I'm beginning to wonder if all these years, about 3 decades at this point, the reason Rigpa staff have so staunchly defended Sogyal is that at the very bottom line, they felt their jobs could have been at stake. Rigpa has created an international bureaucracy employing dozens, possibly 100 people or more, who would be put out of work if the whole house of cards came tumbling down.
This is the only explanation that makes sense to me, for why they would ignore very serious accusations, and even a trial of Sogyal in court. Not only that, but you'd think that the fact that Sogyal's mentor in the beginning, Dudjom Rinpoche, the head of the Nyingma sect, withdrew his sponsorship of Sogyal and Rigpa after hearing numerous reports of grave misconduct, would have caused Rigpa staff to sit up, take notice, and begin an inquiry. Perhaps at that time, some people quit, we don't know; but for a popular, trendy organization in the 80's and early 90's, there probably were eager devotees ready to take the place of anyone leaving the administrative side of it.
I suppose there's never a shortage of starry-eyed, naive believers in an exotic spiritual leader, however false the front may be, who would be ready and willing to circle the wagons against any critique of the individual in whom they'd become heavily emotionally and spiritually invested. And of course, these guru types are very good at exploiting that.
Still, one shakes one's head and wonders if it all boils down to maintaining job security, security in one's investment of time, energy and spirituality after a decade or more, and avoiding embarrassment and any sense of responsibility on the staff's part for enabling the depredations of someone who ultimately turns out to be a charlatan of the worst sort.
This is the only explanation that makes sense to me, for why they would ignore very serious accusations, and even a trial of Sogyal in court. Not only that, but you'd think that the fact that Sogyal's mentor in the beginning, Dudjom Rinpoche, the head of the Nyingma sect, withdrew his sponsorship of Sogyal and Rigpa after hearing numerous reports of grave misconduct, would have caused Rigpa staff to sit up, take notice, and begin an inquiry. Perhaps at that time, some people quit, we don't know; but for a popular, trendy organization in the 80's and early 90's, there probably were eager devotees ready to take the place of anyone leaving the administrative side of it.
I suppose there's never a shortage of starry-eyed, naive believers in an exotic spiritual leader, however false the front may be, who would be ready and willing to circle the wagons against any critique of the individual in whom they'd become heavily emotionally and spiritually invested. And of course, these guru types are very good at exploiting that.
Still, one shakes one's head and wonders if it all boils down to maintaining job security, security in one's investment of time, energy and spirituality after a decade or more, and avoiding embarrassment and any sense of responsibility on the staff's part for enabling the depredations of someone who ultimately turns out to be a charlatan of the worst sort.