With Buddhism, the law of silenceÉlodie Emery and Wandrille Lanos sign a punchy investigation into financial scandals and sexual violence in the heart of Buddhist communities in Europe, tarnishing the image of the “religion of happiness”.
It took 11 years of meticulous research for the two French journalists – co-authors of an eponymous documentary – to shed light on the rapes of minors, the abuse and multiple mistreatments committed over 50 years by eminent lamas within several Buddhist communities in Europe, particularly in France.
Far from being an isolated case, the phenomenon shocks by its magnitude, the journalists having collected the testimonies of about thirty victims of thirteen different Buddhist masters. Most of the attackers are still active, they mention.
The book also points to the silence and inaction for decades of high Tibetan religious authorities in exile, including the Dalai Lama, Nobel Peace Prize winner, who would have been made aware of the sexual assaults against women and children since March 1993. “Until now, the Tibetan spiritual authorities have ignored the words of the victims, repeating over and over that the subject is not their responsibility. Attempts from within to tackle the problem of sexual assault in communities have been met with coldness or outright hostility,” the journalists note.
The book therefore throws a stone into the pond of an idealized doctrine, which enjoys a real capital of sympathy in the West. Considered a philosophy of life, Buddhism, born in India, whose Tibetan branch has managed to export to Europe and North America thanks to a smooth and watered-down version, is in fact a religion like any other, underlines the book. It can also show great violence, as with the 969 movement, a gathering of extremist and intolerant Buddhist monks who persecute the Rohingya Muslim minority in Burma.
The book recalls that Buddhism is essentially dogmatic, with its promises of salvation and its threats of hell as a corollary. In order to access the awakening that the authors compare to “grace” in Christianity, the disciples of Buddhism must submit to the will of the master, a true spiritual guide. A particularity which can open the way to dysfunctions, even to deviant behavior, underlines the survey.
By way of arguments, the journalists come back to a certain number of cases, in particular that of Sogyal Rinpoche (1947-2019), famous lama trained late in life and founder of several Buddhist centers in Europe. The moody and controversial monk enriched himself on the backs of his devotees by traumatizing them and offering them what he calls “mad wisdom”, a doctrine specific to Tibetan Buddhism which allows the master teacher to behave inappropriately . Sogyal Rinpoche had got into the habit of surrounding himself with “dakinis”, a restricted circle made up of young women whom he considered his sexual slaves, not hesitating to hit and rape them. Finally disgraced by the Dalai Lama in 2017, he died in Thailand without ever having answered for his actions in court.