Healing Our Sanghas
Speaking into the Silence Surrounding the Allegations of Abuse by the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje.
A warm welcome to anyone impacted by the allegations of misconduct by the Karmapa and the silence surrounding it.
This site was created as a space where we can address the effect on our communities of allegations against such an important figure in Tibetan Buddhism. The taboo on the topic has had a fragmenting effect on our sanghas and has prevented us from supporting one another as we work through what it means for our practice and for our communities. Here, we each have the opportunity to find our voices, speak anonymously, and together begin to heal the personal trauma that many of us have struggled with in silence. We can connect with others’ experiences on the ripple-effect map and bear witness to one another’s suffering. We can open our hearts to the truth of the collective suffering that the allegations and the silence have caused and together begin to create a path to end that suffering.
We start by acknowledging where we are. Allegations of abusive sexual behavior by the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, from three separate women have been reported in various media. One woman initiated legal action seeking child support for a daughter the Karmapa has allegedly fathered. One report alleges that the Canadian court ordered the Karmapa to take a paternity test to determine whether he had fathered a child and that the results confirmed that the child is his.
The silence has left us in the dark to process on our own. The trauma is collective and this space is offered so that we are not left to recover alone.
At this time, the Karmapa has not publicly denied these allegations. This report and others of sexual misconduct and assault have also been met with a deafening silence by nearly all Buddhist leaders. With this site, we are not expressing a position regarding the truth or falsehood of these allegations. However, we acknowledge that there has been no independent investigation and no public response from the Karmapa. And that this silence, as well as the allegations, has created an environment that leads to uncertainty, doubt, and confusion.
Nearly all our Dharma communities have upheld a strong stance against discussing these concerns. The possibility that a lineage head in whom we have taken refuge has misused his position of power and influence over his students, and there is no discussion or attempt to get at the truth, has profound implications for the entire Dharma community worldwide.
Some of us have struggled to maintain our practice, many have had to redefine, reorient or reinvent our commitment to the Dharma, and find our communities no longer feel like healthy or safe spaces. This website offers conditions of anonymity and is offered as the safe space that our local centers may have failed to provide and that we need now more urgently than ever.
We are a group of practitioners from diverse Karma Kagyu centers and communities, in association with Buddhist studies scholars.
The group of practitioners who initiated this project includes people who have completed the traditional three-year, three-month retreat, and consists of both lay and monastic practitioners. We come from different Karma Kagyu centers and communities, and are all connected to various Karma Kagyu teachers. This project is also associated with Ann Gleig (University of Central Florida) and Amy Langenberg (Eckerd College), scholars who cover Buddhist communities as part of the Religion and Sexual Abuse Project.
The practitioners in our group have decided to remain anonymous. This site and the map are aimed at offering conditions where everyone can be comfortable speaking without fear of reprisals. Some of us have already experienced adverse consequences as a result of raising the topic of the allegations in much smaller arenas. At this point, we want to conserve our emotional energy for our own processing of this situation, which is ongoing, and for conversations where we can make positive contributions rather than simply defend ourselves. For the record, none of us have any ties whatsoever to the Chinese government.
We were motivated to create this site because we all care deeply about how the Dharma is transmitted and about its prospects for the future, and out of concern for the suffering that we observe as a result of the allegations and the silence.
We invite you to explore the map and hope that together, we can create:
A safe space to begin to heal the pain and trauma caused by the allegations by finding our voices again as we work through what this has meant for us.
A way to preserve the sangha, overcoming the isolating effect of the silence around the issue and showing us where we are together.
A way to address the harm caused to communities when doubts are raised (and never addressed) regarding those whom we have trusted and who occupy positions of great authority in the lineage.
A way to protect the vulnerable. We are ensuring that allegations of such abuse are taken seriously and investigated so that no one can simply abuse their power over others with impunity in Buddhist communities. (This refers to all potential victims of abuse, not solely those alleging abuse in these cases.)
