He Dalai Lama He has apologized after a video widely shared on social media showing him kissing a boy on the lips and asking him to suck his tongue went viral. “His Holiness of him wishes apologize to the child and his family, as well as his many friends around the world, for the pain that his words may have caused,” the statement from the Tibetan spiritual leader’s press office marked. “His Holiness often makes fun of people who meet in an innocent and playful way, even in public and on camera. He regrets the incident, “they added, minimizing the fact.
Footage of the incident, captured on February 28, showed the 87-year-old Dalai Lama interacting with about 100 graduate students from India’s M3M Foundation, at his temple in McLeod Ganj which is located in Dharamshala in Himachal state. Pradesh, where the spiritual leader has resided since 1959, after the failed uprising against China’s annexation of Tibet nearly a decade earlier. A fact that opens the door for the review of a long list of covered up abuses in Buddhismin addition to the dark management of the finances of the groups that surround the spiritual leader.
abuses
Just four years ago the Dalai Lama himself acknowledged being aware of sexual abuse committed by Buddhist teachers since the 1990s. “They are nothing new,” the Tibetan leader said of such accusations during a four-day visit to the Netherlands, where he met with the victims of Buddhist teachers. “We found refuge in Buddhism with an open mind and heart, until we were raped in its name,” the victims said in the petition that had been brought to the Dalai, revered by millions of Buddhists around the world. “I already knew these things. Twenty-five years ago … someone brought up a problem of sexual accusations at a conference for Western Buddhist teachers in Dharamshala, a mountainous town in northern India,” he added.
“People who commit sexual abuse They don’t care about Buddha’s teachings. So now that everything has been made public, people can worry about their shame,” he said, speaking in English. Tseten Samdup Chhoekyapa, added then, during a European tour, that the Dalai Lama “constantly denounced this irresponsible and unethical behavior “.
The first complaint of abuse in the upper echelons of Buddhism exploded in 1994, when the lama Sogyal Rinpoche was sued in California for sexual assault by a woman known as Janice Doe (a fictitious name given by the court to preserve her identity). The lawsuit was settled out of court with substantial damages paid to the plaintiff.
Then, in Canberra (Australia), Tibetan guru Lama Choedak was forced to publicly apologize after multiple love affairs with his students. In the UK, Michael Lyons, also known as Mohan Singh, has been convicted of rape and given a 10-year sentence. But the most notorious case has been that of the monk Asenior, in Kagyu Ling, a Tibetan Buddhist center near Dijon in France: he became the first lama to be imprisoned. Lama Tempa Dargye was denounced for rape and sexual violence by four women. One woman claimed that she was nine years old when she was raped. And French police have also launched an investigation into financial irregularities at the center.
Washed
The investigations on the organizations linked to the Dalai Lama by US justice led two years ago to the replacement of Tenzin Dhonden, right hand of the leader as executive secretary, after allegations of irregular financial management in a trust. Dhonden, 53, targeted by a Seattle philanthropist from whom he allegedly extracted unjustified payments between 2005 and 2008 in exchange for hosting an event with the Dalai Lama, he vigorously denied allegations of corruption, hiring a respected New York law firm, Patterson Belknap, to defend his reputation and regain his position on the trust. But Dhonden’s name quickly disappeared from the La Jolla, near San Diego-based trust’s website, and Tashi Namgyal Khamshitsang took his place as “acting secretary” of the organization that counted eBay founder Pierre among its backers. Omidyar, and Seagram heiress Sara Bronfman.
The allegations against Dhonden shed light on his role as a bridge between Dharamsala, the Indian mountain city that is home to the Dalai Lama and other exiled Tibetans, and the followers of the Dalai Lama in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and New York. Thupten Jinpa, eventual spokesman for the Dalai Lama (the former monk translated and edited around a dozen books for the Tibetan leader) said then that it had been “painful” to see the guru’s name and legacy linked to “unnecessary distractions… ”.
Jinpa’s letter to the media did not name Dhonden, but acknowledged that under his leadership, the trust had alienated allies with “disgraceful” and “intimidating” behavior. “Unfortunately, the trustee has acquired a reputation for being bossy, confrontational, mean-spirited, and indifferent, characteristics far from the personal ethics of His Holiness”. An ethic that, however, is today questioned and put back under the public gaze.
