As an ex student from Sogyal Lakar our suspicions became real. We noticed it once when we were in Lodeve, a small town nearby Lerab ling. There we saw Sogyal with some students. But they were acting very, very secretive and that was something we didn’t understand. Now we do now.

I was just a couple of years student at Rigpa, back in 2004 – 2006. But it influenced me a lot. I learned the basics of meditation and how to do retreats. So in that way it helped me. Fortunately after that I went my own way but now this news come to the surface. Its a shame that this is going on, plus that it seems like I posted on my Facebook page that those Tibetan lamas seem to look down to our Western life and they exploit it in its fullest. It has nothing to do with the dharma or with tantra as such. Its a very cheap way of manipulating the ignorant western students. Most of them are highly educated and have money to spend.

Old prominent members  wrote a letter to Sogyal to stop his unethical behavior. Here you can read the letter in English and in Dutch and I have to say its shocking. I hope it will be in trail soon and I hope it will stop. Its harmful on many levels and also harmful for the true practitioners of Varjayana.

‘If one presents the teachings clearly, others benefit. But if someone is supposed to propagate the Dharma and their behavior is harmful, it is our responsibility to criticize this with a good motivation. This is constructive criticism, and you do not need to feel uncomfortable doing it. In “The Twenty Verses on the Bodhisattvas’ Vows,” it says that there is no fault in whatever action you engage in with pure motivation. Buddhist teachers who abuse sex, power, money, alcohol, or drugs, and who, when faced with legitimate complaints from their own students, do not correct their behavior, should be criticized openly and by name. This may embarrass them and cause them to regret and stop their abusive behavior. Exposing the negative allows space for the positive side to increase. When publicizing such misconduct, it should be made clear that such teachers have disregarded the Buddha’s advice. However, when making public the ethical misconduct of a Buddhist teacher, it is only fair to mention their good qualities as

Letter about abuse