8/12/2019 Spiritual Responsibility and Cult Awareness

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-responsibility-and-cult-awareness 1/4

Twenty years ago, when there wasquite a bit of troubling public newsconcerning dangerous cults amongspiritual groups, I co-authored awhite paper called "SpiritualResponsibility" with my Bostonneighbour, cult deprogrammingexpert Steve Hassan. At that timethe guru Bhagwan Rajneesh wasdeported from this country, andScientology was banned in Germany,etc.

Aum Shinrikyo, the purportedlyBuddhist group in Japan, whichspread poison sarin gas in Tokyosubways, was under intense criminalinvestigation and eventually foundits leaders in prison.

8/12/2019 Spiritual Responsibility and Cult Awareness

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-responsibility-and-cult-awareness 2/4

 

Now people are asking about the Diamond Mountain University incident in the

Arizona desert. (NY Times, June 11, 2012) Having spent a significant amount of my life

training in silent Buddhist meditation retreats, I have seen that, aside from the

undeniable benefits of such rigorous contemplative and monastic practice disciplines,

isolation and extended silence can for some also have dangerous repercussions. Thismay be the case for the insular spiritual group founder, Geshe Michael Roach, and his

devoted followers.

This scandal is very troubling as well as troublesome, and raises a lot of questions

about spiritual centers and accountability. Michael's group is not the only one whoseretreats might look, to the outside viewer, like a mere refugee camp, trailer camp,

barracks or prison. Traditional long intensive practice retreats and monastic training

rules of reasonable efficacy are well known to sometimes take unprepared people

over the edge; practices including long-term silence, fasting, celibacy, sleep

deprivation, restricted outside contact, secret teachings, proscribed readings, etc.

All these can lend an aura of cultic activity to a fairly harmless group such as any

ordinary short-term yoga retreat or prayer enclave, things that we ourselves may be

engaged in without remaining very conscious of or vigilant regarding potential dangers

and downsides. 

8/12/2019 Spiritual Responsibility and Cult Awareness

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-responsibility-and-cult-awareness 3/4

Having experienced these austere conditions and austerities myself for lengthy

periods of time, including several years on end, I know that these things are effective

and can be appropriate; it's all a matter of degree, intensity, intention, management

and coordination, to be balanced and rounded out with various healthy and nurturing

mitigating factors for purposes of group well-being and inner individual flourishment.

Unfortunately, unstable personalities who are subjected to such conditions are

especially vulnerable; I've found it useful to thoroughly screen and prepare potential

trainees who wish to participate, including observing individuals over a period of time

and assuring that they complete shorter intensive retreats before becoming overly

involved in long-term retreats in often marginal conditions.

It is worth pointing out that experienced cult experts make a significant distinction

between generally harmless cults (the die-hard Boston Red Sox fans or the Yale Skull

and Bones Secret Society) and dangerous cults (David Koresh's Waco group, and Jim

Jones' Jonestown fanatics), and point out that all cults are not created equal nor are

equally harmful.

There is not much professional oversight or organizational hierarchy in the

Buddhist tradition, although every authorized and qualified teacher answers

to their own teacher and their own lineage tradition to a certain extent and

traditional monasteries in the Old World had their own systems of checks and

balances, including communal monthly rituals and acknowledgements ofwrongdoing.

8/12/2019 Spiritual Responsibility and Cult Awareness

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spiritual-responsibility-and-cult-awareness 4/4

This has been the case for over twenty-five hundred years, since the time of the

Enlightened Buddha. Eastern disciplines like Buddhism are fairly new in this modern

world and our Western culture; we each have to rely on our critical judgment,

kindred spirits, elders and the study of other traditional sources of knowledge in

order to make intelligent decisions.

"As a simple Buddhist monk" and not as a pope-like figure, the Dalai Lama himself

has spoken out on many occasions "against ethical lapses, exploitation, abuse and

corruption among spiritual teachers." He believes that "we should be Twenty First

Century Buddhists, socially engaged and open to science and psychology and other

religions, developing critical thinking through modern education." He has exhorted

us to be vigilant and discerning, self-critical as well as tolerant -- supporting eachother in spiritual friendship, collegiality and community -- for the sake of advancing a

balanced and harmonious, wise, altruistic, and actively engaged compassionate path

of enlightenment, of genuine benefit to the entire world.

An old Tibetan saying goes like this: "Don't spy out the flea in another's hair while

overlooking the yak on one's own nose.“ 

Follow Lama Surya Das on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LamaSuryaDas 

To find out more about Lama Surya Das, visit here -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surya_Das