This is a compilation of resources and links pertaining to the crisis affecting Shambhala and, more generally, the legacy of Chogyam Trungpa and his students. If you are looking for the original Shambhala Apology website, please click here.
 
Table of Contents

 

Sakyong Mipham and Buddhist Project Sunshine

The most recent crisis in Shambhala began in 2017 when an investigation into allegations of sexual assault and misconduct in Shambhala began. This investigation came to be known as Buddhist Project Sunshine or BPS.

It built a support group on social media, and obtained messages of support from the Shambhala leadership, including Chogyam Trungpa's widow, Diana Mukpo. High-level support would be withdrawn once the scope of the project, and its potential for long-term damage to Trungpa's legacy, became known.

The BPS investigation spanned 18 months and was released in three phases. It was concluded in August, 2018.

BPS resulted in a seismic shift in the Shambhala community, a massive exodus of membership, the flight of the supreme leader (Sakyong Mipham) to Nepal where he took refuge with his father-in-law's family, and a schism of the community into deeply hostile warring factions. The civil war in Shambhala has still not been resolved.

General:

Think Progress's reporting on Shambhala

Links:
February, 2017:

Start of Buddhist Project Sunshine

In February, 2017, second-generation Shambhalian Andrea Winn, collaborating with attorney Carol Merchasin, launched Buddhist Project Sunshine (BPS), investigating sexual misconduct within the Shambhala community. The final BPS report was released in August, 2018.

Links:
July, 2018:

Boulder’s Naropa University removes Shambhala International leader from its board

Sakyong Mipham is removed from the board of Naropa University as it tries to distance itself from Mipham's scandal, but Shambhala faithful remain in key leadership roles, including the presidency.

Links:
July, 2018 to February, 2019:

The Wickwire Holm and An Olive Branch investigations into Shambhala sexual misconduct

In July 2018, the Kalapa Council (Shambhala's governing body) announced that it had engaged the Halifax law firm Wickwire Holm to conduct a nominally independent third-party investigation of claims of sexual misconduct within the Shambhala community. The announcement appeared in this letter of July 6, which also announced that all members of the Council would be resigning once a new Interim Board could be found.

This letter of July 20, 2018 described how the investigation would be conducted.

At the same time, the Kalapa Council engaged An Olive Branch to set up a "listening post" where members could go to speak confidentially about their experience of abuse in Shambhala.

The Wickwire Holm report was released in February 2019, and attorney Carol Merchasin, who had been heavily involved in the original Buddhist Project Sunshine, wrote a letter in which she expressed regret that the Shambhala leadership had not been more transparent, and disappointment that Sakyong Mipham's "apology" was insincere, and that the Shambhala leadership had not learned important lessons from the crisis.

An Olive Branch's recommendations were released to the wider community in April, after the Interim Board had had a chance to review them. AOB offered several recommendations to help ameliorate Shambhala's systemic culture of sexual abuse, racism, and bullying. These recommendations were, in the view of many who had experienced harm in Shambhala, ignored or implemented only in a pro forma manner.

Links:
September, 2018:

Pema Chodron's letter of apology

In the final Buddhist Project Sunshine report (August, 2018), it was reported that when a rape survivor approached Pema Chodron for guidance, Pema mocked her and minimized her experience.

I was raped at the age of 21 by a Shambhala Center director. This led to a pregnancy and then a miscarriage. About a year later I approached Pema Chödrön to disclose what had happened. As a respected practitioner and also as a woman, it was my expectation that I would find an ally.

Instead, Ani Pema told me bluntly, "I don't believe you." I was shattered. After further discussion with her, Ani Pema then said, “Well, I wasn't there, but if it's true I suspect that you were into it."

To be not believed, and then to have it suggested to me that I was being untruthful about something so difficult, was retraumatizing to say the least. To this date, and despite having had opportunities, Pema Chödrön has never apologized to me for these comments.

Pema eventually did apologize, and this letter was to inform the community of her contrition. She also gave a history of Shambhala's systemic culture of sexual promiscuity and abuse, revealing that as a woman, there was nothing she could have done about it, even if she wanted to.

After Trungpa Rinpoche’s death in 1987 and despite a huge community upheaval around the Vajra Regent’s sexual conduct a few years later, it seemed to me that this free love culture continued pretty much as before. Then slowly bit by bit some women got up the courage to complain about inappropriate (even creepy) advances from teachers at programs, or their meditation instructors, or others in positions of power. The problem however was that there really wasn’t anyone official to complain to. Women would come to me or to Judith Simmer-Brown or Judy Lief or other sympathetic women, and we would try to help but found there was almost nothing we could do to address the behavior. There was not what you would call a cover-up but rather the whole situation where complaints were most often met in Shambhala with the attitude of “what’s the big deal?“ or “oh that’s just what he’s like.” In other words, this sexual behavior was considered no problem. The culture of looseness was systemic. Sometimes there was sympathy but that was about it. The upshot was, as we are now finding, that this culture gave permission to various individuals to do some very harmful things to women of all ages. People, mostly women, were getting hurt. In response to this in 2002, the Care and Conduct Policy was created, and an International Panel convened, to deal with a situation that was finally being recognized as harmful to everyone involved, both accuser and accused. This was certainly a step forward. Yet currently some women are saying that when they reported sexual misconduct or abuse to the Panel, their stories were heard with real sympathy and concern but in their cases, there was no meaningful follow through, and limited consequences. The culture of looseness, although less pervasive, continued until the present when there is now an upsurge of pent-up reports of abuse in the organization that are pouring out. I feel we are indeed experiencing the ripening of some very old karma.

Links:
January, 2019:

Anonymous redditor shares troubling experience in Shambhala Buddhism

Reddit user allthewholeworld, who claims to have been a close associate of Sakyong Mipham, initiates a robust public discussion about the Shambhala crisis.

Links:
February, 2019:

The Kusung Letter

Six former Kusung (bodyguards and attendants to Sakyong Mipham) publish a letter with new allegations against him.

See also this article in Tricycle Magazine: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/shambhala-kusung-letter

Links:
May, 2019:

The survivor who broke the Shambhala sexual assault story

An interview with Andrea Winn, who launched Buddhist Project Sunshine.

Links:
June, 2019:

Former Shambhala teacher Caroline Contillo - Compassion without accountability is enabling

Statement from a Shambhala teacher about the crisis.

My question to any of the men, and the women who also run these organizations, ALL of them, is:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SUPPORT AND CENTER THE VICTIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, HARASSMENT, ABUSE, EXPLOITATION, WHO HAVE BEEN HARMED AS A RESULT OF YOU OR YOUR ORGANIZATION?

To my knowledge each of these organizations and people has closed ranks and is trying to wait out the rippling effects of the "scandals," a word that makes it all salacious when it COULD be, if your spirituality were anything other than a money and power grab, a lesson to other communities in how to process accountability and repair.

Links:
July, 2019:

What is Shambhala? International Tibetan Buddhist community has deep roots in Colorado

Denver Post article on the history of Shambhala.

Links:
July, 2019:

Shambhala, the Boulder-born Buddhist organization, suppressed allegations of abuse, ex-members say

Denver Post article on the Shambhala crisis.

Links:
July, 2019:

Abuse allegations at Drala Mountain Center

A former Shambhala community member talks about the response of officials at Shambhala Mountain Center (now Drala Mountain Center) when she brought her abuse at the hands of another Shambhalian to their attention. They advised her to keep quiet about it, that "abuse was 'good material' to work with".

Links:
July, 2019:

Opinion: Darryl Collette: Enough of the lies about Naropa and Shambhala

Op-ed about Naropa University by Darryl Collette.

Links:
July, 2019:

Shambhala Mountain Center apologizes for not properly addressing abuse, sexual misconduct

The damage-control statement from Michael Gayner and the SMC Governing Council came as a response to investigative articles by the Denver Post and Boulder Camera.

The letter has been removed from the SMC website, but this is the text:

10 July 2019

Dear Friends,

An article in the Denver Post and Boulder Daily Camera published on Sunday, July 7th provided examples of misconduct and mishandling of reports of abuse at Shambhala Mountain Center between the late 1990s and 2008. The article is linked here:

https://www.denverpost.com/2019/07/07/shambhala-sexual-abuse/

SMC’s Governing Council and I want to acknowledge and apologize for the reported incidents and the pain caused by the failure to address them appropriately. In one, a former SMC staff member recalled being treated as the problem when she alerted SMC leaders in the late 1990s to what she and others believed to be a sexual relationship between a middle-aged staff member and an underage girl. In the other, a former staff member reported that in 2008 SMC leadership failed to intervene and instead blamed her when she sought help freeing herself from an abusive relationship with another SMC community member.

That these incidents occurred in past decades does not absolve current SMC leadership of our moral responsibility. We commit to learning from our past shortcomings and improving our ability to create a safe place for all of our guests and staff.

Following last June’s revelations of sexual and other abuse in Shambhala, our staff and leadership made the following commitments:

Today we are emphasizing our commitments not to minimize or rationalize any harmful behavior that occurred at SMC at any time and to creating a culture that does not tolerate such behavior. We also pledge to have policies and procedures in place to ensure that reports of harm are appropriately addressed, and that those who have experienced or reported harm are not blamed, diminished, or left unheard.

These commitments have led us to develop a revised Code of Ethics and grievance procedure applicable to all of our staff, teachers, and guests as well as to provide regular training for all of our staff to ensure that each of us is committed and has the capacity to recognize and respond properly to allegations of harm. These efforts include ongoing training sessions led by the Sexual Assault Victim Advocacy (“SAVA”) Center in Fort Collins.

We are also supporting the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office investigation into alleged incidents in SMC’s past. With the full support of the Governing Council, I initiated contact with investigators and have met with them to answer any questions they had. I’ve again been in contact with an investigator to make sure they are aware of the reported incident in the 1990s that came forward in the recent Denver Post article. I encourage anyone with information about illegal activity at SMC to contact the Sheriff’s Office at (970) 498-5100.

Much has happened over the past year as SMC and Shambhala communities worldwide have grappled with the impact and implications of abuse. SMC is committed to acknowledging and taking responsibility for past mistakes, responding to any allegations of harm in a timely and effective manner, and creating a safe and wholesome environment that promotes respect and care for all.

Sincerely,

Michael Gayner, Executive Director Connie Rogers, Chair of Governing Council Amelie Bracher Alex Halpern Daniel Hessey Ming Linsley Clifford Neuman David Schreier Karen Wilding

Links:
July, 2019:

Denver Post article on Buddhist Project Sunshine

Shambhala whistleblowers and abuse survivors share their experience and call on Sakyong Mipham to step down.

Links:
September, 2019:

Opinion: Justin Rezzonico: Shambhala needs serious help

Justin Rezzonico op-ed about Shambhala.

Links:
December, 2019:

Chapman News releases report on questions of Chapman University students' safety at SMC.

Student group to Shambhala Mountain Center experience sexual harassment and minimizing.

The Patheos article by Justin Whitaker provides commentary on the report, which won an Edward R. Murrow student Excellence in Video Reporting award in 2020.

Lion's Roar reported on the matter on January 10, 2020 in the online version of their magazine, but neglected to say anything about the sexual nature of the harassment the students experienced. The article was later deleted.

Summary from Reddit:

The Chapman report consists of a ten-minute video that investigates what took place during a retreat that a group of Chapman students went on at DMC (then Shambhala Mountain Center) in the summer of 2019. It includes interviews with Chapman students who made the trip, the Chapman professor who organized it, and statements from Shambhala and Chapman officials. It's a tight, powerful piece of journalistic investigation. It won an Edward R. Murrow student Excellence in Video Reporting award in 2020.

The students who went on the retreat at DMC had been told nothing of the controversy swirling around Shambhala at the time. They only found out a few days into the retreat, when some students started googling about this beautiful mountain retreat they were on. They were understandably shocked. When they brought their concerns to the attention of the teachers leading the retreat, the significance of the crisis was minimized, one teacher going so far as to deny some of the allegations. Some of the students started feeling unsafe, not just because of the allegations they were reading about online, but because the attitude of their Shambhala teachers reeked of cover-up.

Meanwhile, one of the teachers was engaging in "playful" (but highly sexualized) innuendo with the female Chapman students, which made them very uncomfortable. One in particular was terrified when she was forced to dance with him at a "talent show" while he sang a song that referenced her racial heritage.

The Chapman students went to the DMC leadership to strongly protest this behavior. Michael Gayner, DMC's director, apologized to the students and the offending teacher was fired.

(In my opinion his behavior was not in the least exceptional amongst seasoned Shambhalians, but I digress.)

The matter was swept under the rug until the Chapman news item came to light in December 2019. Michael Gayner was forced to make the following statement, which acknowledged the students' concerns and apologized that they were made to feel uncomfortable and apologized for the "demeaning and racist encounter." It was published by Lion's Roar magazine.

Links:
January, 2020:

Strange, Negative Experiences at SMC--Request for Stories

Community discussion about what it was like to grow up in Shambhala and experience Shambhala/Drala Mountain Center and other Shambhala Land Centers.

Links:
January, 2020:

Pema Chodron resigns as Shambhala Acharya

Pema Chodron resigns as a Shambhala Acharya due to lack of action. It is important to note that she remains an active teacher in Shambhala.

Links:
March, 2020:

Former Boulder Shambhala member to be sentenced to prison following guilty plea

Shambhalian Mike Smith pleads guilty to sexually assaulting a child. From the article: "Smith’s then-girlfriend also told police she heard Smith talking to several other men at a retreat where they discussed how 'unfair' it was that laws prevented them from having sex with people younger than 18." In June, Smith is sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Links:
May, 2020:

Sale of Marpa House

Over the objections of community members who regarded the property as a historical treasure, and despite a community-wide effort to rescue the building, Shambhala sold a community living space (Marpa House) and evicted 40 residents. The sale came as a result of the Sakyong Potrang demanding immediate repayment of a large loan it made to Shambhala. The Shambhala community felt outrage and deep loss at this betrayal.

Links:
May, 2020:

The Pilgrim Letter

A letter to Sakyong Mipham's students from Walker Blaine, assuring them that he will return to teaching if he is supplicated to do so.

Links:
June, 2020:

"Leaving Shambhala" (archived)

A personal account of sexual assault and lack of support in Shambhala. Overview of Shambhala's long history of cover-up. Discussion of senior Shambhala teacher Lodro Rinzler.

Links:
June, 2020:

Opinion: Naropa needs to face the skeleton in the closet

Justin Rezzonico op-ed about Naropa.

Links:
June, 2020:

Former Boulder Shambhala member sentenced to 20 years in prison on child sex assault case

From the article: "'I heard character witnesses [for the perpetrator] say they knew and didn’t do anything,' she [the victim] said. 'I was a child, and the adults around me failed.'"

Links:
June, 2020:

Open Letter from 72 Dharma Brats to Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche

Second-generation Shambhalians write an open letter to their disgraced leader.

Links:
July, 2020:

More than “Little Dakinis”: Growing Up Shambhala

Two women authors discuss their novel, The Lightness, based on troubling experiences growing up in Shambhala.

Links:
July, 2020:

Statement of Resignation by Acharyas

Senior Shambhala teachers resign in protest over Sakyong Mipham's conduct. Reddit discussion reveals how this is a smokescreen designed to obscure Shambhala's wider structural issues.

Links:
July 16:

Letter to the Shambhala community from Diana Mukpo

Trungpa's widow calls for unity, while acknowledging that a schism is developing. She wants to remind the community that she holds the copyrights to Trungpa's works.

Reddit discussion contains community commentary on the schism.

Links:
August, 2020:

Nancy Steinbeck quotes from her book describing Tom Rich's abusive behavior.

That fall, a bombshell hit the Boulder Buddhist community when we discovered Rinpoche's spiritual successor, Tom Rich, had been diagnosed with AIDS. Although he had known of his condition for several years, he continued to have unprotected sex with scores of students as well as male prostitutes. He himself had been a Times Square prostitute as a teenager and had a penchant for seducing straight men like Kier Craig, the young son of a community member. Kier ended up infecting his girlfriend and died soon after. The group was instantly divided between moral outrage and staunch denial of any wrongdoing. While the adults fought amongst themselves, the children who had grown up with Kier could only ask "Why?"

The phone lines were burning up between Boulder and our house in La Jolla. We received daily reports about the political machinations as the organization sought to keep the matter secret, lest they lose favor with the general population of Boulder, as well as the world at large. When Rich came to La Jolla to do a retreat at a mansion by the seashore, we learned that he had been trying to seduce Megan's boyfriend, another straight young man whom we had known since his childhood. This hit too close to home for John, who was fiercely protective of Megan and Michael. We had heard a chilling story years ago, from a victim of Rich's debauchery. This straight, married male was pinned facedown across Rich's desk by the guards while Rich forcibly raped him. The incident had severely traumatized him. John feared Megan's boyfriend might suffer the same fate.

Infuriated by Rich's criminal behavior and the fact that once again, as with Rinpoche's drinking himself to death, no one was doing a thing to stop the madness, John decided to take matters into his own hands. Unbeknownst to anyone, even our closest friends, he picked up the phone and called the Boulder newspaper to break the story. Ironically, the reporter he spoke with immediately confessed that she had some very good friends in the community and she feared their wrath if her byline were on the story. John gave her a terse lesson on the responsibilities of a journalist and suggested that she find another occupation if she could not stomach dealing with the truth. Intimidated by his name, his reputation, and his razor-sharp insistence, she dutifully reported the facts as he fed them to her. Rich was out of control and needed to be stopped. If he couldn't stop himself, at least people would know not to have sex with him.

When the papers hit the street, and the story was picked up in syndication, the roof blew off the community. Twenty-year friendships were irrevocably shattered. Those who were outraged that Rich's attendants had stood by in silence for years while he had sex with hundreds of people were confronted by community members who vehemently objected to the accusation that Rich was acting irresponsibly. Some even had the audacity to claim that if Kier had better karma, he wouldn't have been infected. These people were victims of their own magical thinking, as was Rich, who claimed Rinpoche had told him as long as he practiced meditation, his partners would be protected. "This isn't a matter of human foibles and a need for compassion for a sick man," John raged. "This is a matter for the police."

Just as when Rinpoche drank himself to death, when John and I ran out of the adrenaline necessary to metabolize the shock and anger, we were left with a terrible feeling of emptiness and heartbreak. How many friends would we have to lose? How much vilification could we take simply because we believed that a spiritual teacher has a responsibility to uphold moral and ethical principles? Yet, because of our own inner work and the distance we had put between us and the Boulder community, we were stronger this time. At the grocery store, tabloids were screaming the story of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, which lent a humorous parallel to our Buddhist soap opera. We had a life; we had friends outside the vicious, closed circle of intrigue and deception. We had severed our affiliation to the cult of Vajradhatu and we never looked back."


 
from

The Other Side of Eden by John Steinbeck IV and Nancy Steinbeck, 2001.

Links:
September, 2020:

Change in Potrang-Shambhala relationship

An announcement of a temporary change in the relationship between the Sakyong Potrang (the corporate body established to protect Mipham's assets) and Shambhala.

The Sakyong Potrang is formally waiving its right to appoint and remove the board members of Shambhala Canada and Shambhala USA for a period of one year starting when the Interim Board is seated. During this year, the Interim Board will have full legal authority over the affairs of Shambhala USA, Shambhala Canada, and indirectly over Shambhala Europe, with one major exception. They will not be able to change the legal structure or the bylaws of the organizations, or dissolve the organizations. These actions will still require the approval of the Sakyong Potrang.

No change, however, is being made to the articles of incorporation and by-laws; the existing versions of these documents, which state Shambhala's purpose as the support and propagation of the Lineage of Sakyongs, remain in effect.

Links:
September, 2020:

Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories

Interviews with Shambhala abuse survivors, discussing the history of generational abuse in Shambhala.

This Reddit discussion has community reaction to the article.

Links:
March 26, 2021:

CBC Tapestry interview

A longtime Shambhala student and teacher talks about the history of Shambhala, her relationship with its leadership, and her reaction to BPS.

Links:
March, 2021:

Uncoverage podcast debuts

"Growing up in this community, I witnessed the birth of a secret society of dharma practitioners who, with Trungpa Rinpoche’s help, created a deadly environment of sexual predation, classism, and blind assent. I learned the teachings of the dharma and the actions of dharma students were two very different things."

Highlights:

Links:
May, 2021:

Shambhala Rhetoric & What it Means (& How it's Weaponized)

Former Shambhalians deconstructing Shambhala rhetoric.

Links:
July, 2021:

Diana Mukpo and Pema Chodron lead "Mahasangha Gathering" at Shambhala Mountain Center

More than a year after resigning from her Acharya post, Pema shows herself very much to still be a senior teacher in Shambhala by headlining this program to celebrate Shambhala Mountain Center's 50th anniversary.

Other teachers include Shanté Paradigm Smalls, Agness Au, Gaylon Ferguson, and Loden Nyima.

Links:
August, 2021:

First Hand Experience of Shambhala's Toxic Culture and Abuse

Toxic culture behind the scenes at Karme Choling, a Shambhala retreat center

Links:
April, 2022:

Former Acharya Holly Gayley talks about her experience of sexual violence by Mipham Mukpo

Former senior Shambhala teacher reveals being groped, among other things by the sakyong during discussion on Leadership, Power, and Empowerment.

The original recording has been deleted, but the Reddit discussion refers to the main points. See especially this comment.

Links:
March, 2023:

Shambhala community discussion about anonymous reviews of working conditions at Drala Mountain Center, previously called Shambhala Mountain Center.

Links:
May, 2023:

Medicine or Poison? When Buddhist Compassion Goes Too Far

A former student of Sakyong Mipham discusses the pitfalls of Tibetan Buddhist practices.

Links:
June, 2023:

Gampo Abbey voyeurism case

The senior bikkhu (monk) at Gampo Abbey, Gelong Lodro Gyendon (Jack Hillie III), is charged with criminal voyeurism after a hidden camera is found in the monastery bathroom. In December, he receives a sentence of 60 days in jail. Gampo Abbey is Shambhala's monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada, and is under the auspices of Pema Chodron.

Links:
September, 2023:

Karme-Choling rape lawsuit moves forward

Karme Choling Shambhala Meditation Center, which is owned by Shambhala USA, is sued for the sexual abuse of a 15 year old in 1983.

Links:
General:

More compilations of links detailing the crisis in Shambhala

Links:

Chogyam Trungpa

Chogyam Trungpa was the founder of the cult of Shambhala and the father of Sakyong Mipham. He is one of the most controversial figures of Tibetan Buddhism.

General biographical information for Chogyam Trungpa

Links:

One of Trungpa's early attendants tells of when Trungpa tortured someone's pet dog.

By necessity Max left his dog, Myson, with us. One night after supper Rinpoche said, "Get Myson and bring him in here." I dragged the shaking dog into the kitchen and following Rinpoche's instructions I sat him on the floor and covered his eyes with a blindfold. I set up stands with lighted candles by either side of his head. Myson couldn't move his head without being burned. Rinpoche took a potato and hit Myson on the head with it. When the dog moved, the fur on his ear would catch on fire. I put out the flames. Now and then Rinpoche would scrape his chair across the tiled floor and whack him again on the head with a potato.

"Sir," I began hesitantly, trying to stop him.

"Shut up," snapped Rinpoche, "and hand me another potato."

I started to empathize with the dog. In fact, I became the dog. I was blindfolded and was banged on the head with a spud and if I turned my head and ears would burn and there was the squealing sound of the chair on the floor. Pissing in my pants I was that dog not being able to move, feeling terrified and at the same time excited. Finally, the scraping chair and the potato throwing stopped and we released the shaking dog, who ran upstairs to Max's empty room.

"that's how you train students,", Rinpoche calmly stated to me.


 
from

The Mahasiddha and his Idiot Servant by John Riley Perks, 2004. p.60

Links:

Trungpa at Oxford

Investigations into the claims that Chogyam Trungpa studied at Oxford University, and if so, what his status was.

Links:

Discussion of whether Trungpa wrote any of his own books

Links:
1969:

Chogyam Trungpa's drunken destruction of Akong Tulku's sacred property

Excerpt from Diana Mukpo's memoir about Trungpa's violent, transgressive behavior when faced with a reprimand from a fellow lama, Akong Tulku.

Things between [Trungpa] Rinpoche and Akong reached a point where they were barely speaking to one another.... Just before the donors arrived, while Akong was downstairs waiting to greet them, Rinpoche went into Akong's bedroom upstairs and completely destroyed Akong's personal shrine with his walking stick. Then he went and urinated all over the top of the stairwell, after which he lay down and passed out at the top of the stairs. He had had a lot to drink that afternoon, perhaps to work himself up to doing this. The whole event was extremely shocking, to me and everyone else there. But at the same time, because we had been treated terribly by Akong, I felt okay about it.


 
from

Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chogyam Trungpa by Diana J. Mukpo and Carolyn Rose Gimian. Shambhala Publications, 2006. p.88

Links:
1970 (approx):

Chogyam Trungpa beats his teenaged wife

Excerpt from Diana Mukpo's memoir demonstrating Trungpa's tolerance of domestic violence as a cultural norm.

When we were first married, Rinpoche told me that it was normal for Tibetan men to beat their wives. I told him this was barbaric, but he said that it was just common practice.


 
from

Dragon Thunder: My Life with Chogyam Trungpa by Diana J. Mukpo and Carolyn Rose Gimian. Shambhala Publications, 2006. p.86

Links:
October, 1975:

The 1975 Snowmass Incident, a.k.a. The Party

Trungpa orders his students to violently assault poets W.S. Merwin and Dana Naone at his annual tantric retreat.

See also this transcript of the Lost Highways podcast, which includes an interview with participants at the event.

See also Peter Marin's article, Spiritual Obedience: The transcendental game of follow the leader that appeared in Harper's Magazine in February, 1979.

Links:
February, 2019:

Spiritual Obedience: The transcendental game of follow the leader (Harper's Magazine)

Peter Marin's seminal article on Chogyam Trungpa's cult, with special reference to the violent incident at the 1979 Snowmass Seminary.

Links:
1982:

Excerpt from Court Vision and Practice

In this secret document that outlines Chogyam Trungpa's philosophy of jurisprudence, he shows himself in support of public floggings and the amputation of thumbs for the crime of disloyalty towards the Sakyong (the "king" of Shambhala, i.e. him).

Links:
September, 1983:

Chogyam Trungpa's doctrine of Rape Principle

Trungpa discusses the Rape Principle at the 1983 "Being Vajrayogini" Advanced Training Session.

Q: Sir, coult you please speak some more about the rape principle? Specifically, it reminds me of the story of Tilopa demanding the teachings from the dakinis. Who is it that we are raping?

V: The phenomenal world altogether; anything that is rapable. (Laughter.)

Links:
August, 2018 (originally published in 1990):

Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America

Katy Butler's ground-breaking article centering on Chogyam Trungpa's appointed successor Tom Rich (the "Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin") spreading AIDS to students, as well as Trungpa's behavior.

Links:

Pema Chodron

Pema Chodron, a.k.a. Deirdre Blomfield-Brown, is an American who abandoned her family to follow her spiritual path, eventually taking Buddhist ordination and becoming one of the few monastic students of Chogyam Trungpa. She took control of Gampo Abbey, Shambhala's monastic center in Nova Scotia, and developed a vast following through her books and appearances on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She has served as an important fund-raiser and apologist for Shambhala, especially since Buddhist Project Sunshine began to threaten the viability of the organization.

July, 2018:

Pema Chödrön on Trungpa in 2011: “I Can’t Answer the Relative Questions”

An analysis of Pema Chodron's amoral stance on Trungpa's behavior.

Links:
September, 2018:

Pema Chodron's letter of apology

In the final Buddhist Project Sunshine report (August, 2018), it was reported that when a rape survivor approached Pema Chodron for guidance, Pema mocked her and minimized her experience.

I was raped at the age of 21 by a Shambhala Center director. This led to a pregnancy and then a miscarriage. About a year later I approached Pema Chödrön to disclose what had happened. As a respected practitioner and also as a woman, it was my expectation that I would find an ally.

Instead, Ani Pema told me bluntly, "I don't believe you." I was shattered. After further discussion with her, Ani Pema then said, “Well, I wasn't there, but if it's true I suspect that you were into it."

To be not believed, and then to have it suggested to me that I was being untruthful about something so difficult, was retraumatizing to say the least. To this date, and despite having had opportunities, Pema Chödrön has never apologized to me for these comments.

Pema eventually did apologize, and this letter was to inform the community of her contrition. She also gave a history of Shambhala's systemic culture of sexual promiscuity and abuse, revealing that as a woman, there was nothing she could have done about it, even if she wanted to.

After Trungpa Rinpoche’s death in 1987 and despite a huge community upheaval around the Vajra Regent’s sexual conduct a few years later, it seemed to me that this free love culture continued pretty much as before. Then slowly bit by bit some women got up the courage to complain about inappropriate (even creepy) advances from teachers at programs, or their meditation instructors, or others in positions of power. The problem however was that there really wasn’t anyone official to complain to. Women would come to me or to Judith Simmer-Brown or Judy Lief or other sympathetic women, and we would try to help but found there was almost nothing we could do to address the behavior. There was not what you would call a cover-up but rather the whole situation where complaints were most often met in Shambhala with the attitude of “what’s the big deal?“ or “oh that’s just what he’s like.” In other words, this sexual behavior was considered no problem. The culture of looseness was systemic. Sometimes there was sympathy but that was about it. The upshot was, as we are now finding, that this culture gave permission to various individuals to do some very harmful things to women of all ages. People, mostly women, were getting hurt. In response to this in 2002, the Care and Conduct Policy was created, and an International Panel convened, to deal with a situation that was finally being recognized as harmful to everyone involved, both accuser and accused. This was certainly a step forward. Yet currently some women are saying that when they reported sexual misconduct or abuse to the Panel, their stories were heard with real sympathy and concern but in their cases, there was no meaningful follow through, and limited consequences. The culture of looseness, although less pervasive, continued until the present when there is now an upsurge of pent-up reports of abuse in the organization that are pouring out. I feel we are indeed experiencing the ripening of some very old karma.

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January, 2020:

Pema Chodron resigns as Shambhala Acharya

Pema Chodron resigns as a Shambhala Acharya due to lack of action. It is important to note that she remains an active teacher in Shambhala.

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July, 2021:

Diana Mukpo and Pema Chodron lead "Mahasangha Gathering" at Shambhala Mountain Center

More than a year after resigning from her Acharya post, Pema shows herself very much to still be a senior teacher in Shambhala by headlining this program to celebrate Shambhala Mountain Center's 50th anniversary.

Other teachers include Shanté Paradigm Smalls, Agness Au, Gaylon Ferguson, and Loden Nyima.

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June, 2023:

Gampo Abbey voyeurism case

The senior bikkhu (monk) at Gampo Abbey, Gelong Lodro Gyendon (Jack Hillie III), is charged with criminal voyeurism after a hidden camera is found in the monastery bathroom. In December, he receives a sentence of 60 days in jail. Gampo Abbey is Shambhala's monastery in Nova Scotia, Canada, and is under the auspices of Pema Chodron.

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Thomas Rich (Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin)

Thomas Rich, also known as Narayana, was a yoga student of Swami Satchidananda Saraswati who left his guru in order to follow Chogyam Trungpa. Trungpa was so impressed with Rich's obeisance that he made him into his spiritual heir, or Vajra Regent, the official who (in the tradition of Tibetan Buddhism) is charged with the task of finding the lama's next incarnation after he dies.

Rich became the supreme leader of Shambhala (then called Vajradhatu) after Trungpa's death in 1987, and he continued teaching according to Trungpa's instructions. This was until news of his HIV-positive status and (more importantly) his continuing to have unprotected sex with community members and numerous prostitutes became known, even though he was in full knowledge of his HIV+ diagnosis. His defense was that he once told Trungpa about it, and Trungpa had assured him that he was magically protected from passing the virus along to anyone. The truth of this claim is unverified.

These revelations gave rise to a massive schism in Trungpa's community, which Shambhala subsequently has done its best to minimize and ignore. Rich died in 1992, whereupon Trungpa's son Sawang Osel Rangdrol Mukpo (later anointed as Sakyong Mipham) was proclaimed supreme leader due to the intervention of interested members of the Tibetan clerical hierarchy.

August, 2018 (originally published in 1990):

Encountering the Shadow in Buddhist America

Katy Butler's ground-breaking article centering on Chogyam Trungpa's appointed successor Tom Rich (the "Vajra Regent Osel Tendzin") spreading AIDS to students, as well as Trungpa's behavior.

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August, 2020:

Nancy Steinbeck quotes from her book describing Tom Rich's abusive behavior.

That fall, a bombshell hit the Boulder Buddhist community when we discovered Rinpoche's spiritual successor, Tom Rich, had been diagnosed with AIDS. Although he had known of his condition for several years, he continued to have unprotected sex with scores of students as well as male prostitutes. He himself had been a Times Square prostitute as a teenager and had a penchant for seducing straight men like Kier Craig, the young son of a community member. Kier ended up infecting his girlfriend and died soon after. The group was instantly divided between moral outrage and staunch denial of any wrongdoing. While the adults fought amongst themselves, the children who had grown up with Kier could only ask "Why?"

The phone lines were burning up between Boulder and our house in La Jolla. We received daily reports about the political machinations as the organization sought to keep the matter secret, lest they lose favor with the general population of Boulder, as well as the world at large. When Rich came to La Jolla to do a retreat at a mansion by the seashore, we learned that he had been trying to seduce Megan's boyfriend, another straight young man whom we had known since his childhood. This hit too close to home for John, who was fiercely protective of Megan and Michael. We had heard a chilling story years ago, from a victim of Rich's debauchery. This straight, married male was pinned facedown across Rich's desk by the guards while Rich forcibly raped him. The incident had severely traumatized him. John feared Megan's boyfriend might suffer the same fate.

Infuriated by Rich's criminal behavior and the fact that once again, as with Rinpoche's drinking himself to death, no one was doing a thing to stop the madness, John decided to take matters into his own hands. Unbeknownst to anyone, even our closest friends, he picked up the phone and called the Boulder newspaper to break the story. Ironically, the reporter he spoke with immediately confessed that she had some very good friends in the community and she feared their wrath if her byline were on the story. John gave her a terse lesson on the responsibilities of a journalist and suggested that she find another occupation if she could not stomach dealing with the truth. Intimidated by his name, his reputation, and his razor-sharp insistence, she dutifully reported the facts as he fed them to her. Rich was out of control and needed to be stopped. If he couldn't stop himself, at least people would know not to have sex with him.

When the papers hit the street, and the story was picked up in syndication, the roof blew off the community. Twenty-year friendships were irrevocably shattered. Those who were outraged that Rich's attendants had stood by in silence for years while he had sex with hundreds of people were confronted by community members who vehemently objected to the accusation that Rich was acting irresponsibly. Some even had the audacity to claim that if Kier had better karma, he wouldn't have been infected. These people were victims of their own magical thinking, as was Rich, who claimed Rinpoche had told him as long as he practiced meditation, his partners would be protected. "This isn't a matter of human foibles and a need for compassion for a sick man," John raged. "This is a matter for the police."

Just as when Rinpoche drank himself to death, when John and I ran out of the adrenaline necessary to metabolize the shock and anger, we were left with a terrible feeling of emptiness and heartbreak. How many friends would we have to lose? How much vilification could we take simply because we believed that a spiritual teacher has a responsibility to uphold moral and ethical principles? Yet, because of our own inner work and the distance we had put between us and the Boulder community, we were stronger this time. At the grocery store, tabloids were screaming the story of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, which lent a humorous parallel to our Buddhist soap opera. We had a life; we had friends outside the vicious, closed circle of intrigue and deception. We had severed our affiliation to the cult of Vajradhatu and we never looked back."


 
from

The Other Side of Eden by John Steinbeck IV and Nancy Steinbeck, 2001.

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