tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333563966423440746.post4007044106904055007..comments2022-07-11T12:26:08.674+00:00Comments on BRITISH BUDDHISM: Problems and Controversies: Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333563966423440746.post-3844877084236759682018-03-06T13:14:19.289+01:002018-03-06T13:14:19.289+01:00I am pleased to see mention being made of the psyc...I am pleased to see mention being made of the psychological/emotional abuses which were (are?) so prevalent in this organisation, alongside the very necessary exposure of the terrible sexual abuses which were undoubtedly a very prevalent and widespread part of the very fabric of this very unhealthy organisation. The collective culture of denial and oppression in response to any attempts to honestly raise concerns or criticisms of the abuses was deeply damaging to many, and was also successful in keeping all this under wraps for way too long. <br />It was my experience that the psychologically and emotionally unhealthy and damaging status quo which was endemic in the organisation provided the context where sexual abuses which were only too commonplace were allowed to occur. <br /> <br />Having been involved with the organisation for some time, and subsequently leaving because of this, revisiting my experience after reading the more recent articles and exposure of the FWBO/Triratna 'culture' stirs up painful memories. Having stumbled across these during the last few days, and having read many of the discussions on various websites, I see that rationalisation and denial is still so prevalent - and it is a 'top down' dynamic in a very hierarchical structure - that I see little hope that this truly damaging culture can be honestly addressed and healed any time soon. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333563966423440746.post-26536205377140480422015-06-30T12:30:00.716+00:002015-06-30T12:30:00.716+00:00Sadly this comment replicates many
The most worryi...Sadly this comment replicates many<br />The most worrying thing is that the inner circle remains much unchanged, convinced that a simple name change ( or in Kulanandas case, a reversion to his former name of Michael Chaskalson ) has cured the problem and absolves them of all responsibility <br />Karma however, has a nasty habit of catching up with one, both in individual and group contexts.Constantinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03915813002790646443noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7333563966423440746.post-81114034407630814932015-06-30T12:21:41.785+00:002015-06-30T12:21:41.785+00:00Kulananda’s assertion (see: letter to Guardian @ w...Kulananda’s assertion (see: letter to Guardian @ www.ex-cult.org/fwbo/Guardian.htm ) that unethical behaviour, specifically sexual, psychological and emotional abuse, only happened at one centre – ie, the Croydon centre - is blatantly untrue. I attracted the unwanted sexual attentions of same sex members of Sangharakshita’s order at another community/centre in 1978; and I and other mitras (meaning more committed fwbo/tbc followers and often workers) were sometimes brutally abused, psychologically and emotionally, at the same centre – far from Croydon – in the mid-1980’s.<br />In fact, the practice of bullying people, with aggressive, hostile, and often wildly inaccurate criticism, was adopted by many order members as a policy in the 1980’s: to prepare mitras for ordination into Sangharakshita’s order. It was given the euphemistic name of ‘feedback’ or ‘fierce friendship’. I, and other mitras who had asked for ordination, were viciously and relentlessly subjected to this kind of abuse – the purpose? To make us ‘more receptive to the order’ and thus ‘suitable candidates for ordination’! Unbelievably, this was the explanation given to me by at least one order member; I emphasise again: not at the Croydon centre.<br />Sangharakshita, and his chief disciple Subhuti, knew that this behaviour was going on – but did nothing to stop, or monitor, it. Indeed they quietly supported and approved of it.<br />I still suffer from ‘trust issues’, as a painful legacy of the ill-treatment I received at the hands of some members of Sangharakshita’s order. As ex-Yashomitra, in his now famous open letter pointed out: ‘Many people were damaged as a result of the way things were’; I know from past conversation that this was part of what he meant.<br />The fact that Sangharakshita’s order has never admitted that this sort of behaviour was commonplace, throughout UK fwbo/tbc centres, makes it much more likely that a new generation of order members, bearing an extreme agenda based on past procedures, will inaugurate a new wave of bullying and abuse, at some near future time. Those who do not learn from history …..<br />Please look elsewhere for classes and courses in Buddhism/meditation. Do not risk your mental and emotional wellbeing with Sangharakshita’s dangerous and irresponsible ‘order’.<br /> A former veteran fwbo mitra<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com