Deep Dive

Confronting Abuse in Spiritual Communities

When the trust we put in a spiritual friend, teacher, or community is compromised, so much is put at risk. View Buddhadharma‘s collection of articles on preventing and addressing such abuses of power.

Breaking the Silence on Sexual Misconduct

Willa Blythe Baker offers both her painful firsthand account of sexual misconduct by a guru and insight for fellow survivors and communities.

Willa Blythe Baker

When a Buddhist Teacher Crosses the Line

Mingyur Rinpoche explains Vajrayana ethics, how to find a genuine teacher, and what to do if a teacher crosses the line.

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche

Door to zendo.

Advice for Women in a Secret Sexual Relationship with Their Buddhist Teacher

Willa Blythe Baker offers nine pieces of advice for women who find themselves in secret relationships with their teachers.

Willa Blythe Baker

Clergy sexual misconductAbuse of powerExploitation. We don’t want to believe these words apply to us or our sanghas… We may be afraid of the shame they would bring to our Buddhist communities. We might worry they will threaten our practice or the values we hold dear. We may be afraid to look at the truth that the very teacher we believed to be the embodiment of perfection is, in fact, a complicated human being. Inquiring into these words means questioning everything, including some of our deepest beliefs.”

—Lama Willa Blythe Baker
Our Teachers Are Not Gods Confronting Abuse of Power Rob Preece

Our Teachers Are Not Gods

Longtime practitioner and psychotherapist Rob Preece says even though as students we may be devoted to our teachers, we can’t afford to idealize them anymore.

Rob Preece

Samaya as Symbiotic Relationship

Damchö Diana Finnegan on the guru–disciple bond in Vajrayana Buddhism, and how to navigate it in healthful, beneficial ways.

Damchö Diana Finnegan

The Promise and Peril of Spiritual Authority

Gina Sharpe, Roshi Pat Enkyo O’Hara, and Pilar Jennings examine spiritual power, the roots of its abuse, and how we might learn to hold it differently going forward.

Buddhadharma

The Buddha Would Have Believed You

In too many Buddhist communities, women have not been believed when revealing harm caused by men. Bhikkhu Sujato looks to the Vinaya and finds another approach.

Bhante Sujato

Photo by Murielle Michetti Baumgartner.

Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse

Scholars Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg look at how Buddhist sanghas have responded and evolved in response to the ethical breaches of the past few decades.

Amy Paris Langenberg & Ann Gleig

Forum

Confronting Abuse of Power

Recent headlines have revealed that spiritual communities, including Buddhist ones, are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse by male authority figures.

Buddhadharma

Resources

Resources for Confronting Abuse in Spiritual Communities

From Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg, authors of “Sexual Ethics and Healthy Boundaries in the Wake of Teacher Abuse,” from the Winter 2023 issue of Buddhadharma, comes this gathering of select websites, communities, and projects of value to Buddhist communities, teachers, and students looking to develop and maintain best practices when it comes to fostering healthy teacher-student relationships and addressing conflicts and pitfalls.

Ann Gleig & Amy Paris Langenberg

An Olive Branch Be Proactive Abuse of Power Confronting Buddhism Sangha Teachers Misconduct Controversy

Confronting Abuse: Be Proactive

An Olive Branch presents an action plan for putting the necessary supports in place to protect sangha members from abuse

An Olive Branch

Female monastics Tenzin Dadon and Karma Tashi Chodron are seen presenting at 2024's Heartwood-Northwestern Symposium.

The Heartwood-Northwestern Symposium: A Groundbreaking Gathering Centering Survivors of Sexual Violence in Buddhism

Mariana Restrepo, deputy editor of Buddhadharma, reports from a first-of-its-kind event designed to bring light — and solutions — to the problem of sexual abuse in Buddhist communities, and how it affects monastics and non-monastics alike.

Mariana Restrepo

Watch – New Videos and Resources on Reckoning With Abuse in Buddhist Communities

Confronting systemic abuse within spiritual communities is important for individual and community alike. That’s why Damchö Diana Finnegan, co-founder of the Dharmadatta Community, has launched a series of interviews that aim to help us face and understand abuse and how to promote community accountability and justice for survivors. Freshly updated with new videos

Damchö Diana Finnegan

Pam Rubin Confronting Abuse believing victims

Watch: Start confronting abuse by believing victims

Pam Rubin, a women’s trauma counsellor and lawyer, explains why we need to start confronting abuse by believing victims.

Pam Rubin

Image of a buddha head sculpture casting shadow on red wall.
Ask the Teachers

How do I maintain my faith in Buddhist teachings?

Willa Blythe Baker, Josh Korda, and Tenku Ruff answer a practitioner’s question about losing faith in the institutions of Buddhism and the dharma itself.

Willa Blythe Baker, Josh Korda, and Tenku Ruff

EN ESPAÑOL
Deep Dive

Afrontando los abusos en las comunidades espirituales

Cuando la confianza que ponemos en un amigo espiritual, un maestro o una comunidad se ve comprometida, se ponen en riesgo muchas cosas. Vea la colección de artículos de Buddhadharma sobre cómo prevenir y abordar estos abusos de poder.

Rompiendo el silencio sobre la conducta sexual inapropiada

Willa Blythe Baker ofrece su dolorosa experiencia personal sobre la conducta sexual inapropiada por parte de un gurú. También brinda una recomendaciones para comunidades e individuos sobrevivientes de este tipo de abuso.

Cuando un maestro budista cruza la línea

La relación entre maestro y alumno en el budismo Vajrayana es intensa y compleja. Es fácil de malinterpretar e incluso puede ser mal utilizada. El respetado maestro tibetano Mingyur Rinpoche explica la ética en el Vajrayana, cómo encontrar un maestro genuino y qué hacer si un maestro se pasa de la raya.

El Buda te habría creído

En demasiadas comunidades budistas, no se les ha creído a las mujeres cuando revelan el daño causado por hombres. Bhikkhu Sujato mira al Vinaya y encuentra otro enfoque.

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Deep Dive

Living Buddhist Ethics

Looking primarily at the three sila aspects of the Buddha’s eightfold path—right action, right speech, and right livelihood—leading dharma figures explain how, as Buddhists in today’s world, we can live ethically, and in accord with what the dharma teaches.

Man in Zen robes with hands in gassho

Ethics, Meditation, and Wisdom 

Norman Fischer on how sila, samadhi, and prajna work together to give us stability on the Buddhist path to liberation.

A Buddhist monastic holds up their saffron-colored robe

Understanding the Vinaya

Amy Paris Langenberg on the history, evolution, and modern manifestations of the training rules followed by Buddhist monastics.

A collage whose pieces comprise an abstract human face

Dukkha as a Doorway to Liberation

Scott Tusa on how Buddhist ethics transcend mere morality and help us to realize awakening.

Deep Dive

The Six Dharmas of Naropa

Considered a fast track to buddhahood, the Six Dharmas are advanced tantric practices including tummo (inner heat), yoga of the dream state, resting in luminosity, and more. Featuring an overview by Pema Khandro Rinpoche, plus in-depth teachings by specialists in each of the Six Dharmas.

The Swift Path to Buddhahood

Pema Khandro on the fascinating history, practice, and purpose of the Six Dharmas of Naropa.

The Practice of Fierce Inner Heat

Judith Simmer-Brown on tummo, one of the most famous esoteric practices of Tibetan Vajrayana and the Six Dharmas. What is it, what are its benefits, and what role does it play in our journey to enlightenment?

A Wake-Up Call

Andrew Holecek on bardo, one of the Six Dharmas of Naropa’s two practices for helping us find our way, when the time comes, through the death experience. It can help us in life, too.