A SHINING MASS OF DHARMA: Je Tāranātha’s Collected Works (Sung-bum) website and his works/instructions within Jonang, Shangpa Kagyu, Kālacakra, Cākrasamvara, Tārā lineages and more

Introduction The Collected Works of the Jonang and Shangpa Kagyu lineage holder and master, Je Tāranātha is one of the biggest and influential in the Tibetan Buddhist canon from a single author, with 23 Volumes of around 370 texts (in the Dzamthang edition).  A couple of years ago, in May 2023, I created and launched… Continue reading A SHINING MASS OF DHARMA: Je Tāranātha’s Collected Works (Sung-bum) website and his works/instructions within Jonang, Shangpa Kagyu, Kālacakra, Cākrasamvara, Tārā lineages and more

FULL ORDINATION OF NUNS IN BHUTAN 2025 (Part IV): Report on full ordination of nuns in Bhutan by 70th Je Khenpo, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s previous initiatives, meeting Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo in Bhutan, and why it is so important for the “health” and future of the Buddhist community

“The inclusion of nuns’ ordination in the Global Peace Prayer events is especially significant because I believe women inherently bring peace. They have never been the creators of war throughout history.” --Dr. Zangmo, Bhutan Nuns Foundation, 2025. "We would like to start the process of reviving the bhikshuni ordination next year—first within the Kagyu lineage.… Continue reading FULL ORDINATION OF NUNS IN BHUTAN 2025 (Part IV): Report on full ordination of nuns in Bhutan by 70th Je Khenpo, the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa’s previous initiatives, meeting Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo in Bhutan, and why it is so important for the “health” and future of the Buddhist community

ARE ANIMALS PROTECTED IN BUDDHIST BHUTAN? Report on veganism and protecting animals and the environment in Bhutan, the outsourcing of slaughter to India, and the remarkable activities of Chatrel Rinpoche’s student, Lama Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche with the first vegan monastery in Bhutan, and the “Jangsa Animal Saving Trust (Bhutan III)

"Even at the cost of your own life, you must never kill other beings. Both evil human leaders filled with great pride And the evil caste of hunters chased by their own karma Will misunderstand this even if it is explained most properly and most clearly. He who has taken the Bodhisattva Vows, Has shame… Continue reading ARE ANIMALS PROTECTED IN BUDDHIST BHUTAN? Report on veganism and protecting animals and the environment in Bhutan, the outsourcing of slaughter to India, and the remarkable activities of Chatrel Rinpoche’s student, Lama Kunzang Dorje Rinpoche with the first vegan monastery in Bhutan, and the “Jangsa Animal Saving Trust (Bhutan III)

SCARLET SIREN WITH THE SQUEALING SOW’S HEAD: Who is Vajravārāhi? Name, symbols and meaning of the Highest Yoga Tantra’s “ferociously blissful” red female deity with sow’s head

"Mother of all the Victors, endowed with all supreme aspects, The 'face' of Vajravārāhi, symbolising the signs and meaning With the certain knowing from seeing self-awareness itself May the primordial wisdom vajra descend here now!"--tr. Adele Tomlin (2020) རྒྱལ་ཀུན་སྐྱེད་ཡུམ་རྣམ་ཀུན་མཆོག་ལྡན་པའི། བརྡ་དོན་རྟགས་ཀྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོའི་ཞལ། རང་རིག་ཉིད་དུ་མཐོང་བའི་ངེས་ཤེས་ཀྱིས། རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྟེན་འདིར་དབབ་དུ་གསོལ། A Vajravārāhi/Dorje Phagmo artwork gift from a living incarnation of Dorje Phagmo in… Continue reading SCARLET SIREN WITH THE SQUEALING SOW’S HEAD: Who is Vajravārāhi? Name, symbols and meaning of the Highest Yoga Tantra’s “ferociously blissful” red female deity with sow’s head

BUDDHA’S BONE RELICS IN BHUTAN: A Buddhist “friendship” loan from India to Bhutan, the historical background of the relics, and a personal report of visiting the stunning exhibit at Tashichodzong, Thimphu 2025 (Bhutan Part III)

“After Mahākāśyapa had seen the Buddha’s remains the pyre self-ignited. The people there had tried to ignite the remains several times but had been unable to do so. Now, the remains naturally ignited themselves.” “This third nirvana is called the “final nirvana of the relics.” Until that time, the relics of the Buddha are to… Continue reading BUDDHA’S BONE RELICS IN BHUTAN: A Buddhist “friendship” loan from India to Bhutan, the historical background of the relics, and a personal report of visiting the stunning exhibit at Tashichodzong, Thimphu 2025 (Bhutan Part III)

“AS HUGE AS A UNIVERSE AND AS SMALL AS AN ATOM”: THE MAGNIFICENT KĀLĀCAKRA DEITY IN BHUTAN 2025 (PART II): A symbol of global peace, but also a divine message from Kālacakra deity and restoring it to non-sectarianism and original lineages, personal experiences/travels from Loy Krathong, Bangkok to Thimphu, and excerpts and transcript of HH Je Khenpo’s profound instructions on Kālacakra, Secret Mantra and more (Day One)

"Why does Kālacakra appear as blue? The blue colour is a symbol and represents the unchanging nature, or reality. For example, it is like how the sky appears blue, even though its true nature is unchanging and colourless. So then the nature of the outer world, the physical environment, the nature of the inner world,… Continue reading “AS HUGE AS A UNIVERSE AND AS SMALL AS AN ATOM”: THE MAGNIFICENT KĀLĀCAKRA DEITY IN BHUTAN 2025 (PART II): A symbol of global peace, but also a divine message from Kālacakra deity and restoring it to non-sectarianism and original lineages, personal experiences/travels from Loy Krathong, Bangkok to Thimphu, and excerpts and transcript of HH Je Khenpo’s profound instructions on Kālacakra, Secret Mantra and more (Day One)

SEEING VAJRAVĀRĀHI IN KĀLACAKRA (BHUTAN KĀLACAKRA 2025: PART I): The first mass Kālacakra empowerment in Bhutan by HH Je Khenpo, the Vajravārāhi/Abhayākaragupta tradition of the Vajrāvalī (Dorje Threngwa, Vajra Garland) Kālacakra, and spontaneous meeting, blessings and “priceless” auspicious gifts from Dorje Phagmo Khandro tulku in Bhutan 2025

"Mother of all the Victors, endowed with all supreme aspects,The 'face' of Vajravārāhi, symbolising the signs and meaningWith the certain knowing from seeing self-awareness itselfMay the primordial wisdom vajra descend here now!" (Tr. Adele Tomlin (2020)) རྒྱལ་ཀུན་སྐྱེད་ཡུམ་རྣམ་ཀུན་མཆོག་ལྡན་པའི། བརྡ་དོན་རྟགས་ཀྱི་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཕག་མོའི་ཞལ།རང་རིག་ཉིད་དུ་མཐོང་བའི་ངེས་ཤེས་ཀྱིས། རྡོ་རྗེའི་ཡེ་ཤེས་རྟེན་འདིར་དབབ་དུ་གསོལ།  "Because he had recited the mantra of Vajrayogini in his former life, in this life Vajrayogini… Continue reading SEEING VAJRAVĀRĀHI IN KĀLACAKRA (BHUTAN KĀLACAKRA 2025: PART I): The first mass Kālacakra empowerment in Bhutan by HH Je Khenpo, the Vajravārāhi/Abhayākaragupta tradition of the Vajrāvalī (Dorje Threngwa, Vajra Garland) Kālacakra, and spontaneous meeting, blessings and “priceless” auspicious gifts from Dorje Phagmo Khandro tulku in Bhutan 2025

REMEMBERING THE DAY BUDDHA DESCENDED FROM THE HEAVENLY REALMS (LHA-BAB DUCHEN): Buddha’s mother, Queen Māya and his devoted student, Utpalavarṇā

Today on the 22nd day of the ninth month of the Lunar calendar is Lha-bab Duchen, one of the most important days in the Buddhist calendar, the grand celebration of Buddha's Lha (divine) bab (descent), marking the descent of the Buddha from the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven (the Heaven belonging to the thirty-three deities). According to sources… Continue reading REMEMBERING THE DAY BUDDHA DESCENDED FROM THE HEAVENLY REALMS (LHA-BAB DUCHEN): Buddha’s mother, Queen Māya and his devoted student, Utpalavarṇā

NOT SO “HOLY ISLE”? TRAGIC TALES OF REPORTED (AND ENABLED) BULLYING AND SEXUAL MISCONDUCT TOWARDS WOMEN AT SAMYE LING UK BUDDHIST CENTRES THAT ENDED IN PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM, ATTEMPTED SUICIDES AND MURDER: Several prior complaints from women regarding Drupon Karma Lhabu, Katen Lama and other teachers at Samye Ling and Holy Isle women’s retreat, including assaults by the man who went on to murder of HE Akong Rinpoche

"If you think having uncomfortable conversations is difficult, wait until you see the results of NOT having them." "The guru whom we should consider to be so important, is not just anyone who’s given the name guru/lama. It is not someone who is famous in the world as being a great lama. It’s something you… Continue reading NOT SO “HOLY ISLE”? TRAGIC TALES OF REPORTED (AND ENABLED) BULLYING AND SEXUAL MISCONDUCT TOWARDS WOMEN AT SAMYE LING UK BUDDHIST CENTRES THAT ENDED IN PHYSICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL HARM, ATTEMPTED SUICIDES AND MURDER: Several prior complaints from women regarding Drupon Karma Lhabu, Katen Lama and other teachers at Samye Ling and Holy Isle women’s retreat, including assaults by the man who went on to murder of HE Akong Rinpoche

《并非真正的“圣岛”:英国噶举派桑耶林佛教中心发生多起针对女性的欺凌和性骚扰事件,其中多因纵容酿成悲剧,最终导致女性身心受到残害,甚至引发自杀和谋杀,涉事者包括主奔堪仁波切噶玛拉布、卡登喇嘛等人(含杀害阿贡仁波切的凶手)》(Chinese title)

Here is a Chinese translation of the Holy Isle Samye Ling survivors' allegations article, originally published in English here. Translation by a Chinese-speaking reader of the website. “如果你觉得进行令人不舒服的对话很难,那就等着瞧若不进行这些对话的后果吧。” “我们真正应该视为至高无上的上师,并非任何被冠以‘上师’或‘喇嘛’之名的人,也并非世人皆知的伟大喇嘛。这需要你用自己的智慧去观察和检验。你需要了解他们的背景,才能判断他们是否良善。你需要真正磨练自己的理解力,达到相应的境界。这才是我们所称的上师。你不应该仅仅因为有人自称上师就去追随他们。”——第十七世噶玛巴尊者(2024年) “有三样东西无法长久隐藏:太阳、月亮和真相。”。 一、引言 最近有一位英国女性自杀,之后,我从可靠的渠道(例如来自桑耶林寺和桑耶宗寺的前闭关修行者、居民或志愿者)获得了更多关于此前针对主奔噶玛拉布(又名主奔堪仁波切)、卡登喇嘛以及其他与桑耶林寺有关的上师(或身居要职的男性僧侣)的投诉详情。本文将介绍这些过去的事件,以及列出了相关记录。 这些投诉已送交援助机构、桑耶林或桑耶宗的受托人及常驻喇嘛藏摩,并已报警。据其中一名女性所述,她被告知自己遭到了犯罪行为。投诉内容包括性骚扰、性侵犯或胁迫、“非法拘禁”(即拒绝允许人们因紧急情况离开闭关,例如就医或因精神崩溃)、情感霸凌、强迫签署保密协议、拒绝为遭受身体疼痛或重病的人提供适当帮助,等等。据报道,一些女性因上述原因要求离开闭关,却遭到威胁,有人骂她们会下地狱,甚至在她们哭泣时充满恶意地面带微笑,并告诉她们会短命、身患重病,她们的家人也会因此丧命或生病。据报道,相关的闭关负责人、尼姑喇嘛仁钦也不愿允许受害女性离开闭关状态。 尤其令人费解的是,有指控称,有人持续(且并非出于爱或善意)滥用密宗仪式,强迫伴侣在未经适当同意或出于虔诚心,甚至上师或伴侣不具备此类关系所需资格的情况下,进行“微妙的能量结合”。另有报道称,目前在尼泊尔的静修中心,人们进入该中心前会被没收护照。 另须澄清,受害女性在达成某种法律和解后并未收到任何“封口费”,而是因为桑耶林信托人(及管理人员)完全没有对她们的投诉采取任何行动,也没有启动独立客观的调查,所以才导致她们保持沉默。此外,有消息称,圣岛静修中心目前也仍然没有为女性提供足够的保障措施。 二、认真考虑长期退出:在某些情况下,是否需要启动合理(且公平)的筛选程序及设置“退出条款”? 一方面,为了保证报告的公正客观,在金刚乘的语境下,长期闭关修行被视为一件非常严肃的事情,不应草率对待。因此,一般来说,老师和闭关带领者都不希望学员因为“不再喜欢或享受”闭关、轻微的身体不适、情绪波动或受到其他伤害等原因而退出。因为这些情况可能会扰乱闭关的目的,影响其他学员的心情。而闭关的最终目的,正是以爱与慈悲为基础,去“摧毁自我”。我了解到,参加长期闭关需要花费16000英镑(尽管有些人的背后有赞助者),这无疑是一笔巨大的经济投入,但这其中似乎并没有对闭关者的心理或生理健康进行任何实质性的事先筛选(除了由医生进行一次简短的体检),也没有经由噶玛拉布和其他喇嘛对参与者是否适合参加这类封闭式长期闭关进行彻底的事先审查工作。 然而,即便如此,另一方面,当一位男性上师的行为违背了对待女性的正常伦理,违反了佛教的主要戒律,并且似乎在以女性不同意或不愿接受的方式强迫她们进行“结合”(例如缔结金刚乘的“伴侣关系”)来肆意欺凌和骚扰她们时,理应存在某种明确的“退出”条款。正如我之前所写,这种伴侣关系必须在完全同意、充满爱、慈悲、奉献和尊重的情况下进行,女性应被视为神圣的平等伙伴和智慧的源泉。事实上,当女性反对这种结合或“侵犯”时,她们会迅速遭到排斥、孤立和“妖魔化”,被视为坏人和“敌人”,而没有任何成熟、冷静的对话机制来消除误会或达成和解。   其中一位幸存者A告诉我,在未经她同意的情况下,噶玛拉布不断以“能量索取”为名强迫她性交,并告诉她,他“正在享受极乐的修行,以期在一生中获得觉悟”。但她感觉这不过是将女性当作满足自身性欲的工具。的确如此。任何男人,更何况是一位僧侣,竟然会认为以如此强迫、不尊重的方式将女性当作伴侣,是体验极乐或获得觉悟的途径,这真是令人悲哀,完全是愚昧且缺乏爱心之举! 事实上,根据我个人的经验,这种“强迫性的结合”与“神圣的男女能量结合”完全不同。 实际上,这些女性似乎在闭关之前都没有与噶玛拉布或卡登喇嘛有过任何深入的私人接触。如果她们有过这样的接触,她们就能更好地考察噶玛拉布,反之亦然,从而确保噶玛拉布(以及她们自己)都具备参加此类金刚乘闭关的条件,并且考验噶玛拉布是否是一位合格的金刚乘上师,以及是否具备她们所期望的上师品质(例如慈悲和爱)。在这种情况下,考察师徒关系至关重要,正如第十七世噶玛巴尊者最近对此进行的一些教导(Insert video of Karmapa's speech)。 总之,第十七世噶玛巴尊者无疑教导过我们:上师虐待生徒,然后声称这是玛尔巴-米拉日巴式的师徒关系,这种做法是完全不可接受的。玛尔巴-米拉日巴式的师徒关系非常独特且罕见,体现了生徒对上师的虔诚奉献以及对上师品德的考察等事项。此外,贬低或侮辱女性(或女性群体)是金刚乘的根本缺陷,强迫他人同意也是如此。瑜伽大师热琼巴甚至忍受过自己妻子的殴打,也没有生气或对她挥拳,正如第十七世噶玛巴尊者解释的那样,因为他说她是他的智慧明妃,他绝不应该对明妃生气或施加报复。 此前针对噶玛拉布、卡登喇嘛、肖恩·麦戈文、冈嘎喇嘛等人的所有投诉(据证人和投诉人称)似乎都被忽视和掩盖了数年,因为这些女性感到无力或不愿公开揭露此事,尤其是在她们遭到罗巴和桑耶林的负责人完全忽视和排斥之后。英国警方告诉其中一位女性,根据她的指控,有人违反了法律,他们将提起诉讼,但不知何故,苏格兰警方却表示,除非有更多证人,否则他们不会采取行动。然而,这些“罪行”往往没有目击证人,那么,为什么女性的第一手证词(以及与该女性相关的佐证行为)不被视为明显的初步证据呢?这确实令人不可思议。 一位曾多次反映这类严重问题的女修行者表示: “桑耶林组织内部存在着系统性的掩饰虐待行为,缺乏有效的政策和程序来确保修行者的安全与合法性。此外,受托人的身份以及他们对投诉的处理方式也存在严重的利益冲突。许多受害者遭到排斥,被迫离开桑耶林,仍常常被公开羞辱或指责。在所有已报告的案例中,他们都遭受了来自桑耶林组织内部其他人员的虐待,但这些虐待罪行都无一例外地被掩盖了。” 她和其他人都希望有关机构对所有申诉进行独立调查,并任命新的、独立的、客观的英国受托人来详查此事。 下一次在圣岛举行的为期一年的闭关静修活动将于2025年11月11日开始,但似乎在之前的投诉或英国女子被指控自杀之后,受托人至今尚未提供任何帮助或指导。 三、持续担忧噶玛拉布主导下静修活动中屡现欺凌、保密协议、错误监禁和其他不当行为 据我所知,第十七世噶玛巴尊者得知这些问题后,立即指示噶玛拉布停止在桑耶林传授灌顶(虽然此人之后仍继续在那里弘法,但我听说他停止了传授灌顶这个具体事务,此后多年也未再从事这项活动)。然而,一位女士却告诉我,噶玛拉布在私下里竟然驳斥了第十七世噶玛巴尊者的合理担忧,并辱骂尊者“太年轻、不懂事”。如果此事属实,那就意味着他必然冒犯了噶玛巴尊者,且违反了遵从第十七世噶玛巴尊者的戒律。 除此之外,据说即使在他目前身处尼泊尔的创古塞卡尔中心,他主持的闭关活动中,也存在着类似的欺凌和不当行为。该闭关中心今年早些时候公开宣布(可能是由于桑耶林寺女性的各种指控),他们将禁止任何“曾与任何老师有过三昧耶纠纷”的人参加活动,所有闭关者在进入闭关中心前都必须签署保密协议,并且他们的护照将遭到没收。… Continue reading 《并非真正的“圣岛”:英国噶举派桑耶林佛教中心发生多起针对女性的欺凌和性骚扰事件,其中多因纵容酿成悲剧,最终导致女性身心受到残害,甚至引发自杀和谋杀,涉事者包括主奔堪仁波切噶玛拉布、卡登喇嘛等人(含杀害阿贡仁波切的凶手)》(Chinese title)