Beyond the Temple - What now Rigpa?

Beyond the Temple, previously the What Now? blog, discusses in this post how they are seeking to move forward with their spiritual lives after suffering the abuses within the Rigpa organization. There are some very thoughtful commentary and reflections found within, many of which are directly relevant to Shambhala practitioners, as we seek to find our own ground to move forward on.

Here is one powerful section, perhaps not directly relevant to Shambhala, but certainly on a parallel track:

"That Rigpa still talk to their members like a PR firm doing damage control – directing their members perception away from the truth of ‘the situation’ to a distorted version that makes them think their problem is an attack by ‘disgruntled students’, not the abuse and it’s enabling – is highly manipulative, and it isn’t care. It’s ‘we must keep our membership at all costs, so let’s direct their attention away from the nasty truth that our lama beat people, sexually harassed and used them, and kept them trapped in an abusive relationship through trauma bonding. Let’s pretend everything is right now and get back to earning money, even though we still hold the same abuse-enabling beliefs as we did before.’"

It sounds like perhaps Shambhala has moved closer to acknowledging the harm caused than that, but as Carol's prior comments point out, the apology issued recently by the Sakyong is missing many elements that an apology should have, including a sense of fully taking responsibility for his actions.

There is also a helpful section, entitled 'Abuse in Buddhism References,' which includes a range of resources on healing from spiritual abuse that many may find helpful to read, listen and reflect on.

The post can be read in full here.