“Using banned, unlawful or anonymous content to justify an explicit blockade to an investigation represents an alarming escalation in institutional malpractice. When an official of Carlo Luyckx’s standing in the EBU relies on anonymous attacks or unsubstantiated materials to dismiss a female survivor or whistleblower, it transforms a bureaucratic refusal into active defamation and structural gaslighting. This maneuver violates core principles of modern secular governance, non-profit compliance and basic ethics in several ways.”
“Instead of vetting the sources, European administrators (including Carlo Luyckx and Titi Dolma) used these malicious, deorgatory anonymous online entries, blog posts (now GitHub repository) to construct their legal case and justify locking Tomlin, a respected Buddhist scholar-translator-practitioner and female survivor out of meeting or attending teachings with a guru she had a genuine and sincere spiritual connection with. But also to block any independent investigation or resolution of her valid safety and discrimination concerns when attending such events. The deep irony and malice in this strategy: unnamed behind the scenes administrators presented illegal, platform-banned cyberbullying material as legitimate/supporting proof of Tomlin’s “bad character” in institutional forums. By presenting these abusive internet logs to an Indian court and European centre staff, the administrators effectively institutionalized an anonymous and unlawful online smear campaign to execute a legal and administrative lockout. Equivalent to citing anonymous Reddit posts as “supporting evidence”, it beggars belief that people in such positions of responsibility could be so foolish and/or actively malicious.”
“Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”—Nazi propaganda chief, Joseph Goebbels
“The first casualty of war [a smear campaign] is truth.”
INTRODUCTION
Recently, one month after leaving India on 18th March 2026, after spending a month at Sherab Ling completing original research and translations, a vexatious and defamatory legal claim was filed against me in the name of Gyalton Rinpoche (20th April 2026). The case falsely portrays me as an aggressor in relation to conduct such as stalking, bullying, harassment and defamation — conduct which I allege has in fact been directed at me, both individually and collectively, by the same small group of people since May 2025. Laws that were designed to protect lone women like me from serious stalking and harassment, were actively misused to further bully and harass me and tie me down to a court case that could drag on for years (according to people familiar with such cases in India). If I do not contest it (which to me seems the best option), I am liable for their legal costs, and for contempt of court. I will write more fully about the case in due course [1].
Even though I attended teaching events in Indonesia with 12th Tai Situpa in January 2026, without any incidents, and the Sherab Ling Gutor and Losar events with full permission and inclusion, statements from about six people in Europe, Vietnam and Taiwan were hastily collected by Titi Dolma during February and March 2026. This was done (without my knowledge) while I was peacefully staying at Sherab Ling guesthouse, doing practice, and conducting research and attending events in the presence of Gyalton Rinpoche and Tai Situpa. Much of the material consists of hearsay, personal opinion, and allegations concerning events outside India that allegedly occurred more than nine months earlier. For that reason, most of their evidence is false, possibly fraudulent, legally weak and inadmissible. I was given access to written statements from several of the same people whom I reported in October 2025, participated in a hostile smear campaign (over trivial incidents) intended to disrupt and block my attendance at Gyalton Rinpoche’s teachings in Asia and Europe 2025, and later at Sherab Ling guesthouse in India.
The most shocking aspect of the case, however, is its reliance on anonymous, derogatory online content (published since April 2025, now on Github and Youtube) to justify the hostility and discriminatory exclusion directed at me. This is material I have already written about elsewhere: content that had previously been removed from WordPress and Blogspot following legal review, and geo-blocked in the United Kingdom. Relying on such material is comparable to citing anonymous Reddit-style gossip as legal evidence.
The emails from Carlo Luyckx are particularly troubling and in the public interest to expose. He openly cites this discredited and unlawful online content not only to repeat false and defamatory claims, but also to assist in a broader character assassination of me, thereby deflecting attention from proper inquiry into the incidents in Europe in 2025 and the alleged misconduct of Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche.
Below I report on these emails from Carlo Luyckx
19th January 2026 email to Titi Dolma, Palpung Dharma Chakra and others citing an anonymous, false, derogatory Github content website as “research” to support his character assassination and blocking of investigation
I first met Carlo when I was an invited guest speaker at the international Vesak Day May 2025 in Vietnam. He attended the session I spoke in as an audience member. We got on quite well and shared Whatsapp numbers and communicated occasionally on it. I had no idea then he was connected to Sangye Nyenpa, but we did share that we both followed the 17th Karmapa. I have no personal ill-will towards Carlo. However, I was deeply saddened that someone I had regarded as friendly, intelligent, and a fellow Buddhist follower of the 17th Karmapa would participate, behind my back, in spreading derogatory and harmful claims about me in order to damage and ruin my character, work and reputation and block access to due process, protection and care in such matters.
After the defamation, discrimination, bullying and harassment I experienced from a few individuals in Europe from July-to September 2025, I contacted Carlos on Whatsapp, and other EBU staff via email to report the incidents and request EBU investigation. Carlos replied that he was unable to get involved because he had a student-teacher connection with Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche [1], and so could not remain neutral or objective. Then, I realised Carlos was not someone I could trust or rely on for support or help.
However, I did not realise the extent of the negligence and failure of a duty of care by Carlo (and others at the EBU). This was revealed in a recently disclosed email of 19 January 2026, by Carlo Lucyx, which was sent to various people (including Titi Dolma, the main instigator).
To back up his false and deliberately harmful statements in his email (see below) to administrators of the Palpung, Bodhicarya and other Karma Kagyu centres, Carlo cites the anonymously authored Github repository as “research” or “evidence” and actively defames (and harms) me by sharing its false claims:
- Falsely suggests my legal name is not Adele Tomlin.
- Cites my use of Yangdak Drolkar as evidence of lying about my legal name. Yet, unbeknown to Carlo, that name is one of two names the 17th Gyalwang Karmapa personally bestowed to me during a refuge ceremony years before.
- Falsely states that more than one person is creating the work and content of Dakini Translations.
- Suggests I have falsely claimed to be a barrister.
- Falsely states I am not a genuine follower of the 17th Karmapa and have been defaming him.
- Falsely states I may be funded to slander the 14th Dalai Lama, and that is the main target of my work.
All of this was done without any objective or substantive evidence, relying instead on an anonymous and unlawful GitHub repository and YouTube channel as his principal sources of support.
Carlo’s personal hostility and wish to protect teachers and administrators from accountability from wrongdoing, also appears to have led him to disregard, whether consciously or deliberately, more than twenty years of my life, commitment and work: leaving behind my life and relationships in London from 2006 onwards in order to follow the 17th Karmapa in India, Asia and Europe, and giving hundreds of voluntary hours and personal funds over many years to attend, promote, translate, transcribe and praise the 17th Karmapa’s activities and teachings.
Rather than acknowledge any of this, Carlo chose to align himself with an anonymous, malicious and derogatory online campaign whose clear purpose, since April 2025, has been to denigrate, harass, bully and defame me. That choice says a great deal about Carlo, and about those who have chosen to rely on such material.
Carlo’s second email: 2nd April 2026 and failure to declare his personal interest and connection with Sangye Nyenpa
Carlo also failed to disclose his clear conflict of interest in relation to the Sangye Nyenpa matter. In a prior WhatsApp message, he told me that he could not become involved in the Benchen complaint because of his Vajrayana connection with Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche. Yet in his later email, he states that “President Bettera and myself” had decided that my complaints were unfounded — apparently in my absence, without any proper investigation, discussion, or right of reply.
He also relied on anonymous online material while indicating that they had decided to block any further response to my complaints, including those concerning Sangye Nyenpa. This raises serious concerns about bias, lack of due process, and a failure to handle grave allegations with the impartiality and care they required.
That people acting in this way call themselves Buddhists is deeply troubling. Their conduct shows a serious lack of kindness, honesty, reliability, and basic procedural fairness in dealing with matters of such seriousness in the spiritual world. These emails provide clear evidence of ill will, defamation, discrimination, and Carlo’s incompetence to speak responsibly about me, or about matters concerning women such as myself, whether within the EBU or outside it.
Belgian legal advice on the matter: defamation and procedural failures by Carlo Lucykx/ EBU in not conducting appropriate and objective investigations
Endnotes
Hi Adele,
So this is the person behind the GitHub account? I reported the page for defamation. I’m very sorry that you’re being targeted this way. Sometimes it seems like people have far too much time on their hands. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t personally comfortable with the Karmapa erotic audio/video content or the blending of personal erotic expression with your translation work. If it were me, I would probably keep my academic and translation work separate from my personal artistic or sexual expression. That said, what you choose to create and share publicly is entirely your decision.
Regardless, I don’t believe any of that justifies the level of hostility, retaliation, or personal attacks you’ve received. Calling you a demon, suggesting you should be banned, and engaging in this kind of harassment is deeply unkind. Unfortunately, I know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that kind of treatment. People in both religious and political communities often hold very black-and-white views of ideologies and of one another. This tradition still seems unable to tolerate ethical nuance, where someone can appreciate aspects of a tradition while also asking for accountability or change. Too often, any woman who speaks openly about being harmed is dismissed as a troublemaker, a demon, or someone destined for hell.
It’s an archaic response, tediously familiar, and ultimately reveals more about the people making those accusations than the person they’re targeting. If anything, it suggests that you’re getting under their skin. My advice would be not to give them the power to get under yours. I’m sorry this is happening to you.
Thank you for your kind and supportive comments. The identity of the author behind the GitHub account and its accompanying YouTube (@pestcontrol) channel remains unknown, hopefully they wil be identified soon.
My personal artistic expression is entirely consistent with my experience as a woman within Vajrayana. Puritanical, and often hypocritical, judgments about such expression — particularly from envious, competitive, or morally censorious men and women — are best avoided. After all, many of the sacred artworks and statues to which these same people offer devotion depict naked female forms in states of bliss. The state of great bliss itself is traditionally compared to the full orgasmic bliss of a woman. Monastics have no right to tell laypeople how to express themselves artistically or personally. They should focus on keeping monastic vows and Vinaya rules. In particular, not constantly breaching Vinaya by eating slaughtered animals as a personal choice. If anything is obscene, vulgar and in breach of universally held Buddhist ethics and principles, it is monastics eating murdered animals.
As you rightly say, whether or not one personally likes such expressions of a woman’s creativity, devotion, and bliss, there is nothing unlawful, obscene, or pornographic about them. They certainly do not justify active slander, discrimination, bullying, dishonesty, or legal action by anonymous or unnamed administrators acting behind the scenes and in my absence. As you say, such conduct is deeply unkind and unethical.
Such a response is archaic and misogynistic. Sadly, those involved appear to be following the example of male-privileged, monk-led institutions that publicly present themselves as pure, honest, and ethical, while privately engaging in various forms of online sexual activity and conduct with women which they then seek to hide or cover up. The hypocrisy is becoming increasingly clear, as is the way it is used to bully and silence whistleblowers who call it out.
The serious legal action they have taken against me, and the money demanded from me in connection with that unlawful and vexatious action, says far more than merely that I have “got under their skin.” It reveals fear, hostility, and self-loathing — not only towards a lone woman, but towards truth, wisdom, and one of the most important Vajrayana root commitments: not to denigrate women, either individually or as a group.
The fact that Buddhist women, whether as administrators or followers, have been drawn into this male-privileged collusion and the denigration of another Buddhist woman is deeply disturbing and profoundly unethical, particularly within a Vajrayana context. These men know this, and yet no one seems willing to call it out publicly.
This is why I continue to write about my own experiences: in the hope that doing so may help bring about change, protect others, and inspire more people to speak openly rather than tolerate what is unlawful, cruel, and misogynistic in the name of “samaya.” The root of all samaya is love and compassion — not blind devotion to a teacher or institution acting unethically, dishonestly, and without genuine love or compassion. May my autobiographical reports of these experiences, bring about change, protection and inspiration to do more and be better practitioners of Buddha Dharma.