Dharma Wheel

CheersDrive wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 11:53 am As someone who experienced bullying by an order member, trust your gut.

There is both light and dark within Triratna. The teaching aspects are actually very good. The dark- completely unwilling to address bad behaviour. It's toxic passivity around abusive behaviour is a very real concern. It's the ideal environment for abusers to thrive.

Naivety around manipulative and exploitative people and the absence of being held accountable for such behaviour is why I left.

Their solution to bad relationships is to facilitate mediation. That's appropriate for 2 adults who are honest and want reconciliation. It is not appropriate for a relationship where one person misuses their power and uses manipulative communication to make the subordinate question their sanity.

I tried every avenue known to me to raise my concerns. Nobody acknowledged any of them. In 2 years, nobody has contacted me to see if I'm okay. Nobody could assure me that this order member would be reprimanded, and in fact, is still regarded in high esteem.

In summary I would say that my primary experience of Triratna has been a complete lack of empathy and care.

I guess I'm the scapegoat and have served my purpose, until the next one...

CheersDrive wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 11:53 am As someone who experienced bullying by an order member, trust your gut.

There is both light and dark within Triratna. The teaching aspects are actually very good.

PSM wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:58 pm

CheersDrive wrote: ↑Wed May 03, 2023 11:53 am As someone who experienced bullying by an order member, trust your gut.

Definitely.

There is both light and dark within Triratna. The teaching aspects are actually very good.

I’m not sure I’d agree the teaching is good. They have a history of mixing plenty of non-dharma into dharma, such as Nietzsche. There are so many valid lineages I don’t see the point in being involved with the FWBO.

Tez wrote: ↑Thu Sep 22, 2022 9:10 pm So a warning this is a long post, but you might find it interesting. It's about Sangharakshita and the Triratna scandal.

This is a follow up on the post I wrote asking if it was OK to study someone who had Behaved in an appalling way. This referred to Sang, the founder of The Triratna movement in the UK. I looked further into him and I was horrified. Essentially he was a sexual predator who used his position and manipulated buddhism to get straight men to have sex with him, one of whom committed suicide, with possibly two more doing the same. However learned he was on Buddhism (which is questionable), It invalidates his teaching As he clearly had no ability to walk the path he has encouraged others to follow.

As for the Triratna movement, they're still in denial as to his crimes. They started by covering it up, then they begrudgingly admitted the minimum they had to, releasing a report that called Sangharakshita's behaviour "unwise" rather than criminal and wicked. In the report, 13 % Triratna members questioned Said that either they themselves, or someone they knew, had “experienced sexual misconduct by either Sangharakshita or other Triratna order members, in past and recent times”. Triratna has made no effort at restitution to the victims. The report spent more time praising him than calling him to account, and it's hidden away in a barely noticed part of their website. One particularly egregious passage said this:-

"One irony of the current situation is that the understanding of ethics that we have learned, ultimately, from Sangharakshita has informed the criticisms of him that we make in this report."

Essentially it's saying that Sangharakshita gave them the ethical standards they needed to judge him as having acted unethically. This is a shocking statement! Apparently Sangharakshita was undone by his own enlightened teaching and sense of ethics. What teaching in ethics do you need to know sexual assault is wrong? They are trying to twist his crimes into another positive. Triratna was built on a bed of manipulation and abuse of the vulnerable, one they still refuse to reckon with.

The question I have is is Triratna a writeoff? I've really enjoyed my time at the centre and it's set me on my path to Buddhism. The people who go are kind and committed, and I have seen nothing to suggest the teachers are acting unethically. But a guest speaker recommended two books by Sangharakshita to me (before I knew about his crimes), one I bought which are sold in their shop. Ironically one of them was about the ethics of Buddhism. I'm angry the centre sells his books, and ideally they would dissasociate from him entirely, which isn't going to happen as he's too embedded in their philosophy. Part of me wants to keep going to the centre, but I'm appalled by their past behaviour and lack of contrition. I should note that my feelings of sadness and anger are nothing compared to the suffering of Sangharakshita.

So, should I stay and make my feelings known, or should I find somewhere else to help me walk the path? Thoughts and comments very welcome

Knotty Veneer wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:51 pm Leave immediately. Why would you want to belong to any organization that would have Suella Braverman as a member?

Knotty Veneer wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 1:51 pmSuella Braverman