By Justin Rezzonico

I’d like to respond to the recent guest opinion in the Camera by John M. Lee about Shambhala. I was involved with the Shambhala Buddhist community for 25 years and was part of the “inner circle.”

Until last year I hadn’t heard of allegations of sexual abuse or assault in the Boulder-born Shambhala, but that does not mean it didn’t happen. A policy referred to by Lee was supposed to include a rule that teachers can’t have any sexual relations with students. That was never followed. It was a joke, because the head leader of Shambhala, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche, was exempt from all Care and Conduct rules. Clergy sexual misconduct is rampant in Shambhala.

Sexual misconduct is not a result of the free love movement. There was never a time when misconduct, particularly non-consensual sexual contact, was OK. Blaming the hippies is an old trope and lame excuse used by people like Harvey Weinstein. What is to blame in this case is a pernicious combination of spiritual bypassing and rape culture. We are not talking about a few bad apples. The recent arrests of two Boulder members is part of a pattern and is probably the tip of the iceberg. Whether this rate of misconduct is more or less than in society at large is beside the point.

Sexual misconduct is a broad term. Mipham’s reported misconduct, some confirmed by the Wickwire Holm investigation, includes allegations of sexual assault. How is he facing that? We aren’t sure of his whereabouts. He has never admitted to any wrongdoing and there has been no accountability. Does anyone really believe that a retreat will change anything? Talk of rehabilitation can only begin when he’s gone through 12-step programs for sex and alcohol addiction.

Recently, on July 26, the Denver Post published an article, “A call for resignations and change at Shambhala,” written by two people calling for Mipham to resign permanently. I further that call. A few news articles mistakenly reported that he stepped down, but in fact he only “stepped back.” That effectively means nothing, as he still retains full control of the organization. Surely a spiritual teacher should be held to higher standards, but even by conventional standards he should be removed from power. That he is revered should not be weighed against misconduct. Often people of higher social standing get away with lenient consequences because of privilege. Titles are earned and they can be unearned. There are plenty of other jobs he can get, and it would probably be the best thing for him to get a regular job. In any other organization in the world the leader would have been removed already. Even Fox News fired Bill O’Reilly. So how is it that a supposedly progressive spiritual community can’t bring themselves to do the right thing?

I would also like to add a call for Shambhala to set up a victims’ fund. Shambhala recently sold Marpa House, a residential community in Boulder. There are questions about where that money is going and how it serves the community. Some of that money should go to survivors who were silenced and shunned.

Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Mipham’s father, was more than controversial. That implies that there are different ways of looking at it, but are there different ways of viewing the fact that he had a bunch of extra wives? Is torturing animals really controversial? There shouldn’t be any question. I think that most people can see that for what it is. There are also allegations of sexual assault, statutory rape and physical abuse.

As reported in the news, there is currently an investigation of Shambhala by the Larimer County Sheriff’s Department. There is at least one other police investigation. The fact that followers are even thinking of calling for Mipham to resume teaching while leaders and the organization are under criminal investigation shows that they are incapable of ever holding the leader accountable for anything. Until the feudal system of absolute monarchy is changed, nothing else will really change.

Shambhala has rich a history of problems that continue to this day enabled by a culture of secrecy. The founder, Trungpa, died of liver failure from drug and alcohol abuse. His “regent” and interim successor in the late 1980s, Tom Rich, was HIV positive. Without informing his sexual partners he is said to have engaged in unprotected sex, resulting in at least one person’s death. The Shambhala board of directors kept that secret for several years. One of them is still in leadership.

If a three strikes rule were applied to Shambhala then the current leader would be strike three.

Justin Rezzonico lives in Boulder.

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