Dagri Rinpoche. Photo by Gyalwa Gyatso.
The Tibetan Buddhist organization Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT) has announced that it is launching an investigation into Buddhist teacher Dagri Rinpoche after multiple allegations of sexual misconduct. In a statement, FPMT said that it has hired FaithTrust Institute to launch a fact-finding assessment.
FaithTrust Institute works with spiritual communities to end sexual and domestic violence. FPMT encourages anyone “who may have experienced or witnessed harm from Dagri Rinpoche in his role as a spiritual teacher at FPMT centers” to contact FaithTrust Institute.
Dagri is a prominent teacher in the FPMT community. He was accused of sexual misconduct by three women in May 2019. At the time, Dagri denied the allegations. FPMT suspended Dagri from teaching.
Days after the allegations against Dagri Rinpoche became public, a group of nuns penned a letter asking FPMT to launch an independent, third-party investigation of Dagri. Signatories included well-known Buddhist nuns such as Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, Bhikshuni Karma Lekshe Tsomo, and Bhikshuni Thubten Chodron.
