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think- ago

An important post about NXIVM's connection to the Dalai Lama, later deleted by the author, migratorypatterns, but please read the comments -

The Dalai Lama's Endorsement of NXIVM Not a Fluke: Tibetan Buddhism is a Thousand Year Old Cult of Sexual Abuse That Uses Women for Their Tantric Practices

letsdothis3 ago

Tantric sexual practices from the East did not 'use women'.. quite the opposite.... that is a bastardisation from the West. The Dalai Lama is CIA and involved with the the whole New Age movement driven by Tavistock and the intelligence services.

think- ago

I think I disagree here. Initially, in the first centuries, there was a lot of female empowerment going on in tantric cirlcles, but this seems to have decreased over time.

Then misogyny took over.

Additionally, there is a dark left hand path connected to the tantiric tradition in Tibetan Buddhism, which literally lets initiates of the highest grades get away with murder.

Tibetan Buddhism has its own sexual abuse crisis, too, which is not surprising considering that some children are given to the monks when they are still babies or toddlers, by mostly poor parents, who accept the monks and the Lamas as spiritual authority. Tibet used to be a theocracy.

Yes, the Dalia Lama is ouf course a clown asset, but it's not only him. It's inherent in the spiritual practice imo, where men need female spiritual energy.

sexual abuse of adult women is rampant too.

There is an excellent website about it by a former Tibetan Buddhist, will try to find it later today.

TL;DR - the tantric tradition might have worshipped 'the female' at first, and might still do so today officially, but over time it became problematic, and the emphasis was more on sexual exploitation.

That's how I see it.

But I am open to any reading suggestions, and to have a discussion with you. :-)

YogSoggoth ago

In the TV series Kung Fu, John Carradine was accepted to a Tibetan monastery as a young boy. Fatherless he searched for his half brother. Notables are Harrison Ford, Leslie Nielson, John Blythe Barrymore, Jodie Foster, William Shatner, Pat Morita, Don Johnson, Carl Weathers, Wilford Brimley (the oatmeal man), Gary Busy, and Dean Jagger amongst others. The boy was played by Brandon Lee, son of Bruce Lee. Maybe not coincidentally Dean Jagger also had something to do with Bruce Lee's last film where he died on set before completion. Just food for thought.

letsdothis3 ago

but this seems to have decreased over time.

Links? You'll find if you read up on it that is due to Western influence and how we perceive Tantra here in the Western World.

there is a dark left hand path connected to the tantric tradition in Tibetan Buddhism,

I distinguished between Tibetan and Indian Buddhism.. Tantra is from India.

CIA Tibetan Program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_Tibetan_program

Difficult to find website links on this topic that are not from a Western perspective and are not of the 'how to have better sex' variety. However:

http://www.shivashakti.com/

Tantra, or more properly tantrika, is a diverse and rich spiritual tradition of the Indian sub-continent. Although in recent years, in the Western world, it has become almost exclusively associated with sex, in reality this is one aspect of what is a way of life. In India itself, tantra is now, nearly always, associated with spells and black deeds.

Neither of these views is correct, and each wildly underestimates the wide-ranging nature of the different traditions. Further, there remains an ocean of tantrik and agamic literature still to be discovered and translated, spanning a period of time which at least reaches back to the 10th century of the common era (c.e.).

The tradition, or perhaps better, the traditions, underwent many phases and schools over this period of time, ranging from an extremely heterodox viewpoint to, in some cases, a very orthodox standpoint. Refer to this page to see the vast diversity of thoughts and practices subsumed under the word "tantra". Much of the material on this site is related to the Kaula tradition in many of its guises. The work kaula is cognate with clan and the communities venerated a huge number of gods (devas) and goddesses (devis).

.....If you are new to the subject, we suggest you visit the glossary page, where many of the terms on this site are explained in a simple manner. ....

http://www.mayaswatidevi.it/en/divine-feminine/sacred-sexuality

The divine feminine worship

The first tantric civilization with a female matrix dates to around 7,500 BC. Women had a place of honour as much in the profane as in the religious world, centred around the worship of the Mother Goddess. Sexuality was experienced with great freedom, without shame and guilt and with the awareness of its positive influence on the individual and social physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. All ancient cultures have traditions that praise the power of women as initiators – Egypt, Greece, Arabia, Tibet, and China. The woman was considered the embodiment of beauty, sensuality, and vitality as well as the guardian of the potential creator. In Tantrism woman represents the energy of transformation, change, evolution. Men represent pure consciousness. The formidable power of women as initiators is enormous and lies primarily in her attitude to sexuality, which she considers only in the spiritual sense. Tantra is the cult of femininity, the worship of the Goddess and women. Its origins are lost in the night of time. Tantra is the development of sensitivity, the experience of loving intensely, without fear of loss, completely fused with the beloved. It is the ability to transcend the superficial and the apparent aspects of reality, as the tantric way is never about collecting superficial love relationships.

..In the Tantric vision, the entire physical and mental universe is perceived as being like a fabric in which the single parts are united in a whole, and in which the whole is reflected in its single parts. In Tantra Yoga, sexual energy is discovered, transmutated and sublimated to allow the individual to reach high states of consciousness leading to perfect communion with the Universal Consciousness. ..

..In Tantra women are considered sacred and adored as such: they are the expression of the Divine on Earth. Knowing certain secrets of their own nature makes each woman irresistibly attractive: beyond her physical appearance she emanates joy, vitality, and sensuality.

Misogyny In India https://davidcharlesmanners.wordpress.com/2014/06/12/indias-misogyny/

all this is anathema to keepers of the Shaiva Tantra tradition of the foothills of the Kanchenjunga, where a man who raises his voice in disrespect of any woman is required to undertake a day-long fast in reparation, and the house in which a woman resides is considered worthy of the same honour as any temple.

In the unequivocal words of the Kaulavalinirnaya Tantra:

Respect and consideration for women mark the very foundations [of the Tradition]. All women are to be looked upon as manifestations of the Great Mother. An offending woman should not be beaten even with flowers. A woman of any age, even a girl, or even an uncouth woman, should be bidden a respectful farewell after salutation. (Chapter X)

[That article lacks the historical perspectives which includes the British alignment with the Brahmins and encouragement of the caste system, but points out that there are still areas of India that practice Shaiva Tantra.]

think- ago

.Tantra i-s from ´3India.

Yes, it started in Hinduism, and then was embraced by Buddhism as well.

Interesting info about the shiva tantra tradition, thank you.

letsdothis3 ago

I'm more aware of the Indian line. So I was interested to see this: The Dangers of Buddhist Tantra: Power Struggles, Faulty Gurus and Alternatives

The Vajrayana school of Buddhism is one of the latest to evolve within the various Buddhist schools of thought. Founded in the late the 8th century by a figurehead named Padmasambhava, this sect involves practices of Tantra that bear a great similarity to the Tantric practices found in Hinduism. While Tantra has developed a modern-day reputation for being merely sordid sexual practices, there is a vast array of practices that largely fall under two main categories: the right-handed path (dakṣiṇāmārga) and the left-handed path (vāmāmārga). The right-handed path generally follows a method of substitution and visualization for some of the more esoteric and radical practices of Tantra, including meat eating, consuming alcohol and sexual union. However, the left-handed path tends to engage in these practices viscerally and literally, and often within the relationship between a teacher and a guru (Young web).

As a means of self-realization, the practices of Tantra within Vajrayana Buddhism are generally taught by a qualified teacher to interested students. However, because these practices often involve sensitive activities that take place between the guru and student, the question of appropriateness and respect within these sacred dynamics is a critical one to ask. In the case of Yeshe Tsogyal, female student of Padmasambhava, we find tales of abuse, rape, an arranged marriage, and even an arranged relationship to her guru, Padmasambhava....

The popularity of Eastern practices, such as yoga and Buddhism (both of which include methods of Tantra), has skyrocketed in recent years and was fueled by the arrival of a few key teachers of various Eastern lineages to Western shores. One notable teacher of Vajrayana Buddhism escaped the horror of Tibet to arrive on Western shores in the 1960’s. Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche is probably the most notorious of Buddhist teachers and his movement and school in Boulder (Naropa University) can arguably be seen as the foundation of Buddhism on American soil (Demetrakas film).

Stripping the Gurus http://www.strippingthegurus.com/stgsamplechapters/trungpa.html

CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA, BORN IN 1939, is the first of the “crazy wisdom” masters whose effect on North American spirituality we will be considering....

Having been enthroned in Tibet as heir to the lineages of Milarepa and Padmasambhava, Trungpa left the country for India in 1959, fleeing the Chinese Communist takeover. There, by appointment of the Dalai Lama, he served as the spiritual advisor for the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie, until 1963 (Shambhala, 2003).

From India Chögyam went to England, studying comparative religion and psychology at Oxford University. (A later student of Trungpa’s, Al Santoli, “suggests that the CIA may have had a hand in getting the eleventh Trungpa into Oxford” [Clark, 1980].)...

think- ago

“suggests that the CIA may have had a hand in getting the eleventh Trungpa into Oxford”

I don't doubt it.

letsdothis3 ago

So, the Buddhism Tantra from someone like that has been corrupted. Looking into this has helped me understand the attitudes to Tantra that I see on this board.

think- ago

Yes. I'm glad I heard about a Tantra tradition that seems to be still rooted in the initial Hindu tradition, and really appreciates women.