Veil Lifted: Buddhafield Cult

welcome to a new episode of veil lifted a video essay where I discuss fascinating cases that involve a secrecy and discovery today we will be discussing the buddhafield cult as of today it feels as though there is a significant documentation about most cults there are people who came forward there are multiple published books and documentaries and it feels as though much is out in the open the buddhafield cult however is not one of those cults it is still shrouded in mystery and the major source of information is a documentary that was released in 2016 documentary titled holy hell was directed by and stars Will Allen a man who actually was part of this cult Allen joined the cult right out of college where he graduated with a film degree in 1985 had been forced to leave home when his mother was made aware he was gay this was a turning point in Allen's life as he would end up being invited by his sister to join what was referred to as a meditation group in West Hollywood this group was led by Misha Austin the leader of the buddhafield cults as time progressed Allen became the resident videographer in the cult or propaganda minister filming hours of their activities with Mission however much of this footage remained with the cult leaving Allen with around thirty-five hours of edited footage Allen stayed in the cult for 22 years and left in 2007 feeling directionless after seeing a film titled keep the lights on Allen decided to compile his footage of the buddhafield cult Allen is a key figure in the story as he not only documented the insight happenings but was also a member giving us an inside and outside perspective though this episode includes information other than from the holy hell documentary much of it will rely on Allen's documentary as previously stated there is little known besides that before discussing the cult itself the leader needs to be contextualized the leader named Misha hostel had multiple names on IMDB calm he is Michelle Gomez an actor who was in a scene of the film Rosemary's Baby released in 1968 he was a background character named Pedro however his real name is Jaime Gomez though imdb.com lists nicknames aundrea s-- rayji the teacher and machete will stomp this uncertainty of a detail as simple as his name is ironically a suited metaphor for this man generally underlining how little the public truly knows about this man however for the purposes of this episode he'll be named mission very little is known about me shed his life one of the few facts known is that he dabbled in gay porn under the pseudonym Dirk and to this day Falcon Studios one of the largest producers of gay pornography still hosts his videos Michonne is often described as a very attractive man and as the story continues his appearance and that of others will become increasingly significant however outside of this all that is known about him is in direct connection to his cult there even is a debate on whether to call this group a cult as people were allowed to leave and it supposedly simply was a spiritual group I refer to it as a cult due to the indoctrination and abuse that will be discussed further on in this episode the cult was a place that exude positivity and the idea that people would get answers Allen himself joined for that reason the members remember the beginning of the cult as being an overwhelmingly spiritual and inviting environment about love and living well jumping in the forest at night oh my god I want me some of that some of them were some of the smartest most beautiful people I've ever met in my life we started it this is what we wanted it was our little hair topiary like this big giant city constantly you were being fed like your soul was being fed with love and with inspiration and experience this I remember feeling so fulfilled I said dad I want to give my life to God and he was on the next flight out there to come get me many of the members were vulnerable some had been kicked out of home at a young age some experienced a violent life in the streets some had been forced into a religion that was fundamentalist in the end they all were looking for relief and for meaning in their lives you shoud have told the members that he had a master who had led him to a spiritual awakening which made them feel as though he knew more and more importantly knew the answers to their questions a big part of me sheds charm was also the fact that he supposedly spoke multiple languages was artistic was able to dance and was the opposite of the typical guru in that he wore speedos and was current compared to the stereotype of an old man in a robe for many of the members the buddhafield functioned as a family they lived and ate together and worked together most of the time this made their investment deep and committed the buddhafield became a group project and that members worked so they could each pay for their rent for groceries and most even went as far as buying and building whatever was necessary for the supposed family being in top physical condition was also a large part of the buddhafield the members consistently exercised and lived as cleanly as possible the group sometimes had Shakti's sessions where the master Michelle supposedly transferred his energy to them members convulsed fainted and felt a new bliss a change in themselves that made them feel as if they would never leave the cult the next member refers to it as a feeling similar to being on LSD one big concept that me shed included it was called the knowing the direct experience of God this was taken from a Hindu text the bug dar Akita where Krishna discloses the direct experience of God to his disciple Arjuna yes that resonated with me I was like I knew I knew it was possible the knowing was the realization of being able to see and hear than tastes God to you in its purest form finally that was something that I felt like I had been looking for my entire life up to that point I had gone to school I had a degree I had a great job I was engaged and yet when this happened it was like all of that meant nothing one of the things that made the knowing so intriguing was that not everyone is going to be able to receive it [Music] I wanted what I thought he had I wanted the knowing I wanted this promise the ceremony of the knowing occurred over a few days members were told they had to give everything up and if they hadn't he would know and only if they had and they were ready would they receive the experience Allen was afraid he wasn't ready however one night Michel told Allen he had been quote-unquote fighting with God because according to him Allen was fated to have a terrible accident that would lead to his death Michel said that by following his guidance he would be alright and Allen trusted him my meditation that's so overwhelming and he said what do you want and I told him that I wanted to have them knowing revealed to me he said it was very doubtful I'm surely cleaning this after all he said bow down and I did and he said you will receive the don't know God directly and he said I think you're ready for it Allen was granted the knowing that left him feeling overwhelmed as if it worked too much too soon then Allen begun service a form of free work for me shaded personally having more access to him than others in this way he found out more about me shed such as the fact that aside from an actor he had been a ballet dancer Michele was constantly working on his physique in fact Allen along with a man named Philippe moved into the apartment next door to me sheds and turned their living room into a dance studio for him further displaying the intense and consistent adoration they had for him he shy began teaching ballet classes to the members or rather his disciples most of the disciples hated it it was extremely strict taxing and stressful we should ask them to repeat their actions over and over for hours subside with the physical became even more intense when Michele told Alan he had to abstain from sex entirely Michelle said that sexual orgasm was a form of death and they needed a spiritual orgasm however apparently no one was abstaining it simply was a secret and a facade to be a person is to be a mess and you never know who you're talking to behind the mask the real person is somewhere inside that mask you had to stand naked in front of God Isis made you in your body of light the master donut represents God on the guard and if you can stand naked in front of your master you can stand naked in front of your God know that John Michell escalated he asked his disciples to change their names in order to move on from their pasts and have a new chapter this seemed like a positive change until he also asked for people to disassociate themselves from their families parents were concerned shocked and one family even hired a private investigator he found out about the group and didn't think it was dangerous and therefore their daughter would be fine another family wanted to hire someone to deprogram their daughter that as she was an adult she could not be forced in 1991 a turning point occurred i man outside the group had fallen in love with a cult member stalked her and as he made no progress he decided to go to the cult awareness Network an organization owned by Rick Ross now the narrative turn to the buddhafield into a cult to the public and even worse a cult that was supposedly holding said woman hostage the cult awareness network often had parents paying for their children to be kidnapped out of cults and subsequently deprogrammed machetes a response to this narrative was to escape he left in the middle of the night with a few of his disciples and the others were to stay in LA and wait for instruction those left behind were incredibly devastated and felt abandoned Michelle finally decided that they would settle in Austin Texas where a disciple bought him a house this is also when he changed his name from Michelle hostile to Andreas in order to avoid being found by anyone looking for him after some time off the radar he decided to let the rest of the disciples know and they moved to join him in Austin the disciples and me shadow recruited members the running theme between all these people was beauty everyone was attractive in 1993 the Waco Siege occurred less than a hundred miles from where the buddhafield cult lived this siege of a cult compound led by David Koresh ended up in 76 deaths Machado saw this and became paranoid that he too was going to die like [ __ ] and that the cult was no longer safe his paranoia led to class exercises where Michelle would his disciples how to respond if they were ever interviewed by the FBI there was a heavy emphasis on them saying that they did not know of Michel at all in fact Michele was absolutely devoted to secrecy to the point where his disciples lied to their families in extreme ways they would send postcards from Europe when in reality they'd never left they'd say they moved to Mexico when they were in Austin they all tried to make the water as murky as possible as to their real situation Michele's love for theater and ballet continued and at one point he even got his disciples to build him a theater he can't see their work every so often and when he didn't like it the disciples would tear it apart and rebuild it to his liking once it was built every day they had rehearsals for a play these rehearsals lasted hours and people even left their jobs in order to be present Machado made these plays extravagant with costumes and set decoration and each play would only show once and the only audience was the disciples who also were partaking in the play this extensive rehearsing and production only served to show how much he shed wished he were in the limelight of the entertainment world he wish to be treated like the actor he was not he continued to control the life of his disciples by banning entertainment such as books radio and television he shags obsession with beauty escalated to the point where he began suggesting surgery as well as his imposed exercising he himself began to show that he'd been wearing makeup and had had plastic surgery himself this showed the contradictory nature of Michel he said that the body was only a vessel and to focus on the spiritual yet he demanded that everyone fit his exact standard of beauty standard of beauty also extended to pregnancy any disciple that was pregnant was instructed to immediately terminate and get an abortion whenever a disciple left the cult Michel would spread lies about them and insist that no one was to communicate with them he manipulated the disciples by convincing them that outside of the group only negative things would happen to them from the contraction of AIDS to prostitution to death he used his abilities as a hypnotherapist to manipulate each individual in a way they could not refute in 2006 a disciple who was leading the group sent out an email with a series of serious accusations against me Shan one of the accusations was that for years Michelle had been forcing sexual acts with male disciples why let me show you denied everything in reality he had been having coerced sexual relationships with disciples for years in one-on-one sessions each charging $50 Machado asked his disciples about sexual fantasies about men bringing up sexual scenarios he began asking disciples to kiss him to take off their clothes all under the guise of a spiritual exercise he began coercing his male disciples into sex and even when they hinted at not wanting to he simply ignored them and carried on when one disciple resisted he would begin the same way he began hypnotherapy sessions by rerouting their resistance as resistance to someone else he made every effort to shift their resistance on to anything or anyone but him none of the disciples used the term rape in regards to his actions however it is clear that any sexual activity was not consensual but rather coerced and manipulated slowly male disciples began telling their friends about what had been happening Allen shared that he too was one of the disciples that underwent he showed his abuse he should have told him that he was saving his life and this was how his teacher had taught him people began to open up about what they had experienced with Michel the pieces began coming together he had been feeding each individual a different narrative and once people began to speak they began to see whom He shed it really was once people confronted him he denied all the allegations but the disciples saw his face change his eyes were dark he showed asked his disciples to attend a meeting where a video of him was shown it doesn't need restless story but this is free untouched unpolluted not apologize there was some people that for the first time I saw in a gathering that got up and like I don't know 10 or 20 people left while that video was going on because it was so disturbing this is one the spell broke and just like that disciples began to leave in the masses me shadow then asked a disciple who was still in the dark about his behavior to see if she could ruin people who are trying to ruin him he wanted to destroy those who are telling the truth and exposing his predatory behavior some of the ex disciples threatened to sue him but said they leave him alone as long as he stopped being a teacher this is when they decided to relocate him to Hawaii to hopefully give him a new start a new chapter that did not include him being a maniacal guru next disciples described the end of this community is a huge death or the equivalent of a bomb going off in a village leaving everything destroyed this is where the story should have ended with me Shen however in Hawaii he simply created a new group he was found and filmed with new followers by cinematographer named Polly Morgan who often had to hide behind bushes to film him he shed had renamed himself rayji which translates to God king it was clear he had simply rebranded himself and recreated a community that deeply believed in him of his ex disciples were a hidden camera and microphone while another filmed in a hidden location exchange was disturbing as Nisha's seemed to be completely at peace my birthday and what are you doing just being alive and enjoying good - I mean it hasn't been easy [Applause] you're lying simple fussing yeah people come and go pretty much lay people faster why are you being a good boy [Laughter] don't you think you should learn what that means good way to find out what is best yeah I've been doing your best since 2007 more people have come forth exposing his sexual and mental abuse aside from this documentary I've not been able to trace me Shen or whatever name he goes by now this is the last we know of him I don't think my opinion is unpopular here genuinely I think this man is a predator and also mentally unwell and when I say that I think that he has a very delusional concept of himself most cult leaders do because most people who think that their God you know I don't think I've to explain why that doesn't make sense to me and why most the time there's something else going on in their heads there's some some issue we know for a fact that he wanted to be an actor and that he did act a bit but since he wasn't talented that never took off so he never really had the career he wanted and I think being a kind of guru or whatever was his way of being an actor because it was all an act I don't think he bought most of his [ __ ] I think he was trying to get attention and be adored because that's really what actors get attention and adoration and people who love them and think they can do no wrong I don't know if he had some kind of hang-up about his sexuality where he didn't really want to be like a regular person who like dates or hooks up or whatever so they resort to this kind of predatory hush-hush behavior but overall I am honestly very disturbed by the fact that we don't know much about him at all and by the fact that he's still probably active like I know he's getting older but he probably still has some kind of following he created a new following when he was in Hawaii so there's no reason for me to believe that he's moved on to something else which is scary because potentially we still have people who are getting raped really and coerced into sex and who are getting taken advantage of and the one thing that I want to make clear cuz I didn't really mention it prior but when people leave cults if you've seen any documentaries about cults you know this they have a horrible time it's not just like leaving a hotel and you go home because there's no home to go to you've disassociated yourself from your family you haven't had a job in a while you probably don't have money some people don't even have bank accounts phone numbers nothing so it's like in a sense it's like you're born again and you're alone and the prospect of that happening again to new people who are currently in his cult or who have been in his cult recently the Hawaii one that's really disgusting the predatory [ __ ] is disgusting of course but also the aftermath that I feel isn't often considered it just makes me really sad for the people who you know fall for this guy's act and really mad at him and I'm kind of amazed that not many people have really talked about this or that it hasn't been broadcasted you know like that there aren't more movies and documentaries about this I'm not you talking to my best friend about this and she was saying that it was because no one's died and so until nobody dies it's like people undermine how extreme something is it's like it has to have death or some catastrophic happening I think there have been catastrophic results obviously people were raped people were manipulated Allen was there for 22 years like what does that do to your brain to be manipulated for that long I think that is catastrophic in its own way and so I wish more people we're talking about it because we don't know where this creepy ass Michelle is and what he's up to and God knows what else he's done you know before he was this guru who even knows there might be so much that is potentially even worse which is horrifying anyways guys thank you so much for watching let me know what you think in the comments down below and if there's a topic you'd like for me to cover in the next episode of veil lifted feel free to leave a suggestion down below thank you to my patrons as always and I'll catch you guys next time [Music] you [Music]

Channel: READY TO GLARE

Views: 325,204

Rating: 4.953537 out of 5

Keywords: cult, buddhafield cult, holy hell, religious sect, sect, michel rostand, michel gomez, jaime gomez, andreas, reyji, guru, religious guru, buddhafield

Id: r_cdIliUlSc

Length: 24min 8sec (1448 seconds)

Published: Mon May 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Man, these docuseries are on point.