Bullying & Intimidation: The New Face of Buddhism in the West
What
do you make of a Buddhist group that threatens to sue anyone who
dares to say anything critical about it? Enter, the New Kadampa Tradition
In
July 1996, the UK’s
Guardian newspaper reported that “One former member wrote to
Kelsang with a number of concerns about the NKT. In his reply,
Kelsang rejected all the criticism and threatened legal action
if any of the criticisms were ever published. In June, the NKT wrote
to an Internet user, referring to legal action because he
had disputed the history and origins of Dorje Shugden”
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Kelsang Gyatso, NKT founder, exhibiting typical humility
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| Is this the real face behind the mask? |
Sound
a little odd? Well, it looks like it didn’t start there.
Dr
Edward Reiss
In 1997, Helen Waterhouse’s ‘Buddhism in Bath’ paper mentioned an unpublished document on the NKT by Dr Edward Reiss. According to Waterhouse, Reiss used extensive quotes from internal NKT documents – Full Moon magazine and an internal ‘Notes on Teaching Skills’ document to justify its points......The six-page document [is] organised into several sections: 1. ‘Cultism: Personality Cults’, 2. The Benefit of Buddhists: Milking the DSS (the residents on public benefit issue), 3. ‘Free to Leave? Insider and outsider doctrines’, 4. Deceptive Presentation, 5. Mind Control: By-passing the critical faculties, 6. Buddhist Fundamentalism? Dissent and independence. This is followed by two pages of ‘Recommendations and Questions’ to the NKT/Geshe Kelsang Gyatso.
The
reason the document never saw the light of day? Seemingly, Reiss was
threatened with legal action.
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the
Washington Times & Sydney Morning Herald
In November 2002, Kelsang sent the editor of the Washington Times with the following message
“1. You can publicly apologize and withdraw your false statements and accusations and print an article which must be based on my above letter on the front page of your newspaper “ and “2. If you do not accept to publicly apologize and withdraw your false statements and accusations, and to print an article based on my letter as detailed in point (1), then I have no choice but to engage in legal action.”
A letter expressing the same threat of legal action was sent to the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald a couple of days later
Lama Thubten Yeshe
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Lama
Yeshe, founder of Manjushri Institute
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This
was not the first time the NKT leader and his followers had issued
threats. In the period preceeding the NKTs birth, in 1983, Kelsang
sent his disciple Chip Rodamor and translator to put pressure on Lama
Yeshe to release Conishead Priory to Kelsang and the board of
trustees, whom Kelsang had talked into supporting him. When Lama
Yeshe chose not to meet with Kelsangs messengers, Rodamor sent him a
tape containing the following message
“Now
at present, the Charities Commission holds a type-written report
numbering close to 100 pages which not only summarise a number of
civil and criminal illegalities with respect to the conduct of the
management of Manjushri Institute but also contains supporting
evidence. Please also appreciate that our attorney in London,
who is an expert in Charity Law, also holds details of the most
serious criminal illegalities conducted by some of the trustees and
others and supporting evidence. Now, the immediate consequence of not
signing the agreement that we presented to you a few days ago is that
our attorney in London will
turn over the details of the most serious criminal illegalities to
the Solicitor General’s Office. The consequence of this will be a
police investigation of the trustees of the Manjushri Institute in
addition to the conduct of the FPMT organisation. In addition to this
the Charities Commission will start a full investigation of the civil
and criminal illegalities….. If we
are unable to return to England with
your signature…… then please know, Lama, without doubt that civil
and legal actions will commence next week.”
Nice!
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The sun sets on Conishead Priory
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What
the tape didn’t do was thank Lama Yeshe for inviting Kelsang
to teach at Manjushri, nor did it acknowledge that the “civil and
criminal illegalities” Rodamor spoke of had taken place while
Kelsang was in charge! (No charges were ever brought, something
which, as we shall see, is a recurrent theme in the NKT’s legal
policy)
In
true Buddhist spirit. Lama Yeshe accepted defeat and offered the
victory to Kelsang and the Priory became the physical nucleus of the
NKT. What Buddhist principles lay behind the bullying and power games
that gave the Priory to Kelsang as yet, remain unclear.
The
UK Network of Buddhist Organisations
In
2009, Kelsang personally organised worldwide demonstrations against
the Dalai Lama, this after publicly promising that he would never do
such a thing again, after having organised similar demonstrations
during a previous visit by the same.
In
response to this news, the Chair of the UK Network of
Buddhist Organisations wrote to the NKT, suggesting:
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“…….if
the NKT leadership want to enhance the reputation of their
organisation they should distance themselves and their organisation
from any potential demonstration and make it clear in writing that if
anyone does protest, this is unofficial. We would further suggest
that NKT supporters are asked by the leadership not to undertake any
protest at all.”
Interestingly,
when the NKT first joined the NBO, it was on the basis of a promise
made by NKT senior Jim Belither that the group would refrain from
such protests in the future. As a result of their joining, 3/4
of the NBOs Tibetan membership left.
In
light of the storm of controversy the protests caused, the NBO
formulated a code of conduct for all its members to sign before their
annual membership renewal. One of the most significant clauses was
that members should refrain from public conflict and to express any
grievances privately, behind closed doors.
"Earlier
this year, in the letter sent by the NBO Treasurer, you invited
the NKT to renew its NBO membership with the condition
that the NKT must accept the new rule that you have created
for members. On 2ih January 2009 we replied explaining
that the NKT should continue always to be a member of the
NBO, but that we would not accept the new rule you are making
which directly violates democratic rights of free speech and
action. The NKT asked you not to create such an unfair rule."
*Because
we are Buddhists, we
need to solve our problems and misunderstandings through peaceful
methods, with a good heart and an open mind........(however,) If
we fail to resolve this problem through peaceful methods there
is no doubt that we will therefore need to engage in legal
action to clarify the issue of the position of the members of the NBO
and to achieve a final resolution. In conclusion, the NKT
asks that the NKT always remains a member of the NBO but,
the NKT cannot accept the new rule that you haveundemocratically
created. And we ask: do you accept this? We need
your reply before the 10th April 2009. If we do
not receive your reply by that date, we will regard that you
have not accepted."
The
NKT did not renew its membership.
Coinicidentally, two of Kelsang's majordomos, Kadam Lucy James and Bjorn Clausen, who had been actively involved in organizing previous demonstrations but who had expressed concerns about potential repercussions of repeating the same mistake, were immediately removed from their positions
In
response, James allegedly wrote:
"Since the beginning of our involvement with the NKT we have been repeatedly told that the NKT was not involved in politics. Now that the NKT has opened up with its political position and begun demonstrating I can no longer be a part of the organization. This complete lack of honesty about the NKT's involvement in Tibetan politics is the reason for my departure."
Inform
Inform is an independent
academic body funded by the UK Government’s Home Office and
based at London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE),
one of the UK's leading academic institutions.
As
the NKT gained increasing prominence, so to did the complaints about
its activities In 2008,inquiries received more enquiries about the
NKT than any other British New Religious Movement, as also was the
case for the following few years.
In response to these increasing inquiries, Inform
produced an information leaflet on the NKT, charting its history and
development as well as some, though not all, of the controversies
surrounding it.
As
academics involved in the study of New Religious Movements, Inform
provides the organizations it comments on with draft copies of
anything it writes so that they have the chance
to comment before publication. However, when Inform provided the NKT
with what they intended to publish, the NKT responded,
characteristically, by threatening legal action and the publication was adjusted.
Gary Beesley, Author of 'A Cuckoo in the Peacock Palace'
Perhaps
the most infamous and controversial legal threat issued by the NKT
came in 2010, in the run-up to the publication of
'A
Cuckoo in the Peacock Palace: The Decline of Tradition in 21st
Century Western Buddhism and the Rise of the New Kadampa Tradition'
The
publicity for the book read:
"Many
visitors to the Dalai Lama's teachings across Europe and the USA in
2008 were surprised to come across groups of Chinese and Western
protesters, many dressed in Tibetan Buddhist robes and with shaven
heads, chanting anti Dalai Lama slogans, accusing him of being 'a
liar', a 'hypocrite', and a denier of the basic human right to
religious freedom”
"A
Cuckoo in the Peacock Palace" charts the gradual development of
the deity cult lying at the very beginning of the long running
dispute that gave rise to these protests, from its bloody and
controversial birth in the mid 1600s, down to its continuing bloody
and controversial existence in the present day”
"Since
the overwhelming majority of protesters outside the Dalai Lama's
teachings internationally were members of the Western, Neo-Buddhist
Movement, the New Kadampa Tradition, and since it was they who
provided the logistical framework and manpower behind them, 'Cuckoo'
analyses the history of the NKT and asks to what extent the group
have become puppets of the Chinese propaganda machine in its ongoing
war with the Dalai Lama of Tibet”.
Two
weeks before the book was due to be published, both Beesley and his
publisher received letters stating:
“In
the title and subtitle of this book you are deliberately and directly
implying that
the development of the New Kadampa Tradition has caused the Gelug Buddhist
Tradition to decline. This is entirely false and misleading, and very negative
and extremely harmful ...This will of course cause great
damage to the public moral and financial standing of all these
Centres, now
and far into the future".
"Because
we are Buddhists it is always important to try to solve our problems
by peaceful means.
For this reason, the NKT would like with this letter to propose
to you that you completely remove all the negative information about the
New Kadampa Tradition, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso and Dorje Shugden from your
forthcoming book. If you sincerely agree to do this, then the 1,200 Buddhist
Centres of the New Kadampa Tradition will patiently accept the immense
harm that you have already done to their reputation by spreading this
false information on the Internet."
"If you accept this proposal, we
request you
to you give us the opportunity to read and consider the book before
it is published
so that any false or defamatory statements or implications can be clarified
with you. If
you do not accept this proposal, then the NKT will have no choice but
to engage
in legal action against you and your publisher to protect all the Buddhist
Centres of the New Kadampa Tradition. The NKT would sue for compensation
for the further great damage to its moral and financial standing that
the book would cause.”
Unable to meet the substantial legal costs involved in fighting the NKT in the UK courts, Beesley was forced to withdraw the book, despite its contents being thoroughly evidenced.
The incident caused uproar across the web and confirmed the NKTs reputation as the most Draconian and litigious of all of Britains most controversial Buddhist, New Religious Movements
For further background information, as well as an explanation of more sinister reasons behind the withdrawal of Beesley's book, see
Kadam Nick Gillespie
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| Gillespie at the London demos in 2008 |
In
April 2012, the NKT expelled Nick Gillespie, probably one of the
biggest cogs in the organization's business machine. For many years,
Gillespie had been the main person responsible for developing the
NKT's centres and increasing membership: he helped set up the
Madhyamaka Centre near York in 1986.He had also been spokesperson for
the NKT front group, the Shugden Supporters in the West He was the
man behind the bulhorn at the earliest demonstrations outside
London's Office of Tibet in 1996.
Then,
in his obvious enthusiasm, Nick decided to write a book on Buddhism.
Here is the NKT response to his decision to share his wisdom
Because
we are very worried that your actions will cause people confusion and
to follow in a different direction and in this way NKT quickly will
be destroyed. So to prevent these dangers the Members of the weekly
meeting of the Education Council made the decision and are asking the
Admin Directors of all the NKT Dharma Centres including in particular
KMC New York City to cease the connection between the Centre and
yourself Nick Gillespie. This ban will be effective on the 29th April
2012."
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| "What goes around, comes around"
Justin Timberlake
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The Trustees of the NKTs Maitreya Buddhist Centre
NKT faithful trustees helped set up and successfully run their Maitreya Centre near Hastings for five years; the centre was regularly attended by around 50 devotees (who obviously dont read the papers or surf the web!) All went well until, without explanation or warning, Head Office sacked the popular, long term resident teacher and put in place a new teacher who didnt see eye to eye with the trustees. When one trustee complained, he too was 'sacked', without further explanation.
This caused what one person described as “a traumatic and bitter dispute” leading to NKT Head Office komandants, who clearly rule with an iron fist in their quest to ensure obedience and uniformity of product, issuing a number of legal threats, with Obersturmführer Mcbretney, who spends much of his time signing legal threat letters to all and sundry, as well as several to politicans, condemning the 'demonic' Dalai Lama (see an example here)
and making false allegations and disngenuous claims of representative status to the police ( or what some call 'lying'), in a vain attempt to get them to throw the legal occupants of the centre out of the premises. The website of the centre was even hijacked so as to paint a picture of everything being just fine and dandy: the page describes the centre as "a special place of tranquility, rest, reflection and friendship". Honest, It really is.(Ed. Urm, thats lying too, isnt it?)
You can read about what the "special place of tranquility, rest, reflection and friendship" is really like at:
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| http://maitreyabuddhistcentre.wordpress.com/news/ |
Unfortunately for Head Office, All NKT centres are legally autonomous charities,which has numerous benefits, including microscopic tax bills for a political organization, sorry, 'religious charity' ( Wooops, I did it again, 'group of charities') with a massive, multi-million pound annual turnover (something ordinary, non-celestial beings call 'tax avoidance'). So it was that, when the trustees at Maitreya decided they didnt like being told what to do by the autocratic and authoritarian bully boys at Head Office, they refused to comply with their edicts, as is their legal right under the charity's constitution.
The situation is now at an impasse, with the Charity Commission advising both sides to enter into conciliatory mediation. The trustees, in true Buddhist fashion, have publicly stated their willingness to do so. NKT Head Office remain silent.
So this is how the NKT treats those who have tirelessly worked hard for them for years, giving up much of their free time and energy to promote 'Kadam Dharma'. Coming soon to a town near you. Fancy it?
"When their sandcastles collapse, children howl in despair"
Shantideva, 8th century CE
"And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually."
Jimi Hendrix, 20th century CE
Jimi Hendrix, 20th century CE
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| The Clenched Fist-the NKT mudra |
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| Before the NKT, this wouldve been a joke Now its a reality |
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