Thank you for posting all this, cowboy. Just a quick note with regard to Shambala's fallen leader (the latest in the series); I looked into why of the several sons of CT, THE Sakyong (whatever that means; is it a title, or is it his name?) was the one chosen to head up the empire. I was curious, because his brother, Gesar, has said he and the others are estranged from their oldest brother. It turns out, that S.M. is a half-brother, born of a Tibetan woman, with whom CT crossed paths (and whom he got pregnant, while he was a celibate exiled head of a monastery back in Tibet), when he first came out of Tibet. So he's from the same culture as his father, and clearly is fully invested in it. Has no concept of ethics, obviously, nor of sexual assault being a prosecutable crime.
It's so curious, but ultimately sad, tragic, that so many people are "shocked" that a "Dharma King" would fall so low. What "king"? The whole so-called lineage created by his father was all make-believe; it was a "pretend" lineage he made up, to create a platform for himself, and a pliant population among whom to play out his indulgences and debauchery.
It's very telling, that in his autobiography, CT states, upon meeting a regional king back in Tibet, who was a former monk required by circumstances to give up his robes and assume the throne left vacant by a prematurely-deceased brother, that once highly-disciplined monks leave the structure of the monastery, they fall into a life of extreme indulgence. At the time he originally made that observation, CT was a monk/tulku, in training to take over the leadership of his monastery, eventually, so we're lead to believe he was still living a disciplined life. What was really going on behind the scenes is unknown, but if the senior Kalu Rinpoche's behind-the-scenes life is any indication, we can reasonably assume that the celibacy was just a facade. As Ole Nydahl, another bad-boy of the Dharma scene, learned directly from the 16th Karmapa and Kalu Rinpoche, both; Kagyu practice is all about "the Great Bliss", yab-yum, tantric sexual practice as the supposed "quick path" to Enlightenment.
I'm told by someone who spent many months attending lectures at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala in the early 70's, and knew the director, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, well, that the Geshe, and other senior monks/teachers, including the Dalai Lama, took a very dim view of CT, having heard much about his behavior and teachings. He wasn't considered a serious, or legitimate, teacher at all.
It's so curious, but ultimately sad, tragic, that so many people are "shocked" that a "Dharma King" would fall so low. What "king"? The whole so-called lineage created by his father was all make-believe; it was a "pretend" lineage he made up, to create a platform for himself, and a pliant population among whom to play out his indulgences and debauchery.
It's very telling, that in his autobiography, CT states, upon meeting a regional king back in Tibet, who was a former monk required by circumstances to give up his robes and assume the throne left vacant by a prematurely-deceased brother, that once highly-disciplined monks leave the structure of the monastery, they fall into a life of extreme indulgence. At the time he originally made that observation, CT was a monk/tulku, in training to take over the leadership of his monastery, eventually, so we're lead to believe he was still living a disciplined life. What was really going on behind the scenes is unknown, but if the senior Kalu Rinpoche's behind-the-scenes life is any indication, we can reasonably assume that the celibacy was just a facade. As Ole Nydahl, another bad-boy of the Dharma scene, learned directly from the 16th Karmapa and Kalu Rinpoche, both; Kagyu practice is all about "the Great Bliss", yab-yum, tantric sexual practice as the supposed "quick path" to Enlightenment.
I'm told by someone who spent many months attending lectures at the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala in the early 70's, and knew the director, Geshe Ngawang Dhargyey, well, that the Geshe, and other senior monks/teachers, including the Dalai Lama, took a very dim view of CT, having heard much about his behavior and teachings. He wasn't considered a serious, or legitimate, teacher at all.