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TRAIL-BLAZING FEMINIST AND WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT LEADER, GLORIA STEINEM PASSES AWAY AGED 92 YEARS
“The Truth will p** you off but first it will set you free.” “We’ve begun to raise daughters more like sons… but few have the courage to raise our sons more like our daughters.” “Being nuns is excellent. We need women to be able to choose whether to have one child or four children. And…
NATURAL DISASTERS, THE ENVIRONMENT AND KILLING AND EATING ANIMALS (17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s 2021 teaching and message about the Nepal-Tibet tragedy)
“I would like to ask everyone to do whatever you can to preserve and protect the environment so that we can prevent any future disasters.” –17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (August 2026) 17th Karmapa’s statement about the environment and natural disasters Yesterday the 17th Karmapa Facebook page posted a short and moving message in English,…
CRUEL MONKS III: Buddhist #metoo, monastic mis-use of tantra to extract the “life-essence” from women’s subtle mind-bodies, patriarchal monastic power and privilege and child abusive Dob Dob culture, a Jekyll and Hyde “porn and F-Boy” culture and the question whether women should be participating in such cultures/institutions
“The time has come for Buddhist women, together with male allies who genuinely support equality and respect for women, to reconsider where they place their devotion, labour, money, public endorsement and trust. A monk’s robes are not proof of realisation, compassion, courage or even ordinary decency. A prestigious title does not transform bullying into enlightened…
The Development of the Other Early Buddhist Sub-Schools according to the Northern and Southern Tradition transmissions (17th Karmapa, Day 6, Summer 2026)
Introductory Summary On Day 6 out of eight days of the Summer Mar-Ngog 2026 teachings (which have now finished), the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa continued with his detailed research on the history of Buddhism, after the Buddha’s parinirvana by focusing on the split of the other main group, Sthaviravada into sub-schools. Here is a summary of…
AN UNDISTURBED YOGIC RE-UNION OF MOTHER AND CHILD LUMINOSITY: A moving aspiration and final written offering for the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa from personal debate and philosophy tutor, Geshe Rinchen Ngodrub before his recent passing in Hong Kong (8 August 2026)
“Supreme being with whom heart and mind is merged, Created from billion-fold merit, Karmapa, When the stages of dissolution of dying begins, By the power of severing harm, may the yogic union be undisturbed.” It was announced on social media Facebook page of 17th Karmapa yesterday that the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa wanted to share a…
CRUEL MONKS (II): Monastics slandering, insulting, harming or trying divide laywomen in their communities and what the Buddha taught about repairing it
“When such behaviour happens repeatedly—particularly among senior monk teachers, who frankly should know and behave better—a layperson is permitted to make a formal “proclamation of no confidence” in a monk who behaves in this way, whoever that monk may be.” Personal Experience: Insults by Monastics During my time as a Buddhist follower, scholar and practitioner,…
NEW ORAL COMMENTARY VIDEO: “Concise Long-Life Aspiration to the Upholders of the Karma Kagyu” by 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje (video clip Tibetan with English subtitles)
“The final, third verse is about individuals who preserve and spread the teachings of the Buddha, they are not necessarily people who sit on high thrones. They are people who have genuine altruistic feelings towards the teachings and who serve the teachings. And from that they become holders of the teachings who uphold and expand…
Concise Long-Life Aspiration for Master-Disciples Upholders of the Karma Kagyu teachings, by 17th Gyalwang Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje: An oral transmission and commentary, with English translation
“This concise prayer for the holders of the Kamtsang lineage has three verses. Of the three, regarding the first verse, one day in 2020, I had a dream and I saw something written on a text. So, when I woke up, I remembered it clearly. I then wrote it down and kept it. At that…
CRUEL MONKS (I): A PATTERN OF COWARDICE, CRUELTY, ABUSE AND UNACCOUNTABILITY IN PALPUNG BUDDHIST CENTRES. The case of Palpung Thubten Choling and Lama Norlha, and Ongoing Unresolved Allegations, No Contact, Refusal to Investigate, and Vexatious Harassing Court cases involving Senior Monk teachers
“Palpung Thubten Choling monastery, formerly known as Kagyu Thubten Choling (KTC), faced allegations of a four-decade pattern of sexual assault by Lama Norlha Rinpoche. Lama Norlha, who founded KTC in Wappingers Falls, New York State, died in 2018. The lawsuit, filed in federal court by three women in 2023, highlights a series of alleged abuses…
“THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THORNS AND ROOTS ON A GREAT BANYAN TREE”, “DISGUISED MONKS”, THE MEANING OF NIKĀYA: Southern/Sri Lankan traditions explanations of the Original Split of the Buddhist community into two schools, criticism of the largest school, the Third Council, Difference between Black Ashoka and Maurya Ashoka (17th Karmapa, Day 5, Mar-Ngog teachings (2026)
“The genuine Arhat/Elders’ School is like a great “banyan tree” (Mahānigrodha) with a strong root and spread leaves, while the other seventeen schools that branched out from the Elders’ School or the Great School are like “thorns” (Kantaka) that grew from the tree trunk.” “Today, when we talk about a school (Nikāya), we may mean…
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