Mary Finnigan，英国新闻记者，也是藏传佛教评论家。她曾帮助索甲仁波切将藏密事业打入伦敦社会，为此她感到后悔。她说：「索甲仁波切杂交，在1970年代中期是藏传佛教圈中每个人都知道的事，从那时以来，他一直有规律的在从事这件事。但是他假装的很好（…）。
(Sogyal’s promiscuity was obvious to every one in the mid-1970s in the Buddhist community and that’s what he has been doing systematically ever since,” she said. “But he puts on a good show. He offers people a dumbed-down version o Buddhism which appeals to people who want a quick fix.”)」（摘自：Dialogue Ireland ）
幡然醒悟的藏密信徒Mary Finnigan，自有来自圈内的观察及观点。她在英国guardian.co.uk 的「Mary Finnigan专栏」，有多篇评论藏传佛教的文章，为西方（特別是欧洲）的揭密部落客所转载。她的这篇「喇嘛性侵案件让人质疑佛教禁忌」，受到网友的热烈回响及讨论。从网友的回响来看，欧洲人显然是比美国人有批判力、有洞悉力、有质疑力的。欢迎网友前往蹓跶。
*以下中文翻译提供：有心人axzy2*
— 对索甲仁波切的指控突显了危险的佛教禁忌，反对流言和坚持忠诚
1994年11月的美国女子Janice Doe(化名)对西藏喇嘛索甲仁波切提出1000万美金的求偿官司，指控他从事性，精神和肉体虐待。此案最终庭外和解，Janice Doe 被要求簽署保密协定以换取赔偿金。
索甲否认虐待的指控，但最近在加拿大电视台播放的纪录片「以开悟之名」，却对此提出新事证。一个化名咪咪(Mimi)的年轻貌美女孩，描述了一段性虐待的关系。她是索甲1994爆发刑事诉讼以来，第一位声称受到索甲性剥削的女性。
索甲仁波切（姓Lakar，仁波切称号的意思是“人中之宝”）是藏传佛教组织Rigpa的领导人，该组织在41个国家有130个中心。他著有畅销书《西藏 生死书》与一部和基努李维合演的电影「小活佛」。索甲可算是除了达赖喇嘛以外最出名且相当成功的上师。他的佛教超级巨星之路在发生Janice Doe事件时，看起来只是遭遇了短暂的挫败，尽管他骇人听闻的性生活传闻在网路甚嚣尘上，与日俱增。
这些指控带出了一个更广的问题：遭风光的宗教领袖伸出狼爪的受害者，为何不愿出面谴责其暴行？在加拿大的纪录片中，咪咪表现出斯德哥尔摩症候群之特质，对施虐者自相矛盾的的反应。她说：他打我，同时带给我如庇护所般的关怀。
社会学家阿曼达凡埃克(Amanda van Eck)是伦敦经济学院，邪教信息资源部门的副主任。她说：恐惧大概是这些女性沉默的主因，在一些团体中他们害怕遭到报复，这意味着她们不希望公开发言。在另一方面，还有另一重压力，恐惧负面的效应，像是诅咒、不受保护、被恶灵附身、或被其他的邪恶力量攻击等等。
她还说：受害妇女们也担心，外面的世界都被这些人面兽心的邪教头目者把持著，自己还能相信谁?
许多妇女只能匿名在网上论坛叙述性虐待事蹟，拒绝现身说法，实在是因为她们也想走出这段历史，而不是一再重温这受创的经验。有些妇女也觉得这么做方能保护他的家人。
在我个人经验中，佛教组织有两大禁忌，这是个双面刃，可带来好处也方便操控。其中一个对八卦流言特別管用，就是教导人们要保持平静的心理状态，可以有效地防止流通批评意见。
另一个就是三昧耶戒─藏传佛教的核心，一个宣示忠诚的制约。它维系著教师与弟子的关系，但它也成为一个可怕的威胁─违背你的三昧耶戒将对你和你所爱造成很严重的后果。
另一个因素是妇女接受了组织核心的大师们所承诺的崇高地位。妇女被说服将上师当作本尊且要符合上师的要求，承受繁杂的工作和性需求。她们被隔绝於家人和朋 友之外，并阻碍她们和外界接触，并说服她们将团体视为家庭和把上师视为父亲般的爱人，而上师拥有绝对的权力和控制。当妇女们发现她们被虐待、剥削和深陷在 胁迫人的邪教当中，通常已经太慢而不可自拔。她们投资了全部的心血和生活，使得离开组织变成不可能的任务。
无论索甲是否如声称般性虐待，他们提出另一个问题：这又矮又胖的西藏喇嘛怎么吸引年轻貌美的西方女人？答案根植於密宗─唯一以性团体作为开悟途径的佛教传 统。加帝夫大学的杰弗瑞‧萨缪尔解释：第三转法轮的无上瑜伽，性团体（译按:应指轮座交合）被视为开悟必须的双运体验。它创造了一些终极实现之感，换句话 说就是成佛。
但萨谬尔说：虽然神秘的性爱版本出现在西藏的佛经中，但它不应该跟现在新密教运动混淆也不该视为近代佛教正确的演变。人们应该有个健康的警告：一个老上师要求年轻女性为性行为可能不是为了帮她开悟。
海外藏人难民不断受到无法控制的威胁。他们的社会习俗禁忌包含批评喇嘛，达赖喇嘛和其他在西方教学的喇嘛也受制于此社会习俗。对索甲种种的指控虽让他们怀疑，但他们还是支持他。更尖锐的观点则指出，这种沉默的阴谋关键在于索甲撒了一堆钱在西藏高层的缘故。
© guardian.co.uk, 1 July 2011
Allegations against Sogyal Rinpoche highlight the dangers of Buddhist injunctions against gossip and insistence on loyalty
Mary Finnigan
In November 1994 an American woman known as Janice Doe filed a $10m lawsuit against the Tibetan lama Sogyal Rinpoche, charging him with sexual, mental and physical abuse. The case was dealt with out of court and Janice Doe signed a non-disclosure agreement in return for a cash settlement.
Sogyal denies allegations of abuse, but fresh evidence against him was recently aired in an investigative documentary called In the Name of Enlightenment, broadcast on Vision TV in Canada. A beautiful young woman identified as Mimi described an abusive sexual relationship. She was the first person claiming direct experience of Sogyal's exploitative attentions to go public since the 1994 lawsuit.
Sogyal (surname Lakar – Rinpoche is a title that means "precious one") is the frontman for a Tibetan Buddhist organisation called Rigpa, which has a worldwide reach with 130 centres in 41 countries. He has a bestselling book, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, to his name and he starred alongside Keanu Reeves in the movie Little Buddha. Sogyal is a formidably successful guru – probably the best known Tibetan after the Dalai Lama. His trajectory into Buddhist superstardom suffered only a temporary setback following the Janice Doe lawsuit – despite the fact that lurid rumours about his sex life circulate on the internet with increasing volume and persistence.
The allegations raise a wider question: why are victims of sexual exploitation by charismatic religious leaders reluctant to denounce their abusers? In the Canadian documentary, Mimi highlights the Stockholm syndrome – a term used to describe the paradoxical reactions of individuals who bond with their abusers. "The person beating us, she says, "is also the only one giving us affection – and food and a roof over our heads."
Sociologist Amanda van Eck is deputy director of Inform, the cult information resource at the London School of Economics. She says fear is probably the main reason why women stay silent: "In some groups there has been fear of retribution," she says, "which means they don't want to speak publicly. In other cases, which may overlap with fear of retribution, they are fearful of negative consequences – damnation, of not being saved, of possession by evil spirits, of being attacked by negative forces and so on."
If the outside world has been demonised by cult leaders, Van Eck says, women may also be fearful that no one can be trusted.
Many women who have described abusive sexual relationships anonymously on internet forums refuse to come out of hiding because they want to move on, rather than relive traumatic periods in their lives. Some also feel a need to protect their families.
In my personal experience, there are two taboos in Buddhist organisations, both of which have merit and both of which can be used as manipulative tools. One of them is an injunction against gossip – useful when trying to establish a calm mental state, but also useful to prevent the circulation of critical comment.
The second is samaya – the bond of loyalty that is one of the key tenets of Tibetan Buddhism. It supports the relationship between teacher and neophyte, but it can be deployed unscrupulously as a threat – break your samaya and attract dire consequences to yourself and your loved ones.
Another factor is that acceptance into the inner circle around an important guru delivers high status within the organisation. Women are persuaded to view the master as a deity and to be compliant with his wishes and whims, to undertake a punishing workload and be available for sex on demand. They are separated from family and friends, discouraged from contact with the outside world and persuaded to see the organisation as family with the guru (confusingly as father-lover) in absolute power and control. By the time women realise they are being abused, exploited and embedded in a coercive cult, it is often too late for them to extricate themselves. Their investment is total and their chances of making lives for themselves beyond the organisation have dwindled into non-existence.
Whether or not Sogyal's relationships were abusive, as claimed, they raise another question: how does a short, overweight, Tibetan lama manage to attract beautiful young western women? The answer is rooted in the mystique of tantra – the only Buddhist tradition that includes sexual union in the path that leads to enlightenment. Professor Geoffrey Samuel from Cardiff University explains: "In the third initiation of the highest yoga tantra, sexual union is introduced as a parallel to the experience of enlightenment. It creates certain sensations that help towards experiencing the state of ultimate realisation – in other words Buddhahood."
But Samuel says that although this arcane version of sacred sex is present in Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, it should not be confused with the modern neo-tantra movement and nor is it appropriate for recent converts to Buddhism."People should have a health warning" he says. "An elderly guru seducing a young woman probably isn't doing it to assist her towards enlightenment."
Tibetans outside Tibet are refugees who feel constantly under threat from forces beyond their control. Their social conventions include a taboo against criticising lamas. The Dalai Lama is constrained by this and so too are the majority of other lamas teaching in the west. They have closed ranks around Sogyal, regardless of their misgivings about the allegations against him. A more cynical view of this apparent conspiracy of silence hinges on the fact that Sogyal pulls in a lot of money – some of which is channelled into Tibetan worthy causes.
http://cat13333.blogspot.com/2011/07/guardiancouk-mary-finnigan.html#more
Mary Finnigan：喇嘛性侵案件让人质疑佛教禁忌
— 对索甲仁波切的指控突显了危险的佛教禁忌，反对流言和坚持忠诚
1994年11月的美国女子Janice Doe(化名)对西藏喇嘛索甲仁波切提出1000万美金的求偿官司，指控他从事性，精神和肉体虐待。此案最终庭外和解，Janice Doe 被要求簽署保密协定以换取赔偿金。
索甲否认虐待的指控，但最近在加拿大电视台播放的纪录片「以开悟之名」，却对此提出新事证。一个化名咪咪(Mimi)的年轻貌美女孩，描述了一段性虐待的关系。她是索甲1994爆发刑事诉讼以来，第一位声称受到索甲性剥削的女性。
索甲仁波切（姓Lakar，仁波切称号的意思是“人中之宝”）是藏传佛教组织Rigpa的领导人，该组织在41个国家有130个中心。他著有畅销书《西藏 生死书》与一部和基努李维合演的电影「小活佛」。索甲可算是除了达赖喇嘛以外最出名且相当成功的上师。他的佛教超级巨星之路在发生Janice Doe事件时，看起来只是遭遇了短暂的挫败，尽管他骇人听闻的性生活传闻在网路甚嚣尘上，与日俱增。
这些指控带出了一个更广的问题：遭风光的宗教领袖伸出狼爪的受害者，为何不愿出面谴责其暴行？在加拿大的纪录片中，咪咪表现出斯德哥尔摩症候群之特质，对施虐者自相矛盾的的反应。她说：他打我，同时带给我如庇护所般的关怀。
社会学家阿曼达凡埃克(Amanda van Eck)是伦敦经济学院，邪教信息资源部门的副主任。她说：恐惧大概是这些女性沉默的主因，在一些团体中他们害怕遭到报复，这意味着她们不希望公开发言。在另一方面，还有另一重压力，恐惧负面的效应，像是诅咒、不受保护、被恶灵附身、或被其他的邪恶力量攻击等等。
她还说：受害妇女们也担心，外面的世界都被这些人面兽心的邪教头目者把持著，自己还能相信谁?
许多妇女只能匿名在网上论坛叙述性虐待事蹟，拒绝现身说法，实在是因为她们也想走出这段历史，而不是一再重温这受创的经验。有些妇女也觉得这么做方能保护他的家人。
在我个人经验中，佛教组织有两大禁忌，这是个双面刃，可带来好处也方便操控。其中一个对八卦流言特別管用，就是教导人们要保持平静的心理状态，可以有效地防止流通批评意见。
另一个就是三昧耶戒─藏传佛教的核心，一个宣示忠诚的制约。它维系著教师与弟子的关系，但它也成为一个可怕的威胁─违背你的三昧耶戒将对你和你所爱造成很严重的后果。
另一个因素是妇女接受了组织核心的大师们所承诺的崇高地位。妇女被说服将上师当作本尊且要符合上师的要求，承受繁杂的工作和性需求。她们被隔绝於家人和朋 友之外，并阻碍她们和外界接触，并说服她们将团体视为家庭和把上师视为父亲般的爱人，而上师拥有绝对的权力和控制。当妇女们发现她们被虐待、剥削和深陷在 胁迫人的邪教当中，通常已经太慢而不可自拔。她们投资了全部的心血和生活，使得离开组织变成不可能的任务。
无论索甲是否如声称般性虐待，他们提出另一个问题：这又矮又胖的西藏喇嘛怎么吸引年轻貌美的西方女人？答案根植於密宗─唯一以性团体作为开悟途径的佛教传 统。加帝夫大学的杰弗瑞‧萨缪尔解释：第三转法轮的无上瑜伽，性团体（译按:应指轮座交合）被视为开悟必须的双运体验。它创造了一些终极实现之感，换句话 说就是成佛。
但萨谬尔说：虽然神秘的性爱版本出现在西藏的佛经中，但它不应该跟现在新密教运动混淆也不该视为近代佛教正确的演变。人们应该有个健康的警告：一个老上师要求年轻女性为性行为可能不是为了帮她开悟。
海外藏人难民不断受到无法控制的威胁。他们的社会习俗禁忌包含批评喇嘛，达赖喇嘛和其他在西方教学的喇嘛也受制于此社会习俗。对索甲种种的指控虽让他们怀疑，但他们还是支持他。更尖锐的观点则指出，这种沉默的阴谋关键在于索甲撒了一堆钱在西藏高层的缘故。
© guardian.co.uk, 1 July 2011
Lama sex abuse claims call Buddhist taboos into question
Allegations against Sogyal Rinpoche highlight the dangers of Buddhist injunctions against gossip and insistence on loyalty
Mary Finnigan
In November 1994 an American woman known as Janice Doe filed a $10m lawsuit against the Tibetan lama Sogyal Rinpoche, charging him with sexual, mental and physical abuse. The case was dealt with out of court and Janice Doe signed a non-disclosure agreement in return for a cash settlement.
Sogyal denies allegations of abuse, but fresh evidence against him was recently aired in an investigative documentary called In the Name of Enlightenment, broadcast on Vision TV in Canada. A beautiful young woman identified as Mimi described an abusive sexual relationship. She was the first person claiming direct experience of Sogyal's exploitative attentions to go public since the 1994 lawsuit.
Sogyal (surname Lakar – Rinpoche is a title that means "precious one") is the frontman for a Tibetan Buddhist organisation called Rigpa, which has a worldwide reach with 130 centres in 41 countries. He has a bestselling book, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying, to his name and he starred alongside Keanu Reeves in the movie Little Buddha. Sogyal is a formidably successful guru – probably the best known Tibetan after the Dalai Lama. His trajectory into Buddhist superstardom suffered only a temporary setback following the Janice Doe lawsuit – despite the fact that lurid rumours about his sex life circulate on the internet with increasing volume and persistence.
The allegations raise a wider question: why are victims of sexual exploitation by charismatic religious leaders reluctant to denounce their abusers? In the Canadian documentary, Mimi highlights the Stockholm syndrome – a term used to describe the paradoxical reactions of individuals who bond with their abusers. "The person beating us, she says, "is also the only one giving us affection – and food and a roof over our heads."
Sociologist Amanda van Eck is deputy director of Inform, the cult information resource at the London School of Economics. She says fear is probably the main reason why women stay silent: "In some groups there has been fear of retribution," she says, "which means they don't want to speak publicly. In other cases, which may overlap with fear of retribution, they are fearful of negative consequences – damnation, of not being saved, of possession by evil spirits, of being attacked by negative forces and so on."
If the outside world has been demonised by cult leaders, Van Eck says, women may also be fearful that no one can be trusted.
Many women who have described abusive sexual relationships anonymously on internet forums refuse to come out of hiding because they want to move on, rather than relive traumatic periods in their lives. Some also feel a need to protect their families.
In my personal experience, there are two taboos in Buddhist organisations, both of which have merit and both of which can be used as manipulative tools. One of them is an injunction against gossip – useful when trying to establish a calm mental state, but also useful to prevent the circulation of critical comment.
The second is samaya – the bond of loyalty that is one of the key tenets of Tibetan Buddhism. It supports the relationship between teacher and neophyte, but it can be deployed unscrupulously as a threat – break your samaya and attract dire consequences to yourself and your loved ones.
Another factor is that acceptance into the inner circle around an important guru delivers high status within the organisation. Women are persuaded to view the master as a deity and to be compliant with his wishes and whims, to undertake a punishing workload and be available for sex on demand. They are separated from family and friends, discouraged from contact with the outside world and persuaded to see the organisation as family with the guru (confusingly as father-lover) in absolute power and control. By the time women realise they are being abused, exploited and embedded in a coercive cult, it is often too late for them to extricate themselves. Their investment is total and their chances of making lives for themselves beyond the organisation have dwindled into non-existence.
Whether or not Sogyal's relationships were abusive, as claimed, they raise another question: how does a short, overweight, Tibetan lama manage to attract beautiful young western women? The answer is rooted in the mystique of tantra – the only Buddhist tradition that includes sexual union in the path that leads to enlightenment. Professor Geoffrey Samuel from Cardiff University explains: "In the third initiation of the highest yoga tantra, sexual union is introduced as a parallel to the experience of enlightenment. It creates certain sensations that help towards experiencing the state of ultimate realisation – in other words Buddhahood."
But Samuel says that although this arcane version of sacred sex is present in Tibetan Buddhist scriptures, it should not be confused with the modern neo-tantra movement and nor is it appropriate for recent converts to Buddhism."People should have a health warning" he says. "An elderly guru seducing a young woman probably isn't doing it to assist her towards enlightenment."
Tibetans outside Tibet are refugees who feel constantly under threat from forces beyond their control. Their social conventions include a taboo against criticising lamas. The Dalai Lama is constrained by this and so too are the majority of other lamas teaching in the west. They have closed ranks around Sogyal, regardless of their misgivings about the allegations against him. A more cynical view of this apparent conspiracy of silence hinges on the fact that Sogyal pulls in a lot of money – some of which is channelled into Tibetan worthy causes.
http://cat13333.blogspot.com/2011/07/guardiancouk-mary-finnigan.html#more