DIALOGUE IRELAND Newsletter’98
This was part of our Newsletter from ’98
“The Tibetan Lama who runs the retreat has been the subject of allegations of sexual assault. LAMA SOGYAL RINPOCHE, head of Rigpa Fellowship, was sued three years ago by an American for $10 million. The woman named as Janice Doe on the lawsuit which which was filed in California claimed she was subjected to abuse, harassment, coercion, sexual assaults and battery at the hands of the Lama.”
BUDDHISM:
This is an ancient tradition which is growing in Ireland and many centres are opening to this new movement to our shores. There is a group which has given rise to a number of questions which we should make you aware of. This is Rigpa Ireland with centres at Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Wicklow and Retreat Centre at Dzogchen Beara, Garranes.
Similar allegations were heard at an Inform Seminar, New Religious Movements and Violence at the London School of Economics last year. The ex-member, a woman who had been a member for over 10 years stressed the mental abuse she experienced.”
Filed under: RIGPA |
Dialogue Ireland 
I attended a rigpa retreat. In short I respect the Dharma but not the man, Soygal. It was, im MY opinion, obvious that he is there for his own personal agenda. For the sake of Tibetan Buddhism I hope he is exposed for what he is because if not than the stain will tarnish it for a very long time.
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Thar she blows! Bella ho! Baton down the hatches, repel all boarders DNFTT!!!
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It is Sogyal’s moral conduct which is reprehensible and unacceptable. The teachings Sogyal conveys are the teachings of the tradition and are are therefore stainless. I have complete faith in Nyingma Dharma. Even if a parrot were to explain the nature of mind, I am sure it would benefit me (If my mind were not of the nature of quick setting concrete that is). That is what is happening with Rigpa I think-Amazing teachings are being mixconstrued as ‘wow, he’s amazing’ Its a cult of personality, supported by lies and hidden facts(many of which are listed above) ‘educated at Cambridge’ sounds so much better than ‘college drop out’ dontcha think?
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Much appreciated, DI.
For the record too, I would like to add I am grateful for many of Sogyal Rinpoche’s teachings in the past. I hope that won’t upset you too much, Madhyamika.
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Thank you DI for removing that article.
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Wise move-despite your intentions, others, some with underlying intent, are interpreting the piece as a baseless tabloid swipe aimed at undermining Sogyal’s reputation, whereas actually, his behaviour speaks for itself!
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We made available what was part of a newsletter published in 1998. You may not have noticed this but we have had the full newsletter
on our site for the past few days. It is now my intention to remove the Mirror article, but certainly not the newsletter as it is part of the archive. The relevance of that article was to show that in 1998 we had the same concerns which have now recently surfaced again.
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The point is not to be distracted. I too question the wisdom of including this piece and I sincerely believe there were no dodgy circumstances relating to this poor mans death. But lets not get distracted: DI have made a mistake posting this piece and it looks like muck raking-Good to call them to task on this BUT this should not distract from the reason behind the furore over Sogyal. In desperate times Sogyal’s confidantes will try anything to distract from the real issue-more fool DI for posting ths unrelated piece and providing ammunition. I think they should take it down???
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“So they also made reference to an article about a death at Lerab Ling some years ago. Big deal. ”
See above-this first sentence is a quote from Mad’s post.
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So they also made reference to an article about a death at Lerab Ling some years ago. Big deal.
No, Madhyamika. If you read the whole of this thread you’d see that it was at Dzogchen Beara, not LL, and that Conor met the guy. Like Conor, I was also at that retreat, and felt concerned that a man who went on retreat and died should be dragged into this. Ok, so DI has pointed it out this was a newspaper article, that linked them. I think though it is insensitive given that it was an accident to try and link this event to the issue of Sogyal Rinpoche’s behaviour. As I said upthread, SR wasn’t even there when it happened. Even if the guy had taken drugs which was wrongly implied by the newspaper, it was an independent action. The retreat organizers didn’t frisk people.
I think you are being extremely aggresive and rude to Conor, and I don’t think it is warranted. Out of respect to the dead man and his family I think you should just back off.
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Lord Conor, will these little side tracking digs never stop? DI is performing a service which helps warn people about a sexual predator who has a history of taking advantage of vulnerable women. So they also made reference to an article about a death at Lerab Ling some years ago. Big deal. Get you priorities sorted Trying to undermine peoples faith in DI by nit picking so as to distract them from the allegations is really low behavior. I note youve said nothing about the Irish Times using the death to print references to the Janice Doe case. Why the preferential treatment? No need to answer. Just check out what your doing; its akin to telling children not to listen the nasty rumours of child abuse about the nice man whose offered to help them cross the road.You should be ashamed of your willingness to conceal the sins of others out of blind faith in their good character, even more so of trying to influence others from that thoroughly naive headspace.
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DI has chosen a very poor newspaper article for it’s purposes.
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I think someone has again (deliberately) missed the point. I’ll throw you a bone.
Quoting from an earlier DI comment (emphasis added to aid you see the point):
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Apologies to French Blog. When I wrote that reply, I mistakenly thought it was from DI. I should be more careful to read the titles.
I am, as I stated elsewhere,a student in Rigpa who has benefitted greatly from the teachings I received from Sogyal Rinpoche.
On the thread of comments for this particular report, I am only going to talk about the very poor Irish Mirror article.
I asked the Gardai to clarify about the “statement” supposedly made. Their reply was:
The supposed “statement” that may or may not have been made suggesting possible drug involvement would then be idle conjecture with no basis in any facts and not in any way an official statement. The article then, and DI’s presentation of it, is an excercise in presumption of guilt.
Since DI’s general concern is about Sogyal Rinpoche and this particular case has practically nothing to do with SR, I can’t really see why it is being presented by DI.
May I suggest to stand back and separate the issues.
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‘You’? Sorry, I am an individual; I do not work for DI. Are you, by any chance one of ‘them’ (RIGPA insiders in denial about Sogyal’s sexual shennanigans)?
I think DI clarified their stance above:
“Gardai have ruled out foul play in the death of the man at the centre in the Allihies early on Wednesday morning.”
You claimed he was as sober as a judge, the Gardai in a statement contradict your view, “We believe this may may be be in some way drug related. While he was staying at the centre he suffered nightmares and hallucinations which they feel were drug induced. It appears he leapt from the window and managed to drag himself to a spot of undergrowth before he died of exposure and bleeding. We will have to wait for the post mortem results before deciding if we go further.”
I was satisfied that it was an accident, but was wondering whether the Gardai were misinformed and whether the inquest clarified it?
Perhaps you can clarify so that we can avoid further tangential smokescreens?
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“unexplained circumstances” You are having difficulty with the explanation given. The circumstances are quite clear. I can’t see what is unexplained.
The allegations (not established facts) are entirely separate to the issue I am addressing. I am focused the way you are portraying this man’s death as something suspicious.
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OK Conor. just to clarify: one issue is the tragic death of a young man under unexplained circumstances (no blame apportioned). The other is about multiple allegations of physical, emotional and sexual abuse against Sogyal Rinpoche by dozens of women,. Youre quite right, DI shouldnt confuse these issues in the way the Irish Press did.
PS-Its not one elephant-its a herd!
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I think someone is missing the point here…..
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If I understand you correctly, the elephant you referred to is the Janice Doe case. So, it would appear you aren’t all that concerned about the death of this man but using it as a pretext to bring up other matters. If this is the case, it strikes me as ethically unsound. You should be clear and separate the issues.
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Nothing tangential about it. I comment on an extremely poor sensational piece of journalism from the Mirror which you have posted on your website.
You don’t seem willing to accept the conclusion which the Gardai came to. If you feel there is something to investigate, why haven’t you tried to find some details yourself? I enquired. I told you what I was told. That’s as much as I can do.
The Janice Doe piece is tagged onto the article and not relavent to it’s main point which is the death of this man.
I think that you are compromising the quality of your reporting by having the Mirror article among your reports. We could best let the man rest in peace also by having this item de-listing.
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You are on a tangent here. The Gardai already said a few days after the event there was no foul play.
“Gardai have ruled out foul play in the death of the man at the centre in the Allihies early on Wednesday morning.”
You claimed he was as sober as a judge, the Gardai in a statement contradict your view, “We believe this may may be be in some way drug related. While he was staying at the centre he suffered nightmares and hallucinations which they feel were drug induced. It appears he leapt from the window and managed to drag himself to a spot of undergrowth before he died of exposure and bleeding. We will have to wait for the post mortem results before deciding if we go further.”
I was satisfied that it was an accident, but was wondering whether the Gardai were misinformed and whether the inquest clarified it?
Did you find the Janice Doe report from the Irish Times?
Please let this man rest in peace and go back to the central issue. Thanks though for clarifying the terrible events and bringing us the
Irish Times report.
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Originally this report was in our Newsletter in 1998. Only part was taken from the Mirror, the rest was our warning to the public. We had been to the Inform Conference in 1997. The main point was not about the man dying, but the fact in 1998 we were drawing attention to the abuse allegations. You will notice it preceded the Briefing document in our posting a few months ago. We were not suggesting Sogyal pushed him over the cliff, but in the context of a terrible accident drawing peoples attention to the elephant in the room. This I repeat is our report, we quote from the Mirror. So the point I am trying to make is that we did bark, but not up a tree.
In a general report 11 years ago when the story had gone dead. We were saying check this out!
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Because, you weren’t satisfied, I enquired with the Gardai about the outcome of this case. The reply was:
.
If DI wishes, I will forward the email to him.
I hope that DI might conclude, based on Garda findings, that this was an unfortunate accident.
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DI
I appreciate your highlighting this case has nothing to do with Buddhism. That it happened at Dzogchen Beara whilst he was on retreat, was I think entirely accidental. The hut he slept in was away from the hostel, and they don’t allow anyone to sleep there anymore. I’m honestly not sure what point you are trying to make here. Sogyal Rinpoche hadn’t even arrived for the retreat when he died. I believe he arrived a day or two later. I think you may be barking up the wrong tree.
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We are happy to hear about the experiences of those who knew the man. I think it is unnecessary to see one account as bad and another as good. The Mirror one was written a day earlier, but the quotation from the Gardai still stands. Perhaps further research might give us a report of the inquest of this unfortunate man.
A Garda spokesman said “We believe this may may be be in some way drug related. While he was staying at the centre he suffered nightmares and hallucinations which they feel were drug induced. It appears he leapt from the window and managed to drag himself to a spot of undergrowth before he died of exposure and bleeding. We will have to wait for the post mortem results before deciding if we go further.”
The explanation of the reaction to this story might be the following section of the report:
“The death which has shocked the tiny seaside resort, is not the first time the Buddhist Centre has been the subject of media attention. The Tibetan Lama who runs the retreat has been the subject of allegations of sexual assault. LAMA SOGYAL RINPOCHE, head of Rigpa Fellowship, was sued three years ago by an American for $10 million. The woman named as Janice Doe on the lawsuit which which was filed in California claimed she was subjected to abuse, harassment, coercion, sexual assaults and battery at the hands of the Lama.”
It mentions the lawsuit by Janice Doe, and it quotes from a report by the same Dick Hogan in the Irish Times three years earlier.
We would be delighted to publish it if it is available.
You will note DI’s desire to not make this anything to do with Buddhism:
BUDDHISM:
This is an ancient tradition which is growing in Ireland and many centres are opening to this new movement to our shores. There is a group which has given rise to a number of questions which we should make you aware of. This is Rigpa Ireland with centres at Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Wicklow and Retreat Centre at Dzogchen Beara, Garranes.
Similar allegations were heard at an Inform Seminar, New Religious Movements and Violence at the London School of Economics last year. The ex-member, a woman who had been a member for over 10 years stressed the mental abuse she experienced.
We have heard from this woman in the past few months. She is going to tell her own story in due course. It was her testimony at an INFORM Seminar which alerted us to our need to make sure this did not happen in Ireland.
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Below is the Irish Times article. I’ve replaced the man’s name with ‘X’ out of respect. Compare the way this and the article above portray things. Granted, the one above was dashed off a day earlier when the information was less clear but it does point to irresponsible sensational journalism creating a picture it wants to see from scant and ambiguous information.
Foul play ruled out in Cork death
By DICK HOGAN
Fri, July 03, 1998
An Englishman attending a Buddhist retreat centre in a remote part of west Cork died from injuries
consistent with falling from a window. A statement from the centre said Buddhist leaders around the
world were offering prayers. Gardai have ruled out foul play in the death of the man at the centre in
the Allihies early on Wednesday morning.
Mr X (42) was found naked in the grounds of the Dzogchen Beara Retreat, having
apparently fallen from a window. His cries for help were heard by people in the centre, but by the
time a doctor and ambulance arrived he could not be resuscitated. He had severe lacerations to his
body. In a statement last night, the retreat centre said Mr X had been a regular visitor to
Allihies to get away from his busy life in London. He regularly attended residential courses there and
was a frequent holidaymaker in the area.
“X usually stayed in a dormitory in the Dzogchen Beara hostel except when the hostel was busy.
On these occasions, because he was very conscious of his restless sleep, he would continue to use the
hostel facilities during the day but at night he chose to sleep by himself in a cabin on the periphery of
the Dzogchen Beara land. “On the evening of Thursday, June 25th, X booked into the hostel, left
his belongings and provisions there, and again chose to sleep in the cabin. In the early hours of
Wednesday, July 1st, X seems to have fallen from the window of the cabin, sustaining serious
injuries.
“Since hearing of X’s death, prominent Buddhist masters and lamas worldwide have been offering
prayers, as have the local community and all those presently attending the meditation course at
Dzogchen Beara. Everyone at Dzogchen Beara is deeply shocked and would like to express their
sincerest condolences to his family and friends.”
© 1998 The Irish Times
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I can back Conor up on this one. There was nothing sensational about it at all. It was very sad. I heard he had been suffering nightmares and it was thought he crashed through the window.
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The Irish Times article of 3rd July 1998 paints a rather different non-sensational picture of the event, one of simple tragic accident.
I was there, staying in the hostel at Dzogchen Beara and met and chatted with the man that evening before he left for where he was staying. He was sober and in a happy frame of mind. It would appear that in the middle of the night and in the dark, perhaps while getting up to go to the toilet, he fell against the window which broke. How sad it would be to be remembered, in the way the above colourful article suggests.
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