Conversation

Dan DeRobertis

@chagmed

Mar 20, 2018

Powerful, moving thread on emotional and psychological abuse in a Western Vajrayana community

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This has to be just the tip of the iceberg. In the Vajrayana, secrecy is a most powerful principle. In fact the “highest teachings” are said to be “self-secret.” This adherence and veneration to secrecy means that volumes and volumes of abuse remain unwritten.

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I'm of two minds. At the level of the deliciously salacious shitshow, I love it just like everyone else. At the level of OMG-another-Buddhist-got-caught-with-his-pants-down, it's a yawner. Same-same like always happens. People are people, irrespective of tall hats.

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I like to think it will be non-news when we stop having it happen in every religious community, all the time. In other words, may always be topical.

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I wonder if it can be non-news precisely because it does happen in every religious community, all the time. In other words, it's our unrealistic expectation that causes the uproar. When we don't think we're special, things might change.

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I agree with all of that, except I think this sort of disclosure is a necessary part of dispelling the delusion of specialness. I may well be wrong.

8:05 AM · Mar 20, 2018Twitter Web Client

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