Published:2012/06/25 09：25
(By the True Heart News interviewing team in Taipei) Zhang Gongpu, Chairman of the True Enlightenment Education Foundation, points out that, in light of the sex scandals committed by Lama Ole Nydahl in Europe and Sogyal Rinpoche in the U.S., it is clearly seen that the sexual assault cases by lamas are not isolated incidents. The key tenet of Tibetan “Buddhism” states that lamas or gurus must assiduously practice the Sexual Tantra. For example, the Dalai Lama says:
Hence, there are modes of practice of the fundamental mind according to (1) the interpretation of the Guhyasamaja Tantra by the New Translation Schools, (2) the Kalachakra doctrine of emptiness form and so forth, (3) the Great Perfection doctrine of Nying-Madhyama-Agama. According to the New Translation Schools, at a certain high point in the practice of Secret Mantra, the mantrika engages in special practices such as making use of a sexual partner, hunting animals, and so forth. Though it is easy to explain the purpose of employing a partner as a means of bringing desire to the path and inducing subtler consciousnesses realizing emptiness…(The XIV Dalai Lama, Kindness, Clarity, & Insight, Snow Lion Publications, 1988, p. 219-220.)
To make use of sexual partners (consort, “Buddha” mother, or dakini) to practice Tantric sex is a necessary condition in Tibetan Tantrism. This sexual practice can never be excluded or neglected because it is the essential core of Tibetan “Buddhism” or Vajrayana. Once the female adherents are lured into this practice, they are sexually exploited and treated as sex slaves. An article from The Independent of the UK on February 10, 1999, entitled I was a Tantric Sex Slave, talks about a typical case in Europe. The reporter interviewed Miss June Campbell, a Scottish religious philosopher. She revealed that she had for years been the secret sexual consort of a senior Tibetan lama, Kalu Rinpoche. This article describes in detail the practice of Tantric sex in Lamaism (Tibetan Tantric Buddhism). The words, “dakini, consort or ‘Buddha’ mother” are poetic terms for a woman used by a lama for sex to practice the so-called Dual Operations of Bliss and Emptiness, or the clear light of bliss. Sadly enough, these females were beguiled into becoming sex slaves by tantric lamas. Through these reports, readers can gain more insights into the true essence of Tibetan Tantric practice--the Couple-Practice Tantra.
This article reported:
For years June Campbell was the ‘consort’ of a senior Tibetan Buddhist monk. She was threatened with death if she broke her vow of secrecy. (Retrieved from
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/i-was-a-tantric-sex-slave-1069859.html)
Regarding this particular subject, Chairman Zhang explains that Tantric lamas or gurus would coerce their female adherents into silence through the Samaya Precepts, the vows of secrecy. These females were intimidated into silence by telling them that dire consequences, such as going to hell or being killed by the lama’s spell, would happen to them if they broke the Samaya Precepts. Unfortunately, female adherents in such an awful predicament are common. The True Enlightenment Education Foundation has indeed received anonymous phone calls from female victims who were sexually abused by lamas and threatened to keep silent.
Campbell also mentioned in the interview:
The psychological pressure is often increased by making the woman (dakini) swear vows of secrecy. In addition, June Campbell was told that "madness, trouble or even death" could follow if she did not keep silent. "I was told that in a previous life the lama (Kalu Rinpoche) I was involved with had had a mistress who caused him some trouble, and in order to get rid of her he cast a spell which caused her illness, later resulting in her death.
The quote shows Tibetan tantric lamas use unverifiable lies to threaten their "sex slaves." For fear of being hurt, many of these females have no choice but to submit themselves to the licentious lamas and endure the role of a "sex slave.”
Again, the interview reported:
What happened was that, having become a Buddhist in her native Scotland in the hippie Sixties, she travelled to India where she became a nun. She spent 10 years in a Tibetan monastery and penetrated more deeply than any other Westerner into the faith's esoteric hierarchy. Eventually she became personal translator to the guru as, during the Seventies, he travelled through Europe and America. It was after that, she said, that "he requested that I become his sexual consort and take part in secret activities with him". Only one other person knew of the relationship - a second monk - with whom she took part in what she described as a polyandrous Tibetan-style relationship. "It was some years before I realised that the extent to which I had been taken advantage of constituted a kind of abuse.
Chairman Zhang remarks that Miss June Campbell finally realized some years later that she had been abused and exploited by lamas. However, nowadays in Tibetan Tantrism, there are still many others who are seduced and sexually abused but are unable to extricate themselves from the idolatry trap.
In reality, whether the people are having group sex with one woman, or one man, it is just worldly group sex (or worse, gang rape) and can never be regarded as a Buddhist practice. But the “Most Honorable” Tsongkhapa, a patriarch of the Gelug lineage of Tibetan "Buddhism," gives this sort of teaching in his book:
The last secret empowerment, which is transmitted to enable the disciple to expound the sutras, means the teacher and the nine female consorts aged from 12 to 20, attain the state all together. The Vajra, possessing the seeds, is put into the mouth of his disciple; in this way, the empowerment is performed. It is the third empowerment, or the former stage, in which the teacher and a female consort receive the wondrous joy together; then, in the latter stage, the teacher attains the state together with the nine female consorts. The wondrous joys arise from them together. …(Tsongkhapa, Extended Treatise on the Progression of the Esoteric Path, translated into Chinese by dharma-master Fazun, Wondrous Favor Publishing Co., 1986, p. 399-400)
The lama teacher, the so-called living “Buddha,” needs to copulate with all nine sexual partners one by one; those sexual partners are called female consorts, aged from 12 to 20. They achieve orgasm of the fourth joy all together and contemplate the Union of Bliss and Emptiness; then, the lama teacher ejaculates semen into the vagina of each female consort and collects all the fluid mixtures. The mixture is called “nectar,” which is given to the disciples during the secret empowerment.
Chairman Zhang poses the question: why are so many female followers willing to take part in the Couple-Practice Tantra with lamas? The reason is well explained during the interview:
“Since the book was published, I've had letters from women all over the world with similar and worse experiences."
So why did she stay for almost three years? "Personal prestige. The women believe that they too are special and holy. They are entering sacred space. It produces good karma for future lives, and is a test of faith."
The combination of religion, sex, power and secrecy can have a potent effect. It creates the Catch 22 of psychological blackmail…
As shown above, women who are lured into practicing the Couple-Practice Tantra often give in to the temptation of power and desire. In addition, they consider the lama (guru) to be a holy living “Buddha" and imagine that they themselves would receive a prestigious position within the community once performing sexual union with the lama (guru). They are fooled by their own vanity. Their prestige is only temporary. Once a woman has aged or got STD, she become worthless and is treated like trash. Fortunately, Miss June Campbell discovered these facts in time, and started to question the sexual practice of Tibetan "Buddhism." For example, June Campbell remarked in the interview:
…how it relates to the fact that there are no female Buddha images, or to why in Tantric sex images the woman always has her back to the viewer, or to why Buddhist women are told to pray that they will be reborn into a male body in their next life - for only in a man's body can they attain full enlightenment.
"Once I started unravelling my experiences, I began to question everything," she said. That meant not just the actions of a particular guru, but the very idea of the guru. She began to wonder whether the Tantra was just a fantasy, and whether there is really any difference between Tantric sex and ordinary sex. She questioned the very concept of enlightenment itself and the practice of meditation. "I realised that in order to be myself I had to leave it all - completely and utterly.”
June Campbell’s experience of Tantric sex in Tibetan Buddhism accords with the fact that lamas or rinpoches simply love to achieve orgasm through sexual intercourse, which is no different from ordinary sex. However, the living “Buddhas” of Lamaism (Tibetan “Buddhism”) claim that their Tantric sex is a noble religious practice.
As the Dalai Lama explains in his book Mind of Clear Light: Advice on living well and dying consciously:
Through special techniques of concentration during orgasm competent practitioner can prolong very deep, subtle, and powerful states and put them to realize emptiness. However, if you engage in sexual intercourse within an ordinary mental context, there is no benefit. (The XIV Dalai Lama, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins, Mind of Clear Light: Advice on living well and dying consciously, Atria Books, 2003, p.177)
However, the Dalai Lama’s statement about using prolonged orgasm to realize emptiness is erroneous because the so-called enlightenment in Tibetan “Buddhism” is to realize the state of clear light during the sexual couple-practice. In reality, such a state is still within the scope of the conscious mind, which is a dharma arising depending on conditions; the conscious mind will certainly disappear in a dreamless sleep or a coma. How can it be deemed as a state of enlightenment?
In contrast, the Tathagatagarbha realized in true enlightenment is an everlasting dharma and will never cease to exist at all times and places. One needs not to realize it through sexual enjoyment where no thoughts arise, as the tantric Buddhists do for their fake emptiness. As a matter of fact, even if one’s head is full of illusory thoughts, the emptiness-nature of his Tathagatagarbha is still eternally existing and clearly manifests itself; as the Sixth Patriarch described, “Without eliminating all kinds of thoughts, one attains Bodhi all the time.” The Tathagatagarbha can be experienced at any time or place; a truly enlightened person can clearly see that the Tathagatagarbha (the Alayavijnana) operates continuously in every individual’s body. How can enlightenment only be attained during sexual orgasm?
Chairman Zhang further indicates that it is rather rare to see such a brave and wise lady like June Campbell. As she published her book, Traveller in Space, to disclose the fact about the sexual practice of a prominent lama and the erroneous core doctrine of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, June Campbell was not only regarded as a wicked heretic but also reviled as a liar or a demon by others.
As stated in the book,
I was reviled as a liar or a demon. …”In that world he was a saintly figure. It was like claiming that Mother Theresa was involved in making porn movies.”
But it was not fear of the response which made her wait a full 18 years before publishing her revelations in a volume entitled Traveller in Space…It took her that long to get over the trauma of the experience.
“I spent 11years without talking about it and then, when I had decided to write about it, another seven years researching. I wanted to weave together my personal experience with a more theoretical understanding of the role of women in Tibetan society to help me make sense of what had happened to me.”
Finally, Chairman Zhang highly applauds Miss Campbell. Due to her great bravery, many female Buddhists who were sexually assaulted by lamas gain widespread support and the public can see through the true colors of Lamaism –Tibetan Tantric Buddhism. Furthermore, the True Enlightenment Education Foundation has been dedicating itself to saving all females and people from Lamaism, a cult cultivating the Couple-Practice Tantra. (Reported by the Interviewing Team)
Editor's Note:
This article is an English version of the Chinese edition published on
March 30, 2012.
