Who is Dakini Translations? From London as scholarship barrister, and postgrad philosopher to Tibetan Buddhist studies in Asia, a lone woman driven by a love and passion for Buddha Dharma

Who and what is Dakini Translations? Today, in this informative post, for the “public record” so to speak (and to quash some anonymous, unsourced, false, malicious and defamatory content that has been circulating online for several months now [1]), here are a few pertinent facts:

1. I am an ex-barrister, who having completed Bar Finals, and a one year pupillage in London, was called to the Bar as a member of the Inner Temple and was even awarded the prestigious Duke of Edinburgh Entrance Inner Temple scholarship. This can all be verified with official documents, photos and testimonies. I am not a practising barrister now, and so no longer a member of Inner Temple.
2. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Law, and two Master’s degrees in Philosophy (King’s College, London, with a special commendation for my thesis by an Oxford University Professor “Definitions of Happiness”), and Tibetology (Hamburg), for which I was awarded the highest ranking from my supervisor, and eminent Prof. Dorji Wangchug.
3. I am the sole creator, author and editor of the Dakini Translations website and associated media, such as articles, reels, videos, photos and so on.  I am not a group of people ( even though that may be hard to fathom, it really is me producing all this!).
4.  The work is mainly self-funded and created voluntarily, non-profit. Unless it was a specifically funded project, such as Taranatha’s Collected Works, and Ashoka Grant funded Innate Kālacakra.  More recently,  there have been kind, generous sponsorship, donations and gifts from individual supporters who follow and enjoy reading my work.
5. I am not politically motivated or funded by any political interest groups. My historical research on Gelugpa sectarianism and Tibetan Buddhist history, is done in the continuing context of independent academic research. I am not the first or only scholar or researcher who writes about such matters, and these are cited as sources in my work on the topic.
6.  My motives for creating this website and work are due to my love and passion for the Buddha Dharma, the lack of women in the Buddhist translations field online, and wanting to use my skills to benefit and support my teachers, in particular the 17th Karmapa, sentient beings (including voiceless animals), and to make the Buddha Dharma accessible, contemporary, relevant, and interesting “alive” in a way which also preserves the academic rigour and original research elements.

Hope that is clear! For more on my academic background and studies, teachers, and motives, see this short video I made in 2022 on why I created Dakini Translations (apologies for the sound quality). For my personal website, see adeletomlin.com and for CV, read/download here.

Also this interview with Guru Viking (November 2022):

And with Olivia Clementine in:

Endnotes

[1] An anonymous person, who to put it mildly has a psychologically unhealthy obsession with making false and defamatory statements about me, in insulting and derogatory ways, calls me a “sex pest” compares me to a porn star or piece of excrement, and falsely suggests I am a group of people, or funded by political groups to conduct a slander campaign against the Dalai Lama, falsely claims to be acting in the public interest as an unnamed group, yet provides zero accountability,  and no substantive, independent or concrete evidence to back up what they say.

Their previous websites, that included my name as part of the URL, were removed by WordPress and Blogspot for breaching community guidelines on bullying and harassment, but they continue to post the content online, and on Youtube. I cannot get their identity revealed unless I file a court case. If anyone knows who this is, please PM me.

Even more disturbing, a few people are ignoring such ‘red flags’ of unreliable and maliciously motivated content, and even citing it to justify their own smear campaigns, false and defamatory actions, and enabling and cover-ups of abuse, to discredit my reputation as a scholar-translator and survivor of misconduct.  It is a clear example of how survivors who call out abuse or expose corruption are easily targeted online by anonymous people.

Here are just a few of many examples of the general tone and content referring to me as vermin, trash, excrement, a sex pest, prostitute and comparing me to a pornographic actresses. If what they say is so compelling, why the need to use such derogatory insults? Why the need to be anonymous? WordPress and Blogspot removed their content for bullying and harassment, so why are people citing it in communications about me?

In particular, the anonymous person does exactly what they accuse me of, cyberbullying, false and defamatory accusations, bullying and sexist and misogynist harassment of a woman and survivor. Out compassion, love and various other reasons, I did not “take the legal route” despite much evidence to prove my allegations, and the existence of other females who had complained about the same teacher. It also costs a lot of money and time to take cases to court, which I do not have. In addition, to take a case against a well-known religious figure, is often not successful, especially if the legal system (or lawyers) can be easily bribed and corrupted, or not sympathetic to female survivors.