A book published this Wednesday (14) in France condemns the “law of silence” on “serious abuses” in the Tibetan Buddhist religion, including sexual violence, deprivation and financial corruption, and blames the Dalai Lama’s negligence and inaction. The French monk Matthieu Ricard is the Tibetan leader’s main translator in the country. On Tuesday night (13), the Franco-German television channel Arte showed a documentary dedicated to the theme that is shaking up Buddhism structures around the world.
Journalists Élodie Emery and Wandrille Lanos, in “Buddhism, the law of silence” (Editor JC Lattès), surveyed some of the Tibetan Buddhist centers that have spread to the West over the past 40 years, where they collected “the testimonies of 32 successive disciples.” He was abused by targeting 13 different Buddhist masters in various Western countries, leading to the conclusion that there were “grave abuses” in the practices of some master teachers and even lamas.
The book condemns cases of children being taken from their parents and subsequently victims of violence. Or even girls who are forced to become “dakinis” (sexual partners) of a master.
Some of these events have already been reported. This is the case of master Sogyal Rinpoché, who died in 2019, who founded Rigpa, a network of 130 spiritual centers. Accused of sexual misconduct by eight of his former followers, he was even the target of a symbolic punishment from the Dalai Lama in 2017 and had to announce his early retirement.
For the writers who also made a documentary by the same name (available to European viewers on the Arte channel platform until November 11), this is not an “individual sectarian shift” but “a system that corrupts all Buddhism Tibet”.
According to them, the reason is the negligence and inaction of the main leaders of Tibetan Buddhism. “Until now, Tibetan spiritual authorities have ignored the voices of victims, repeatedly claiming that the issue is not their responsibility. Attempts to address the issue of sexual abuse in communities have been met with either composure or outright hostility,” the journalists wrote. .
The authors also note the “40 years of silence” of the Dalai Lama, who was warned of “abusive behavior by the masters” towards students at a meeting with European and North American masters in Dharamsala in 1993.
neglect
Journalists also wonder why Buddhist monk Matthieu Ricard, the French translator and interpreter of the Dalai Lama, known for his books on self-help, has had almost no reaction in the past decade.
Interviewed by French radio this Wednesday (14) France InterMatthieu Ricard, who wanted his interviews removed from the television documentary, said it was “exaggerated” to say he said nothing.
“It’s healthy to denounce deviations, as the documentary does,” he added. Acknowledging that he had gained a certain reputation in France thanks to his books on Buddhism, he admitted: “I talked about it. [as denúncias]but probably not high enough”.
More generally, Ricard said, Buddhism lacks an “institutional structure”. “There are hundreds or even thousands of Buddhist centers in the world. There is no central authority. All these centers are completely independent,” he said.
(with AFP)
source: Noticias
