Aro tradition,is it an IRL group?

[megaman chiquito]

I stumbled across a seemingly small Aro school of vajrayana. I was googling for attitudes towards meat eating in buddhist schools,and this Aro group holds that belief that "eaten animals become ones students in future lives". so they encourage students to eat different animals,as varied as possible.
Does anyone know if this group exists,and has a recognized tradition? Im willing to dwell further in studying it,as i personally believe eating an animal one raised himself,is a form of benefitting from a noble sacrifice(I oppose cruelty and hunting for fun,but i honestly hold this belief i mentioned )

[Johnny Dangerous]

I stumbled across a seemingly small Aro school of vajrayana. I was googling for attitudes towards meat eating in buddhist schools,and this Aro group holds that belief that "eaten animals become ones students in future lives". so they encourage students to eat different animals,as varied as possible.
Does anyone know if this group exists,and has a recognized tradition? Im willing to dwell further in studying it,as i personally believe eating an animal one raised himself,is a form of benefitting from a noble sacrifice(I oppose cruelty and hunting for fun,but i honestly hold this belief i mentioned )

They are a very controversial group, and I would take their teachings with a grain of salt, if I were you.

[Schrödinger’s Yidam]

They were once highly disparaged and ridiculed as inauthentic. Then they somehow rehabilitated their reputation, which isn’t easy to do. I don’t remember the details of how that all came about.

I personally don’t have an opinion about them one way or another. However even an organization with a good reputation and perfect credentials needs to be approached cautiously. Caveat emptor should be your motto.

[gelukman]

They were once highly disparaged and ridiculed as inauthentic. Then they somehow rehabilitated their reputation, which isn’t easy to do. I don’t remember the details of how that all came about.

They are active in facebook. They copy the pictures of high masters in their profiles and stories. Mix all these to their own pictures.
So those who do not know the dangers of this cult will believe it is genuine and authentic. Any small connections they make live
with genuine masters they will use as a propaganda tool hundreds times atleast in facebook.

[Bristollad]

They were once highly disparaged and ridiculed as inauthentic. Then they somehow rehabilitated their reputation, which isn’t easy to do. I don’t remember the details of how that all came about.

They are active in facebook. They copy the pictures of high masters in their profiles and stories. Mix all these to their own pictures.
So those who do not know the dangers of this cult will believe it is genuine and authentic. Any small connections they make live
with genuine masters they will use as a propaganda tool hundreds times atleast in facebook.

While they are not my cup of tea, I find them no more offensive than most folks. I've never been a part of it, but I was around some of the members in the early-mid '80s. Apart from the strange phenomenon of a Westerner wearing full Ngakpa regalia (at a Gelug centre, no less), they didn't particularly stand out for anything apart from their earnestness.

[PadmaVonSamba]

“Authentic” can mean a lot of different things in Buddhism, because ultimately for each of us, the authenticity comes down to each of us at the individual level. Each of us is on his or her own path, or her own trip, however you want to call it. Buddhism is authentic if it works for you. The Buddha taught to test the teachings out for yourself to determine their authenticity.

One of the benefits and detriments of an established order, or lineage, a big organization perhaps, with its rigorous and seemingly impenetrable hierarchy is that it’s difficult for anyone’s individual trip to get too big. Even when one is at the top, the head lama at whatever level, there is always someone to answer to. You have to deliver the goods or the sangha will eventually see right through you. (This doesn’t mean things are perfect or never without corruption, but that’s a different topic). But within a lineage, if someone decides they are going to be a great recognized lama or whatever, there is some peer review. Someone who suddenly tells everybody else that they are the next Buddha doesn’t get too far with that delusion.

Out in cyberspace, it’s a different story.

There are many people practicing authentic Vajrayana Buddhism either with a little bit or a lot of learning, training, and practice. And most can give very practical advice when needed. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they are the best teachers. It certainly doesn’t mean, automatically that they should be one’s guru, in the traditional Vajrayana sense, meaning at a deep level of mutual trust and commitment.

Sometimes a person’s dharma practice gets very “big”, you might say. Especially if they have the sort of grand or charismatic attitude that attracts others to them. And these days, it doesn’t take much to legitimize that activity via the Internet. It doesn’t mean that what the person has isn’t “authentic” Buddhism. They may certainly know their stuff. They may know all the words and gestures and symbols, and may have gotten all sorts of empowerments and perhaps even studied with great masters. But that’s not enough.

So, I would look beyond just the question of “authenticity” when deciding whether these Ayo folks, or any self-proclaimed Buddhist teachers for that matter, are really who you want to start “going steady” with (to borrow an adolescent term, because that’s basically how one should look at it). You want to make sure that your teacher helps to free you from the negativities of your own trip, and not just pull you into their trip.

[gelukman]

Aroter lineage is self invented. This is the problem.

This is the reason why one should warn about them. As an act of compassion.

[PeterC]

I stumbled across a seemingly small Aro school of vajrayana. I was googling for attitudes towards meat eating in buddhist schools,and this Aro group holds that belief that "eaten animals become ones students in future lives". so they encourage students to eat different animals,as varied as possible.
Does anyone know if this group exists,and has a recognized tradition? Im willing to dwell further in studying it,as i personally believe eating an animal one raised himself,is a form of benefitting from a noble sacrifice(I oppose cruelty and hunting for fun,but i honestly hold this belief i mentioned )

OK, couple of issues here.

1. Are they "authentic"

Do they have a verifiable link back to a respected tibetan source? No.
Do they produce people who are knowledgeable about the Dharma? No idea.
Does what they practice accord with the Dharma? So I'm told.

2. Should you spend your limited time researching and studying with lineages that don't pass the above three tests, rather than with lineages that clearly do? No.

3. Should you pick lineages to study and practice in based on their philosophical positions on the linkage between reincarnation and eating meat? Really you shouldn't need to be told the answer to that, particularly when no vajrayana lineage prohibits eating meat.

[treehuggingoctopus]

this cult

I would tread carefully here.

They are genuinely convinced they are genuine.
No sexual scandals here, no student abuse, no extortions.

Just before the pandemic I spoke about the Aro folk to one of my Dudjom Tersar teachers, in an entirely informal setting, over a cup of coffee and a plateful of Vindaloo. Cannot remember how come we got there, but I was putting something forward, with absolute certainty that Rinpoche shares my conviction that they are fake through and through; the other Western disciples present wholeheartedly shared my sentiment. Rinpoche, who has met the Aro crew personally, did not -- and, when pressed, he just laughed and said that India is full of such lineages, and nobody knows whether they are fake or not, and it is really a non-issue. He certainly did not warn us against them (although he did not suggest we make a connection either) and, frankly, gently ridiculed our concerns.

[PadmaVonSamba]

“Authentic”
On the one hand, it means everything.
On the other hand, the term is meaningless.
It takes some experience (wisdom) to know the difference.
You can drink from a stream and find out for yourself whether the water is poison or not,
or you can find a source of water that is already known to be safe and reliable.
Either way, your own experience will be
“authentic”.

[megaman chiquito]

thanks for replying, I read all the answers.
so,I decided its much better to visit IRL temples and activities than depend on online things. I found a Kagyu temple in the city thats just next to my province, I'll try contacting them.