Re: Shambhala Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche -- problems

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J.D. said: (Name converted to initials for privacy-C)

Check out matthewremski.com he analyses the cult language use in shambhala in his recent articles.

Also the deeper you go in shambhala the more cult like it becomes. There are (or, until this scandal broke at least there were) secret mansions devoted students have built and donated to the Sakyong. In them he has a personal chef and volunteer servants (who do it for the honor, good karma or "merit"), body guards, kasung soldiers posted as guards. Some of these volunteer servants live in a smaller house near the mansion during their service period. He is served every meal as if he is in a restaurant, eating off of plates with gold rims around the edges of the plate. Everyone who gets there is told to keep everything that happens there secret. And you don't get the opportunity to serve at a court until you are deeply involved in shambhala. He is usually referred to as "your majesty" in the court. And he has personal volunteer drivers driving him wherever he wants.

He only uses some of these mansions only for a few weeks every year (of which I believe there are at least 4 that I have heard of, a 5th was recently in plans of being made near Halifax To replace the old Halifax "court")
And when he isn't there, they are closed down and not used for anything else.
And when you get deep in there are unusual teachings about samaya that differ from most vajrayana traditions. You are told you can't learn from any other teacher other than the Sakyong and that he will be your teacher for infinite lifetimes. If you break your samaya vow with him you will go down into "vajra hell" for billions of lifetimes. So it is easy to see why so many high ranking students were willing to cover this up and do whatever he asked,even when it went against their moral upbringing. They are told that everything the guru does is enlightened activity and that it is only their "impure vision" that sees differently.

All of this is not how many vajrayana teachers teach. Most allow some more flexibility to see other teachers for many practices and Mingyur Rinpoche, for example, says that psychological, sexual, and physical abuse are NEVER teaching methods. Shambhala likes to blur these lines quite a bit.

In my own experience, the deeper I got into shambhala, the more I was told that my reactions to what was happening were about my own mind and not about the situation around me that felt wrong. So I tried to look at it as an opportunity to practice.

I think your cult danger rating scale should go up.
Deep in shambhala things are very, very, weird.

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(July 15, 2018) Elliot Benjamin said:
Absolutely Rob, I was wrong in what I initially thought/hoped about the ethical behavior of Mipham. But please see my two follow-up essays on Shambhala, especially my Part 3 essay sub-titled Like Father Like Son?


(July 14, 2018) Anonymous said:
@Jake,


(July 14, 2018) Jake said:
Like father
Like son
Estimated net worth of Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche is 26 million


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(July 7, 2018) Rob said:
With the much more public and recent revelations of Sakyong Mipham ... oh how wrong are you. But that's not surprising. I've seen the same story over the years with numerous Buddhist organizations. I've also heard this quip so many times, it's nauseating ... "everyone knew". No, not everyone knew, which is evidenced by your postings. There are new people, like yourself, coming to Buddhist organizations all the time ... they don't know.

So two camps will form. Those who no longer want to tolerate such authoritative abuses, and then those who have been covering up for their teacher ... (and most likely many others), who will continue their dutiful servitude to abuse.

So they'll lose some members, but it will limp along in its dysfunction with the "abuse" camp being in control. It's the same story that is far too easy to predict.

Unfortunately, there will always be people attracted to this crazy wisdom b.s.

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Matthew said:
I want to point out from your writeup, you are likely the Shambhala's "type" - educated, intellectual, middle class, not as much body focused, middle aged or above, and white. You might have had a different feeling of comfort if you weren't their type.

The cultish behavior only starts being more obvious from Rigden on, FYI. The vow to serve the Sakyong is something new, in the last 5 years. I, along with a few in my Ridgen class, refused to take it. It was a general revolt - everyone agreed with the Shambhala principles, but why use that wording? From then on, that weekend was called the "Rocky Rigden" and it was discussed up the hierarchy and from then on they invited people to talk about the vow beforehand, so as to give time for people to make justifications and interpretations like you did.

The thing is, less intellectual people would likely not have made interpretations like you. They could have chosen different wording - like serving a vision, valuing the Sakyong, etc. They didn't. And as I said, it's new.

So why?

I did one or two on from Ridgen and I found less "meat" each time. Having been on other Buddhist retreats and done much reading on Buddhist thought and Advaita Vedanta, it did feel both oversimplified and sold, presented like it was magical. The cost just didn't justify it.