Today, I and others were very fortunate to be present at HE 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche’s empowerment of the five-deity Green Tārā (one of the five sets of five of 1st Karmapa, Dusum Khyenpa) at Tergar Monastery, Bodh Gaya, India.
I wrote about this Tārā practice and origin in 2022, and did a translation of the sadhana (available on request) here. I will write more about this practice again soon, as the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa has just published his own masterpiece of original research in Tibetan on the five deity Tārā sadhana, which I will write about and share with other devotees.
Today’s empowerment was a much smaller event than the Kagyu Monlam 2025, and so more ‘intimate’ in terms of physical location and space. The 12th Gyaltsab Rinpoche did not give any teaching beforehand and the empowerment itself was very brief.
However, as per usual, the number of photographers was high. All men with long range professional cameras taking photos constantly, even during the empowerment itself, to swiftly put on social media, like Facebook and Instagram.
I can understand people unable to attend may want to see a few photos of the event and Rinpoche there. However, call me ‘old-school’ fashioned, but the constant clicking, I find not only an invasion of personal privacy, (they never ask if they can take your photo nor if they can publish it on social media either). But also, even more worrying, their constant clicking interrupts the flow and sacredness of the sacred space and flow of the empowerment itself!
For example, there have been many occasions during empowerments I have attended over the past few years, when I have been deep in meditation and visualisation only to be distracted and open my eyes to see a photographer pointing and clicking their camera lens in my direction. Not everyone wants to see their photo on Facebook at these events!
Use of photography and FB to bully and shame female devotees
The worst incident (for me) was during the Siliguri Jamyang Khyentse empowerments of Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche in 2020 (before the COVID lockdown), where a close up photo (published on FB) was surreptitiously taken of me during an empowerment itself, and had been made to look as ugly and unattractive at possible. I knew there was some kind of ‘malicious intent’ behind it when the very same photo was then used on an anonymous online Change.org petition (since removed) created by anonymous people within the Tibetan Buddhist community to attack me personally as a survivor who had called out abusive conduct of well-known Rinpoche, using sexist, misogynist and ageist words like ugly, slut, old etc. and asking everyone to ensure I be banned from attending any future events and from monasteries. It was a clear misuse and abuse of photographs taken without women’s permission at such sacred Vajrayana events to attack and bully survivors and women anonymously online too.
This is a section of their anonymous online petition, which was clearly created by people who wanted revenge/retaliation for my speaking out as a survivor of abuse and dishonesty and requesting accountability and investigation of it on a petition. Whoever wrote it remains a mystery but it also shows a lot about their psychological state, level of intelligence and total lack of love and compassion and respect for a Buddhist female translator-scholar-practitioner too. Who ever knew one woman could pose such a huge threat to the Buddha Dharma?! ha ha ha Have to laugh or would cry. For the record, I was never banned from any monastery or Vajrayana event, or kicked out of Gyaltsab Rinpoche’s events, then or now. The only monastery/centre that ever happened was Benchen Monastery after I complained about their main teacher there, Sangye Nyenpa.
It was not a coincidence, that I read a post yesterday by an anonymous person in a FB group about Tibetan Buddhism (which has since been removed), using photos of unnamed white women (without their permission) to attack them for looking ugly, or wearing make-up etc. Were there any attacks on men at these Vajrayana events for their physical appearance? No. [1]
What happened to mind-to-mind, private transmission of secret mantra?
I asked an elderly Tibetan man sitting next to me who was from Kham if there used to be photographs taken at such events previously when he was younger, and he replied they did not. So my question here is why is there so much need and clamour to put so many photos of empowerments and transmissions on social media? At a Kangyur transmission done recently in Nepal, the monastery’s social media admins were uploading over one hundred photos daily of people offering mandalas or just sitting there. Is it just me, or does anyone else find it a gross invasion of personal privacy and of the sacred empowerments of Vajrayana? And is this what Buddhist monastics are meant to be spending most of their time doing anyway, uploading social media posts to promote their monastery and guru?
For a recent article on the (mis-) use of mass empowerments to masses of unqualified people as entertainment, social and political spectacles, since the time of the 9th Panchen Lama in Tibet with Kālacakra, see here and the origin and purpose of oral transmissions taught by 17th Karmapa, see here.
So to turn the tables a little respectfully, here are some photos of the photographers below, so one can get the picture (note the pun)!
With love and compassion and most of all respect, Adele Tomlin, 16th Ferbuary 2025.
Endnotes
[1] Should we be surprised that these sexist, misogynst attacks are happening when even in the Kagyu Marme Monlam 2018 concert women were chosen as ‘nameless’ MC presenters chosen only for youth and physical appearance in the Kagyu Office report?
I even received an email from a man called Sylvester Lohninger, who manages a Dharma centre in Austria associated with the Rinpoche, who suggested I was lying about my experience with hime because I wore make-up and used edits or filters on my photos. Seriously. The fact that he really thought that was a suitable reason to attack me and my testimony says a lot about how these people think, like in the dark, medieval ages!
Totally agree. Dharma as infinitely reproducible commodity begets its reduction. If you were there, great, and if you weren’t, try to be respectful while preparing to be there in the future.