A commentary on the Observer Triratna article ~ Scale of FWBO / Triratna abuse unfolds

Sangharakshita in 1966. Photograph: John Twine/ANL/REX/Shutterstock

Scale of FWBO / Triratna abuse unfolds

On Sunday 21 July 2019,  The Observer newspaper published a Special Report about the Triratna Buddhist Group, titled “Buddhist, teacher, predator: dark secrets of the Triratna guru”:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/21/sangharakshita-guru-triratna-buddhist-dark-secrets

Triratna have posted their response to The Observer article here:

https://thebuddhistcentre.com/adhisthana-kula/further-response-adhisthana-kula-observer-article

Triratna is primarily UK based, but has around eighty urban centres and retreat centres worldwide, including The Dublin Buddhist Centre, and holds activities in over twenty countries.

Triratna – FWBO: “Buddhist, teacher, predator: dark secrets of the Triratna guru” by Jamie Doward Sun 21 Jul 2019

The Observer

Buddhism

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jul/21/sangharakshita-guru-triratna-buddhist-dark-secrets

Sangharakshita in 1966. Photograph: John Twine/ANL/REX/Shutterstock

British-born guru Sangharakshita was mired in allegations of abuse for years. Now it seems the scandal in his wealthy order went far wider than previously acknowledged

Coddington Court, near the Herefordshire market town of Ledbury, is a late-18th-century red brick mansion surrounded by farmland.

These days it goes by the name of Adhisthana, reflecting its reincarnation as the headquarters of one of the most influential Buddhist orders in the world, the Triratna Community, whose founder, Sangharakshita, lived there until his death last year at the age of 93. With its impressive grounds and gardens, it looks like a serene place for someone to spend their final years. But behind the scenes, the picture is a rather more turbulent one.

For decades the order has been dogged by claims of sexual misconduct, claims that often strayed into allegations of coercion and abuse but which were thought to involve only a handful of individuals at worst.

Sexual Healing or Taking Advantage? ~ Freya Watson

Since publishing linking this article by Freya Watson to my post,  a number of people have contacted Dialogue Ireland concerned that the very issues that this article are concerned with, namely unwanted sexual overtures which Freya Watson discusses here I have given her free reign on this site. However, questions are raised by Freya Watson’s support of the whole Lamaist Tibetan Abuse by her involvement  with the Elephant site.

As has very clearly pointed out by critics she is part of the enabling of the whole project and the attempted rehabilitation of Lama Sogyal and the role of the Dalai Lama in covering this up.

However, this article was published in its own right as part of the role Dialogue Ireland is playing in bringing a new group never mentioned on this site before into the public domain.

I have been approached by over 50 people on private messaging, the phone and email about Japa. Some are so afraid they believe these people can use use magic to expose them, others are just petrified to be identified. One person who is now well outside the clutches of this group passed on the article and told me those affected would immediately know who this story is related to. So this is a signal that we are slowly but steadily going to publish stories anonymously.

This means you can gain the benefit of using our commenting service and leave comments anonymously to advance your own recovery from the losses from this group.

It is our experience that these groups revert very quickly to using legal threats to try to stop the truth getting out. Obviously if we have published an untruth in error we immediately correct it, but also offer uncensored freedom of a right of reply. Those that use the power of the law have in my experience a different aim, namely to silence and take down anything we have on them. We have a simple remedy to that tactic which reveals that they are not a genuine spiritual movement but in fact want to close down free speech. What we do is we publish their correspondence for the world to see.

Do read the the comments which shows Freya Watson is herself a victim and and enabler all rolled into one.

There has been a lot of discussion about the abuse of power and how women have had to be the subject of sexual exploitation to advance in life. There has also been the major discussion in Tibetan Buddhism as to how the Dalai Lama could hide the abuse inherent in this deviant form of Buddhism. The sexual exploitation, violence and lavish lifestyle of Sogyal Rinpoche. He is not atypical but the logical expression of this totally misogynistic form of what is in reality unreformed Tantric Hinduism with its couple sex. There is a campaign to try to sent Sogyal to Coventry but save the Feudal project of Lamaism which pretends reform but is highly toxic. Then there are those Christian groups were abuse has taken place. But we have an opportunity to speak and get support for those who have gone on so called retreat to India with Yogic groups or with New Age therapists that mix their private sexual energy with that of a spiritual nature. This article is an important contribution to this discussion and we welcome the use of our commenting section to allow anonymous reflection on this whole area.

Triratna – FWBO: Inside the sect of Sangharakshita by Alan J. W.

 

2017 edition by Alan J. W.

(Warning: includes a brief sexually explicit event)

I originally wrote this article fairly quickly in August 2015, under difficult circumstances. Looking through it recently, I felt it needed some ‘tidying up’ grammatically; plus some amendments, supplementary material and occasional updates.

Most of the additions, and changes to the original text, are to be found in the later more autobiographical section.

The amendments are to clarify dates and other details; the extra inclusions to expand upon historical attitudes and key events: most notably in my exposition on the crisis at the Croydon centre during the late 80’s.  I was, indirectly, privy to the unfolding drama at the time, and thought this an ideal forum for a bit more disclosure.  This important topic now occupies a separate section.

Friends of the Western Buddhist Order (FWBO) / Triratna: Fears mount over scale of Buddhist sect sexual abuse

Followers allege they were coerced into sex in 1970s and 80s with elders of UK’s Triratna order

 

‘Deep regret’: Dennis Lingwood, now frail at 91, is the founder of the Triratna order. Photograph: Vimeo

The legacy issues involving inappropriate sexual activity by the founder of the FWBO / Triratna, Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood)

 

 

Padmaloka community ~ FWBO / Triratna from Dialogue Ireland on Vimeo.

 

https://vimeo.com/195316886?utm_source=email&utm_medium=vimeo-cliptranscode-201504&utm_campaign=28749This video “Padmaloka community ~ FWBO /

 

 

 

Triratna” was produced by BBC (East) and broadcast in the Eastern Region of England on 26 September 2016.  The BBC also produced a news report about this programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-37432719

The BBC said they had spoken to three men who say they were pressured into having a homosexual relationship with Sangharakshita (Dennis Lingwood) under the guise of spiritual friendship. One man said he was under the legal age of consent for homosexual sex at the time.