing the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying it would undermine their claim that he was an uneducated charlatan.There are other inconsistencies in the book, perhaps because the authors have followed this story for so long they struggle to give a balance and fair account. On page 73 they describe the source material for Rigpa's curriculum as being authentic, yet elsewhere they don't hold back on portraying it as inferior to teaching given by other masters (despite many different masters teaching at Rigpa). On page 98, Rigpa's programme is equated to studying for primary school exams as compared to teachings given by other masters.Many of the abusive claims about Sogyal are well covered on the internet and are reproduced here, with additional material. A thorough and worthy documentation of these disturbing claims is provided.The authors state that they are angry because the "red robed mafia" (as describe Tibetan teachers) continue to support Rigpa, but to my mind this is unfair, because most people in Rigpa would be victims of Sogyal's abusive behaviour, and therefore should be supported. Rigpa volunteers have dedicated many years of their lives to build Rigpa, destroying it would help no-one.The frustration I have with the authors' bias against Sogyal, his organisation and all his works, is that it is hard to know how seriously to take their claims about millions of dollars of funds for the Tenzin Gyatso Insitute being misappropriated. This is clearly important, and needs to be investigated. Unfortunately biased accounts like this book tend to muddy the waters as much as they help draw attention to important issues.