trouble in Dalai Lama's arena
genkaku
Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
From The Guardian ... link thingie doesn't work so here's the address of the full article: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/oct/27/dalai-lama-tenzin-dhonden-tibet-monk-corruption-accusations
For more than 15 years, Tenzin Dhonden has stood between the Dalai Lama and multitudes of US philanthropists, celebrities, scholars and officials eager for even an instant in the revered Buddhist leader’s presence. In his red and saffron robes and gleaming bald pate, the smiling Tibetan monk, widely known as Lama Tenzin, has introduced himself as the Dalai Lama’s “personal emissary for peace”.
Yet the monk has now been suspended as secretary and trustee of the Dalai Lama Trust, a charitable organization chaired by the Dalai Lama, pending an investigation into allegations from a prominent Seattle-based technology entrepreneur who claims that, between 2005 and 2008, the monk abused his role to extract unjustified payments from him.
Comments
It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm a bit curious why this Kanzler guy wouldn't record the cash payments himself, especially if he thought something was off about it. It's not as good as a check or bank transfer, but he should have been accounting for the cash spent on his end no matter what, and it should work out in his books if he did.
What actually stood out to me was that the Tibetans didn't circle the wagons and deny everything, they actually suspended the guy. In the past when negative allegations arose what seemed to be the modus operandi was to deny the problem and ignore the accusers.
I would imagine that if the allegations are true they are not an isolated incident and others will come forward as well.
Kranzler explained his 8-year silence about the alleged extortion. He wanted to avoid speaking ill of another but speaks up now at the request of peers and "several individuals in the Private Office of your Holiness". Without the 8 year old money tracks that mysteriously disappear or broader allegations as @karasti and @person mentioned, it sounds like palace intrigue to me. Either Dhonden leverages the empire he's built for ulterior gain and less influential people want to stop him or he's standing in the way of people who want it for themselves.
As with all 'conditioned' things...
I thought it was a well-balanced article showing responses from various sides. You have to wonder what Kranzler and co have to gain by making the accusation if it’s not true, though. Can’t see many potential reasons for it.
Smart move by Dhonden to let a law firm represent him in public, they are used to arguing these kinds of cases.
When your watching mind and see it wanting to respond without having read the article and laugh and laugh..
Good morning..
Om Shanti..
As some (Daido? Aitken?) latter-day Zen roshi once commented, "Silence is golden and sometimes its color is pure yellow."
Having lived through a bunch of Buddhist 'scandals,' my experience is that no one can play the haute couture Buddhist -- serene as a kumquat, dontcha know -- and escape the obvious and demeaning cowardice it often displays. A (interior if nothing else) full-frontal assessment, a full-frontal "no," may not solve anything, but when people get hurt, it's no time to sit on a comfy lotus flower.
Just my two cents.
If Dhonden is innocent, Kranzler might not have anything to gain but, sticking to my palace intrigue theory, “co” might. Why would Kranzler make these allegations? He may have been unhappy about heavy but legitimate expenses and pressure. Co may have used his discontent to convince him he’d been victimized and has a moral obligation to seek justice. In this case justice happens to be the removal of Dhonden. Somebody, Co, will take his place. Pure speculation and conspiracy theory, but in that vein, there's a bottomless pit of potential reasons. Wonder what China's up to these days.
I am sure from Kanzler's perspective it is true. But that doesn't mean he knows the truth of what would be considered valid expenses or not. Obviously telling him to buy him a house is insane and not valid, lol. It'll be interesting to see what comes out of it. I'm not saying it didn't happen. I just found it odd that a business man is saying that he was told to pay in cash so there were no records and then apparently didn't keep records himself. He clearly knew this was wrong, and felt it when it happened, you'd think you'd keep a record of that. I would, anyhow. When you are paying money from a business to anything, every single cent has to be accurately accounted for. Not just cash given out with no recording of it.