open buddhism

When the Saints Go Marching In: Modern Day Zen Hagiography

Stuart Lachs — Tue, 15 Feb 2022 19:31:41 +0000

1 hours Almost all the problems of philosophy once again pose the same form of question as they did two thousand years ago: how can something originate in its opposite, for example rationality in irrationality, the sentient in the dead, logic in unlogic, disinterested contemplation in covetous desire, living for others in egoism, truth in error? Friedrich Nietzsche, Human, All Too Human This paper...

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Two Views Of The Dalai Lama: High-level Bodhisattva And Transactional Political Figure

Stuart Lachs — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 10:52:30 +0000

7 minutes It is with some hesitancy that I write this essay in reference to the paper ‘Not the Tibetan Way’: The Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik Concerning Abusive Teachers that Rob Hogendoorn and I jointly wrote. My general rule is not to take part in social media and blogs, hoping to let my articles speak for themselves. If someone writes to me privately, I am glad to engage them to exchange ideas and...

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‘What do we really want?’

Rob Hogendoorn — Sun, 19 Dec 2021 11:37:57 +0000

Less than a minute ‘Unfortunately, there’s a whole cultural phenomenon now, which is going very fast, in which there’s a glamour about the Buddhist and the West and Western Buddhism and a Hollywood fascination with His Holiness [the Dalai Lama]. And it’s very easy to get very, very superficial and many superficial things. So, we just have to keep to our standards, and we can continue to work...

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Hullabaloo over the ‘Karmapa’

Rob Hogendoorn — Thu, 16 Dec 2021 18:16:27 +0000

1 minute Speculation runs rife that the 16th Karmapa (b. 1924 d. 1981) abused an American woman, Kathy (comments 739 through 783). Apparently, the commenters are unaware of the ‘Erratum Notice’ that came with the referenced source, ‘Divine Disenchantment: Deconverting from New Religions’ (1989) by Janet Liebman Jacobs. In it, Indiana University Press and the author make clear that the name...

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Tortured, untethered apologetics

Rob Hogendoorn — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 08:39:31 +0000

1 minute So, let me get this straight: According to Tenpel (aka Tenzin Peljor or Michael Jäckel), the survivors that met the fourteenth Dalai Lama in Rotterdam in 2018, did so in in “bad faith.” (comment 178, November 29, 2021 at 1:26 pm). With this, Tenpel not merely insults the four survivors who met the Dalai Lama as well as the twelve authors of testimonies, but also some 1.

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A Profession of Faith (and the Designation of a Taboo)

Stuart Lachs & Rob Hogendoorn — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 16:50:10 +0000

14 minutes Recently, one of our readers took us to task for framing the fourteenth Dalai Lama’s transactional dealings with abusive or even murderous leaders as if his conduct were that of a perfectly ordinary, normally functioning priest. The substance of Joanne Clark’s critique rests on three presuppositions: the Dalai Lama’s true intentions are both spiritual and incontrovertible...

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There is no factual basis for Tibetan exceptionalism

Rob Hogendoorn — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 10:17:05 +0000

There is no factual basis for Tibetan exceptionalism: Tibetans are a people like any other, Tibetan Buddhism is a religion like any other. Tibetan Buddhist Lamas sexually abuse, physically assault, and squeeze dry their flock of devotees like any other religious leader does. And, yes, Tibetan Buddhist devotees enable such abuses like any other religious community does.

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Mick Brown, Mary Finnigan, and Rob Hogendoorn discuss the rise and fall of Sogyal Rinpoche

Rob Hogendoorn — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 14:44:19 +0000

To mark the launch of the revised and updated second edition of Sex and Violence in Tibetan Buddhism: The Rise and Fall of Sogyal Rinpoche (Jorvik Press, 2021), British writer Mick Brown (Daily Telegraph, Telegraph Magazine) recently interviewed its authors, Mary Finnigan and Rob Hogendoorn. A video of that conversation is now available online. Among other things, their hour-long meeting on Zoom...

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Tibet, Land on the Brink of Oblivion

Rob Hogendoorn — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 08:00:15 +0000

3 minutes In 2014, shortly before the state visit to the Netherlands by the Chinese president Xi Jinping and a subsequent visit by the fourteenth Dalai Lama, I published a preview in Dutch on my personal website. This is a slightly edited English version of that text. Chinese President Xi Jinping will soon pay a state visit to the Netherlands. A month and a half later, the Dalai Lama follows suit.

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‘Not The Tibetan Way’: The Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik Concerning Abusive Teachers

Stuart Lachs & Rob Hogendoorn — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 13:08:06 +0000

1 hours Is the Dalai Lama personally accountable for his enabling behavior towards the abusive Tibetan Buddhist lamas and violent spiritual teachers he is being warned about? Does he take ownership of ignoring the plight of victims and survivors who follow his advice and “out” abusive teachers at great personal risk? How does the Dalai Lama judge the Tibetan lamas and other spiritual leaders he...

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