Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo & Lama Tsultrim Allione: Shambhala's Sakyong Mipham

what advice or wisdom all that already I'm worried can you offer me to take back to the Sun oh no this is for you not my question back to the sandwich Shambhala Mountain Center as we work information at the head of our lineage has been accused of sexual assaults you know at least just now again Laura and I were discussing this it's a big problem it's not just Shambhala it's not just Ripa in in in the West it it's a deep-rooted problem not just one person it's the system where as they say as we all say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely and so unless the the teacher truly is at the level of absolute wisdom and compassion they should not be given absolute power the problem is not only their own actions but that there then appears this whole cycle of concealment and secrecy and total non compassion for those who have been victimized by this behavior of the teachers that the Sangha themselves reject them and instead of coming forward to help and heal they create more of a chasm and a pain and so now like with this country if I might say so it's a little bit with with your political situation all that was festering underneath and denied is now coming to the surface so you can see it may be disgusting but when you'll answer boil or this poison comes out and then you see it that is the beginning of healing so also with all these you know scandals in the various Dharma circles not Adama so doesn't mean majority of the Lamas and other teachers perfectly perfectly pure it's not that everybody is the same but there is definitely a problem and as now it is coming more to the surface it may be very painful but I feel that very pain if we embrace it with compassion and wisdom and understanding and acceptance it can heal we are not condoning what they did was also unbeliever company these guys were there getting from honestly I tell you I mean even an ordinary normal society you don't go around acting like that what do they think I mean I there's a whole big thing behind it I mean it's very feudal thinking mind but what we can do is to hold with compassion and understanding on all sides the problem and allow it to become out into the fresh air and set some boundaries and rethink the whole situation of the commitment between the student and the teacher and when our deeper intuition says and this doesn't feel right to trust our intuition the question is really about what can you offer me to take back so one of the problems is that in Vienna and particularly in the Shambhala community at the atomic level one is told that one must see the Lama as the Buddha and that anything the Lama does is perfect and that whatever might them might seem is wrong with it that that is your impure vision and your that that's your work your training and so that this is really hammered into you for extensively and I know in the Shambhala community people have to take a vow to not have any other teachers once they're in that level of Vajrayana practice which is nonzero and so they've made that promise that many at many people made that promise and then this is this boil breaks which I think this is a great image and so your worldview it's not just a matter of this isn't okay and we have to fix it but your entire worldview is shattered and that is extremely upsetting and I I imagine the whole community is is in in trauma I just for anyone who doesn't know this this just came out was it yesterday yesterday or the day before yesterday maybe it's something called Project Sun sunshine and it's begun by a woman in Nova Scotia who was sexually abused within that community and wrote a first report on that and had sort of opening that whole thing up in terms of the whole community and then yesterday or whenever it was two days ago the second report which went into the sock young and his behavior and he's the head of that community and and and it was pretty intense what there were reports were anonymous but yet that there are people behind them and so anyway just so you all know what we're talking about but as jetsam has said it's not justice community it's in it's it's all over Zen it's all over the Catholic Church it's in many communities and also in the rest of society with we know this with me too and and everything that's kind of come out which I'm actually really excited about because it's going to create change finally that there's enough of us enough women who have each other's backs to come out of silence and say what happened and what it's been like for them and so it's an opportunity for everyone for for our whole society to bring out this shadow and look at it and transform it and so I think my answer would be to this specific question what can I bring back is is first of all to hold the heart of bodhichitta even in the face of this to never let that go and I'm reminded of this story of the Dalai Lama was meeting with somebody who just come out of Tibet been imprisoned been tortured Extension extensively by the Chinese who had invaded Tibet and the Dalai Lama said to him were you ever really in danger and he said there were a few times I was really in danger and then the Dalai Lama said you know what happened and he said I was in danger of losing my bodhichitta when I was being tortured and that's what he considered the greatest danger that he would lose his bodhichitta under those circumstances and so to guard your bodhichitta even in the face of this level of pain and atrocity and your world changing and falling apart in some ways so that's one thing the other thing is what what she talks about in the report which I thought was really interesting as she looked at several communities and Zen communities where this had happened and the ones that recovered and went on the teacher actually confessed went into treatment did whatever to heal it and then came back under new rules and then the community went on or the teacher just left and the community went on but the teacher admitted the fault where it where the community falls apart is when the teacher doesn't do that and there's so there's no it's like the Truth and Reconciliation in South Africa that Peters been part of if there isn't that admission of the damage that's been done it's very hard to heal and so many of these communities have fallen apart holding ages have been lost so this is really up to him in many ways what he's going to have what he's going to do and I hope he has good advice around Tim and that he's brave and goes into treatment and you know actually works with himself and doesn't just say that he's going to you know he steps down from his position and until a third party investigation is done and then meantime go into treatment and then see if there can be a truth and reconciliation process that can happen for the community but that would be my advice but it you can't control him what he's going to do and so within that situation if he doesn't do that then you have to decide how you feel about being in that community if that's how it is now it's going to be and remember that the Dharma is yours that it's not is the Dharma is yours and if you've really loved it and it's gone into you no one can harm that no one can take it away from you nothing that happens can ever make it stain it's it's it's always pure within you and and that is really the bodhichitta the essence of that Dharma so that you'll you'll be okay you'll find another Songo you'll find other friends and go on that's my answer you

Channel: Tara Mandala

Views: 45,720

Rating: 4.8152175 out of 5

Keywords: shambhala, sakyong mipham, sakyong, tibetan buddhism, buddhism, tara mandala, lama tsultrim

Id: elzlih71RH0

Length: 12min 35sec (755 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 04 2018

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

"I'm actually really excited about it because it's going to create change, finally, that there's enough of us, enough women, who have each other's back to come out of silence and say what happened and what it's been like to them. So it's an opportunity for everyone, for our whole society, to bring out the shadow, and look at it, and transform it." Tsultrim Allione

Hear, hear.

[u/digitsmb]

As a Shambhalian, the future has become blurry for myself for the first time.

I'm about a year or two before I embark on the vajrayana path and I really do question whether or not to swear my allegiance to the Sakyong. I never truly called him my teacher. I haven't felt a strong connection to him. I've felt a much stronger connection to Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche and others. It's the community of Shambhala that I maintain a strong connection to.

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[u/kramyugtaht]

I'd just like to point out in connection with the point about finding another sangha, some never had one - not really. I mean if you go to a Meetup where people meditate and they have the word "sangha" in the name that is not necessarily meaningful use of the word. Yet we might have done alright.

And is a sangha an organization only? A well known name and identity?

Do we have bodhicitta for the nameless and not so organized? Where is our attention, and is it there practically exclusively?