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.
Allegations of abusive sexual behavior by the Karmapa from three separate women have been reported in various media. One woman has 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.
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.
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.
The silence has left us in the dark to process on our own. The trauma is collective, and this space is offered so we are not left to recover alone.
Some of us have struggled to maintain our practice, many have had to redefine, reorient or reinvent our commitment to the Dharma, and some find our communities no longer feel like healthy or safe spaces. The taboo on the topic has had a fragmenting effect on our Sanghas and has prevented us from supporting one another in working through what this means for our practice and for our communities.
We are a group of practitioners from diverse Karma Kagyu centers and communities.
Our group includes people who have completed the traditional three-year, three-month retreat and consists of lay and monastic practitioners. We care deeply about how the Dharma is transmitted and its future prospects. This project is 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 group of practitioners has 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. We are available for questions and general inquiries at admin@healingoursanghas.org.
We invite you to explore the map and hope that together, we find,
A safe space to begin to heal the pain and trauma caused by the allegations through 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.)