A response to: Potential harm to mental and physical health through exposure to The New Kadampa Tradition (NKT-IKBU), January 17, 2020
Overview
One of the most extensive and scathing criticisms of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) is by a Clinical Psychologist called Dr Michelle Haslam. Most of Dr Haslam’s criticisms are based on disagreements with and/or misunderstandings of Buddhism in general and the NKT welcomes the opportunity to discuss these. Dr Haslam for a short time was a resident at Nagarjuna Kadampa Meditation Center in Northamptonshire, England. Concerned about the nature of Kadampa Buddhism, she wrote a long report detailing her concerns and also posted daily videos. The NKT has not responded to Dr Haslam’s criticisms before now. It is hoped that this article will address some of her concerns and help clear up some misunderstandings.
Introduction
As will be seen, many of Dr Haslam’s concerns relate to the content of Buddha’s teachings and not the practices of the NKT. Since 1991, the NKT has been attempting to present the teachings of Buddha for modern society all around the world. As explained on this site, the NKT has been learning from mistakes made along the way by teachers, managers, and other individuals; and is determined to keep improving. While the NKT agrees with Dr Haslam that it is important to highlight any areas of concern in the organization, it is also gravely concerned about her misunderstandings of Buddhism because these have led to unjustified criticisms. If people believe them, they will be dissuaded from attending NKT Centers and even other Buddhist Centers, therefore not deriving benefit from meditation and Buddhism. Dr Haslam’s report is over 100 pages long. Therefore, although it would be possible to address it point by point, in the interests of time and length the main criticisms in each section will be addressed as succinctly as possible. If you have any questions about anything else in her report, please leave these in the Comments below.
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The supposed recruitment
This section of Dr Haslam’s report accuses the NKT of being on a recruitment drive to acquire members by mis-selling the benefits of meditation, apparently making false claims that it can help with mental health issues and make you happy, and hiding the ‘dangers’ of meditation. She also accuses the NKT of ‘lovebombing’ people so that they will become attached to their local Center and practices.
The ‘cult’ accusation
Dr Haslam uses the word ‘cult’ over and over again, without any definition or evidence. She says that members of the NKT will find this “triggering”, which may be true given that the NKT is not a cult but mainstream Buddhism. For more about this, please see this article. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a cult is defined as:
A religious group, often living together, whose beliefs are considered extreme or strange by many people.
It is true that those who are not religious might find a religious group’s beliefs to be extreme or strange. This seems to be the case with many of Dr Haslam’s objections to the practices of the NKT, which are simply Mahayana Buddhism. It is easy to use the term ‘cult’ as a pejorative for a group that one disagrees with or thinks is different or somehow dangerous; but the responsible thing to do would be to examine the evidence for such a claim before spreading it widely. Many of the teachings found in Venerable Geshe Kelsang’s books can be found in the books of many other respected teachers of Buddhism. They are mainstream Buddhism, not new or strange religious ideas with no lineage or foundation. For more about the books, please see this article. Dr Haslam takes issue with the degree of Guru yoga expressed by Kadampa Buddhists, but Guru yoga (also known as “Guru devotion” and “relying upon the Spiritual Guide”) was taught by Buddha. It is possible for this teaching to be abused by teachers (Skt. Guru); but throughout his life Venerable Geshe Kelsang remained very humble and never once claimed to be special. This continued when he passed away – he wanted no ceremonies, for his body to be quietly cremated, and for his ashes to be cast into the ocean. He did not want a shrine or a stupa as a sign of veneration. He always made it clear in his words and his actions that his teachings and hard work were all about the Dharma, not about him. By point of comparison, many people who are followers of the Dalai Lama publicly worship him as the Buddha of Compassion and God King of Tibet. Any strange or unconventional behaviour by teachers or managers in the NKT needs to be reported and dealt with by the organization, as encouraged in several other places on this site. In his oral teachings, Venerable Geshe Kelsang encouraged anyone who thought a teacher’s behavior did not accord with their Dharma teachings to ask them why they were doing these things. One of the most important qualities of a Buddhist teacher is to show a good example, which is the example of putting the teachings into practice. The NKT is a democratic organization as outlined in A Moral Discipline Guide ~ The Internal Rules of the New Kadampa Tradition. The General Spiritual Director, Deputy Spiritual Director, and National Spiritual Director are elected by the Education Council. Any Spiritual Director or Resident Teacher can be dismissed for inappropriate behavior. Therefore, if someone was narcissistic and authoritarian, for example, or was leading members in a direction contrary to Buddhist principles and the Internal Rules, they would either be voted out or dismissed.
Does the NKT mis-sell the benefits of meditation?
Dr Haslam is a self-professed atheist, and most of her criticisms of the NKT are in actual fact criticisms of Buddhism, which she does not seem to understand well. She applies Western psychological theories to her critique of Kadampa Buddhism, which is not always appropriate because they are different disciplines with different aims. There is no difference between Dr Haslam’s criticism of the NKT and any other non-religious sceptic’s criticism of religion. Such critiques by atheists are not new. Buddhism is a religion that has existed for over two and a half thousand years, and it has brought joy, happiness, and inner freedom to countless people. Because Buddhist meditation has been tried and tested for many centuries, and because those who teach it do so from personal experience, there is good reason to say that it can help make people happy. Buddha explains how the main cause of happiness is inner peace, and how meditation is a method to develop and improve inner peace. Why would it not work? Dr Haslam gives no reasons. Dr Haslam expresses suspicion of ‘freebies’, such as Geshe Kelsang’s free ebook How to Transform Your Life. However, Geshe Kelsang’s motivation in giving away a Buddhist ebook is to make Buddha’s teachings more freely available for people to use. Even though we may live in an increasingly materialistic and self-centered world, it is still incorrect to assume that such altruism is impossible, as Dr Haslam does assume. It is in fact the natural result of Buddhist practice. Without practicing and gaining experiences of these methods herself, it seems unreasonable to claim out of hand that they cannot help other people become kinder and more peaceful. It would be possible to go through her report step by step to show her misunderstanding and disdain for Buddha’s teachings, but, in the interests of time, only some of the main ones will be addressed.
Can Buddhist meditation help or not with mental health issues?
In his 84,000 teachings, Buddha gave many explanations of the causes of suffering and mental unhappiness and how to cure these. He explained that although our nature is healthy, we have uncontrolled thoughts called “delusions”, which are like mental sicknesses or afflictions that cause us suffering. Buddhist meditation therefore helps with many mental health issues such as anger, depression, anxiety, etc. This is the personal experience of people who meditate, and one of the reasons why people who are suffering seek out meditation classes in the first place, in some cases following the advice of their doctors. To claim that it cannot help with mental health issues, as Dr Haslam does, is simply not true. As Dr Haslam correctly points out, most NKT managers and teachers are not mental health professionals (some are). And nor do they claim to be. Kadampa meditation is not claiming to cure illnesses such as bipolar, schizophrenia, personality disorder, and so forth, nor aiming to replace professional mental health services that specialize in these diseases. Venerable Geshe Kelsang always encouraged students to rely on their doctors. However, Buddhist meditation can sometimes help and support.
Is the NKT a ‘happiness cult’?
Dr Haslam claims that the NKT is a happiness cult, ‘obsessed with happiness’. Arguably everyone is obsessed with happiness because everyone always wants to be happy. Dr Haslam misinterprets the claim that meditation can make people peaceful and therefore happy, saying that the NKT is claiming that they should be happy all the time. It is clearly impossible for people who are suffering from delusions – which is all of us – to be happy all the time; but, by reducing and finally eradicating delusions with the methods explained in Buddhism, it is possible to become increasingly peaceful and happy, and eventually permanently peaceful and happy. Dr Haslam can disagree with this, but it is the teaching of Buddha, meaning that her disagreement is with Buddhism and not the NKT.
Does the NKT engage in ‘lovebombing’?
Dr Haslam accuses the NKT of love-bombing – when people first come to a class, everyone is kind and draws them in; and later the trouble begins. Another version of this criticism: in Kadampa photos everyone is smiling a lot because the NKT is all about being happy clappy and not dealing with negative emotions. However, dealing with painful feelings without in any way suppressing or repressing them is an integral part of Buddhist mind-training. It is necessary to identify our delusions or disturbed states of mind, and learn to sit with them patiently with the view to gradually reducing and abandoning them. Dharma is profound medicine and it can take time to master this skill, but this is how Buddhists are taught to take responsibility and mature spiritually. There can be a honeymoon period when people first come to a Buddhist Center – everyone appears perfect. But gradually, where people expected to meet Buddhas, instead they meet Buddhists; and some people become disillusioned by their apparent faults. This disappointment usually has more to do with expectations and holding Buddhists to higher standards, which sets up the scene to blame them. There is no agenda to manipulate new attendees or draw then into a cult. Buddhists are simply people who are trying to train their minds.
Does the NKT engage in flattery?
Dr Haslam claims that ‘Many survivors report in their testimonies that when they first attended an NKT Center they were told that they must have ‘imprints’ from a previous life or ‘fortunate’ karma to have discovered their version of the Dharma, and therefore are ‘special.’ While there is no NKT policy to talk about karmic imprints to newcomers, it could come up sometimes in conversation because it is a Buddhist belief that meeting Buddhism is due to previous karma from practicing Buddhism. This doesn’t, however, make the person ‘special.’ This is a Buddhist belief as opposed to a cynical method of flattering people into becoming more committed. To conclude, at many points in her report, Dr Haslam makes it clear that she has no faith in Buddhism. This is fair enough, but her lack of understanding of Buddhist principles does not provide a valid basis for criticizing the NKT.
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The supposed practices and potential harm
In this section, once again Dr Haslam disagrees with the practices of Buddhism as taught by the NKT, and once again her objections are with Buddhism and not the NKT per se, such that she is effectively accusing Buddhism of being a cult. Dr Haslam thinks that a ten-minute breathing meditation at the beginning of a class would be mostly harmless, and this is the issue: she thinks that meditation is dangerous and can have harmful consequences. Buddhist masters for the past 2600 years have all agreed that meditation, if adequately presented, cannot be harmful; and in recent decades their claims have also been backed up by numerous medical and scientific studies. Once again, Dr Haslam’s difficulty is her distrust of Buddhism, not the NKT. Her views are those of a Western psychologist who has read various papers and studies but has no experience of meditation herself. Dr Haslam quotes Lifton’s (1961) eight components of thought reform as developed from Andres and Lane (1988), and attempts to show how this applies to the NKT; but again this is a false comparison. Dr Haslam comes from the perspective not of a curious researcher but of someone who has decided that the NKT is bad. Her bias against the tradition seems to prevent her from giving an objective analysis. The list of people whom she claims supports her report are almost exclusively anti-NKT campaigners. On this basis, she co-opts psychological frameworks to attempt to legitimize her criticism with a veneer of academic respectability. She accuses Kadampa practitioners of ‘magical thinking’ because they believe in the existence and actions of Buddhas. However, this makes them like any other religious or spiritual practitioner who believe in things beyond the realm of the material, and her criticism simply that of any other non-believer. She also has problems with the teachings of emptiness and Buddhist Tantra, even though these profound and sophisticated topics have been taught for centuries and not given any sincere practitioners mental health issues. Quite the opposite.
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Does the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) use coercive control to encourage live-in members and volunteers to self-neglect?
In this section, Dr Haslam accuses NKT managers of not being able to spot the degeneration of the mental health of Center residents, regarding anything other than Buddhist teachings for dealing with mental health as ‘degenerate’, and discouraging those with deteriorating mental health from seeking conventional treatment. The NKT is a spiritual tradition, which tries to support those who wish to practice Kadampa Buddhism with Buddhist teachings and advice. Managers and teachers are by and large not trained mental health professionals, and if someone has a mental health issue they are encouraged to seek professional health and take medicine as needed. NKT teachers and managers would be concerned to learn about the deteriorating mental health of any resident, and if someone is in difficulty managers will certainly try to help and encourage that person to seek professional advice and guidance. Please see the comments below for an example of how Venerable Geshe Kelsang encouraged this. Dr Haslam has also misunderstood the Buddhist concept of self-cherishing, equating it with self-care when it is anything but. Her claims that the NKT discourages self-care is patently untrue, which anyone who peruses course titles at NKT Centers will see because self-care is taught frequently. Of course, people need to care for themselves and not neglect their wellbeing or they can make no spiritual progress nor help others. The NKT is also accused by Dr Haslam of overworking its managers, teachers, and volunteers. We address that here. Managers need to be skillful in never pressurizing staff and volunteers, but people also need to take personal responsibility for how much they work. It is possible to be unskillful and work too hard, but that can happen in any organization and is something to be guarded against.
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The supposed abuse
Dr Haslam accuses individual managers of bad behavior. It is true that, due to delusions and lack of training or experience, people can act badly or unreasonably; and this has led some people to leave the tradition. This is really unfortunate and deeply regrettable. Bad behaviour is never acceptable at any time. At no point should abuse be tolerated. It needs to be called out and addressed, and there are channels for doing that within the NKT, from reporting to Center managers or reporting to the NKT Office itself. The NKT holds itself to high standards in keeping with Buddhist precepts, the Internal Rules, and general kindness, and is always trying to do better.
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The supposed institutionalization and lack of capacity
Dr Haslam’s next claim is that, by living in an NKT Dharma Center, residents can become institutionalized and unable to live independently in the outside world; and that this then leads to dependence on the Center and the tradition. This is clearly not the idea and we welcome the opportunity to address this. Buddhism teaches people to take responsibility for their own lives so that they can increase their compassion and wisdom and take responsibility for the happiness and freedom of others. Everyone needs to take responsibility for their own spiritual journey. Sometimes people follow the rules in a family, workplace, school, army, monastery or spiritual Center, etc not out of their own volition but because they are told to, expected to, or scared not to — like children. However, actual moral discipline is based on our own discrimination of what to do and not to do, and our own resultant adult decision/intention. The vast majority of NKT practitioners live outside a Center and there is no pressure or expectation that anyone moves into a Center as a resident. Regardless of whether someone is a resident or not, if someone is attending a Center and yet is not becoming genuinely happier, more open, and more flexible as the years go by, they can check to see if they are voluntarily taking responsibility for training their mind or whether they have fallen into institutional modes of thinking and behaving. Also, if people are too attached to, and fearful for, their position in the ‘pecking order’, or their job or status within the organization, this indicates that they need to address this with integrity.
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The supposed Center-hopping, ‘cult-hopping,’ and lack of economic resources
Dr Haslam claims that within NKT Centers people were asked to leave their accommodation at short notice. She also claims that if a sponsored person’s sponsorship ended badly they would be bullied until they left the Center because they were seen as a burden and no longer of use. Whenever these unkind or transactional relationships have taken place, they need to be called out and reported and/or resolved with the managers. Managers and teachers at NKT Centers are encouraged to cherish each person and not fall prey to the fallacy of the “greater good” at the expense of the individual. People are sometimes asked to leave Centers because they are causing disharmony or unhappiness that cannot be dealt with in other ways. This is perfectly reasonable in any organization, although it can regrettably cause upset in those who are asked to leave. Dr Haslam’s phrase, ‘Many survivors ‘cult-hop’ to other Buddhist organisations,’ indicates that Dr Haslam views other Buddhist traditions as cults too.
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The supposed gaslighting and character assassination of former members and whistle-blowers
Dr Haslam claims that people who leave a Dharma Center are subsequently character assassinated by the managers. There is no set period of time to attend or live at a Dharma Center, and people come and go all the time depending on all sorts of personal circumstances and wishes. Regardless of why people leave, those who remain often want and deserve to know why. If they need to explain the circumstances, clearly the managers must not criticize or demean that person. This does not seem to be a common problem but, insofar as it has happened, it is regrettable.
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The New Kadampa Tradition and its representatives are supposedly narcissists
Dr Haslam makes the accusation many times in her report that the NKT and its representatives are ‘narcissistic’. Buddhism explains how all living beings suffer from a state of mind called ‘self-cherishing’ where we regard ourselves and our own happiness and freedom to be more important than anyone else’s. This is something that Buddhist practitioners are keenly aware of and trying to overcome. The whole practice of Kadampa Buddhism – wisdom and compassion – is an antidote to narcissism. Moreover, as a democratic organization, if a leader is abusive, narcissistic, or authoritarian, they will be removed from their position.
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The supposed threats to life, health, reputation, and livelihood (‘Fair Game’) from senior NKT personnel
Dr Haslam reports that ex-NKT practitioners have reported:
- Death threats (e.g. their parents receiving funeral brochures with their names on)
- Being stalked in person by current members
- Legal threats (e.g. Gary Beesley, Oxford University Press, Ashgate, Inform, Dr Haslam’s workplace)
- Threats to ruin their reputation by ‘Indy Hack’ for the purpose of ruining their livelihood and discrediting their testimony
- Propaganda created about them by ‘Indy Hack’ on his website and Twitter account (Tenzin Peljor, Carol McQuire, Kieran Atkins)
- Hacking of their survivor-based Twitter accounts and attempts to ban “survivors’” tweets
- Sabotage of access to mental health services
The NKT has never instigated or condoned these activities. Legal threats, where it is known that a person is planning to publish distorted views of the tradition and to defame the character and purpose of the NKT, are fully justified under British libel law because everyone has the right to legally defend their reputation. Personal threats are not acceptable. No sincere practitioner of Kadampa Buddhism should make them – this is anathema to what Kadampa Buddhism espouses and stands for. It is hard to believe that a Kadampa Buddhist would engage in such actions. If this has happened, this is deeply regrettable and the NKT will do everything in its power to stop this kind of behavior. Indy Hack is not a Kadampa Buddhist. He has made that very clear himself. His opinions are his own. Dr Haslam concludes by relating her experiences with a ‘Dr Robert Harrison’. We do not know who this person is. Dr Harrison has not acted with our knowledge or sanction. Dr Harrison says that he has nothing to do with the NKT. Since Dr Haslam related these experiences, the NKT has not been able to find out anything about him. Not knowing who this person is, Dr Haslam unfortunately assumes that Dr Harrison is an NKT member (with no evidence) and accuses the NKT of thinking of her as ‘fair game’ because of her report. For his part, Dr Harrison says that he is a fellow clinical psychologist who is concerned about her seeming obsession and its effect on her patients. However, whoever he is and whatever his motivations, the NKT is neither privy to nor behind any of his alleged attempts to cyberstalk, cause mental distress, or get her dismissed from her job. The NKT is very sorry to hear that Dr Haslam was treated in this way, but also needs to defend itself against her unjustified claim that it is the NKT who did this.
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The supposed psychological suffering after leaving
Finally, Dr Haslam reports that ex-NKT members have experienced psychological suffering since leaving the tradition, such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), grief, loneliness, isolation, and other mental health issues. She also reports that various sensory cues would trigger bad memories and a reliving of past trauma. The implication, offered without any evidence, is that the NKT is a cult and therefore responsible for all their suffering. However, this is a false premise. Grief and loneliness come about for many different reasons, which may or may not include leaving a tradition where these ex-members had close friends and felt genuinely cared for. For all the reasons why the NKT is not a cult but a legitimate Buddhist tradition, please look at the other articles on this site.
I also wanted to add that over the 20 plus years of attending Kadampa teachings I have made many friends who later either stopped going to Kadampa events or even found new religious faith or followed different teachers and in most cases our friendship has remained and we are still in touch. Also on occasion we might arrange to meet at a Kadampa centre and there is no sense that they are not welcome in them.
anger, depression, anxiety, are not mental health issues but basic human emotions. Why do i even comment its not going to be posted.
Hi Gabriella!
Not sure I follow: how are depression and anxiety not a mental health concern?!
Many people seek therapeutic treatment for these conditions. Others turn to sports, entertainment, medical supplements, or indeed meditation to relieve the suffering from these states of mind.
Why do you not consider them a mental health concern? What am I missing?
As for anger, the Buddhist view is different to the view in western psychology: yes, it’s a common human emotion but that doesn’t make it healthy as such, from the Buddhist point of view. However, it is a vital step towards mental health that we allow ourselves to recognise our anger, to not suppress it. Only then can we learn new ways of responding to difficult circumstances.
It is helpful to remember that even just fully recognising anger and its faults is considered a difficulty in Buddhist mind-training (Lojong), so it requires much study, thought and exploration in meditation to fully appreciate the Buddhist view of anger as a mental health concern.
We operate under a common illusion that the things that make us angry lie outside of ourselves, that they are external to us. Something out there is in opposition to our need for safety and security; it threatens our comfort or position. We feel a need to defend our vulnerable selves. Anger limits us. But if we have the courage to look at our anger and its causes and to learn from it, we can develop an open heart—a heart of genuine compassion.
My own journey in dealing with anger has included work with several systems of martial arts. Initially I studied the martial arts to learn how to defend against the enemy outside myself, which I thought was the reason for my anger. After some time, I was drawn to iaido, the art of drawing, cutting with, and sheathing a Samurai sword. Loosely translated, the term iaido means being able to fit into any situation harmoniously. Unlike many other martial art forms, iaido is noncombative, which was key: to create a harmonious relationship with myself, I had to confront the enemy within—and the enemy was my own anger.
I have often observed that while we each experience anger in our own way, a more general sense of anger pervades our society. That is, as a culture, we are angry. Our sense of humor is very sarcastic. A lot of what we find entertaining involves putting someone down. We have slapstick comedy: people running around doing mean, spiteful things that we are supposed to find funny. Whether it is a television show or a new viral Internet video, we find humor in words that mock or put others down, or insults that allow us to watch from the outside as someone else is subjected to some form of humiliation. We might ask ourselves, “What’s funny about that?” Not much. Laughing at others’ misfortune is a kind of expression of our own anger.
Have we ever said to someone, “You’re lazy,” or “You’re a bitch” or “You’re an insufferable bastard”? Of course. We’ve all done that in one way or another. Or maybe we have said, “If it weren’t for you, I would be better off,” or “It’s because of you that I am suffering.” It is as if we believe that by putting others down, by placing the blame or responsibility for our unhappiness on others, we can make ourselves better or relieve our own feelings of inadequacy. But anger doesn’t make us feel better. As Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche said, “You cannot really eliminate pain through aggression. The more you kill, the more you strengthen the killer who will create new things to be killed. The aggression grows until finally there is no space; the whole environment has been solidified.”
Among the Three Poisons we find the Pali term dosa, “anger.” The Three Poisons of anger, greed, and delusion keep us in bondage and control us—they overwhelm our best intentions and cause us to do harm to others. We may even cause the greatest hurt to the people we most care about. We don’t want to hurt them, or ourselves, but we are driven by our anger. Many times we find that a feeling that arises in us is the outward manifestation of a deeper underlying emotion or experience. We might explore this possibility by asking ourselves about where our anger really comes from. What is the other side of anger? Fear. We can’t free ourselves until we work through both our anger and our fear. And what is the cause of fear? Ultimately, it is the fear of nonexistence, death, the fear of losing ourselves and being forgotten. But a fear of death translates into a fear of living, because impermanence is itself a fundamental condition of our lives. In this fear lie the seeds of anger.
When anger arises, it is pointing to something. Our anger is a clue to our underlying beliefs about ourselves.
How do we break the cycle of anger? We all know anger from experience, but when we are asked to pause and consider, “What is this anger?” it’s not always so easy to see what it is. Yet when we approach our feelings of anger with awareness, with mindfulness, it becomes a productive part of our practice. We find, after all, that anger has something to teach us.
Anger is what Thich Nhat Hanh calls “habit energy.” Like most habits, it takes just one particular event or word or incident to trigger us, as quick as a snap of the finger. Just because we have a kensho experience and see into our true nature and maybe for a second or two experience some sense of bliss, that doesn’t mean that we won’t return to habit energy five minutes or an hour later. If someone does something that irritates you, ask yourself the question, “Who is it that is ticked off? Who is it that’s angry?” We’ll find that there is no self to get angry or to defend.
Related: I’ve Been Meditating for Ten Years, and I’m Still Angry. What’s the Matter with Me?
And yet there may be something that sets us off again and again, as reliably as an alarm clock. Maybe we know what some of those things are. Often other people can tell us what brings out our flashes of anger even if we are not ourselves aware of them. But these habitual flashpoints offer us an opportunity to see ourselves more deeply, with a fuller understanding and with greater compassion, to look at what incited our angry reaction, and to follow the thread within ourselves. All we need is the space between trigger and reaction to mindfully look within.
So where do we find this space to separate ourselves from our anger? Many Buddhist traditions teach that all things are insubstantial. When we see this, we see that the support for anger and hate is eroded and eventually destroyed. This speaks to one of the three marks of existence—impermanence. We have all found ourselves in situations that illustrate the transitory nature of events. Something happens to us that makes us angry; perhaps we get into an argument at home with a partner at the very start of the day. A couple of hours later, we’re at work and we’re still thinking about the incident. More time goes by, and we continue to stew over it at lunchtime, and by the time we get home, we’re still holding onto it. But where is it? Where is the incident? It’s like last night’s supper—it doesn’t exist.
Over and over again, I tell students dealing with anger, “This practice is about being mindful!” While that may sound simple, it is in fact a very, very difficult practice because it goes against a lot of what we hold sacred. Many of us have a particular group of gods that we worship. It’s not God, Jesus, or Buddha. We worship pleasure, comfort, and security. Despite knowing that everything is impermanent, we still hold onto objects that we think will bring us security. We cling to what we believe will spare us from discomfort, and when these things slip out of our grasp, fear and anger arise. Part of mindfulness is looking at our reactions and perceptions—if we are all truly one body, why are we cutting off the relationship with our partner, our coworker, or our friend? If my hand is in pain, do I cut it off? Of course not. I take care of it. I take some Tylenol. I look more carefully into what might be causing the pain—maybe it’s an injury, or it could be that I’m developing arthritis and need to think of some therapies. But when it comes to anger, we cut ourselves off because we have an
investment in maintaining
who we think we are. Anger
limits our expression of seeing our whole self. As a divisive force, it prevents us from living a fully rich life of connectedness. Instead of experiencing the one body that pervades everywhere, anger isolates us and reinforces the sense of a separate self, preventing us from identifying with and feeling compassion for others.
I see what you mean – I think when those emotions become so strong, interfering with our daily functioning & feeling like they’re in control – then they become mental health issues, and when you are able to recognize, reduce and finally abandon them – their absence brings you closer to peace. Buddha would say our true nature is peace (not anger, anxiety or depression) – the delusions are like clouds arising out of the peaceful clear sky of our mind and just like that – they can dissolve away back into that peaceful clarity. they lose their power over you. you identify with peace rather than, say, anger. you take the reins. you are more effective at dealing with those things that seemed impossible before. you can respond with wisdom and compassion. you have freedom. once you get a taste, you know. ☮️ my teacher once said we could spend our whole life just on part 1 – Recognizing – and that would be a life very well spent!
I’m just so pleased to read a response to ‘Dr.’ Michelle Haslam at last. For someone to have lived at a centre for a few months and then to spend their next few years attacking their experience in such a vindictive way just shows how unbalanced and unhappy their minds are. And here is my view on the science: To earn a PhD and think that title shows respect but then to neglect the need for robust unbiased verifiable repeatable data, I’d say her whole case was based on limited anecdotal information, so clearly not robust enough to earn merit. I’ve visited NKT centres in several countries and consistently experienced only kindness for nearly 20yrs. Yet important to remember, while we abide in samsara, no experience is perfect. Cheers to karma!
I wanted to share my own personal experiences as they relate to this post. The first has to do with Geshe Kelsang and his response to a student who was suffering from Mental health issues, which was to encourage them to follow the Western Dr’s course of treatment.. The short version below (I am deliberately not using any information that might identify the student):
At the Centre where I was at that time a Director (south of England), we had a foreign student (so they were not in their home country with normal family and friends for support) who attended some general program classes, they were not resident in the centre and I understood that what transpired related to a pre-existing mental health condition.
One day our resident teacher received a call from either Geshe-la or his assistant explaining that the person had arrived at Manjushri centre late at night/early hours of the morning in a distressed state demanding to see Geshe-la. Geshe-la had spent time with them until they were calm again. Our resident teacher was told that the person was now returning to the town where our centre was and Geshe-la requested the community at our centre to organise:
1. To offer support to the person to keep their appointments to see the Dr at the Psychiatric hospital each week
2. To encourage the student to take their prescribed medication and follow the treatments the Dr prescribed
3. To give Geshe-la a weekly update on their health and well being
4. Basically to be a good friend
I don’t think the people at Manjushri were going to disturb Geshe-la, but he must have heard the noise and this person’s raised and distressed voice because he came to see what was happening. I also heard he said to the people who had answered the door that night that they should not hesitate to tell him or disturb him in such a situation.
Over several months I am glad to say the person’s mental health returned and we continued to support them until the person returned back to their own country. They continued to come to General Program classes from time to time but also to my knowledge never became “Buddhist” and in no way was our care predicated on any expectation that they would. I do know we followed Geshe-la’s wishes, which included ensuring she followed her “western medical treatments” and the persons mental health re-established itself.
This story I can say also proves how true it was that Geshe-la did not establish centres to make people Buddhist but to help them. In one meeting I had with him as part of the Centre managers he said explicitly we should be there for people who are lonely, who want to talk, to have a cup of tea – even if they never came to a class or only came once because they were desperate. He said there were many more people like this than those who would join regular study programs or become Buddhist, but because they were so many it was also part of our Centres role to cherish them. After he said that we did a little check on our visitor records and I was amazed to see that during a year we had 10’s of thousands of visitors whilst class sizes might be only a 50 or so people at any time. So he was right – in that way the centre was cherishing much more than just the “Buddhist” community.
I thought this was a very well balanced article with clearly set out arguments and explanations. I could also detect a deep compassion for Dr. Haslam, and the willingness to critique and defend, NKT Buddhism.
The NKT has immeasurably enriched my life as a wife, mother, sister, friend, neighbor, and colleague. I have been asked to give up none of these roles or to limit my involvement in other activities by following the teachings within the NKT. Instead, I have drawn upon those teachings to enhance my gratitude and happiness for those relationships. I have never lived within an NKT center and I’ve never been encouraged and definitely not coerced to. I am welcomed every time I attend a Centre. And I know that meditation has improved my mind to be more peaceful. I have willingly engaged in daily meditation since being a teenager and that started almost 50 years ago. I wouldn’t have persisted in such a practice if I didn’t perceive tangible results. The benefits increased incrementally and immeasurably once I started meditating on the teachings of Buddha. Thank you , VGKGR.
Your comment reminded me of another story from our Centre in the UK regarding a German lady who did a lot to support the centre and who was also on FP. Back in her homeland she had (I think) 5 grown up children who were now starting to produce Grandchildren, and she was quite conflicted between going back to support them or continuing her life in the UK ,which she felt to be very meaningful. So she wasn’t sure what was the right thing to do (even though all her Sangha said of course she should go to her family).
During the summer festival she went to see Geshe-la, and I remember before seeing him nothing anyone could say would make her happy with what to do, but when she came out she looked so happy, so we asked her… “what did he say?”.
She told us he said, and I paraphrase now as it was many years ago, but basically: “she shouldn’t worry, that she should go to be with her family and that they were important, that all the good work and study at the centre would not be lost or wasted and she would never lose Dharma.” At the end of their meeting she said, “Geshe-la gave me a big hug and actually lifted me off the ground!”
I think that hug really sealed her good feeling that the decision (which I think she knew in her heart was what she wanted to do) was the right one… I should also mention that she was quite tall and much bigger in every way than Geshe-la and she couldn’t believe he lifted her off her feet like that – it really made her laugh and said it made her or reminded her of feeling young and hopeful, especially as she said it had been years since anyone could!
As an after note, I have known quite a few people go to Geshe-la for this kind of advice and what I noticed is that he always seemed to discover and respect what they really wanted to do in their heart of hearts. From my experience I don’t think that Geshe-la would ever ask someone to do something they didn’t want to do, that has also been my experience in Kadampa centres over the years. The only exceptions were a couple of people who wanted to drop out of their University Degree to study Dharma full time and on both occasions Geshe-la told them to complete their degree.
Help! I joined a happiness cult and now I’m happy.
Seriously, I’ve been engaged with Buddhism through the NKT for 18 years. I have never had a bad experience. I’ve come and gone and always been treated back with love.
This is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition, practises by many around the world. It’s fine to be an atheist and dislike religion, but there is a strangeness about disliking it to this degree.
A cult has very specific criteria and the NKT fails to meet all of them. I’m sure seeing people engage in meditation and rituals that you are not familiar with can seem odd from the outside, but that is true of every religion.
My own experiences of practising Geshe-la’s teachings are that they bring more peace to your mind and a better way of living in general. There is no coercion, no demands made of you, and you are never asked to do anything at all. I’m giving £25 a month to attend classes as often as I like and that’s my only financial contribution – less than most gym memberships. If you go to the GP meditation classes, you pay a small fee for the class.
It’s a shame that Dr Hasslan feels she has to write all of this stuff, but I can say completely from my own side, that practising these meditations will only bring you more peace of mind.
I left, then came back. At no time was I harassed in any way and I was not forced back; I simply decided this is how I wanted to live my life. NKT has, and continues to be, amazing ❤️
Thank you so much for all of the work that’s gone into this – the clarity – the compassion. It really is a perfect response and an incredibly helpful resource. I have some ‘Kadampa-curious” friends and when they get to the inevitable online NKT bashing portion of the program, I often say, in order to believe that, you would also have to believe that I am a Chinese spy & a devil worshipper. Recently a friend told me they’d been seeing harsh things said about us online but thought – that’s not Lesly! #REPRESENT ✊🏼 I know for a fact if I’d heard these lies back in the day before I met the tradition and VGL I would have avoided Kadampa centers like the plague – “if the DL says it it must be true” 🙄 I am so very grateful that I found my ‘happiness cult’😜 before hearing the slander – the proof is definitely in the pudding. I am also a trained therapist and consumer of mental health services. There is no contradiction between the two unless one is created. The potential for the 2 to be mutually supportive is vast.
Just to add, I had the great good fortune to spend some time with Venerable Geshe-la and he told me in no uncertain terms that my family is my practice. So when I hear folks saying we’re encouraged to abandon our families …… nothing could be further from the truth. I love the story Robert Thomas shared about Geshe-la. It is exactly how I would expect he’d respond. Our precious Guru 🙏 (oops does that sound ‘culty’? Oh well 🤷♀️)
Upon my initial visits to the center, the sangha warmly embraced me. Each individual was nurturing, encouraging, and embracing. Witnessing cheerful, smiling faces was a delight. I felt fully accepted, with all my delusions, without a hint of judgment.
Since relocating far from any centers, I find myself yearning for the love-filled welcome and the joyful atmosphere upon entering the door and being greeted by the sangha. I miss being “Love-bombed”.
As a medical professional,and attending, in the past, Manjushri Meditation Center, as an “outsider atheist” what impressed me the most,about buddhism, in general, was exactly, the parallelism with neurociences and quantum physics. Perhaps “Karmic imprints” can also be translated into scientific knowledge or just common sense. I think that Dr Michelle Haslam’s, as a clinical psychologist, should know, some of the actual researchs in neurosciences, that prove meditation can modify the brain activity and improves emotional regulation. It happens, buddhists, have done it, as daily practice, for such a long time, but could not demonstrated it, by lack of technology. Nowadays, its proven by electroencephalograms and magnetic ressonance, IRM. I leave, as a suggestion, the books of the professor António Damásio, professor of neuroscience, of the University of Southern California, USA.
I hope Dr Michelle will enjoy the reading of his books and notice the similarities with Buddhas teatchings.
To the NKT, Manjushri Kadampa Center, and specially, to her spiritual director, my deep gratitude for learning to be a more tolerant and optimistic person and giving me the tools, wich also allowed me, to help some of my patients and my family.
Furthermore, and without knowing why, I love the Irish and Scottish accent, wich allowed me to “simply” pay attention…
I really miss my yellow robed monks and nuns.
Lots of love for all of you🥰
Maria Frois
There is a very helpful scholarly article by Michael Weaver that is relevant to Dr Haslam’s report:
https://medium.com/@michaelweaver_4161/mindfulness-in-kadampa-buddhism-46f44683cb42
Worth reading.
I was reading a random Facebook post about the Monty Python film, ‘The Life of Brian.’ There were some great comments about how the film impacted on people. Someone pointed out that many Christians were able to appreciate the humour in the film when they realised it was not denigrating Christ but taking the mickey out of the behaviour of Christians.
One Christian made this comment, ‘I am a Christian, and I love the way they make fun of us. We have the misfortune of getting our membership from the human race, and you know how ridiculous they can be.
Yes, the Pythons make fun of others; but we earned everything we got.’
I loved the humility and insight in this comment. It reminded me of the story I often tell of something very wise Gen Rabten said to me years ago. I was criticising the behaviour of someone living in the Centre. I was new to Buddhism and had started with the assumption if you said you were a Buddhist you must already be ‘perfect.’ I didn’t understand it was just a declaration that you were starting a journey on a particular path. If someone said to me, ‘I’m travelling to Tibet tomorrow,’ I wouldn’t assume they were Tibetan because they’d bought a plane ticket would I? So why do people assume someone who has decided to travel towards Enlightenment is already enlightened?
Anyway, I digress, I know that now but didn’t back then; luckily Gen Rabten did know and he kindly told me, ‘People are not perfect Jan, but the Dharma is.’ He could just as easily have said, ‘Buddhists are not perfect Jan, but the Dharma is.’
Why do I say this? Because I’m thinking about the criticism that is levied at the New Kadampa Tradition sometimes. Some of the stories told criticise the tradition and the behaviour of people in the Centres. I believe some of them, I think others are exaggerated, but I made the decision years ago to be realistic in my expectations and use my own frustrations with experiences ‘in the tradition’ to strengthen my patient acceptance.
I think it’s great that we have a website that addresses these criticisms and I rejoice in the kindness and wisdom of those who have worked so hard to create this.
I think we can have the same humorous, humility of the Christian above when faced with criticism, even the hilarious kind, and reply wisely, ’We have the misfortune of getting our membership from the human race, and you know how ridiculous they can be.’
I particularly like the point in this article that a good test of whether something is a cult is to ask: ‘“Is what I’m hearing designed to control me or helping me control myself?” The former is a cult, the latter is a Buddhist tradition’ — and as anyone who has actually attended NKT classes or centres can attest, the NKT clearly falls within the latter. From about 15 years of experience in the NKT, I can say with confidence that the main function of NKT activities and teachings is simply to help people to control their own minds. In fact, one of the key tenets of the Kadampa philosophy is that Kadampa teachings can then be practiced in whatever lifestyle people seek – normal working life, family life, working for the centre, not working for the centre, ordained, lay, etc – according to the individual’s wishes. And actually, that’s a large part of why people like the NKT so much – because far from trying to control people, it actively encourages people to practice in whatever way they choose.
I like this, it makes sense. Buddhist practice is designed to help us control our own mind, especially our delusions. Cults seem to be focused on controlling people and then abusing them in some way. I have watched numerous documentaries about cults and find the whole thing fascinating (and really sad!). After nearly 30 years of attending NKT classes, festivals, retreats and study programmes I’ve never felt that anyone was trying to control me and have found the teachings to be useful. I find the accusations against the NKT so subjective and often ludicrous. I accept that sometimes relationships may break down (albeit rarely in my experience) between people within the NKT and people leave etc. But In my view, there has never been anything to worry about. Yes, sometimes people within a group may not meet our expectations, and (more commonly) our own projections can lead us down a bit of a blind alley. Overall, as a student and onetime centre manager Kadampas have been some of the finest people I have ever met/hung out with/worked with/laughed with. It’s a genuinely beautiful thing.
I have attended and studied at Kadampa Centres for almost 20 years. I currently volunteer as an Admin Director for a Kadampa Centre. My husband identifies more with the Church of England, but also feels part of the wider Kadampa family having met with and become friends with so many of them over the years. Like many other ‘non Kadampa’ partners, my husband has great respect for a religion and organisation that has helped me so much. In turn the experience and training and the importance of remaining peaceful in adversity is something I have been able to share with family &friends. If I am stuck for someone to do some DIY work at the meditation centre, he will come and help out, though he mainly enjoys pursuing his own retirement projects. He has had an earful of the ins and outs of my life as a Kadampa manager over the years and could explain to anyone how a Kadampa Centre operates making it clear that it does not operate as a cult organisation. I know many other Kadampas with non Kadampa partners who have great respect for the NKT. I think if we were a cult these marriages could not grow and thrive as they do and the fact that a non Kadampa can have love for and feel part of the wider Kadampa family shows an ethos of respect for individual choices and differing spiritual leanings. I think it is also worth mentioning that thanks to my practice of Kadampa Buddhism I no longer suffer from depression which plagued me from my early years into my 40’s. My husband also recognises this as one of the many benefits to our relationship. It really saddens me that labelling the NKT as a cult will undoubtedly put people off an opportunity to bring about positive change in their lives and in the lives of the people around them. I will continue helping people to access these meditation practices because I know first hand and have witnessed again and again with our students the positive transformative effect they have on people’s lives. I hope that all religious and non religious organisations that aim to increase love, compassion& wisdom in the world thrive and work towards improving people’s lives and the societies we live in. The world needs them more than ever.