Allegations of abuse and civil lawsuits against Buddhist teachers are emerging with escalating frequency and visibility. Zen communities began facing their widely publicized reckoning over a decade ago. A reckoning now appears to be arriving for Vajrayana Buddhism.
Allegations of abuse have surfaced in all the Vajrayana communities with a large international presence: Rigpa, FPMT, Shambhala (Nyingma, Gelug, and Kagyu, respectively). Multiple smaller communities are facing serious civil lawsuits, such as Palpung Thubten Choling in New York (Karma Kagyu) and Dzogchen Buddha Path in Oregon (Nyingma). As such, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the problem is systemic.
When a community is rocked by allegations of abuse, the consequences for everyone can be devastating. When teachers who are presented as trustworthy and altruistic abuse their students, survivors can find their lives shattered, and the betrayal of trust ripples outward in all directions. Members of the community experience the secondary trauma of discovering they have entrusted themselves in profoundly unsafe spaces or have vouched for teachers who have harmed.
Crises of faith are common. As the most staunch supporters form a protective circle around the accused, marginalizing or driving out others who ask questions or seek clarity, communities splinter into those who align with the hardening power structures and those who do not. People from groups who know from experience that dominant power structures do not work in their favor will be less likely to stay, seriously complicating efforts to welcome more diversity in North American Buddhist communities. Board members end up spending their time and energy interacting with lawyers, investigators, and PR firms, and donors watch as the offerings they make in good faith to support the dharma are squandered instead on legal fees and/or out-of-court settlements. People newly approaching Buddhism may end up turning away when they learn that these communities are unsafe, ethically suspect, or full of profoundly traumatized people.
Everyone may be impacted, but few are speaking openly. Yet we know that silence enables abuse. Without conversations in our communities, it is impossible to identify the other conditions that are leading to abuse in so many Buddhist contexts.
Dharmadatta Community, the community of which I am a co-founder, has created a series of dialogues available on YouTube with the explicit aim of fomenting discussion. In an effort to foster preventing, facing, and finally healing from abuse, I am hosting conversations with survivors of abuse by Buddhist teachers, and with scholars researching it, as well as with psychologists, lawyers, and other advocates and allies of survivors. We explore a wide range of topics, including how students are groomed for abuse, the “weaponization” of Buddhist doctrines by abusive teachers, power dynamics in Buddhist communities, the question of consent, the process of healing after abuse, and the secondary trauma experienced by communities where abuse takes place.
The series of dialogues is being produced with support from a grant from Hemera Foundation’s Healthy Communities initiative. Because Dharmadatta Community serves Spanish-speaking Buddhist practitioners, many of the videos aired first with Spanish subtitles on the community’s YouTube channel. They are now being made available in English on the Dharmadatta Community YouTube channel.
Dialogues held thus far include interviews with Lama Willa Baker, Ann Gleig, and Amy Langenberg and Rachel Montgomery. New interviews will appear bimonthly through 2024, beginning in January with the German monk Tenzin Peljor, one of the few monks in the Vajrayana tradition who is both speaking openly about abuse and supporting survivors. In March, I will share a conversation with Carol Merchasin, a lawyer who came out of retirement to work pro bono with Buddhist Sunshine Project and the survivors of abuse by former Shambhala leader Sakyong Mipham, and who now heads the abuse in spiritual communities legal practice at McAllister Olivarius.
Several of the videos were recorded directly in Spanish and do not appear on the English-language channel, though they can be viewed here on the community’s Spanish-language YouTube channel.
Here is a summary of key videos so far.
Lama Willa Baker (Part One) – Abuse by Buddhist Teachers: Understanding it, Surviving It
Buddhist teacher and author Lama Willa Blythe Baker offers her unique insights into the ways Vajrayana teachings, practice, and the guru-student relationship can end up becoming conditions that lead to abuse or to its coverup. Lama Willa has written about her own experience of abuse by her Tibetan Buddhist teacher [ADD HYPERLINKS TO HER ARTICLES IN LR], and has served as an ally and advocate to many other survivors.
Lama Willa Baker (Part Two) – Survivor’s Psychology: Abuse by Buddhist Teachers
Lama Willa shares her insight into the survivor’s psychology, as well as an ally and activist to others who were also abused by their Buddhist teachers. This conversation explores pathways to address situations of abuse in our communities that allow the process to become a liberating process for all involved.
Ann Gleig and Amy Langenberg “Supporting Survivors of Abuse”
Two researchers share suggestions for productive ways to act in response to the situations of sexual abuse in our communities. They share their experiences developing a survivor-centered approach in responding to abuse. Amy Langenberg and Ann Gleig are professors currently working together on a book on sexual abuse in American Buddhist communities.
Rachel Montgomery “Healing from Abuse: The Voice of a Survivor, Activist and Ally”
A survivor reflects on the ways that Buddhist teachings were used to groom her for abuse, describing her experience at the hands of her teacher and the community’s subsequent handling of her allegations. Rachel Montgomery is a survivor of abuse, an eloquent advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, and co-founder of the Heartwood Sangha survivors’ program. She is currently pursuing her masters degree in public health at Emory University.
And here are videos that will be posting in the days ahead.
Tenzin Peljor. “Preventing Abuse in Tibetan Buddhism: Can Gurus be Infallible?”
The German monk Venerable Tenzin Peljor takes a hard look at the notion of an infallible guru, and offers a teaching on the three qualities that disciples need to enter into healthy relationships with Vajrayana teachers. He shares insights from his own long process of recovering from abusive situations in a Buddhist community he identifies as a cult. Tenzin Peljor created and manages the “Tibetan Buddhism – Struggling with Diffi-Cult Issues” blog and teaches in Berlin.
Carol Merchasin “Holding Buddhist Organizations Accountable for Abuse. Exploring Legal Consequences”
Carol Merchasin presents the law as a strategy for holding not just teachers but also organizations accountable for their role in enabling abuse. This far-ranging conversation explores the relative benefits to survivors and to society of criminal versus civil legal options, the ethical implications of using donor funds to pay survivors of abuse and the power of lawsuits to prompt changes to the organizational culture of Buddhist communities. Carol heads up the legal practice of McAllister Olivarius, devoted to survivors of abuse by spiritual teachers. She served as a pro bono legal counsel to Shambhala survivors and the Buddhist Sunshine Project.
Grace Schireson: Identifying Dysfunction in the Teacher-Student Relationship.
Zen abbess, psychotherapist and teacher who studies the psychology and group dynamics of the sangha, Grace Schireson shares her views on a range of dysfunctional dynamics that can creep into the spiritually and psychologically charge relationship between teacher and student. With her characteristically insightful and provocative style, she offers extensive suggestions for identifying and steering clear of other unhealthy dynamics that so often emerge in Buddhist communities. | This dialogue forms part of Dharmadatta Community’s ongoing series of conversations to address, prevent and heal from abuse by Buddhist teachers. Grace Schireson is a teacher in the Suzuki Roshi lineage, and is president of Shogaku Zen Institute (a Zen teachers’ training seminary). She took a leading role in addressing abuse in Zen communities. See her article here.
Bhikkhu Sujato: The Buddha’s Advice on Sexual Abuse in the Sangha
Bhikkhu Sujato, senior Theravada monk and founder of Sutta Central, discusses the guidelines that the Buddha himself laid down for responding to allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse by members of the sangha. This interview with Damcho explores a real-life case study, discusses Bhikkhu Sujato’s surprising approach to creating safe spaces for women in Buddhist communities and his advice for members of sanghas where allegations have emerged. This dialogue forms part of Dharmadatta Community’s ongoing series of conversations to address, prevent and heal from abuse by Buddhist teachers. Bhikkhu Sujato authored an important related article in Lion’s Roar entitled The Buddha Would Have Believed You (link below). Damcho is a member of the advisory board of Heartwood’s program for Survivors of Guru and Teacher Abuse. Read Bhikku Sujato’s article here. Read more about the Heartwood initiative here.
Dr. Chandana Namal Rathnayake: Child Abuse in Buddhist Monasteries in Sri Lanka
Drawing on his lived experience, formal research, and his own training as a psychotherapist, Dr. Chandana Namal Rathnayake describes what he calls an “institutional ecosystem” in which children are subjected to sexual and other forms of abuse in Buddhist monastic institutions in Sri Lanka.
Dr. Chandana Namal Rathnayake holds a PhD from the Canterbury Christ Church University in the UK with a thesis entitled “Breaking the Silence About Institutionalized Child Abuse in the Buddhist Monastery in Sri Lanka.” He is a practicing psychotherapist.
Two Courageous Nuns Break the Silence – on Abuse in Buddhist Nunneries in Asia
In this remarkable interview, two Buddhist nuns from Asia speak candidly of abuse of nuns in Buddhist nunneries in Asia, drawing on PhD research, what they witnessed as well as their own direct experience. The two courageous nuns Venerable (Choela) Tenzin Dadon, PhD and Venerable (Choela) Karma Tashi Choedron, PhD describe their own ongoing efforts to prevent abuse of nuns as well as children in Buddhist monasteries and nunneries in Asia.
A Bhutanese nun, Choela (or Venerable) Tenzin Dadon, PhD is an accomplished scholar and a gifted teacher. After completing a traditional 13-year program in Buddhist philosophy at Jamyang Choling Institute in Dharamsala, India, she went on to earn two Masters degrees and a PhD from the University of Malaysia, and has published extensively under her lay name, Sonam Wangmo. Choela is global leader in the effort to improve gender equity in Buddhism, and especially the fight to obtain full ordination for Tibetan Buddhist nuns.
A Buddhist nun born in Malaysia and ordained in Tibetan Buddhism, Choela (or Venerable) Karma Tashi Choedron, PhD holds a doctorate degree in Environment and Resource Studies from Mahidol University, Thailand and completed her M.A in Buddhist Studies in 2016 from the International Buddhist College. She is Vice-President of the International Buddhist Confederation and Deputy Director of Education at the Vajrayana Buddhist Council of Malaysia.
How (and How Not) to Relate to a Vajrayana Teacher with Pema Khandro Rinpoche
Premieres Mar 2, 2025Essential advice for anyone practicing Tibetan Buddhism from Pema Khandro Rinpoche, drawing on her own training as a tulku, her experience as a Vajrayana teacher herself and her scholarly research into consort relationships. This exceptional conversation describes
- What boundaries are appropriate, if any, and within the unique teacher-student relationship in Vajrayana
- What a healthy guru-disciple relationship look and feels like
- How to tell whether teachers are creating conditions for students’ liberation
- What grooming (rather than challenging the ego) looks like within Buddhist communities
- Among other tips every Tibetan Buddhist practitioner should know to avoid the potential pitfalls of this relationship deemed key to Vajrayana practice
Pema Khandro Rinpoche is a Buddhist teacher with over 20 years of experience. She founded and directs Ngakpa International, Buddhist Studies Institute y Yogic Medicine Institute. She holds a doctorate from the University of Virginia and has been recognized as the reincarnation of the first Pema Khandro, a 20th-century Tibetan yogini.
